[but she could never catch me] +open

[Dallas Crush]

DALLAS CRUSH

i don't love you, i'm just passing the time
you could love me,if i knew how to lie
but who would love me, i'm out of my mind
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[nina o'riley]

Sure the contentment in being back at the academy had fueled Nina's pleasant mood all morning long, but that short-lived horse had died as soon as the serenity of the campus had been crushed by the flood waves of students almost crushing her in the hallway. Now she was her normal hurried, stressed self, and as clumsy as ever. She'd really thought she'd gotten over that.

At least she felt more confident. Before she'd hid within her shell, wearing bulky pieces of clothing and second-hand shoes; but now, after all that busking money had come to some good use, she was walking taller, jeans hugging her legs flatteringly, thick fringe stretching across her brow, and feet clad in new checkered Vans. As she turned a street corner, the school grounds disappearing far behind her, she realised, with a sigh, that she didn't care. It was just great. She didn't care anymore about what she wore, only that she was about to be bombarded with the usual drama of Crescent Hill Academy. Joy.

She passed a round coffee shop table, a group of giggling freshman drinking cups of tea within the shade of a petite umbrella. Nina practically cringed from the sight. It was difficult to remind herself that she was never like those girls; that she never obsessed over celebrities; that she never cared about the flavour of lipgloss she had on--or that she even bought lipgloss; that she never worried about what the dreamy guys two tables down thought of her; it was all a foreign concept to her. She couldn't possibly relate to it.

Nina sighted a Starbucks coming up on the corner, and inwardly smiled to herself. Maybe she could grab a cup, sit at the table by the window, and snatch up some inspiration from the world that would pass her by. On a break. A break sounded good. No flustered robots in suits trying to get her to work out a mathematical equation or read Tolstoy's War and Peace in minutes.

She pushed open the coffee shop door with one arm, having to shift slightly to let a toddler race through the gap, and slip in before his mother would come waddling out with to-go coffee cups. Nina turned, doing a double take as she sighted the person sitting at the table by the window.

"Dallas Crush?"

She couldn't believe it. Nina hadn't known if he'd come back to the school when it re-opened. Had he? Or was he just living in the city, and sitting there on a lunch break? Nina inwardly denied it; there was no way that this guy would sit in a grey cubical in a penguin suit, filing paperwork all day long...willingly.