And then he stopped. Shane leaned his forehead against mine, breathing heavily, our eyes still closed, and he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
"Astra," he mumbled against my lips. "Please don't hurt yourself."
And all at once, his body fell l...
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C H A P T E R F O R T Y - O N E
S h a n e ༶ ｡◕
She was so beautiful.
It was 7:30 in the freaking morning, and all I could think about was the way Astra Thatcher looked.
"Will you be my friend?" Finley asked, interrupting my thoughts.
Natalia shrugged. "Okay, but I want something in return."
Finley rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly. "You have me." A smile played on my lips.
"Hmm…" she raised an eyebrow as she thought. "Okay." She held his hand out to him and he took it.
The fact that she'd chosen the Thatchers over me was amusing, to say the least. Forget amusing – it was downright outrageous. This girl has been torturing Vince and I for years yet she warmed up to total strangers within seconds.
She looked up at me and I could've sworn to God she batted her eyelashes at me innocently like she totally hadn't punctured my soccer ball last night with the biggest knife she could find in our kitchen drawer. I'd spent two hours driving around the neighbourhood to find one before being given one by a sketchy dealer at the price of $1. I tried making him lower it but he laughed and slapped my back before staggering away and collapsing on the floor to fall asleep.
He seemed to be quite comfortable, so I left him there and threw a piece of cardboard over him.
"My new best friend and I are going inside school now so Shaney-poop and his friend-that's-a-girl can talk. Bye!" The nerve of her.
"Bye kids! Don't have too much fun!" I yelled back at her teasingly. They both ran inside tightly clinging to each others arms like there was no tomorrow.
I had turned around and was about to start heading on my way when a sudden girly shriek from Natalia's mouth had me turning right back around. She sprinted to Astra and tugged her sleeve for her to lean down.
She whispered something I couldn't hear into Astra's ear. Her eyes widened and cheeks darkened the entire time her eyes met mine, and I was once again reminded of how beautiful she was. I looked away.
Once she was done, Natalia ran back inside where she threaded her arm through Finley's and they skipped inside together. When Astra had texted me last night asking if we could arrange for the two to meet up, my initial thoughts were no way with a side of no way José. But I guess the two had more in common than I thought – life was funny that way.
Astra and I started to walk towards our school's examination hall. Silence hung above us like a heavy weight. I desperately ransacked my brain to try and find a funny or engaging conversation starter. But lately, I was just tired and exhausted and all I wanted to do was go home.
