Burned

Her eyes were fluorescent. She didn't know why but she was in an empty subway station. The flyers on the cracked tiled walls were flying everywhere and her hair whipped her face in all directions.

She hadn't noticed it at first but while the papers were flying not one hit her. Instead they circled her. Enclosed her. It didn't make any sense. A shadow of what she assumed a man came towards her.

Ani awoke with perspiration along her forehead and an abnormally fast heart rate.

It wasn't the first time she had awoken with her body drenched with sweat; it was actually the sixth time this week.

Maybe it was because of all the stress of winter exams approaching, or all the conflicting emotions she had been channeling. Whatever it was, it sure as hell was not good for her health.

Ani looked out her window to see the sun peeking out of the trees like it was playing hide-and-seek.

It was Thursday meaning one more day till the weekend. She turned towards her clock and saw that it read 6:30 am when Ani decided to get ready for school.

Ani contemplated all morning whether she should keep her weird dream to herself.

After all it was only a dream right?

It was then decided that she was going to ignore the weird energy coursing through her body. It probably was just her body reacting to lack of sleep.

Ani looked in the mirror and chanted words of confidence that today was going to be a good day.

It said somewhere in a magazine that if you wanted to have a good day you would have to give yourself words of encouragement in the mornings.

This is dumb was the only thing that popped up in her mind as she looked at herself.

I don't think this study applied to high school students.

She couldn't wait to meet up with her friends even though she had seen them yesterday. The mornings were the only time where they could catch up because most of them had different classes than her.

They were a pretty close group. They would tell each other everything from first kisses, to family problems, even to when puberty hit.

Ophelia Salon was probably one of Ani's closer friends in the group she had spunk to her. She was quirky and cute. Ophelia gave off the girl-next-door look due to her gorgeous black hair and emerald green eyes.

Josie Hender was another one of Ani's closer friends she was the intelligent one; she always had a book in her hand and was involved in every club imaginable. She had a short bob-like hair that was strawberry blonde and gorgeous hazel eyes.

Frankie Redder was the closest to Ani she was funny and very artistic. She didn't depend on anybody ever and was the loudest. Frankie had brown curly hair and blue eyes.

Her not so close friends were Quinn Dale, Sheri Walter, and Cleo Anderson. They were in different classes than Ani and she didn't get to talk to them as much.

It's not like she didn't want to but she was busy with sports and studying; the other girls knew her longer and understood her better, it was just easier.

She was typing on her phone rapidly to tell the girls she was heading towards their spot after she went to her locker.

What she didn't realize was that she was about to run into something or shall she say someone.

It all happened so fast one moment she's walking the next she's on the floor with her bags everywhere.

She quickly got up to say an apology to whomever she ran into, when she saw that it was him.

Carter Lane he was the captain of every team you could probably think of and if he didn't have sports he could be a model. He had black curly hair and the most unusual but beautiful eye color. Some people said that his eyes changed colors then again it was just gossip.

" I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking and usually I'm not this clumsy" Ani spoke rapidly.

" It's okay. Here let me help you" Carter offered as he saw the girl he just bumped into scrambling to gather her bags.

He got down on his knees and grabbed to what looked like one of his sports bags, but instead was a smaller version of it.

Ani and Carter both grabbed the last bag on the ground when their hands touched.

Her hands felt s if she had touched a cold spark plug on accident. Electric.

Ani wondered if Carter felt it too as she looked up to meet his eyes to see he was already looking at her.

Her face quickly took the color of crimson red a big contrast to her pale features.

Ani realized that she was school and that she should probably head to her friends or they would think she got kidnapped. She reluctantly took her bag from Carter's hand and hurried off.

Ani's heart was racing as if she just did practice for track and soccer in the same day. She put her belongings in her locker and walked to meet her friends. She couldn't stop thinking about that moment with Carter.

She hurried her steps when she saw her friends all sitting in the courtyard at their usual bench. All her friends were talking and mingling Quinn and Sheri were talking to some guys, while Frankie was listening to music along with Josie.

Ophelia and Cleo were busy finishing a project. Ani smiles absentmindedly at her friends and hopped into the space between Josie and Frankie.

They were a really big friend group so they were bound to be known by some people. They weren't popular because their school was too big for that and their wasn't any cliques either.

No one gave a crap about what you did they were all sleep deprived and jacked up on caffeine.

Frankie and Josie both talked about their love for Hozier's new music, and a hard math test they took last week.

Ani hasn't done anything like travel instead she kept training for the track and field season and making sure her body was in shape.

Ani didn't know how to describe it but it was like she couldn't get enough of working out. She rarely ever needed rest from it. She only guessed that she had a little more adrenaline than most people.

The bell eventually rang and everyone slowly got up and went their separate ways. Ani didn't have any of her friends in her first period because she was in Calculus.

Math was the only thing she really understood along with History. It was weird. Usually people were good at only two combinations for all four subjects History and English; math and science.

She looked around the room aimlessly she saw a few of her friends that she texted every once in awhile, but other than that she knew nobody.

Until Carter Lane walked in with his powerful aura. Seems like he's also smart too she thought disbelieving.

Carter went to the back and sat in the row diagonal to Ani. Meaning he had a clear view of her.

Carter looked like he was scanning the room looking for something. Until his eyes landed on her.

She was by the window making her red hair illuminate from the suns ray. She looked like she was straight out of heaven a fallen angel or something.

Ani felt the hairs on her neck stand up from his gaze. She could only assume that it was the boys gaze from before having that doing.

She, being dumb, turned her head and made eye contact with him. He gave a little smile and Ani just gave him a small smile in return. They looked at each other neither one backing away.

Ani again forgot that she was at school and she turned her head back to the teacher. Shaking it a little with a small smile forming as she looked at her graffitied desk.

She couldn't even concentrate on math. Her fingers traced some of the drawings on the desk until the end of class.

As she came out of class she was stopped by a hand. She felt the electricity again and looked up to meet familiar emerald green eyes.

" Hey I didn't catch your name earlier?" Carter spoke while scratching the back of his neck. Ani didn't know whether to reply with a snarky comment or play nice.

"My name is Ani," she said her name not knowing what the consequences would be.

" H-" Carter was then cut off abruptly by the bell.

He looked a little bit bothered Ani thought could it be that he actually wanted to talk to her more. She could only wish that were true.

" Well I guess that's my cue to go see you around, Ani..." he slowly backed away from Ani with a charming smile just to match with his confidence.

Ani rolled her eyes at him playfully and tried to hide the small smile forming on her face.

The warning bell rang and Ani scurried to her next class. Thank goodness her classes were near each other or she would've been late. Thanks to a certain green eyed person.

She huffed and sat by the window near the back of the class. The best place to be to sleep when learning and in this class it was English.

She didn't understand how this subject was so popular by students. It was filled with overly correcting statements to no end.

I mean come on, people don't need all these punctuations to know what I'm trying to say.

It was just redundant in her eyes. She saw that a couple of her friends were in her class but they were too far up front and she didn't like the front.

Ani stayed in the back due to her already being annoyed and not wanting to rain on her book lover friends parade meaning Ophelia and Josie.

The class was long and grueling and Ani couldn't wait for this year just to end already. The only good thing was that after the class there was lunch. Where Ophelia, Josie, and her all walked side-by-side in the halls.

Frankie quickly appeared on the left of Ophelia at the end. They didn't like to sit in the cafeteria instead they ate in a secret courtyard with a garden.

It was better than looking at grumpy lunch ladies and sleep deprived teens. It was where they relaxed and refreshed their thoughts.

Ani especially loved it due to her favorite flowers, tulips, being everywhere.

The girls all went through a secret gate in the bushes and walked in revealing a big enough table for eight people.

Sometimes Quinn, Sheri, and Cleo would eat with them, but usually they ate with their cheerleading team.

Ani for the life of her could not get Carter out of her head. It was strange how they just finally met officially and have been going to the same school for four years.

It was pretty common though since the school was so big. Ani probably wouldn't have known who Carter was if it wasn't for his accomplishments in sports.

" I heard Carter has his eyes set on someone" Frankie nudged her shoulders next to Ani while wiggling her eyebrows.

Ani rolled her eyes as she ate her sandwich.

Ophelia and Josie never listened to gossip by people, so it wasn't surprising when they looked up from there food in confusion.

"Who is it?" Ophelia spoke in between bites.

Frankie only moved her glance from Ophelia and looked at me with a smirk.

Ophelia connected the two in a matter of seconds " Wait when did this happen?"

" Nothing happened we just bumped into each other in the halls, glanced at each other in class, and talked sort of during class changes," Ani huffed while playing with her food.

" Besides it's not like we are going to date or anything at most we will probably just be friends. He's doing way too many sports and I'm doing a lot sports and activities; we wouldn't work out. Our schedules would clash. So its just gossip," Ani didn't want to go down the road of 'what if's' about her and Carter because she knew that it would never work that's why she's never had a relationship in the first place.

Ani didn't need any more complications especially having a boyfriend. He would require energy from her that she was already using on school activities and friends.

That is why it was now her mission to avoid Carter.

She didn't know why her heart pinching at the thought of it though.