Broken. Wasted. Hated. Shattered. Alice sat in the back of the room, avoiding attention as those words swirled around her dark figure. Her eyes, a mysterious shade of green, clouded with dreams and framed by a thick layer of eyeliner, stared down at her desk. Its surface was now covered in phrases of disgust left by her peers. She was used to it by now, the other girls in class, and she relieved herself of some of the pain through newly discovered ways.
          Her fingers delicately traced the lines slashed up her arms, hidden by her black hoodie to everyone but her, as she was sure no one else paid her any attention.

          Kody sat on the edge of the class, near the girl, Alicandra Johnson, who seemed to always be alone. He watched her often, each time struck by a new level of awe at her unspoken beauty. Her sandy hair threaded with golden shades, cropped haphazardly close to her head and sticking up in every direction. Her eyes, which Kody had seen up close every day so long ago, were shrouded by something dark; they held every ounce of wonder on earth. He couldn’t understand why she felt the need to cover herself, to hide in the back. She had always been breathtakingly gorgeous, even after all of her suffering.
          The two of them had been in all of the same classes since they were kids. They had been best friends, even dated once (if you could call it that) in the seventh grade. She used to talk so passionately, speaking with a fire that radiated for miles away. Opinions and ideas left her powerful mouth, painting pictures in listeners’ minds and echoing off their imagination. Inspiring people. Inspiring him.
          Near the end of middle school, Kody had heard about the death of Alice’s cancer-ridden father, how it had destroyed her spirit, distinguished her sparking fire. And that’s when the other kids started to pick on her, when she was at her weakest. She’d always been self-conscious, both about her weight and her premature curves, but she had never let people get to her like that. She started to sit in the back and shut herself out, succumbing to the bullies’ words, believing no one would help her, no one would notice.
          But Kody noticed. He noticed so intensely that he could feel her pain, feel the agony of her heart shredding to pieces. He hated seeing such a beautiful spirit reduced to such a shadow. And he hated that he couldn’t help her.
          The bell rang, signifying the end of class and the beginning of lunch. Alice was the first one out the door, slinging her bag over her shoulder and dodging other classmates. Kody watched her retreating form, dying a little inside, still planted in his chair.
          He was pulled out of his reverie by an echoing laugh. His head turned. Brooke Killian, a softball-playing, super skinny, super tall girl whom everybody knew, and the biggest source of suffering for Alice. Kody stood, not wanting to watch any further interaction between her and her friends, as it was too cruel and sickening for even him, who’d never been bothered by them before. 
          He wasn’t an unpopular person, but he wasn’t the star quarterback either. He was just another student. Not very noticeable with his silver eyes and hooked nose. He was an average height and a bit on the broader side. Pale. Freckled. Not gorgeous, but by no means ugly.

          Alice clutched her bag in her fist, spinning the dial as fast as she could.
          “Alice,” called a threatening voice behind her. She briefly closed her eyes before dropping her arm and slowing turning around. Brooke stood before her, her red hair jaggedly stopping at her shoulders, her face more pink than natural, and she was flanked by two others.
          And then the insults came. And the questions, the accusations. One after another, each one followed by a fit of laughter. Alice stood her ground, waiting for them to go to lunch, which shouldn’t have been a long wait.
          It felt like an eternity.
          A loud crash reverberated through the hall as Alice slammed her back on the lockers and slid to the floor.

          Kody walked to lunch alone, having told his friends to leave him while he dealt with his stuck locker. He whistled quietly to himself until he rounded the corner and was interrupted by the sound of gasping for air.
          He stopped. There was a girl sitting on the floor against the lockers, knees to her chest and head in her hands, her body wracking with quiet tears. A dark hoodie shrouded her curled body. Alice.
          Coming closer, Kody knelt beside her, pulling her hands away from her black-streaked cheeks. She flinched away, her head shooting up to look at him. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion when she saw her old childhood friend beside her, the same boy who hadn’t spoken a word to her since eighth grade.
          “What do you want?” she choked, her throat still foggy from her sobs.
          In that moment, an agonizing blast of guilt spread through Kody’s being. For not helping her in a time of need. For not standing up for her. For staying silent as the girl he loved suffered. He could have been there, should have been there. But he didn’t know, at the time, what to say to her. How to help. He couldn’t relate, with his happily married parents and welcoming home.
          He released her wrists and sat down beside her, tears of his own threatening to spill. How could I have been so selfish? “I’m so sorry, Alice. For leaving you. It was wrong and stupid and awful and painful, and I hated it, too. But I couldn’t have helped you.”
          Alice’s full attention was on him now, processing his admission. The words scraped his throat and mind like his body was rejecting them, but they had to be said. His eyes locked with hers, reading her unspoken question.
         “You needed to help yourself first. To cope with your father’s death. But I wasn’t there after you finished that step. I wasn’t there to lead you to the next one. No one was. And now you’re here. We’re here.”
          On its way back to the ground, Kody’s gaze locked on Alice’s wrist, where he had just held her. There was something on the skin there. Quickly but gently, he retrieved her sleeve and slid it up her arm.
          Alice tried her best to cover herself again in time, but Kody had already seen the scars, seen the marks that his selfishness had led to. He nodded to himself once before standing, offering his hands to Alice. It was such an unexpected and unfamiliar gesture, but she felt a warmth deep in her heart. She knew it was what she wanted, what she needed, even if she was hesitant to show it.  Reluctantly she accepted and stood up, coming eye-level with his chest.
          Kody pressed Alice against him, wrapping his arms warmly around her small body. It took a moment for her to respond, but she hadn’t felt a kind embrace in such a long time that she slipped her arms around him, too, twisting her fingers into the back of his shirt, crying into his warmth until the tears were gone.
          “Thank you,” she mumbled against him. It was the first time anyone had heard her voice in a long time. “Thank you.”
          Kody smiled.  Alice was not completely broken. She was willing to let herself heal. To let him help her. “Do you want to go to lunch?” he asked.
          Immediately Alice tensed in his arms, picturing the cafeteria full of tormentors and turmoil. Her, sitting at her table. Alone. Again. On the receiving end of unkind glares and gestures and rumors. Slut. Emo. Freak.
          But Kody stepped away from her and slung his arm across her shoulders, ushering her to lunch.
          The room fell silent upon their arrival, everyone turning to them, confused that the outcast was with someone else. Kody ignored the unsteady quiet and led them both to Alice’s otherwise empty table.
          Alice was amazed, a slight blush creeping up to her face. He hadn’t abandoned her like everyone else had told her he had. He apologized for leaving, and he meant it. She smiled tightly -- the first hint of happiness in years -- and scooted closer to Kody, molding perfectly into the crook of his arm, as she accepted the sandwich he offered from his bag.
          The silence in the room was fading, students going back to their own topics of conversation. Lunch passed by, Alice finally  hopeful, Kody hyper aware of Alice’s warmth mixing with his own, both of them silently vowing to never leave each other again as Alice reached up and pressed her lips to Kody’s freckled cheek, whispering to him words that would never be enough to express how she felt.
          “Thank you.”