Smile -Chap. 6, SouMaka-

The wind bit and nipped at Maka’s exposed skin, a thin cloud of fog whisping from her mouth every time she breathed. The weather was frighteningly cold for the middle of September; a small layer of frost covered the grass that surrounded the school grounds, hardly any students staying outside very long after getting off of their buses.

The weekend had passed by in a daze. She’d been home alone most of Saturday and Sunday. Her parents had recently started working longer hours at work, but they hadn’t told her why. She’d sat around the house, trying to occupy her mind with anything she could find; The TV, her books (though she’d read all of what she had), the computer… she frowned as she realized she hadn’t even touched the pitch-black piano over the weekend.

She’d phoned Crona the other day after realizing she’d start school this week. Maka just hoped she’d dressed warm enough for this sudden blast of frigid air.

The blonde could already feel her nose start to plug from the short exposure to the cold. As she entered the school building, she was met with a gust of warm air. She sighed lightly from the relief, unzipping her light jacket and adjusting her school bag that had previously been slung on one shoulder.

It was a new week, and Maka, like everyone else, was not in the mood for notes and homework. She could still feel her eyes drooping. Each person that passed by looked like a multi-colored blob.

Though, there was a certain white blob passing by that made her eyes light up. She smiled gently at the red-eyed freshman, waving lightly when she saw his eyes turn to her. She realized her mistake when he blinked at her and turned down the nearest hallway. Her smile drooped into a frown, and with a sigh, she hung her head and sped her pace. Of course. What was she thinking?

He wouldn’t wave back.

---Smile---

The thoughts of that morning and her drowsiness kept Maka from paying attention for the first half of the day. She’d faintly remembered Kidd freaking out about her clothing and disheveled hair while the teacher introduced their first novel study, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’. She recalled looking at her desk at the end of the period and wondering how the novel had appeared on her desk.

She didn’t want to talk about PE, or ever enter the gym again. She remembered Sid explaining a sport called Basketball, and when she’d raised her hand and asked what it was, everyone had just laughed. She still didn’t know what it was.

“Maaakkaaaaaa…” she heard someone call in the distance with a soothing voice. She didn’t bother to lift her head. A faint, beige-colored blur passed over her face, but she took no notice. Suddenly, someone grabbed her ear.

“MAKA!”

“Eep!” she squeaked out loudly as she jumped from her cafeteria chair. All she could hear from her right ear was a loud ringing sound. She shook her head in attempt to make it disappear. It didn’t. “What the hell was that for!?” she cried.

“You were falling asleep on the table!” The assaulter protested, pointing a finger in her direction. She scowled at the blue-haired boy in response. “Besides,” he continued, “I would have left you there, but the bell’s going to ring soon, and… one of your pigtails ended up in a small bit of mustard.” He stated matter-of-factly. His guffaws unexpectedly rang out in the cafeteria as Maka checked her hair in horror. Sure enough, she found a huge yellow splotch covering her blonde strands. She grimaced at the sight, standing up and making her way out of the cafeteria and towards the washroom.

“After you clean that, make sure your hair is symmetrical!” she heard a certain OCD teen shout, but she ignored it, pushing the doors open and walking out.

Was there something wrong with her? Sure, she’d been tired on Mondays at her old school, but not to the point that she was falling asleep in mustard.

The blonde spent about five minutes in the bathroom, thoroughly washing out the mustard from her hair and keeping it under the blow dryer until it was a bit less than damp. After, she found herself standing in the mirror, picking off any specks and straightening any loose hairs so that she wasn’t asymmetrical. She grimaced after realizing what she was doing. Maybe Kidd really was rubbing off on her…

She exited the bathroom with lingering frustration, absently twirling her wet pigtail with her finger as she tried to focus her eyes. Everything was still slightly blurry, even from the loud scream in her ear that Black Star had happily delivered.

The blonde turned suddenly after hearing the crumpling of paper. She could have sworn no one had been in the hall a second ago… maybe her blurred vision was to blame.

She blinked after realizing who it was. Sitting against a locker with a clipboard in his lap was the familiar white-haired freshman that she’d seen that morning. He was crumpling a piece of paper in his hand, his mouth twitching in frustration as he set it down in a small pile of other crumpled papers. Maka furrowed her brow, turning and walking towards him.

“Soul…?” she mumbled. She was surprised when he’d immediately looked up, a sense of shock behind his calm expression. She found it strange that he didn’t have his usual glare. “What are you doing?” she asked simply. He merely blinked at her before looking back down at his clipboard. He hadn’t done anything that told her she should leave, so she smiled lightly and sat down next to him. She didn’t prod him about what he was doing, as it was obvious he didn’t want to share.

“Did you eat out here…?” she inquired with a slightly soothing voice. He nodded lightly while scribbling on his sheet of paper again. She giggled softly. “Too crowded, right?” he glanced at her with a strange look for a split second, but returned to his clipboard as if she’d said nothing. Maka furrowed her brows again. That glance he’d given her… he looked… curious? Or was she mistaken?

“Why don’t you talk to anyone?” The question came out of her without a second’s thought, and she immediately regretted it, slapping a hand over her mouth. His gaze went from calm to wide-eyed. She couldn’t tell if he felt offended by the question or if he was just shocked by the bluntness. “So-“

“I don’t trust them.” He cut her off before she could apologize, turning back to his clipboard. This time, he was the one the one to shock her. He acted as if she’d asked a simple question; something casual, like ‘how are you?’. But his response brought another question to mind. She waited a minute or so, not sure if she should ask, in fear that he would ignore her like everyone else.

“… But… you trust me…?” she whispered ever so quietly. If she’d said it any quieter, her words would simply be air.

To her dismay, the pencil in his hand stopped. His body sat frozen, but his gaze did not change. It was calm, but she could see behind them; he was contemplating whether he should speak. Without looking, he ducked his head slightly, scrawling on the clipboard more furiously than before.

“You’re… different.” He mumbled, and a wave of emotion shivered through Maka’s spine. They were two simple words, but they meant the world to her.

He trusted her.

If it were someone, anyone else, those words would have meant almost nothing. But now it was coming from a person who hadn’t spoken for six years, and she was the first to hear his voice. It hadn’t taken very long, either. In the second day that he’d ever seen her, he’d spoken to her. Words that some had been trying to hear for six years.

For some reason, he thought she was different from everyone else. Someone he could trust for the first time in so long.

Maka was speechless. All she could do was gawk and reply with an ‘Oh’. He glanced at her once, but quickly looked away, sinking his head even lower, as if in embarrassment. She chuckled lightly at his reaction.

“What’s your name?” Maka was taken aback once again, and once she processed the question, she smiled. He didn’t even know her name.

“It’s Maka.”

---Smile---

“Maka…”

The name rolled off his tongue without his thinking. His mind was clogged with questions and curiosity to the point that he didn’t realize that he’d muttered the word.

It had been a week since school started, and already so many things had changed.

Because of her.

His whole perspective of life had changed. Whenever he walked through the halls of school, the students surrounding him would hardly be noticed by him; they all looked like ghosts through his eyes. All the voices he heard were muffled or not heard at all. It was only when he didn’t know someone that he saw or heard them clearly. It’d be as if they were the only person that truly existed, but as soon as they looked away, they disappeared as well. He refused their existence.

But then this girl came along. He’d seen her on the bus and stared at her, waiting for her to disappear like the others. She’d given him a quick glance and looked back at her phone, but for some reason…

She was still there.

He’d sat behind her that day, staring at the back of her head, willing her to vanish, but nothing happened. He didn’t know what to do.

He saw her at school, as well. She’d seen her walking in the hallway. He’d stared at her again, and this time, she’d done the same thing back.

She hadn’t looked away. He’d become interested and worried at the same time. He could see her clearly. He could hear her clearly. She wasn’t afraid.

When he’d found out she was in his math class, he’d come late on purpose to avoid her. He was afraid of what was happening, even if it didn’t show. He wasn’t sure what to do. Maybe, if he stayed away long enough, she’d disappear. He hoped… he prayed it was true.

His blood ran cold as soon as he walked through the door. She was there, sitting alone and reading a book, her eyes wide with tension. The muffled gibberish that he heard around the room immediately stopped as he took a textbook and walked over to the empty desk. He’d regretted coming late then, realizing that because of it, he hadn’t had a choice of where to sit.

He’d found it hard to concentrate on the work that had been assigned through class, as the girl beside him kept flinching for some odd reason. It startled him slightly when she’d shrieked. He turned slightly to stare at her, but she seemed unfazed. Except for her shaking hands. He turned to look back at the desks behind him.

He saw them. As clear as day they sat their, suddenly shell-shocked from his gaze. As soon as they looked away, their forms became ghostly again. And he found that he could not focus his eyes correctly to properly see them. Looking back at his work, his mouth twitched with frustration.

He saw her in the hallways once again, but this time, someone was holding her hair. The hulking figure that was the football quarterback did not make him hesitate. He’d reflexively grabbed the senior’s arm, and only moments later, he’d disappeared as well. He hadn’t bothered looking back at the blonde freshman after the event was over. He hadn’t wanted to. He was confused.

Not only could he see her, but also the people hurting her. It pained him to see someone hurting another. He’d never noticed pain on school grounds before.

And then there was the bus ride home. It was one of the most terrifying experiences in almost six years. Someone touched him without his permission.

It was almost like the teen had sent a jolt through the place he’d touched on his shoulder all the way to his feet. Reflexively, he’d turned around, but he could hardly see the person sitting behind him. He relaxed back into his seat after a moment without another thought. All the muffled sounds had stopped.

The next day passed by with a blur. He could still see her on the bus, though it didn’t surprise him as much. He couldn’t remember what had happened the rest of that morning as soon as he’d walked into room 207. He was early, and judging by the silence and lack of strange auras, there was no one else there. With a sigh of relief, he sat down in his designated seat, pulling out a large pad of paper and a pencil, beginning to write what he’d been trying to write for half a decade.

G…

His pencil snapped suddenly. With a twitch of his eye, he put the broken one down and pulled out a new one. He began writing once again.

Somehow, he hadn’t noticed the girl that had walked in and sat adjacent to him. His lip twitched with frustration when he could not find out what else to write, crumpling the piece of paper and stuffing it in his pocket.

“Um… th-thanks for yesterday…” her voice startled him slightly, but he didn’t react, continuing with his personal assignment without so much as a flinch. Another question came to mind: Why was it that he could hear her so clearly? Then it happened.

She uttered his last name.

“E-Evans, was it…?” He looked at her in disbelief, wondering why she’d dared to say that word in his presence. He thought he’d forgotten that name, but he still recognized it as his own. He hated it. The word always brought back the memories of that day…

“What’s wrong…?” His mind snapped out if its trance, and, realizing what she’d asked, he turned around. Now he was beginning to wonder if she could read minds.

That was the time that he’d decided that maybe the reason he could see her was because she wasn’t like everyone else. He’d been right.

After these thoughts ran through his mind as he sat in the hallway floor, the blonde next to him doing that strange crescent thing with her mouth again, he wondered…

Maybe change was a good thing.

He’d have to ask her one day, what that thing she did with her mouth was, and what that shrill sound that accompanied it was called.

“Maka.” He muttered her name again. It was a nice sensation to say the word.

He liked her name.

---Smile---

Maka sighed rather loudly as she slumped in her chair, picking at the bowl of rice in front of her.

“Maka, is something wrong?” A voice mumbled from across the dinner table. It was the first time since school had started that Maka was able to have dinner with her parents. Despite the happy occasion, she felt… down. She was no longer tired as she was before, but she was quite the opposite from happy.

“What? Oh, no, Mama. It’s just… it’s a Monday…” she mumbled back. Her mother smiled gently before going back to her meal.

“So, how’s school so far? You make any friends?” Her father cut the silence after a few minutes. Maka shrugged.

“It’s fine. My PE teacher is rather odd, but the others are fine.” She smiled at the second question. “I’ve made a lot of friends, too. There’s one kid named… Kidd. He’s obsessed with symmetry, which is really funny. They all have their weird sides, though.” She explained happily, her mood suddenly rising as she thought of what had happened at lunch today. Both her parents looked at each other with quizzical expressions before smiling and chuckling lightly.

“That’s nice to hear. Hey, you know what would be a good idea?” her father asked enthusiastically. Maka raised an eyebrow for him to go on. “Maybe you should invite them over some time, so we get to know them. You’ve only had Crona over before, so it would be nice to see someone new.”

Maka blinked at her parents, absently poking at her rice. She looked up at the ceiling.

“Invite… someone over…”