“Will you go out with me?” The voice above me asked gently.

I finished tying the shoelace of my school shoe before glancing up briefly. It was D.O. He looked back at me with a face bearing a curious expression. His dark brown hair was messily tousled, some strands swaying over his eyebrows whilst others were pushed back away from his face and out of harm’s way. His jawline was currently hidden as he was looking down at me, but from what I recalled, it was perfectly chiselled like the statue of an angle. His facial features were no help either, I wanted to run my fingers down his nose which went down in a neat line to then be rounded perfectly off. His heart shaped lips were pressed together, indicating the idea that he felt uneasy. Perhaps he was feeling a bit off, with suddenly asking me out, but I wasn’t one to flatter myself and had come to the conclusion he had a bad day. What caught me off guard the most were his eyes, they were bigger than that usual and were something that could easily be misinterpreted. Nevertheless, I could see a hint if distraction glistening within them, but also some seeds of desperation. I highly doubted that he wanted me to say yes that badly, perhaps he just wanted to get this conversation done and over with.

“What?”, I was still taken aback by his abruptness, it was the first thing he said to me all day since I had only last spoken to him in my chemistry class yesterday- we were still idiotically being assigned seats, as if we were too young and immature enough to pick ourselves. Therefore I was placed next to him.

He sighed, not with frustration at me, but simply to having to repeat himself, “will you go out me?” his voice was soothing.

I released the pressure off my right knee which had to support my body from meeting the concrete floor outside our school. Then I calmly stood up and grabbed my backpack which had sat down next to my crouched body as I re-did my laces. I shoved my back pack and slung it carelessly over my shoulder, even if D.O was made out to be this god-like creature, I wasn’t naïve enough to want to make an effort in front of him and be someone I clearly was not. I brushed my knees and got rid of the tiny stones which stuck to them from the ground.

“Why?” I wasn’t testing him, but I knew D.O since we were kids. We weren’t even close friends is an accurate way to put it. But I grew up around my friends to know that our brief encounters in class and over the past years were not enough for him to suddenly want to ask me out.

He flinched back at me in surprise. Clearly he hadn’t expected that as my response. I couldn’t help but laugh mentally to myself, D.O was one of those people who had chosen the wrong type of friends to hang out with. Back when we were younger, he was a sweet and cute boy, but the moment he hit 13, he changed. 13 was an unlucky age for some I might say, it gave those the idea that they had more authority with such things as responsibility. As a result: they would do stupid things. Not many saw the change in D.O that day he came in striding confidently with his hands in his pockets, a kind of swagger I had never seen before. But I could see it- there was a glint of determination in his eyes as I saw him walk into our form room, for what? I may never know, but to be honest I didn’t really care.

“Why not?” he’s voice firm, but I could sense I hint of aggravation. His face became expressionless rather than curious, but I saw a little tick in his jaw as he spoke this.

“There’s no proper reason for me to want to go out with you” I stated simply, my tone in its ‘mater-of-factly’ state.

“But all the girls here want to go out with me” He muttered ever so quietly, just enough for me to hear him. Despite his blank expression and stern tone, I could tell by his choice of words, that he was dumbfounded I didn’t straight up accept him. I couldn’t help but pity the guy, he was confident and determined from what I saw in class, but now it seemed as if his ego had been hit and permanently dented by a garbage truck.

I raised an eyebrow and said “life isn’t all what it seems” I heard that quote somewhere and would always remind myself of it if events in my life had gone wrong unexpectedly.  It helped most of the time, but those few hardships that I went through had shifted mounds of disappointment and sadness towards me had caused the quote to go unnoticed.

“What reason should I give you, so that you can go out with me then?” His eyes flickered with the same determination they usually withheld. Now that was a question even I hadn’t expected from D.O, sure he wasn’t unintelligent in class, but he wasn’t an A grade student either, even though I could tell he should be. This sparked my interest in the conversation overall and I was beginning to become more than willing to speak to him further.

Now what had he said? Oh yeah, what reason did I want to give him, if he wanted to go