"Ding-dong, is anyone in there?"<br/><br/>With a start, Evan awoke from his daze under the small but shady tree. He had been studying his textbook on computer mechanics, but his mind had started to wander, and he had become a little too comfortable after a while. As he regarded the familiar female voice, he pulled the hood of his gray jacket off his head, not needing to be distant with the young woman in front of him.<br/><br/>"Oh, Mary. Sorry, I was kinda thinking about something."<br/><br/>The petite dark-haired girl tilted her head, giving him a sly glance. She proceeded to take a seat right next to him on the grass under the tree, her shoulder brushing up against his. Evan started to sweat a little bit, which made Mary smile even more. The girl was one of Evan's first friends since he came to the city, being so social as to sit with him under the exact same tree the first day he started school. This had made him seriously nervous at first, since he wasn't used to speaking with people normally. But it was thanks to Mary that he learned how to socialize with other students, and make other friends. But even now, he would still get nervous in some situations, one of them being Mary's habit of getting really close to him.<br/><br/>Evan had a major crush on the girl, but he couldn't say it. Every time he tried to work up the courage, he would crack under pressure whenever she came by. This made him extremely frustrated. After all, he could survive on his own amongst dangerous animals, but he was too scared to ask someone out. So Evan just settled for being close to her, although sometimes she got too close, and he started to panic a little. Mary seemed to enjoy seeing him nervous when she was close, like she was teasing him.<br/><br/>Mary pushed up against Evan's shoulder, with that mischievious grin of hers, and looked him in the eye, "What were you thinking about?"<br/><br/>This caused his sociophobia to kick in, and he avoided her gaze, his hands shaking a bit, little sweatdrops on his forehead. He immediately pulled his hood up again, which he usually did when he didn't want people to look at him. The sociophobia was one of Evan's major flaws, as it kept him from doing certain things.<br/><br/>"N-nothing much. It wasn't really i-important anyway..."<br/><br/>He heard her give a small giggle, and he knew that she was enjoying teasing him, "Oh really? Well I know what you'll be thinking of now."<br/><br/>This peaked his curiosity, and he pulled his hood down a little to look at her, forgetting his phobia. But before he could ask, the girl grabbed a part of his jacket and pulled it close, and soon her lips were pressing against his. A few seconds later she pulled back, and just leaned back on the tree, smiling without a word. For a long time he just looked at her, wondering what had just happened. After processing it all, he slowly pulled his hood up over his head again, looking down, a little embarrased. After a while, Mary leaned forward to look at him, most likely wondering if he was okay. He looked her in the eyes, and smiled sincerely, happy with what had just happened. She giggled again, and proceeded to kiss him once more.<br/><br/>After the kiss, she got up, said goodbye, and started to walk towards the building to get to her last class early. He watched her leave, her long dark hair flowing graciously behind her. He smiled again, and packed up his stuff to leave for class as well, even though there was still some break period left. As he was walking, he passed by a group of guys, and then felt a hand pull his shoulder back. As he was whirled around, he saw the guys all looking at him. He then recognized the group as punks who would pick on other students<br/><br/>"Hold up bro. We saw what happened with that cutie back there," there was a whistle from one of the guys, "Now how does a nerd like you know a cute girl like that?" He gave Evan a dirty look, like he couldn't believe that he and Mary had kissed.<br/><br/>He avoided the guys glance, and tried to just walk away, but the guys mates had surrounded him a bit. There were other people around, but they didn't look like they were going to do anything. So without looking up, Evan answered quietly, "I don't want any trouble alright? I just wanna get to class."<br/><br/>But he was pushed back when he tried to leave, "You didn't answer my question. What makes you so special? What do you have that I don't?"<br/><br/>Evan started to get annoyed, "An IQ above 5, for one."<br/><br/>The man looked at one of his friends, laughing like it was a funny joke, then abruptly threw a punch. This showed the man's first mistake, he assumed Evan was just another guy he could push around. Keeping his hands in his jacket pockets, Evan stepped back from the man's swing, watching as he lost balance and tipped forward. After that Evan just bumped the guy as he walked past and made him fall, "Laters."<br/><br/>But the punk wasn't done with him yet. He immediately got up and pulled at the back of his jacket. As Evan was swung around, another punch was thrown. Evan spun and ducked under it, kicking his opponents leg out from under him, knocking him off balance. A slight elbow to his chest knocked him to the ground. The 22 year old then looked at the rest of the gang with disdain, challenging them to try something. When they failed to follow in their friend's footsteps, Evan just walked away.<br/><br/>Keeping his head down, he felt another hand, in front of him. He looked up annoyed, but his face changed to surprise when he saw Mary with her hand to his chest. She looked up at him and smiled, "Walk me to class Mr. Slick?" He laughed, realizing he had been seen, then nodded, and she proceeded to cling to his arm. As they walked they started talking about normal stuff. He was thoroughly enjoying himself, but then he felt something, like another presence was around.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">You must come to Tarranu, the circle must be formed.</span><br/><br/>This prompted a splitting headache, and he immediately held his head in pain. Mary stopped and looked at him. "What's wrong? Are you not feeling well?"<br/><br/>He shook his head and shook it off, "No, I think I'm just tired from everything. I'll be alright." He smiled, but she didn't look too convinced. She tiptoed, and kissed his forehead. This produced a sheepish grin from him, and they continued walking to class.