[right][sub]A Collaboration Between: [@Bee] and [@Lovely Complex][/sub][/right]

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[img]https://i.imgur.com/507ee0z.gif[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/cmghONE.gif[/img]

[sub][i]Featuring: [color=fff79a][b]Olivia Lee[/b][/color] and a sneak peek at [color=6a5acd][b]Benjamin Webb[/b][/color][/i][/sub]
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For such a flimsy object, paper sure had an unproportional amount of deadliness to it. Who let paper cut people? In any case, Olivia Lee was the latest to fall victim to the bane upon society known as paper. For whatever reason, the class she was in currently didn’t have any band-aids, so off she went to the Nurse’s office to snag a band-aid. This would also work as an excuse to not be in class, as Olivia [i]really[/i] wasn’t feeling it.

Letting herself into the office, she saw something that she wasn’t expecting to see. Was that someone on the bed? Why was someone sleeping here out of all the places on campus? Walking to the bandaid box, Olivia’s eyes couldn’t help but to be magnetized to the sleeping boy. Man, he was cute, and boy was he [i]huge[/i]. And were those… deadpool socks? Olivia liked this guy already, even if it he wasn’t conscious. 

Olivia was going to leave to leave the boy alone. The look on his face made him look so serene and quiet. As much as she wanted to stay she didn’t want to disturb the boy, thus she was just about to leave.

The flashes of anger and shouting, sirens, loud sirens, and fans panicking, trying to find their quickest escape. The soundless boy, wearing a loose grey shirt, wrapped in profound sleep, recalled the events of the previous night. He went out of his way to have a good time that night, only to get nothing out of it but a joke of a fight to watch. He was supposed to be the grand finale! No blood, no rage, no heroism. Instead, he watched the people run away from the ring on the church balcony by the organ. His employer, a dark haired siren of a woman, ran off one way, while a fellow… friend… ran off the other way with his new freckled face plaything.  The boy drifted back into consciousness when he saw someone he didn’t recognize in his mother’s office retrieving band aids, and back out. Random images seemed to float around his mind aimlessly. 

What time was it? 

Was it lunch yet? 

Begrudgingly, the mysterious and large boy groggily lifted himself up. Sleepily, he turned his head to the girl, still not processing who she was, but assuming she could only be one person, [color=6a5acd][b]“Ma…. did you… get... Korean barbeque... like you said you would?”[/b][/color] His words came out slow, as if he was still trying to come into present time. He had no idea he was talking to an actual Asian, so if he offended, it wasn’t his intention. When he didn’t get any response, he turned his head, his stomach growling, [color=6a5acd][b]“Maaaaaaa, I’m hungry.”[/b][/color] Only to realize who he was talking to was not his mom. Rubbing his eyes, he made sure that he was indeed looking at a stranger. 

Mortified. The unknown creature before the beauty was frozen in spot, embarrassed, with a tint of blush on his cheek. No one ever came to the nurse’s office around this time. What made today different? What should he say? Should he say anything? Stoic and with a blank stare, the boy cleared his throat and tried to fix his hiccup, [color=6a5acd][b]“...”[/b][/color] Say something! [color=6a5acd][b]“Hi.”[/b][/color] Well, that’s a start. 

Olivia raised an eyebrow. Ma? Who was ma? Was this dude a mama’s boy? Olivia  had a smile on her face. [color=fff79a][b]”Hi.”[/b][/color] The girl was rather amused as she heard him go on about korean barbecue. [color=fff79a][b]“Who’s ma?”[/b][/color] Olivia hoped this so-called “ma” was his actual mother and not just something she would rather not think about.

Scratching his head, he stood up and shuffled, socks and all, to the nurse’s desk grabbing a picture frame. He wasn’t one for words, nor the most sociable with people he wasn’t familiar with. In the picture was him, resting his arm on his step brother’s shoulder, Zachary Webb, and their parents, his dad Raymond, and Zach’s mom, the school nurse, Mimi. He extended his arm to her, the one that held the frame. Still, he didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say. Not even the simplest ‘my mom’ was entering his brain. 

Now that they were standing close to one another, their height difference was glaringly apparent, but the boy got that a lot with anyone since he was freakishly large for his age. He was sixteen, going on seventeen this summer. Where was Zach when he needed him the most? He was better at talking to people… better at talking to girls. Even for this boy’s size, he has learned to avoid the limelight. Not many people know he exist, and if they do, they think he’s just a visitor, someone’s college brother. 

[color=fff79a][b]”Mimi’s your mom?!”[/b][/color] Olivia took a look at a picture. Well golly day. Mimi was one of Olivia’s most talked to people in terms of school staff. Since she was in the nurse’s office fairly often, she’d gotten to know the school nurse pretty well. [color=fff79a][b]”Dude… I love your mom!”[/b][/color] Olivia exclaimed, placing hands on her cheeks.

[color=fff79a][b]”I’m Olivia, by the way.”[/b][/color] She remembered that Mimi had mentioned that she had a son or two a couple times, but she never bothered to ask about them. 

[color=6a5acd][b]“Step mom… but more mom to me than my actual mom.”[/b][/color] He didn't mean to say that. Why would she care about his damage with his actual mom? Okay, time to change the subject. This Olivia girl who loved his true mom, being all cute and touching her cheeks, knew too much already. She would ruin his strategic plan to coast through high school, barely getting noticed, if she wanted to get to know him more. He could not afford close friendships with the opposite sex. His mom would worry that he was [i]sleeping[/i] with them. [color=6a5acd][b][i]And yet, you hang out with girls like Meg.[/i][/b][/color] He awkwardly smiled, not scared, but not relaxed enough for it to be a genuine, confidant smile either. He was too shy for this. [color=6a5acd][b]“Benjamin...Ben… Benji… whatever you prefer.”[/b][/color] After putting the picture down, he went back and forth on his heels, anxiously waiting. Should he offer his hand? Or hug her? What was appropriate when you introduced yourself? Instead of doing any of that, he put his hands behind his back and clasped them together, [color=6a5acd][b]“Nice to meet you.”[/b][/color]   

[color=fff79a][b]”Benji? That’s a cool name.”[/b][/color] The fighter smiled. She’d honest to god had never seen this guy around at all. Olivia had been here for a while, yet this face was a foreign one. Olivia was good with faces, but for whatever reason this was evading her as if it were slathered in butter. With a guy as cute as  he was, there was no way she was going to forget it if she’d seen him before. [color=fff79a][b]”So what do you do around here? Do you just hang out in here all day?”[/b][/color]

[color=6a5acd][b]“No… yes… sometimes.”[/b][/color] He diverted his stare. She wanted to know all his secrets. This girl was like a detective and she was onto him. He wasn’t going to make it out alive.  [color=6a5acd][b]“I take the longest routes possible to get to my classes, to avoid traffic, then I convince my teachers to sit me in the back to avoid talking to people. In my locker, I have a maroon hoodie, which helps me cover my face, so if people do see me, they just think I’m a creepy loner, and they won’t want to talk me. I’ve learned the way you hold yourself can really determine how people feel about you. It also helps I’m kind of, uh, dumb.”[/b][/color] He wasn’t as dumb as the system labeled him to be, He simply had social anxiety which made him shy and not speak up when he thought he knew an answer, ultimately making him doubt himself and come across as a giant idiot, [color=6a5acd][b]“So I, err, take special courses.”[/b][/color] Ah, shit. He was spilling the beans. [color=6a5acd][b]“The nurse is just my cheatcode when I want to get a nap in before a test or something.”[/b][/color] 

[color=fff79a][b]”Oh so you’re one of [i]those[/i] people?”[/b][/color] Olivia leaned against the wall nearest to her. Honestly, she didn’t understand why people acted like this. You were going to be spending four years with these people anyway, so why bother hiding from them? It did more harm than good. [color=fff79a][b]”Really? I- uh wow. Why do you want to keep yourself hidden? Of course people are gonna think that if you act like that, but if you don’t I guarantee people would take more kindly to you.”[/b][/color] Olivia shrugged. He was a cute guy. She was sure that he was definitely going to attract people if he just presented himself better. [color=fff79a][b]”I wish I had a cheat code, though…”[/b][/color]

One of ‘those’ people. Did she have something against the learning impaired or in simple terms, the retarded? Benjamin narrowed his eyes, taking a step back in defense, but stopped when he felt the wall behind him, which was around the same time she stumbled over her next words. Hmpf. [color=6a5acd][b]“These people —”[/b][/color] He paused for a moment, pointing his right thumb towards the open door, which meant their school,  [color=6a5acd][b]“— suck.”[/b][/color] The simplest way to put it. His eyes locked with her’s, expecting to be taken seriously. Why waste his time with people who wouldn’t stay in his life forever? 

Honestly, though? Teenagers scared the shit out of him. The things they did to each other. How their words were weapons and they destroyed each other’s ego, pride, and self worth. It was a damn war zone. And now he was peeved. Thanks to this stranger. 

[color=6a5acd][b]“What would you know? How would you know? You’re not me, or my brother, or anyone considered ‘less than’ here. You thrive in the spotlight.”[/b][/color] Even on the ring, he had his face covered. He did like the praise he got when people thought he was a great reckoning, but they didn’t know who he was and that made his act a modest one with little to no reward. They praised a faceless fighter, not someone with a name. Not a celebrity.  Clenching his fists, his arms now dangling at his side, he sidestepped so he could walk around her to leave. [color=6a5acd][b]“Some of us, don’t want that.”[/b][/color] He walked past her, bent over to pick his shoes up, and dismissed himself, [color=6a5acd][b]“You’re one of [i]those[/i] people, I’m sure you can figure out your own cheat codes. Good day, Olivia.”[/b][/color] And with that, the Beast was gone.  

What just happened? Did Benji think that Olivia thought that he was retarded? Oh no. Oh nooo. That wasn’t the case at all. It was a very unfortunate understanding that Olivia wish that didn’t occur. She was talking about the fact that he isolated himself. With either case, it didn’t go too well. It was definitely one of those moments that kept you up at night because of how awkward it was. Great. Olivia sighed, biting her lip before exiting the office. 

That couldn’t have gone any worse.