The day was crisp, as Charlie pulled her purple cable knit sweater around her bony shoulders. Her fingerless gloves slid over her iPod with the ease of a frequent user. The Pixies filled her ears as the wind stung the tips with a crisp breeze. Walking down the path towards the cafeteria she spotted Louis and she stopped walking, then resumed as quickly as she had stopped. She pushed her auburn bangs over her eyes to shield her gaze from his and turned the corner, towards the entrance. She went strait into the bathroom to compose herself, chastising herself for letting a boy control her.

Charlie picked the nubs of her gloves off each finger one by one, and then washed her hands with warm water and the thick orange soap that doesn’t smell like orange, but freshness. Washing her hands never failed to make her feel instantly better, the knots in her stomach unraveled, her heart stopped slamming into her ribcage and she finally felt completely calm.

As she dried her hands and walked out of the bathroom she spotted Louis, standing in front of the door, watching, waiting. He looked at her with his goofy smile and sparkly green eyes and she forgot why she hated him. But only for a second because just then, she remembered that it’s true what they say about green eyed monsters. Images of him pulling his arm back in rage flooded into her memory causing her spine to stiffen. She pushed her shoulders back, lifted her chin up, sucked in her stomach and gave him a quick once-over, knowing it would make him question himself.

“Are you stalking me now?” She asked with a sassy smirk, she couldn’t let him know he was affecting her, could she?

“No, I was just waiting for the ladies room Chuck” Louis’ eyes peered into her and she had to look away, because she was convinced he could read her thoughts when he really looked at her with those green eyes. She hated that he called her Chuck, that was a term of endearment and he certainly wasn’t endearing, anymore at least.

Charlie turned on her heels and walked away from the bathrooms, Louis following close behind. She walked towards the sandwich line and ordered her usual, a grilled chicken Panini and an unsweetened ice tea.

Swiping her credit card and giving the cafeteria lady a smile that would surely brighten her entire day she went to her usual seat by the windows. She unwrapped her Panini and ripped the corner off and placed it in her mouth, looking around to make sure no one watched as she ate, she hated eating in front of others. To Charlie, eating in front of others was the equivalent of going to the bathroom in front of someone else. You wouldn’t want someone seeing it coming out, so why would you want someone to see it going in? She sipped her unsweetened ice tea through a straw and took out her book. As she read the words of Jane Austen she was transported to a far away place. Just as Mr. Darcy appeared she felt Louis’ eyes on her.

Her jaw clenched tightly as her eyes bore into the page and she willed herself not to look. She knew it couldn’t happen. She continued to “read”, turning the pages and sipping her unsweetened ice tea frequently and tearing up her Panini every so often.

When her unsweetened ice tea was gone and her Panini was unrecognizable, she took a bobby pin out of her hair and placed it in her book as a bookmark and wrapped her sweater around herself. She was proud. She could survive; as she walked past Louis in her best Sasha Fierce walk she felt a feeling of such accomplishment that she felt compelled to flip her hair. But she decided against it, another day, another battle.