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	The moment the final bell rung, chaos erupted through the halls from kids eager to begin summer break. But Isadora Caldwell, known as Izzy to, well, everyone, sat at the back of the now empty classroom with her head in her arms, listening. Waiting for the halls to clear.
	To the students shouting jubilantly in the hall, the bell’s obnoxious song was a promise of long days at the pool, of good times with friends at summer camps. It was a declaration of [i]freedom.[/i] But for Izzy, it meant trying to avoid thinking. With not so much as a book assignment due after the summer, it meant long days spent alone, and even longer nights lying awake, with only the shadows to talk to. It marked the beginning of three months of trying to avoid people, especially her younger brothers and one Lucas Hall, who had recently begun to try reconnecting with her and had a job lined up at the local post office. But she always brushed him off, or slipped away. The only thing friends had ever brought her here was heartache and pain.
	Indeed, the only promise the bell held for her was that of a long, boring, worthless summer. Though, perhaps not [i]entirely[/i] worthless if she could find a paying job opening. She had overheard more of her classmates talking about leaving town for the summer, the lucky dogs, so maybe she would actually have a chance this year. The more she could save, the sooner she could leave after graduation. And at least there were always the wooded areas around the place. They, at least, granted some comfort, a sense of peace so long as she remained in their embrace.
	Finally, the sounds died away as the other kids and many of the faculty left. She lifted her head and, to add just a bit more time to be sure she had waited long enough, put the lengthy back half of her straight, chestnut brown hair up in its usual ponytail with a scrunchy she had around her wrist, the front part caressing her face to just above her chin. Satisfied, she grabbed the folder she had with her, and entered the deserted system of hallways.
	Gathering her backpack from her locker and ignoring the glares the janitors waiting to start their jobs gave her, she made her way down a set of stairs. With the front doors in sight, her pace quickened, her shoes ready for the taste of earth beneath them, her soul hungry for the solitude that flowed between the trees. Or, at the very least, the openness and freshness of the air beyond the school building.
	She paused as she stepped outside, letting the early evening sunlight wash over her face. Only a couple empty cars still sat around the road and gravel-covered school parking lot, making the place look all but abandoned.
	With nothing but arguments with her brothers to look forward to at home, Izzy glanced around the grounds and began her usual after-school walk, this time letting her feet carry her wherever they wanted to take her. Though she had her drivers license and a bike at home in the garage, nothing beat the satisfaction of traveling on her own two legs. Even if she would have had her own car.
	She headed down the sidewalk, the road beside her riddled with ugly, brown puddles leftover from a rain the previous night. The water sparkled beneath the slowly sinking sun just before one of the dark clouds hanging in the sky blew over it.
	Izzy turned her attention to the length of sidewalk awaiting her, wishing she had brought her walking stick with her. Ahead, a boy from her grade walked toward her. She recognized him as Trevor Hansen, a boy with a reputation as classy as his dark hair, white shirt, and khakis. He even wore his pair of glasses in a way that somehow made them look like they might be the next fashion style. Though Izzy never followed the gossip and rumors, in a school as small as hers, it was hard to [i]not[/i] know who he was, even though she had never had any classes with him: top of their grade each year, popular... nearly everything Izzy was not.
	She moved to the edge of the sidewalk so they could pass eachother, his attention fixated on his cellphone, as a lone car drove by.
Its wheels sliced through a large puddle, sending a deluge onto the sidewalk that drenched him, leaving him standing there with a stunned look on his face.
	Izzy could not help but stop and stare as his shock turned to disgust. His once pristine shirt was now a muddied, translucent mess. It clung to his body, accentuating his muscular form beneath and making his chest of dark hairs stand out. She tried to suppress a laugh at the sudden change from looking sophisticated to uncouth, placing her palm on her chin so her fingers would hide the smile pulling at her lips.
	Only when he gave a reserved laugh did she realize exactly how long she had been staring at him, and how close they stood to each other. Even so, she could not look away from the sight even as he wiped his glasses off on the only remaining dry portion of his pants and looked to her with his handsome steely blue gaze. Izzy cocked her head slightly, trying to remember if his eyes had always been that shade, but could not recall.
	[b]“I, uh... guess I’m all wet.”[/b]
	The awkwardness of the statement made the laugh lurking at the back of Izzy’s throat burst free in a snigger.
	“Yeah, I’d definitely guess that, too,” she said, her lips quirked up in amusement. She glanced to the sidewalk, the darkness of the concrete where the water had hit showing exactly how close she had been to being equally as soaked. “Have fun washing that!” she added as lightly as she could with a nod to his shirt as she began to slowly walk around him, her head turning to take in the comical sight of him for just a moment longer.