You Find Crystal and a Frenchman

You walked across the school's blacktop, walking from the front parking lot in order to head to the ones behind the building. Today has been a hassle. Who the hell was even stealing your shit? They managed to steal your bag from basically under your nose; it was barely a few feet away from you, and the only one preoccupying your attention was Lillian. Though you suppose that girl was such a nuisance that she'd be distracting enough for anyone to sneak by you, Hopefully you didn't share any classes with her; the fact that you had to even share the same air as her was probably the biggest insult you'd ever have to endure. There's no way the other five students can be worse than her. You were nearly halfway done with this- ...Did you give Lillian one of those purple slips?

You reached into your pocket and pulled out six slips of paper. You had started out with nine since Han had been taken care of by Crystal, which left you to take care of Kallaicone, Miyamoto, Menna, and Lillian. Except that would mean that you'd have five slips left, so that meant you didn't give one of them a slip. That clearly was Lillian; your encounter with her was hectic as all hell; you had lost focus on your goal. You should probably head back and hand her one...On second thought, you'll just leave that to Crystal; the less you have to deal with Lillian, the better. Such an annoying individual! How can one person be so hateful to another person for no reason?

You continued your way around the building; you met with what should have been an unusual sight but was rather normal for you by now. That being a Colombian Criollo with chestnut coloured fur grazing on the grass in fields surrounding the school. This was nothing new, just Hernández, the horse Mónica rides to get to school. The horses stopped grazing for a second to look at you as you walked past it. "Fuck off, Hernández!" You shouted while flipping the domesticated animal off, as if it understood you. "I hope you get turned into burger meat, you equine-fuck!" You insulted. Man, you really fucking hate that horse. Really hate the way it looks at you.

Well, now you are even more miffed than you were at the start of this walk. Your day was ruined by that encounter. Not only that, your feet were starting to hurt from walking across the asphalt without the protection of your shoes. You hope to God there's an open entrance behind the building, or you might just give up for the day.

You passed by several different entrances as you circled the building, leaving you with one more left, the one all the way in the back near the bleachers of the track field. As you got closer to your destination, you began to hear the sound of people talking, which was a great sign for you.

"One, you're not supposed to be out here, and two, you're still not allowed to do that." You heard the sound of a woman screeching. You recognized that voice; it was Crystal. Maybe you should turn around. You'd rather not get involved with whatever this was; you've already dealt with plenty of annoyances in one day....Actually, you know what? Fuck it, your curious person. You walked around the corner that was cutting off your view of the conversation and instantly spotted two people, one being Crystal, obviously and the other was a man.

Standing nearly a head taller than Crystal, he was a slender yet muscular Caucasian man with some of the longest legs you've seen on a person. He had messy brown hair; it was as if he had woken up and decided not to brush it. The man also had these big-ass sideburns—ones that traveled down his face, reaching down to his jaw. Compared to other students you encountered, his outfit was less exotic or extravagant. He wore a dull green military jacket, an untucked grey v-neck tanktop that left some of his chest partially exposed, and black cargo pants. Though that didn't mean he didn't have anything strange about him. Starting off were his boots; they were long, traveling up past his knees, but what was really strange about them was the metal plating on them. Welded onto the front and back of his boots, leaving a decent-sized gap from the side to show off the black leather underneath, were these beat-up metal plates that traveled about halfway up his boots. It seems like he was taking steel-toe boots to the next level. The next thing of note were the belts wrapped around his legs, abdomen, and chest. Some of these belts had empty holsters and pancake sheaths on them, but a lot of them didn't seem to have much of a purpose other than hugging his clothes closer to his body, showing off his slender frame even more. There was also a main belt that was around his waist; this belt had a massive silver buckle in the front, which had a Gallic rooster embroidered into it. On his left hand was a black leather glove that lacked fingers for the pinky, ring, and middle fingers. There were also dog tags hanging from his neck; these had a rounded rectangular shape to them. Most notable was how damaged he appeared. All across the parts of his body that were visible, there were scars. Slash, gunshot, and burn—he had them in all types of shapes and sizes—really made you wonder what the rest of his body looked like. He had only his left blue eyes visible; the other was underneath an eye patch, if it was even there in the first place. The eyepatch was a make-shift one, made of white bandages similar to those that people wore after getting cataract surgery. There was also a bandage over his right ear, along with a few pins on the helix of his ear, most likely to keep it in place.

The man was leaning against the wall near the entrance of the building, a lit cigarette clenched between his teeth and an annoyed look on his face. He didn't look like he belonged to this school at all; he was far too old and looked like he should be running drills back at a military base. "Why's that? I'm outside, and I can still enter the building whenever I please." The man asked. His voice was a bit husky, with a really thick French accent. If he were French, that would mean he lined up with Zacharie Martin on the roster sheet that Crystal had handed you earlier. And honestly, he was far from what was considered conventionally attractive, but for some reason, he was doing it for you. Your heart was beating like crazy, and heat rose to your face just from staring at him. He just looked so cool.

Zacharie motioned his head toward the back door, which was wide open with a green duffle bag keeping it in place. Guess he had the same idea as you, with a little more success given that he didn't have a thief running around stealing your stuff. "One, it doesn't matter if you're outside; you're still not allowed to smoke on school premises!" Crystal berated, leaning back from Zacharie so as not to breathe in the smoke from his cigarette. He seemed to smoke them quite a lot since you could smell his from all the way where you were standing. "And two, you can't leave the building whenever you like, especially when there are classes going on!"

The Frenchman simply shrugged in response, "I need a break." He replied, twitching his cigarette upward as he smirked.

Crystal's eyebrows twitched in frustration. "I thought you were here to get an education? Most people like you don't get this chance; you dropout degenerate." Crystal reprimanded him further, to which Zacharie simply rolled his eye at. He was a high school dropout, which explained why he was at a high school, but why this one? Were the ones in France not willing to give him a chance? "I have no idea what that university sees in you, but you're wasting your chance!" Alright, Crystal, just read your mind. Why dontcha?

Zacharie raised a hand up to his mouth, placing her cigarette in between his scared index and ring fingers, and pulled the cylinder of tobacco out of his mouth, letting out a large huff of smoke right into Crystal's face. "Degenerate, huh?" Zacharie looked off to the side while Crystal frantically started to wave her hand in front of her face to ward off the smoke. "You barely know me; best not go off saying things like that already. Besides, I don't see you yelling at him either." Zacharie placed the cigarette back into his mouth as he pointed toward you.

Your face lit up with embarrassment; you had been spotted. Here you were, hiding behind a corner, listening in on a private conversation like a creep. You chuckled awkwardly as you revealed yourself, "Sorry, didn't want to interrupt." You apologized meekly.

Crystal stopped waving her hand in front of her face and turned around to look at you, her face shifting into surprise before immediately going back to looking annoyed. Zacharie let out a chuckle before beckoning you over. "No, by all means, go right ahead."

Like a jazz musician's drum solo, your heart beats intensely, reverberating throughout your entire body from just this man acknowledging you. "Yes, sir!!!" You shouted in euphoric joy with a blush on your face before clasping a hand over your mouth. You've barely known this man for less than a minute, and you're already head over heels for him. He should be careful what he says next, because if he asked you to get on all fours and bark like a dog, you'd do that shit in a heartbeat. You were going to need to show a little bit of self-restraint here.

Crystal narrowed her eyes at you over your little outburst, not taking them off of you as you awkwardly trudged your way over to her and Zacharie. It was as if she was looking at you with suspension, but she quickly shrugged it off. "And what are you doing out here?" The Asian girl demanded.

You ran a hand across your face as you recollected yourself "Came out to go deal with Lillian-"

"That's a tragedy." Mr. Martin quipped, briefly interrupting you. It would seem that not even the students that came with her got along with her.

"Came out to deal with her," You restated. "Because that's my job now, and cause she was out here for whatever reason. Ended getting locked outside because I did the same thing," You quickly pointing to Zacharie's bag resting next to the door, "and then some cow-molester stole my fucking bag." You explained yourself, turning around to show off your bagless back.

"Okay, but don't you have class right now, and where are your shoes?" Crystal interrogated further while pulling out her notepad.

You rolled your eyes. Crystal was more interested in catching you for an infraction than dealing with an actual problem. "Actually, no, I don't. My class was cancelled." You answered with defiance; you weren't too interested in listening to Crystal desperately try and get you into trouble. Wasn't this whole slip thing supposed to be a way for you to stay out of detention in the first place? Crystal remained unfazed and simply gave you an impatient look as she awaited your answer to her third question. Sadly, all the defiance and confidence that you had earlier quickly disappeared. "...Those also got stolen." You meekly responded, looking down at the ground in shame. Your bag was one thing, but getting your shoes stolen was just ridiculous; you'd much rather not explain yourself.

Crystal's lips quirked up in confusion before she quickly shook her head and began to write something down on her notepad. Were you seriously going to get in trouble for someone else's action again today? "Oh what? Is it against the dress code?" You groaned, sarcasm dripping in your voice.

Crystal finished writing. "Actually, yes, it is." Crystal responded to your question, her voice mocking the way you had answered her earlier. "I'm letting you off with a warning; be lucky I'm in a merciful mood." Crystal stated, an ever-small hint of shyness in her voice, before ripping the paper from her notepad and placing it in your hand.

Your eyes fell down to the words on the paper. What was the point of giving you an infraction slip if you weren't getting in trouble? 'Infraction: Ugly socks' was written down on the note, which you slowly began to crush. Your eye twitched slightly; she was taking the piss out of you.

There was a slight smirk on Crystal's face as she turned away from you, almost as if she didn't want you to see it. Didn't know she actually had a sense humor, sad it came in your expense. Though, Crystal would soon return to her normal demeanor as she turned to face Zacharie. "And you, put out that cigarette, at once!" she demanded. Zacharie shook his head in annoyance before slipping the cigarette out of his mouth and motioning his hand to toss to the black top. But before he could do that, the Control Freak would interrupt him. "Do. Not. Liter." She emphasized every word that came out of her mouth.

Zacharie glanced over to you in disbelief; you could only shrug in reassurance. You just had to deal with it; there's nothing else anyone can do in Crystal's presence. Zacharie let out a huff, though it was in annoyance rather than to let out smoke. The Frenchman then grabbed on to the sleeve of his jacket and pulled it upward, showing off the scars on his arm. You were rather perplexed as to why he did this, though that would be quickly replaced with a different type of confusion as you watched him press his lit cigarette against his bare skin in order to put it out. Zacharie didn't so much as flinch as the charcoal tip seared against his flesh. You and Crystal didn't say anything; you could only watch in disbelief. Crystal had a look of discomfort on her face, while yours was deadpan. It wasn't because you had become adjusted to things like this, but because you were trying to hide your true expression. He was so hot. Once it was out, Zacharie lifted his hand back out, letting his sleeve drop and closing his hand into a tight fist. He rubbed his fingers against his palm, crushing the cigarette, which caused some ash to fall from between his fingers.

Leaning forward, Zacharie took a hold of Crystal's arm and brought it toward him. She barely reacted to this as she was too stunned by what she had seen earlier; she was practically frozen in confusion, only being able to react and not act. Zacharie then dropped the torn-up cigarette into her palm before closing her fingers around its remains. Finally, Crystal found herself able to move, her head slowly craning up to stare at the scarred man, disgust, disbelief, and rage all present on her face. She could not believe the audacity of this man. Zacharie just gave her a toothy smile in return, giving her two pats on her closed hand before returning to leaning against the wall.

Crystal stood there for a moment, seething in rage. She looked as if she was about to have an outburst, but to your surprise, she shut her eyes closed and took in a deep inhale. Her chest raised up high as she filled her lungs up to the max, and once they couldn't take in anymore, she let out a mighty exhale. "Just take these slips, I'll be seeing you after school for the next week." Having managed to compose herself, Crystal pulled out one of the purple slips along with a generic detention slip and put them forward for him to grab.

But Zacharie didn't move, merely glancing down at Crystal's hand before looking back up at her face, an eyebrow raised. "Why should I take that?" He cockily asked, knowing full well why but wanting to piss Crystal off further. Crystal gritted her teeth; she was doing her absolute best to keep herself from blowing up.

Crystal opened her mouth up to say something, but you quickly interrupted her; you had to get in on this as well. "You want one of my slips!" You called out.

Crystal turned toward you, an extremally vexed look on her face. "Found him fir-"

"Sure!" Zacharie grinned in this really cute way, you couldn't explain it any other way. You just found it really cute. For the first time in this whole interaction, Zacharie got off of the wall and began to make his way over to you, a metallic tang sounding off each of his steps. You tried to contain how giddy you were at this moment as you held a purple for him to take. His hand then wrapped around yours which nearly caused you to let out a squeal of excitement. He wasn't just taking the slip, he was giving you a hand shake. "By the way, name's Zacharie. Zacharie Martin." He greeter, smiling warmly at you.

You already knew that, but you didn't care. Smiling dumbly, you introduced yourself. "My name is Sam. No last name." The two of you didn't let go of each others hands after that, just awkwardly standing there shaking each others hands in silence as you smiled at one another.

Crystal narrowed her eyes at this sight, her eyes shifting between both you and Zacharie in suspension. "W-what's going on here? Do you two know each other?" Crystal spoke up, having finally decided to interrupt the silence.

"Nope!/Nah." Both of you answered in unison, not bothering to look away from each other.

Crystal was left there standing in silence, blanky staring between the two of you. Eventually she shook off her trance a began to walk away. "Just get back inside the building, you two." She ordered, her voice sounding defeated. "I'm going to find a trash can and grab Lillian." The Control Freak mumbled to herself, as she speed walked away.

Once Crystal was out of sight, you and Zacharie let of each other's hands, the scarred man taking the slip out of your hand as you pulled yours back. "Guess we should finally listen to her." Zacharie brought a hand up to his messy hand to pull it back, only for it fall back into place as soon as it left it.

"Guess so." You responded, too braindead to think of anything else to say at the moment. Zacharie walked over to the door and grabbed his bag. As the door began to swing shut, the Frenchman quickly wedged his foot between the door and pulled it open enough for you and him to walk through. Upon entering the school once more, you finally came back to your senses. "...Those two are going to kill each other after five seconds." You joked, wanting to at least have one real conversation with this man.

"Oh yeah, definitely." Zacharie nodded while reaching into his bag and pulling out a pen, holding it out in way that made it clear that he was offering it to you.

"Oh, thank you." You gladly took the writing utensil; you were going to need something to write with for the rest of the day since your bag was somewhere. "This probably doesn't mean much coming from a teenager like me, but Zacharie, you might be the coolest thirty-something year old that I know."

Zacharie's single eye widens in surprise as he whips his head in your direction. "Thirty?! Pensez-vous que j'ai trente ans?" He asked you, it sounded as if he was seconds away from bursting into laughter. You had absolutely no idea what he had just said, but you could tell that you may have messed up. You could only respond by pursing your lips together in an attempt to hide an awkward smile, though that was enough to tell him everything. "I'm twenty-one!" The former soldier let out a chuckle as he shook his head.

He was twenty one? Him only being three years older than you made a lot more sense for him to be walking around a high school. Though he still looked way older than that, easily mid-thirties at best. You squinted your eyes at him. "Why are you lying?" You jokingly accused.

Zacharie chewed on the inside of his cheek for a bit before holding out his hand. "Give me back the pen, Tête de noeud." Zacharie demanded, his voice breathy from the chuckle he was holding back.

"Yes, sir." You slapped the pen into his hand. You lost that thing in record time. It's not that big of a deal, though; you can just ask Lex if you can borrow one of her pencils next period. You watched as Zacharie began to walk off, heading down the B-Wing hall. "See ya!" You waved at him.

Zacharie lifted his hand up in a half-assed wave in response. "Tchao." Soon Zacharie disappeared down the hall; the only thing that you could make out was the sound of his metallic footsteps. In all honesty, he was pretty cool; you wouldn't mind seeing more of him...Beyond reasons besides him being really hot.

You pulled your phone out of your pocket to check the time; you had about a minute before your next class started. You were probably going to take a break from searching for the other five students; just settle down for the next few classes. You glanced down at your sock-clad feet. Well, settle down as much as you possibly can.