The Making of a Friend

[Odion Martins]

Odion hadn’t been in the cafeteria during prime lunch hour for quite some time. There was a good reason for that. The last time he was here, Rhett decided to adorn his lips with a kiss, his first, in front of the entire student body. The redhead hadn’t really been bothered about it, but every time he set foot in the cafeteria his face turned almost as red as his hair. This is why he ate when everyone was in class, or at least when not every single table was filled.

Things with Rhett were going well. Odion guessed they had been dating for a couple weeks now, if a single date could count. Still, they kept in touch via text and detention and once the older boy had simmered down from losing Rhett, Odi looked forward to spending some more one on one time with him again. For now though, he was on his own, without a single friend to call upon.

Parading through the crowds with his tray, the ginger nearly tripped over and spilled his food on a girl who was sitting at a table, but he froze time and rearranged everything so nothing would dump onto her; which would be a real shame considering how gorgeous she was. Returning time to normal, his dark blue eyes crossed to her, an apologetic smile on his face. He hoped she would put two and two together and realize he was a time manipulator, one moment about to dump food on her the next all was well. Before he said anything, he made note of how no one was sitting with her. Now why was it that in an otherwise full cafeteria, no one was sitting with her?

“Sorry about that love, I’m usually light on my feet,” he said with a thin lipped smile, taking a step back from her to give her breathing room. Odion was going to ask to sit, but he simply glanced at the empty spot across from her, hopping she would invite him instead.

(Belle.)

[Belle Harrington]

Belle sat quietly at the cafeteria table, she had taken to coming for food during times that there were not as many students. She didn't like being overwhelmed by all the students, and didn't want to risk the chance of running into someone who would tease her.

When Belle wasn't with Lucah, she found that she spent most of her time alone, either studying, wandering, or just doing nothing. So here she was, alone, again, and doing nothing. Well actually, she was trying to eat, but before she could eat her first bite, someone knocked into her.

She looked up just in time to see a red-headed boy, and his tray of food. Her eyes widened, because from what she saw she knew all that food was about to be all over her.

But by the time finished blinking, Belle noticed the dark blue eyes on her. What had happened? She was expecting all of the boy's food to land on her. How could it change in just a blink of an eye? But then Belle remembered where she was. 'A Time Manipulator,' She thought to herself, smiling right back to the boy.

When the boy began to speak, Belle couldn't help but notice the boy take a step back, in what she assumed was to be out of her face. She also noticed the boy glace at the empty spot across from her seat, "Th-th-that's okay," Belle said timidly at the boy, "W-would you l-like to sit?" She asked softly, before sitting back normally in her seat.

"I-I-I'm Belle," the blonde haired girl said shyly to the boy. It was weird that this boy wanted to sit with her. Didn't he know who she was? The bird girl. The "bird-brain." The girl with the horrible stutter. A lot of people knew who she was, and some of them teased her about it.

But Belle wasn't going to complain, it was nice to have the opportunity of making a friend.

"S-so you're a t-time m-manipulator?" She smiled softly, her green eyes starring interestingly at the ginger haired boy.

[Odion Martins]

The redhead knew he was on the right track when the girl’s look went from surprise to pleasure, obviously glad a brigade of food hadn’t been thrown onto her. What Odion hadn’t expected was the slight stutter from the girl, but he really didn’t mind, not when she was asking him to sit. “Happily,” he said in reply, sitting across from her at that point. He wondered if she thought he had ‘accidentally’ on purpose tripped over her in order to talk to her, but Odi quickly remembered that not everyone was as tricky as he was.

Honestly, Odion had no idea who she was or what her reputation was, but if he did, he wouldn’t care. “Belle,” he said, a bit of an Italian accent on the word. “It suits you perfectly as a definition,” he said with care, picking up a fork to pick at his mashed potatoes. The ginger nodded when asked if he was a time manipulator. “I’m Odion by the way, I just transferred here from Kocher,” he said, eating the fluffy white garlic flavoured potatoes. He wasn’t sure why he was sharing this with the girl, but she seemed too innocent to really use such information against him. Yet again, so did he.

“What about you love? What are your powers?” He asked, his accent shifting into one a little more French. Odion was a bit strange that way, having travelled most of Europe and living in different areas while learning the native tongue made his English a little weird sounding. He tried not to do it very often, but something, like breathing, it just happened automatically. His dark blue eyes held her green ones steadily, trying to pinpoint her. Sweet Belle, pretty, nice, anything else he should know?

[Belle Harrington]

Belle smiled as she watched the boy sit down across the table from her. It was nice to have someone either than Lucah to share her lunches with, and finally someone who actually seemed to want to sit near her. It was nice to have someone who could potentially become her friend. A friend. Belle smiled softly at the idea that this little ginger haired boy could one day be her friend. He seemed nice enough, a look of innocence of his face.

When the complimented her, saying that her name meaning beauty suited her appearance, Belle couldn't help but blush. She was used to Lucah calling her beautiful all the time, but to hear it from someone else's mouth was a small boost to her ego, and she couldn't hide the slight pink that rose to her cheeks.

"Odion..." Belle said quietly to herself after the boy introduced himself to her. It was a strange name, one she had never heard before, but she had also noticed how the boy's accents seemed to change with each sentence. And when the boy spoke of coming from Kocher, Belle's face lit up. Lucah was from Kocher, he had to go to Kocher because he was from Romania and then transferred to Hammel. "M-m-my boyfriend is f-from Kocher t-t-too. Wh-where did you c-come from? H-he's f-from Romania..." Belle said, trying to find some sort of connection between her and the boy.

Belle smiled when the boy asked what her power was, "I-I-I have w-wings," she said quietly, trying to speak loud enough that only the ginger haired boy in front of her could hear. "L-L-Like a b-bird," She said with a smile on her face. She had started becoming more comfortable with her power, she loved the idea that she was almost like a bird. She didn't even mind Mia calling her a bird brain anymore, she was just happy being who she was now.

"Y-Y-Your accent. It k-k-keeps changing..." Belle finally spoke up, after his accent went from Italian to French.

[Odion Martins]

Belle was blushing and Odion was smiling at his accomplishment. He wasn’t surprised to hear she had a boyfriend, however he was surprised to hear he came from Kocher. The ginger was mentally kicking himself, hating that he had given away too much information, which had prompted more questioning from her. “Maybe we know each other,” he offered instead, holding his smile despite the fumble he made. He didn’t want to get close to anyone here, not intentionally anyways.

So she had wings huh? Somehow that didn’t surprise the boy, “Wings?” He thought about this a little more, trying to imagine them on the girl. “Yes, I can see them.” He smiled, wondering why she was speaking so softly. Was she ashamed of them? “I bet they’re as lovely as the rest of you,” he said, trying to wiggle his way into her realm of trust.

He was also glad he didn’t have this power – he was terrified of flying in general.

“It happens a lot actually,” he said, feigning embarrassment. Odion knew this was something he did every now and then, but ‘belle’ sounded better in Italian than it did in French in his opinion. He wasn’t about to explain his history to her though, having been abandoned by his family and forced to live in Europe on his own. He seriously doubted she would pry him further.

“So why are you sitting alone if you have a boyfriend?” He asked, finishing off his potatoes. Maybe he should be asking himself the same thing – not that he was alone any more.

[Belle Harrington]

Belle couldn't help the look of excitement that fell over her face when Odion said he might know of her wonderful boyfriend Lucah. She always became excited when it came to talking about her boyfriend, and she hoped that this boy knew who her amazing boyfriend was.

"H-h-his name is L-Lucah I-Ivaskov," she said with a giggle, "D-do you know h-him? I-I'll have to ask him if h-he's heard of you t-too. Th-th-that would be amazing!" She smiled, and giggled again. "Sometimes, i-it can b-be such a sm-small world!" She said with a laugh at her reference to Disney.

Belle couldn't help but blush again as the ginger haired boy continued to compliment her appearance, she wasn't used to someone basically calling her beautiful over and over again. And he said he could imagine her wings? She wondered how they looked on her, in other people's eyes. "M-m-maybe one day I-I-I'll show you..." She said with a soft smile on her face. "I-I still h-haven't t-tried flying on th-them yet..." Belle said with a small frown, she was still too afraid to fly on her wings, but hoped that one day with enough support and training she could get her feet off the floor.

She felt comfortable around the time manipulator, he seemed to be a genuinely sweet guy, and she couldn't understand why he was being so nice to her. But she shrugged it off, sometimes she allowed herself to believe that there were some good people in the world.

Belle's mind came back to reality when Odion asked her why she was sitting alone while she had a boyfriend, and the blonde haired girl smiled softly and shrugged, "H-h-he's been busy lately w-with sc-school work." She sat there quietly thinking of her poor boyfriend sitting alone in the library and working on his studies. Sometimes she wished he would get away from the books and spend time with her, but she knew how important Lucah's studies were to him, and she wouldn't do anything to pull him away from them.

"W-w-w-why are you e-eating alone...?" Belle asked curiously, handing the question back to Odion.

[Odion Martins]

Odion smiled at the innocent girl’s excitement. She was a true sweetheart in every essence of the word, and if someone was worth redeeming in this world, it was her. “When did he attend Kocher? I just transferred from there after all,” he said, trying to see what the time line was for this, Lucah, for attending Hammel before he gave too much of his own information away. Belle was only excited to talk about her boyfriend of course, and Odion thought of her love for him as the purest kind. He admired her in some ways.

“I would love to see them,” he said, “but don’t try taking me when you do try, I’m terrified of flying. Period.” He said, trying to make her feel less embarrassed. Her stutter went virtually unnoticed for the time manipulator, who was patient and often lost track of time. It was a great thing for the two of them, as Belle probably wouldn’t mind if he spaced out every now and again. “You have time to learn,” he said, a lazy grin on his face.

Odion nodded, “You have a good, studious man on your hands I see,” he said, now complimenting the unseen boyfriend. It was easy enough to play the nice guy. The ginger continued to munch quietly at his food, until the next question was sprung. “I like being alone,” he said, it was a partial lie. He didn’t always like being alone, but at least no one could get close enough to hurt him. That had happened too many times with Rhett. “Nobody likes the new guy anyways,” he added, this time with a small grin, his dark blue eyes glancing down at his food. Also a lie, he was becoming the butt of various rumours, and fast.

[Belle Harrington]

Belle hit a mental wall when Odion asked when Lucah had come to Hammel. She then realized that she had never asked him. She was shocked that she didn't know just how long Lucah had been at Hammel. With a small frown, Belle's eyes fell onto her own food, "I-I-I don't kn-know exactly h-how long h-he's been here..." She said softly, tucking some of her blonde hair behind her ear. A little bit of red rushing to her cheeks in her embarrassment.

When the subject was turned to her wings, Belle let out a small sigh of relief, she didn't need to think about how little she seemed to know about her boyfriend. "I-I-I'm sc-scared of flying t-too," She said looking up to the ceiling, "I-I'm scared of f-f-falling to my d-death." She said, her green eyes falling back down onto the dark blue eyed boy. "B-b-but maybe w-w-we can help e-each other o-out with o-our f-f-fears," She said with a sincere smile.

The tiny girl lit up when Odion complimented Lucah, "Y-yes, he is v-v-very st-studious, h-he's going t-to be a v-very important man one day." She said with a soft sigh, as she thought of an older Lucah. The girl almost had to stop herself from drooling over how attractive she imagined Lucah to be. Time, in her mind, only aging her electric blue eyed boyfriend better.

When the gingered haired boy told Belle about how liked to be alone and how no one liked the "new guy," Belle sympathized with him. She was used to being alone, and knew how it felt to always be alone. There were some good times, but there were also those bad times where you wished that there was someone else there with you. With a soft genuine smile, Belle held out her hand to the boy, "If th-there are t-times you d-don't like b-being alone, I-I-I can h-help you out," she giggled softly, "A-and I like you, y-you seem v-very sweet."

[Odion Martins]

Odion smiled softly, probing the girl for no further information on her boyfriend. He really wouldn’t care if the subject never came up again. Coming to Hammel was like having a fresh start, and the last thing Odi wanted, was to see a familiar face. He was only trying to be polite to the blonde sitting across from him, and he could afford her the mercy of not pestering her about why she didn’t know this information about her boyfriend. Still, the ginger secretly wondered it to himself.

“I’d like to help you any way I can,” Odion said, taking a strange and different interest in the girl. “It’s not like anyone is asking you to throw yourself off a building and start flying, you have to start from the ground up,” he said. That’s just how life had worked for him anyways. They could train together or something, that would prove useful. If she got top scared, it would only take a matter of moments to paused the situation, right her body, and set her on the ground without causing any harm. The redhead smiled softly, not mentioning his fears. He wouldn’t be flying again anytime soon.

The ginger considered what she said, “Does one need to have education to be important?” He was curious as to what her opinion was on that. In other words, would she still be with Lucah if he wasn’t inclined to apply himself in school. Belle seemed a little lost in la la land though, and Odi shrugged. If she hadn’t heard him, it was quite alright with him, he was just in a philosophical mood. It happened sometimes. His interest in her answer was also a bit selfish, as he had no interest in studies past high school, and he was curious to see if the two of them would get along beyond this one, chance meeting.

The extension of her hand came unexpectedly, but Odion took it swiftly and planted a butterfly kiss on her knuckles, before releasing it once more. “Likewise,” he said simply, a sheepish smile on his face. He had duped her wholly. Not that the ginger wasn’t sweet, he could be. But he could be a lot of other things too. Odion was a social chameleon, winning people over where he thought it was necessary. He seemed innocent and he played it well. Still, this time around, there was something truly genuine going on.

“Sure your boyfriend won’t mind?” He asked then, his teasing, flirtatious nature finally coming through. Odion paid no heed to possibly making Belle think he was a creep. She would find out soon enough that he was taken, and she needn't fear a thing about him. Yet.