They Came In Hoodies

Chapter 8: Have Those Sometimes

Song for the start of the chapter!

To be honest, I wasn't sure if this song fit or not but I really like the high school vibe it had so I thought it best to put it in somewhere :)

Anyhow! Have a great night/day!

Darla

Stella POV

The next day I sat in class midday, waiting for him to show up in class. He said he would be here, but yet he wasn't around, nor had I seen him all morning. As the bell rang to signal the start of class, my doubt came even more. He wasn't coming, and I was disappointed in this for reasons I didn't understand myself.

"Ok, let's get this lecture started," the teacher whose name escaped me like a bird flying from its cage said as he clapped his hands, ready to start the class, breaking my gaze from the empty seat across the room. As the teacher gave his starting remarks, Grayson as he ran into the class. "You're late," the teacher snapped at Gray as he smoothed out his hair.

"I know, I'm sorry," he begged as he found his seat and sat down before he made any more of a scene than he had.

We made eye contact for a second before he broke it by taking out his schoolbooks. I couldn't explain the feeling of excitement I felt as I saw him here. I didn't understand why I cared so much about a boy that surely didn't care about me, or anyone else for that matter. But there was something about him that drew me in, wanting me to care about him because deep down, I knew he cared about me.

As the class continued, I couldn't help but sneak glances at him as he wrote notes in his notebook. He looked so concentrated on what he was working on, but as I stared at him, I realized that the notes he took had nothing to do with school, instead they were symbols and math problems that were complex. Everyone told me that Gray was a slacker, that he didn't care about school, but he wrote details on the notebook as if that was the only thing he cared about.

"So, Stella, what are your plans tonight?" Alice asked as the school bell rang, tearing me from my thoughts about Gray.

I shrugged as I thought about biking back home and working on homework. Maybe if I was lucky, I could talk to my mother, but besides that, my day was as boring as golf on TV. "I don't really have anything set in stone. What's up?"

"Nothing, just wondering."

I smiled as I packed my backpack full of my things. Grayson's backside caught my attention as he walked out of the room, and suddenly my interest for Alice's conversation fell flat like a popped balloon. "I'll talk to you later."

"Sure, I guess, I'll talk to you later," she frowned, upset that I didn't keep the conversation going, but said nothing more to me.

I followed Gray out of the room and followed him to his locker. He put his books in the metal container, not paying attention to me, or maybe he didn't realize I was stalking him. Finally, I could not hold my questions at bay; I had to ask him why he wasn't here and I felt like now was a good time. Silently, I walked up to him as he dumped his books off at the locker. "So you're here."

He stopped what he was doing and looked at me with a frown. "Why wouldn't I be?" he asked tiredly, looking around at the hall, hoping something would be around to pull him away from me but no one would save him from this conversation. He was all mine.

"You weren't here the last two days. Why?"

He gave me a pointed look, as if that wasn't the right thing to say. "I didn't know you were keeping tabs on me."

"I'm not," I replied, feeling defensive.

"Ok," he said and started walking away.

"Wait, Gray...."