Meet Mr. Way

Silence. All she could hear in those huge, white hallways was silence. And she liked it.
It was one of the pros of being one of the few to not go home during the weekend, not having to deal with some of the others girls, with the way they looked at her, or the way they whispered when she was around. She didn’t understand why they did that, but it really didn’t bother her. She was the new girl in class, the one that had moved from a ‘normal school’ to catholic school and the one that was half Hispanic. On her mother side. Very proudly.
For some, the abandoned halls could seem rather intimidating and brought from a horror movie, but somehow it soothed her. The certainty that no one would appear to bother her or ask her another million questions was one of the reasons why she had decided to not succumb to the pressure of going home. It wasn’t as if someone would miss her.
The building was enormous, and the decoration could be considered horrific, yet she found herself enjoying the time she had to explore it. Of course, she had no idea where exactly in the building she was right now, but that didn’t frighten or stop her. No, she wanted to discover the dirty and hidden secrets of the place, to keep to herself and use as she pleased.
Steps. She could hear someone’s footsteps behind her, calmly making their way to where she was, aimlessly roaming through the middle of a dark hall when the clock was reaching nine o’clock in the evening. Should she run, or simply continue her march as if she knew where she was headed?
Gaining courage, and keeping her calm and uncaring look, the brunette turned and spotted a bright blonde head. It was a male, she had come to that conclusion rather fast, and his eyes were glued to a phone on his left hand, as his right was occupied with an old book that the female had recognized to be ‘The Perks of being a Wallflower’. He was, she had quickly come to the conclusion, a little bit of a cliché.
She casted her eyes down to the books she was carrying, reading the words ‘Lord Of The Flies’- the book assigned by her English teacher - over and over again, expecting that he wouldn’t notice her small self and ask her what she was doing at that time of the night in that God forsaken hall. She heard the throat clearing sound.

“You shouldn’t be here, you know?” She turned to find the man smiling softly at her. Who was he, after all? She had never seen him before and he didn’t quite fit in that catholic environment. Who would hear a bright blue suit with a white shirt and a red tie in a catholic school? Or in any other place as a matter of fact? What was he trying to do, mimic the U.S.A. flag? Or was today the Fourth of July and she didn’t remember? All the students there were girls, most teachers were women and the men she had seen definitely didn’t look like him.

He must have realized the confused look she was giving him, so he slowly lifted her hand to touch her shoulder. “Are you okay? Hablas inglés?”

She quickly looked him in the eyes. Was he joking at her?

“I am aware that normally no one should be here during the weekends, but I decided to stay, so I am allowed.” She bit back at him, realizing that perhaps her tone was a bit too defying.
He had practically spoken to her as if she was an illegal immigrant in America, and she was not taking that lightly.

“Am I speaking English now?” For all she knew, he could merely be a cleaner or any of the sorts. It was not likely that he was a teacher, all of hers were women, and this was an all girls’ school after all.

The answer earned her a very hearty laugh and a nod of his head. “I can see that you are a student, then. Although, and you can trust me on this, I know the rules around this Institution.” The male offered her a playful and not at all flirtatious wink. “Why have you not gone home like the others?”

Now he was trying to get too much information, and the female held back a groan. There went the amazing opportunity to not have a million people asking the same questions over and over again, as if they were machines.

“I simply decided not to go. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have no clue on who you are and I was always educated to not speak to strangers.” She was proud of her answer, which led to her smirking. “Have a good day.”

Turning her back to him, the female rolled her eyes, something that she had been preventing herself from doing in front of the male, and returned to her path, walking as if she knew where she was headed.
Half an hour later, the girl still didn’t know where she was heading and, as curfew time slowly approached, she started to become nervous. After 10 o’clock students had to stay in her rooms and they were only allowed to leave the next day in the morning. She didn’t know if these rules applied on weekends, but honestly, she didn’t want to find out. She turned right, then left, arriving at a bigger hall. That one seemed familiar, like one of the main halls she was used to walk by, with paintings that she had seen before. As the brunette reached the end of it, the sound of a door closing echoed in the hallway. And a few seconds later, footsteps. She slid back around the corner, out of sight. Heavy footsteps echoed on the tiles along with murmured voices. One of which she recognized as belonging to the man she’d met before. She saw another man walking next to him, as both passed by the place where the girl was hiding, but none of them noticing her. She got up and peeked at them. Maybe it was better if she followed the two men, they could lead her out of the building, where it would be easier to find the student dormitories.
She walked lightly, trying to remain as distant as possible. The two men walked for a while, walked down a set of stone stairs and after a couple of minutes she saw them leaving the building toward the parking lot.
She took a deep breath. Now she knew where she was, all she needed to do was run to her dorm and try to stay away from shady places in that school. She didn’t want to meet any more weird people.

Notes