Seven

                                                                            Aimee

Aimee watched as the students climbed into the school bus. She couldn’t say why she didn’t go in immediately, or why she didn’t take Cindy and Nica up on their offer to sit together. All she knew was that her eyes were on the figure standing apart from the others, away from the noise and movement, with the hood of his hoodie covering more than half of his face.

Yesterday, he had seemed so out of it that she hadn’t known what to do. And after hearing him play a lighter piano piece for the first time, after leaving the music room with a small smile on her face because her silent wish had finally been granted, she hadn’t expected him to look even more withdrawn today than before.

She wanted to speak to him. Wanted to ask if something was wrong. But every single time, she stopped herself before she could take that step toward him.

Finally, he approached the entrance of the bus, and Aimee found herself moving too, following behind the student who climbed in after him.

She stepped inside, her eyes sweeping quickly through the bus, and just as she expected, he was sitting at the very back, alone.

Aimee ignored the curious glances thrown her way as she walked down the aisle.

Jayden looked up, and that was when she caught sight of the swelling beneath his left eye. Her fingers clenched tightly around the strap of her bag and she paused slightly, her gaze fixed on him.

However, Jayden looked away almost immediately and shifted closer to the window, leaving more than half of the seat for her.

Aimee could tell he hadn’t expected anyone to sit beside him. She also knew none of their classmates had planned to. But she had already moved before she could think properly, driven by the need to understand what was wrong with him and why he seemed so distant today, even more than usual.

Their teacher said a few words and listed out rules before settling into the seat beside the driver, and soon, the four-hour journey began.

At first, the bus was loud with conversations and laughter, with their teacher warning them to keep the noise down more times than Aimee could count. But two hours into the trip, people slowly started falling asleep, and Aimee sighed softly in contentment at the quiet that gradually returned.

She tried not to become overly aware of the boy sitting beside her. This was the closest they had ever been to each other, close enough that she could faintly catch his scent.

He didn’t seem like someone who used perfume or body spray, and she could tell the soft refreshing smell lingering around him was probably from his body wash instead.

It was mild. Clean. Calm in a strange way.

And without meaning to, Aimee found herself wanting to breathe it in again just so she could properly figure out what scent it was.

She remained carefully on her own side of the seat, her gaze fixed outside the window as trees and houses passed by in blurred motions. She counted silently in her head, wondering how many more hours were left before they reached their destination.

She hadn’t wanted to attend the field trip before. She had planned to stay back at school and spend the day quietly on her own, but at the last minute, she had registered for it anyway, and now she found herself strangely looking forward to whatever new thing it might add to her life.

She had tried studying the history book she picked up in the library yesterday while waiting for Jayden to show up, but she still couldn’t understand or remember half the things she had read. Perhaps seeing the real places would make more sense to her than words printed on paper ever could.

Aimee didn’t know when she first became aware of the sound, but gradually, she realized she could hear faint piano music.

Her face turned unconsciously toward the boy seated beside her.

His hood still covered most of his face, but she saw the phone pressed to his ear and heard the soft piano piece drifting quietly from it. He had lowered the volume enough not to disturb anyone, but the bus had become so silent that she could still hear it clearly without trying.

Aimee wondered why he didn’t just use earphones instead. Not only would the music sound clearer, but his hand wouldn’t have to remain lifted for so long.

Almost unconsciously, her fingers moved to the headphones resting around her neck. She had brought them along in case Cindy and the others became too talkative during the trip, but now she found herself wondering if she should give them to him instead, since he seemed to need them more.

Yet even though she thought about it, she didn’t take them off.

Instead, she turned back toward the window, tightening her fingers slightly around the headphones to stop herself from acting impulsively, and quietly listened to the music along with the unsuspecting boy beside her.

***

The frontline wasn’t as interesting as Aimee had expected it to be.

Although she appreciated every soldier who had fought in the war, and silently wished peace upon those who had died protecting others, the history itself simply wasn’t something she could deeply connect with.

But watching Jayden experience it was different.

That alone somehow made the trip worth it.

Even with his hood hiding part of his bruised face, Aimee noticed the injury every single time he moved. Perhaps he had managed to keep it hidden from the rest of their classmates, since no one else seemed to pay him much attention, but she had already seen it on the bus, and now her eyes kept finding it without permission.

When they visited the old soldiers’ camp, most of the boys immediately grabbed abandoned helmets and pretended to act out war scenes while laughing loudly with each other.

Jayden only stood back and watched them.

And for the first time, Aimee felt like he was truly looking at his classmates instead of past them.

Maybe he was imagining himself among them.

Maybe he wanted to join them.

Maybe he wanted to laugh the way they did.

She didn’t know.

But somehow, she could feel it.

She could feel that he wanted to pick up one of the helmets too, wanted to write one of those fake goodbye letters the tour guide showed them, wanted to pretend to be wounded alongside the others like every other teenage boy there.

She just didn’t understand why he kept stopping himself.

Still, even though he wasn’t fully participating, he looked content.

His eyes lit up whenever the tour guide introduced something new, and every time their teacher added more information, Jayden listened with an attentiveness Aimee had never seen from him inside the classroom.

Out of everyone there, he asked the most questions. At some point, he even slipped into an actual conversation with the tour guide, answering questions so easily that Aimee noticed the proud smile on their teacher’s face almost immediately.

She didn’t realize she was wearing nearly the same expression herself.

Because without noticing, all her attention had settled completely on Jayden and the small smiles that occasionally slipped through his guarded expression.

Aimee realized then that she wanted to see him smile more.

And somehow, that thought lingered inside her longer than it should have.

His smile made his honey-brown eyes brighten in a way that reminded her of sunlight reflecting over ocean water, soft and warm and impossible not to look at.

It was so pretty that sometimes she almost forgot about the bruises beneath his eye entirely.

For the first time in a long while, Aimee didn’t regret attending something.

Instead, this field trip was slowly becoming one of the best decisions she had made since moving here.

The journey back home was far less smooth than the trip there.

After getting stuck in traffic for nearly two hours, everyone on the bus became exhausted and irritable, Aimee included. By then, all she wanted was a long hot bath and sleep.

When the bus finally came to a stop again, she opened her eyes sleepily and looked outside, expecting to see the school parking lot. Instead, they had stopped near a public restroom.

Some students immediately climbed down from the bus, and Aimee guessed someone must have requested a stop.

She was about to close her eyes again when movement beside her made her glance up.

Jayden was standing.

Almost instantly, she sat up too, wanting to follow him while also not wanting to make it obvious.

In the end, she stayed inside the bus.

She watched absentmindedly as students slowly returned one after another, but when nearly everyone had climbed back in and Jayden still hadn’t returned, worry slowly began creeping into her chest.

The bus would leave soon.

And because he always kept to himself, she doubted anyone else had even noticed he was missing.

After waiting another minute, Aimee finally stood and climbed down from the bus.

She approached the restroom quietly and paused outside the men’s entrance first, listening for movement. Hearing nothing, she hesitated before deciding to quickly use the women’s restroom while she was already there anyway.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t expected the bus to be gone by the time she came back out.

And she definitely hadn’t expected to find Jayden standing outside, looking completely calm, as though he hadn’t even realized they had been left behind.

He looked slightly surprised when he saw her.

The weak overhead light cast shadows across his face, making the bruises beneath his eye appear darker than before.

Relief loosened something tight inside Aimee’s chest at seeing him unharmed, though it was quickly replaced by worry when she remembered her phone and jacket were both still on the bus.

The evening breeze had grown colder too.

She rubbed her hands together quietly, trying to warm herself.

Jayden said nothing to her, and she didn’t say anything either.

Instead, she walked toward one of the poles nearby and leaned lightly against it, silently waiting for someone on the bus to finally notice they were gone and come back for them.

But the waiting stretched longer than she expected.

The air kept getting colder.

Soon, rubbing her hands together wasn’t enough anymore, and she found herself hugging her arms tightly while silently praying the bus was already on its way back.

The sun had completely set during the traffic delay, and now she couldn’t even tell what time it was anymore.

What if nobody noticed?

What if they kept driving?

Aimee thought about her father and stepmother. Thought about how worried they would become if she didn’t arrive home at the expected time.

And worse—how furious her father would be if he discovered the school had abandoned her.

Aimee shut her eyes briefly and prayed it wouldn’t come to that. The last thing she wanted was her father storming into school and creating chaos or threatening people the way he always did whenever something involved her safety.

A sudden movement in front of her made her flinch lightly.

She opened her eyes and looked down at the hoodie being held out toward her before slowly lifting her gaze toward the person offering it.

Jayden stood there quietly, one arm stretched toward her.

For the first time since that morning, she saw the bruises beneath his eye properly. It looked worse up close, like he had taken several hits instead of one.

Aimee wondered who could have done something like that to him.

Jayden turned his face away slightly, and only then did she realize she had been staring too long.

She quickly took the hoodie from him and slipped it on, immediately sighing softly at the warmth spreading through her body.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

The very first word she had ever spoken to him.

Jayden only nodded once before stepping back again without looking at her.

Aimee smiled faintly to herself and pulled the sleeves over her cold fingers before lifting the fabric slightly closer to her face.

That same soft scent lingered there too.

Fresh. Clean. Faintly floral.

Lotus, maybe.

She couldn’t fully tell.

And a few minutes later, headlights finally appeared in the distance.

The school bus came rushing back toward them, and the moment it stopped, their teacher climbed down immediately, apologizing over and over while several students apologized too for not realizing they were missing sooner.

But Aimee only smiled softly.

Because somehow, that little accident had confirmed what she had quietly believed about the lonely piano boy all along.

He wasn’t arrogant.

He wasn’t detached because he thought himself above everyone else.

He simply carried his kindness differently from other people.

And the hoodie wrapped around her shoulders was proof of it.