Being Seen ||

03: Attention Getter

“Looks like this is where our schedule breaks,” Lucas sighed as he handed me back the sheet of paper. All over the margins of it he’d scribbled in blue pen, taking notes on what classes we would be having together tomorrow. “After PhyEd is lunch-“

“I’ll just follow Nate,” I said, cutting him off. “He’s said he’d be in my gym class.”

Lucas looked around, his eyes scanning everyone in the study hall as we waited for the final bell to ring. So far I’d had him in my first three classes and he’d proved to be a valuable asset. Lucas had been going to school at Lawsin Point since freshman year and knew the do’s and don’ts of the academy. He also knew who was in and who was out. Judging by the constant looks we were getting he was rather in, which only aided me in my great scheme of being known.

Finally he looked back to me and his bluish green eyes narrowed in confusion. “Turner?”

“What?” I asked, furrowing my brow as I tried to work out what exactly he was asking.

“You know Nate Turner?”

“No?” I responded slowly. “Should I?”

The look of confusion on his face mirrored mine. “You said you had Nate in PhyEd…” he trailed off, quirking his head to the side a little bit to examine me as though I was running in place: going nowhere but still trying.

For a long moment I looked at him. His sandy hair hung around his eyes, never going in front of them but coming dangerously close. The way he’d tilted his head caused it to cascade across his forehead drawing more attention to his eyes. But, as I examined them, all I could focus on was what exactly he was talking about. Why would he think I knew Nate Turner? I was new at the school and obviously didn’t know anyone but him and… “Oh,” I muttered, feeling foolish, “I meant Nathan.”

Nathan. What a silly thing to be calling Nate. I still couldn’t get over the fact that Lucas knew him as ‘Nathan.’ I mean really, what was that about? He’d never gone by Nathan. Never. I could understand Lucas making the mistake of calling him that since his full name was Nathaniel, but Nate not correcting him? I’d be sure to ask him about that in gym.

He smiled now, nodding. “Well you’ll be sitting with us I presume then?”

“Us?”

“You’ll see,” he responded as though it were some thrilling surprise. When the bell finally did ring he was on his feet quicker than I could process, snatching my books up from the table for me. “Do you want to stop at your locker?”

I couldn’t help but smile at his eagerness. So far he’d been more than helpful and even a tad bit flirtatious. At first I worried what type of person he was if Nate had enlisted him as help, but he seemed to be rather normal. “Only if it’s not out of your way.”

“It’s not,” he responded and cut to the front of the line of students filing from the classroom. In a smooth gesture he held open the door, motioning for me to walk through, as everyone else stood and waited. I shot them a quick glance as I passed through the door and was surprised to see that no one looked the least bit agitated. Rather, a few shot me interested gazes. I kept forgetting that this was supposed to be my bombshell senior year. I was too caught up wondering just what Nate was doing and why he was acting so oddly.