walk around the park --open

[benjamin noah raff]

Ben jumped up after hitting the snooze alarm for the 5th time. It wasn't until then that he had realized he hit it that many times. "Fuck" he muttered, stretching and looking around. He hated sleeping in, but he hated waking up more. He went to the bathroom and slowly got ready. Once done he went back to his room and changed into a plain, white shirt and blue jeans. He slipped on his old, worn-out, once white sneakers and was running out the door when he stopped suddenly. He turned back and grabbed his cell and keys. Once again he headed to the door, stopping again. He muttered to himself "Dammit.. what'd I forget?" Ben sighed, walking to the kitchen, feeling defeated. He almost forgot breakfast.

He ate quickly and was out the door for good, jogging down the street and heading to the park. He was going to play a little guitar... never mind, he was going to go for a walk. His guitar was still sitting next to his bed. That wasn't going to stop him, though. When he reached the park he slowed to a walk and quietly hummed to himself, not really paying attention to what was coming out. A mix of the Beatles, some Queen, The Who, a little country.. anything and everything with a beat. While he hummed, he looked around, watching everything but not really paying attention to what was going on. He shoved his hands into his pockets, then pulled out his ipod. "That's where it went." He put in his ear buds and continued humming, except now he had some music to hum along with.

[sofia emily porter]

Sofia woke up as he clock radio ticked on, playing that god awful Rebecca black song called Friday. Sofia quickly shut it off before the song even made it to the chorus. She laid in silence, just staring at the celing. It was her freshman year in collage and she still didn't have many friends. Most has stuck with their friends from high school while Sofia was left without due to all her old friends being back in Australia. She had only been in America for a few months when collage had started. She had grown tired of the Australian heat and had needed to get away from it all. America was different then she was use to but it was a nice change. Sure she liked America but she missed her friends even more. She thought of Jacklyn, her overly happy best friend. Sofia had made it her goal to speak with her every night. Sitting up in her bed, straightening out the lilac bed spread, she picked up her phone, smiling at seeing she already had a good morning text from her family. She quickly replied before pulled back the covers and getting out of bed. She walked towards the small bathroom in the corner of her dorm. Upon entering she closed the door behind her and looked in the mirror. Her brown hair was slightly frizzy from just waking up, her green eyes shinned bright beneith thick lashes, her skin was a pale white, unusual for being from one of the sunniest countries in the world.

Sofia quickly looked away from the mirror and went along the process of brushing her hair and teeth. She checked her phone which she had set on the side of the sink for the time. She still had time for a quick jog in the park like she did most mornings. She grabbed her sports bra and matching blue shorts changing into them both before leaving the bathroom. She walked into her bedroom, sitting on the edge of her bed as to put on her white and blue tennis shoes. Sofia stood up going to the small pantry she kept in the corner. She opene it grabbing a blue berry gernola bar from the box, sitting back on her bed as she flipped on the tv checking the weather as she ate. Finishing up her gernola bar she stood grabbing her keys and iPod. She left her dorm, locking the door behind her. She walked from the building crossing the street approaching the park. Putting her iPod in her arm band she put on teenage dream by Katy Perry as she started to jog through park, staying on the paths.  She ran at a steddy pace making her way through the park. She looked down at her iPod as to change the song but didn't see the rock that rested on the path. At her neck step she tripped falling face foward on to the path with a slight scream. She laid there for a moment before pushing herself into the sitting position, her leg stretched out before her. "shit" she cursed, her Australian accent coming through as she saw a line of blood falling down the length of her leg. Now what was she gonna do. 

[benjamin noah raff]

He listened to song after song, only one other thing keeping his attention. He checked his watch every few minutes. It was a habit of his, something he picked up to keep himself from always being late. Not that it really helped much. He couldn't remember a time when he wasn't late to a class or meeting. His professors didn't care, but it bothered him a little. He grew tired of coming up with new excuses every day, even if he never needed them. He checked his watch again, hoping to get to his next class on time. Again, it wasn't like his professor really cared, especially in this class. He could have missed and nobody would have noticed. He shrugged; it was one of the best things about not really having any close friends. Nobody yelled at him for being late. His mother never did anything to him. He kinda felt like she had given up on him. He didn't really blame her, but with an older brother that flew through school with straight As and a younger sister on the same path, he figured his mother felt better focusing on her smart children. If he father cared even a little, he wouldn't have left them fifteen years ago. He didn't mind getting ignored like this. It wasn't like he was neglected. His mom made sure he had everything he needed. It was just school that she stopped caring about his grades. It was probably about the same time he stopped caring.

He glanced down as he walked past a girl sitting on the path. It wasn't until a few steps later that his mind processed what he saw. He turned and walked back to her. "Uh.. you ok?" He felt a little awkward asking. He had just walked past her as if he didn't care, but he really did. He just didn't think about it until a few seconds later. He looked her over, wondering if he knew her from somewhere. She looked a little familiar; maybe she went to his college. It was then that he noticed the blood. "Oh, damn. That looks pretty bad. Did you trip?" Again, his thoughts here shooting out of his mouth. He didn't mean to sound so rude about it. Trying to remedy the situation, he spoke again, hoping to show that he really was concerned. "I mean.. let me help you?" He reached a hand down for her to help her up.

[sofia emily porter]

Sofia didn't pay attention to her surroundings as she brushed some dirt from around the cut hoping to avoid infection. She didn't look back up until she heard a voice next to her. She looked up, her green eyes squinting at the sun to see a boy standing above her, asking if she was alright. "uh yea I'm fine. Just a little cut." she said, her australian accent thick as she spoke. She shook her head wiping some of the blood off with her hand for lack of anything else to clean it off with. She was such a klutz and she felt almost embarrased cause of it. She seemed to always be falling, not that she meant to. Her mother had always said she could trip on a speck of dust. Lately that was seeming to be prooven true. She looked back to the rock she had tripped over, seeing it to only be the size of a tenis ball. She glared at the blasted rock before she turned back to the boy, not helping but notice how familer he looked. She wondered where she had seen him before and thought back. She tried to place him in one of her classes, considering that could have been one of the only places she could have seen him before. It was then that it clicked that she had seen him in one of her mandatory history classes. He sat a row or two behind her. She couldn't exactly remember his name, having never talked to him before. She gave him a slight smile as he talked.

"yea so much for trying to change songs while run. There should really be a law against that. It seems quite dangerous." she said cracking a smile as she attempted to break the tension and awkwardness. "doesn't help either that I can trip over almost anything." she said shrugging softy as she tucked back the hair that fell in her face behind her ear. She felt awkward just sitting on the uncomfortable ground with a bleeding knee but before she could get up his hand and help was offered to her. After a moment of hesitation she took his hand rising to her feet, gritting her teeth slightly at the pain that shot through her leg starting at her ankle. She looked down to see it red and starting to swell. She almost groaned. A twisted ankle was exactly what she needed. "thanks for your help." she said with her Australian accent trying to ignore the shooting pain in her ankle, giving him a mostly forced smile. She held out her hand to his figuring she should at least introduce herself before hobbling back to her dorm. "I'm Sofia by the way. I think we have a class or two together at the university." she said drapping her head phones over her arm to keep them off the ground. She tried to ignore the pain for a moment or two so she could at least be nice to the guy who had been kind enough to stop and help a complete and total stranger.

[benjamin noah raff]

When she spoke, he couldn't focus on what she was saying. He was too distracted by her accent. He tried to figure out what it was, but he was never good at picking out accents. He let his mind wander through different movies he'd seen with actors using different accents. He finally settled on Australian, maybe.. but only because he remembered Steve Irwin. Before he could stop himself, he started thinking about the famous Crocodile Hunter and his sad demise. He continued to watch the girl sitting on the ground, but his mind was elsewhere. It wasn't until she spoke again that he snapped back to reality. He looked at her, confused for a moment, until he realized she had an ipod, too. He chuckled, grinning. "Yeah, I've heard of some pretty gruesome accent--accidents from that." He slipped up, his mind had gone back to her accent and he hadn't even noticed till that moment.

Quickly he pulled himself back. "No, that rock just came out of nowhere." He watched her as she stood up. He didn't want to let her hand go; not that he was some creepy guy trying to use this as an excuse to hold her hand or anything like that, he just noticed the pained look. Glancing down he saw her swollen ankle. He noticed her hand come out and shook it, still fixated on her ankle. "I'm Benjamin.. Ben, Benny. Whatever you like. You shouldn't walk on that, I think. You're supposed to do something with it.. ice and heat. I don't really remember." He tried to think of that thing to help remember what to do for a sprained ankle. As he thought about it, he started thinking out loud "Rice.. Rest and Ice.. I thought there was something else. The C and E stand for something." He furrowed his brow, thinking about it.

Suddenly he realized what she had said; finally able to understand why he recognized her. "Oh, History, right? I don't remember the other class. Do we have History today?" He glanced at his watch, checking the time and date. He was pretty sure they did, but he left his schedule at home. He'd have to go get it and his books before class. "You wanna go to my house?" He paused; now he really was sounding like a creep. "I just meant to get some ice for your ankle, and I gotta get my books and stuff for class... I don't mean to sound like a creep or something." He was trying to think of a way to make this sound less... weird. They didn't really know each other. "I live at home with my mom and siblings.. though, they probably aren't home now. You don't have to. I just figured I could get you some ice and drive you to class."