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It was late fall when you first bumped into him.
Quite literally, actually.
It was almost comical the way that it happened. The bell had already rung meaning you were late to your first-hour class, so naturally, that led to you booking it down the hallway as fast as you could. You reasoned that you didn't want to make yourself any later than you already were, and besides, who else was there to stop you anyway?
Oh, how mistaken you were.
As you rounded the last corner to get to your classroom, you suddenly crashed into another person, the lower part of your face making contact with something... hard? Last time you checked, humans were squishy and made of flesh, not stiff like a wall.
You didn't have much time to think about it though, since you were quickly losing your balance. The weight of your heavy backpack pulled you down towards the ground, causing you to fall back with a loud thud.
"Ouch..." You murmured softly to yourself. As the shock from the collision slowly began to wear off, you reached a hand to touch the bottom of your chin, quickly recoiling a bit after you felt a dull sting from just that small amount of pressure. Between that and your backward fall, you were sure that a couple of annoying bruises were going to pop up later.
"Are you okay?"
A gentle voice cut through your train of thought. It was soft and masculine, yet slightly muffled; but even so, you could understand it all the same. You looked up to see who it came from only to have your gaze met with a pair of the most kindest, bluest eyes you've ever seen. They belonged to a boy standing a couple of steps away from you, one hand bracing himself on the wall of lockers to help regain his balance. You also quickly noticed he had electric blue hair styled up in two pigtails and a white mask with a slightly discolored pink patch covering his face. Ah, you thought silently. So that's what I bumped into.
It took you a hot second to realize that he was still patiently waiting for a response.
"I... I'm so sorry-" You managed to squeak out as embarrassment began to slowly spread across your cheeks.
"It's alright, I was more surprised than anything. Here, let me help you up," he replied easily with a soft chuckle, walking over to you and offering his hand to help you get up. You take it gently, allowing him to help you up off the floor. You couldn't help but notice how cold yet soft his hands were. "Are you sure you're alright though? That sounded like it hurt... they made this thing as hard as rock."
He gave his mysterious mask a tap, causing a small knock to echo softly through the empty hallways.
"Yeah... I think I'll be okay. I can take a bruise or two." You gave him a small, reassuring smile. "Again, I'm really sorry for running into you... I probably shouldn't have been running through the hallway like that."
"No, you're good! No need to worry about it, really." He dismissed your apology with a small shrug of his shoulders. "By the way... I like your hoodie."
The hoodie in question was black with the Sanity's Fall logo printed on it. You had found out about them earlier in the year and fell in love instantly. The only downside was that since they were a fairly new band, you've had yet to meet another person who knew who they were... until now, at least.
"Thanks," you replied with a smile. "Do you listen to them often?"
The boy nodded as he began to speak. "Yeah dude, my best friend Larry's obsessed with them. You could say he's converted me as wel-"
"Hey! You two!"
He was cut off suddenly by another voice behind you, though it wasn't one of a student. "Why aren't you in class?"
"Good morning, Mrs. Brown," the boy greeted the teacher politely as she made her way over to the two of them. "I was on the way back from the restroom when the two of us had a small collision as we both rounded the corner. It's all taken care of now though." You nodded in agreement with the boy's statement, silently hoping your silly mistake didn't end up getting the two of you in trouble for nothing.
"I see..." the teacher said, eyeing the two of you suspiciously. "Well, if it's all taken care of, hurry along to class now, both of you."
"Yes ma'am."
"Will do, Miss."
Seemingly pleased with your responses, the teacher turned to leave for wherever she was going originally.
"Well... you heard her, we should probably get back to class now," the boy stated. "It was nice talking with you."
"Yeah, you're probably right." You nodded in agreement. "And same here, it was fun talking with you as well... despite the whole running-into-you-and-bruising-myself-up ordeal," you added the last part with a soft laugh.
"Haha, yeah, fair enough." You noticed his eyes crinkling a bit behind his mask, which you interpreted as him smiling at you. You gave him a small smile back before you both turned to leave in the direction that you were originally going.
"See ya." He gave you a short wave as one last goodbye.
"Bye," you said in response.
It was only when you reached your classroom that you realized you never caught his name.