A Girl In Class [rohan;rose]

It was the most highschool of encounters.

Rohan leaned over his desk, head in one hand, pen dangling over in the other. He fought the urge to sigh. Each second was a traffic jam held up by the one before it, slower than they appeared, keeping time from moving. Each brutal second was occupied by the slow drone of the teacher, a teacher fascinated with the magic of trees. "The powers of gifts," he explained, "Have been discovered in miniscule amounts in the dark of weeping willow and ebony..."

He was talking about trees.

This was ridiculous.

Rohgan's eyes wandered. He looked out the window, to the trees that stretched as a carpet to the mountains far away, running his tongue over his teeth and wondering what it would be like to run. To stand up, call the teacher a fucking tosser, maybe steal his wallet, and high tail it into the forst. Would he escape? He could always control his mind and make sure he did. The school had strong guardians, however. How long would it take them to notice? Did he know all the guardians in case he had to escape them? would ex-students really chase him?

The boy glanced at the clock. Only a few minutes had passed. How was that only a few minutes?

Having no luck passing time by the window, Rohan focused his amber eyes on the other side of class. That's where he saw her. Short Brown Hair. It was a girl he'd never noticed before, one that seemed to have materialized in that moment. He lifted his head from his sweaty palm. Who was she? She looked pretty from the back of her head.

He swallowed. Another minute passed.

"Mister McCaig."

Rohan's head snapped forward. The old man was looking at him.

"Would you be so kind as to tell me the name of the ancient tree believed long ago to be the source of all gifts?"

"Nuh sir." The Scottish boy leaned back in his chair, trying to look cool in a moment of stupid. It seemed as if all eyes were focused on him. Murmurs came from nearby. He tried to find the answer in them, to listen closely in the heat of the moment, but his focus and their volumes were not cooperating.

"You sure, mister McCaig? We discussed it last week."

A pause. Rohan rattled his brain for an answer that wasn't there.

"I'm sure, sir."

"All right, Mister McCaig. Someone needs to study."

The old professor moved on to another person for the question. Rohan just bit his cheek, fighting the urge to spit. He forgot to catch that girl's face when they all turned. Nothing went right with that ordeal.

The bell sounded twenty minutes later. Rohan's eyes followed the dark haired girl, a girl that he still hadn't seen the front of. When the class lingered a moment, he bounded forward, pushing through some students with small 'scuse mi's, saying hi to some acquaintances he didn't know well and simply didn't care so much about. A hand rested on the girl's shoulder.

"Ae, wait up."

Rose sat at her desk sort of paying attention to what the teacher what the teacher was going on about. It was hard for her to pay attention in all honestly, while the subject could have been kind of interesting the way the teacher spoke instantly got rid of her interest in what he was talking about.. She let out a small sigh, her right hand holding onto her pen which wrote down random things she heard, her left hand stuck in the pocket of her sweater.

As the teacher went on again about the trees, the girl closed her eyes for a moment to relax a bit and found herself starting to doze off. That was until the teacher called up on someone, she was awake again in an instant glad it wasn't her that was called upon. She looked back slightly to look at the teacher and the student speaking, but she didn't want to appear rude so she just looked back to her notes. She kept herself focused so the teacher wouldn't call on her.

When the bell finally rang she quickly closed her book, and started gathering her things so she could shove them in her bag and get out of there as quickly as she could. She didn't want to get caught up in talking with another student or the teacher but it seemed luck wasn't on her side today.  As soon as the hand touched her should, she jumped slightly and turned to face the boy and also free herself from his grip. She looked at him for a moment before looking away.

She cleared her throat slightly before speaking up making sure she didn't stutter. "Me?" She questioned. No one really payed any attention to her, and she liked it that way. "What.. would you want.. with me?" She spoke in her sort of slow voice, but it was better than stuttering.

When she turned around, Rohan's heartbeat got stuck in his throat. Damn, he rarely ever reacted like that. It was such a surprise, seeing what he had set out to witness, and now it was there, a pretty girl's face and her small words. She didn't seem so happy to see him. Just going up to girls like that always worked in Scotland. Here it seemed to work a little differently. The boy cleared his throat, finding himself hesitating. "I--" He ran a hand through his raven black hair, not afraid to display frustrations with himself. "Hi, I'm Rohan. I've ne'er noticed yih around." A kind smile, something he was good at. It was always his strongsuit, convincing people he was a cool guy. Even if he wasn't.

Her hand fidgeted nervously with the spiral of the notebook in her arms. She didn't like being around people.. she never knew when they could randomly lash out and stop being nice to her. "Rohan..?" It was a name she hadn't really heard before. She decided to note down the name in her mind. "My... name is.. Rose.." She could feel her heart rate starting to rise from how nervous she was, she was scared even though she knew there was nothing to be scared of. At least she had a better control of her gift where it wouldn't induce pain by itself unless she really was in danger. "Ah... I don't... really like to be.. noticed.." She said in response to him mentioning never really seeing her around. She saw his smile, but kept her eyes focused on something else trying not to let her nerves get the best of her.

"Why not?" When she took her notebook, Rohan reached down to grab her textbook for her, stacking it with his own. He didn't have a notebook, anyhow, and it really wouldn't make sense to make a poor lady carry two books while he only carried one. He began to walk with her out of the class, brushing against her shoulder, slow enough to lead her along but fast enough to get them moving. The boy made sure to give an amiable smile to the old teacher. Jokes on you, motherfucker, he thought, laughter playing in his head. I got what I wanted.

Rose didn't know how to answer that. Well she did, she knew she couldn't tell the truth so she would have to come up with some sort of lie. She watched helplessly as he picked up her book, and placed it with his stuff to carry for her. It looked like she was trapped in this conversation at least for a little while. Then she remembered his question. A-ah.." She stuttered which she mentally cursed at herself for. "I.. just don't.. like the attention.." She said softly as they walked out of the classroom. She stiffened when he brushed against her shoulder not liking the contact but refusing to speak up about since she didn't want to make him angry. She pulled her notebook a little closer to her chest out of comfort. She glanced up at the boy. Maybe he was just trying to be a friend? Maybe she could take a small risk. "I.. uh.. I guess.. you like attention?" She asked.

"Well..." he thought back to his moment in the class, a grim smile pursing his lips. "Nae all attention..." The boy held open the door to the classroom to let her through into the hallway. "Some o' it is good, though. Don't yih like whin yih do something good 'un people notice?" He'd done a few things to get pats on the back from friends before. It always felt good. There had to be some attention she liked.

She should have none.. it was stupid of her to ask something like that when she knew it wasn't fully true. She still kept her gaze away from him as he held the door open for her and walked out into the hallway, her hands clasping tightly to her notebook. "No... I don't really like it..." Doing things for others was nice, but it usually resulted in someone else getting mad and she didn't like dealing with that.. "I... I prefer... to just stay.. in the background.." She said walking along with the boy. "Rohan.." She said, she needed to ask him. "Why.. did you want to walk with... me? Most people.. ignore me.." She bit her lip in fear of making him angry for asking such a question, but she needed to know.

"I think you're cute." Rohan spoke clearly, carefully, the accent melting into something of a formal sincerity as he smiled at the sky. It was best to be honest with a question like that. Girls loved when you were honest with a question like that. I wanna get tih know you, if that's a'right." Rohan pushed through students, clutching her and his own book under his arm, saying hi to people he'd only met a few times, some of which he didn't even know the name of, slapping hands and backs along the way out of the school building. "Go on a date wi' mae. If yih say no, I'll give yuh book back with a 50% discount."

Cute? Haha she knew that... after all she had been called that many times before.. She stopped walking and blinked trying to think it through. She didn't know what to think. She knew that it would be like the times before.. He wanted to get to know her first.. he was even asking.. A smile tugged at her lips, but she kept it from appearing. "I'm... I'm willing to.. give it a try..." She wasn't going to expect a lot from it, just in case things didn't go well. She needed to get away from avoiding people.. and maybe this was her chance.. "and.. what would the discount.. have included... if I said no?" She asked being slightly curious.

"A kiss," Rohan said matter-of-factly, winking. "Cuh'mon, we can drop these books o'at mih dorm, 'n then head out somewhere." He thought grimly to his options in the small town. Edinburgh had so many places, little nooks and crannies he learned from his time perusing the city. This place, though. This place sucked.

They could stay at his room, but that was lame. At least for dinner.

Rohan took her hand in his, a warmth in the chill of the early-autumn breeze. "The air seems so dry 'ere," he remarked. "In Scotland, th'air is luik an ocean. It rains constantly o'der, it's a'most luik it's rainin' while it's rainin'"

Weather wasn't the most fantastic conversation starter, but it was safe. She was still a stranger, in a way; he wanted to ease himself in.

Rose was bit shocked for a moment there.. A kiss? Her hand gripped tighter at her notebook in her arms. If she had rejected him, he wasn't going to make her kiss him right? She was making a good choice by going somewhere with this person right? "Sounds fine.. to me.." She said softly. While she was still a nervous mess about this, she had her gift.. and if he tried anything she didn't like she could just use that right? Yeah.. She had to put some trust in this guy, she had to trust he wouldn't do anything bad to her.

She stiffened slightly when he had grabbed one of her hands, but relaxed after a moment. There was nothing wrong with hand holding. She mentally scolded herself for being so on edge. She let out a small breath to relax herself like her parents always told her.

Her brown eyes looked up from the ground in front of her, and to the boy that was walking beside her as he spoke about the weather and the air in the area. "I get what.. you mean.. at my home in... Louisiana.. I lived next to... a river... so the air always... had some.. humidity to it.." She stated. She was glad for the simple conversation starter. This way she wasn't too overwhelmed at the start.

Louisiana. Where was that, where was that? He knew piss-nothing about American geography, having a hard time locating on the map where North Dakota, or the state where he lived, was located. Nevertheless, he grinned. "I guess yih get mi plight." Rohan said, swiping his keycard a second time as the first gave the beep of an error. The second clicked, however, and he pulled open the heavy door, letting her step in before him. "How're the winters in Louisanya?"

Rose waited patiently as the boy opened the door for her. She contemplated his question for a moment before replying. "I would say... it's mild... since it's pretty far south.. it's go-" Her sentence was cut off as she had managed to trip over her own shoes going out the door Rohan held open for her. Her notebook falling out of her arms and land open face down on the ground. The spring girl managed to land on her hands, the force of hitting the ground causing them to sting slightly. "O-ow..." She said softly, cursing at herself for being so stupidly clumsy.

Rohan watched the girl fall, lurching forward but to no help, his position making him useless. She fell, and the boy winced. "Hey, hey!" Rohan stepped in, over her, putting a hand out to help her up. He gave a stiff smile, a concerned laugh. "Y'okay? Y'took a right tumble." If it was a mate he would be on the floor laughing, but he tried his best to keep his mouth straight and closed, his eyes...thoughtful. At the end of the day, he always spoke best with his eyes. "Whit happ'nd? Thought tih ground was pre'y leveled 'ere."