Rebel One (Now Published!)

Rebel One - 3

He knew my name. The delinquent knew my name. Wait, not delinquent. Allen was starting to get to me. The possibly well-behaved student knew my name and wanted me to be his girlfriend. 

I wanted to laugh but held it in.

Still, were you supposed to go out with someone the same time you learn they know your name? I'm no expert on these types of things, but I feel like that would fall under the category of "rushing it." I mean, this was our first real conversation unless you counted earlier when I thought he was going to kill me.

I'm still not completely reassured on the whole 'not killing you' part. He could be buttering me up to sink the knife in my back. 

Maybe, maybe not. Either way, what a great way to tell the kids fifteen years down the road. "Yes sweetie, your father and I met when I thought he was going to leave me to die in a burning building he set ablaze." How on Earth would I be able to lecture them on right from wrong in that case? 

Wait, I'm thinking too far ahead here. Maybe he was joking. 

He had to be joking. Who joked about this?

"Pardon?" I asked finally, looking up from my fingers that I had recently acquired great interest in. 

Travis ran both of his hands through his hair a few times before letting his hands slide over the front of his face, almost hiding it. He let out a loud sigh, causing me to glance around to make sure no one was within hearing distance. Pulling his hands the rest of the way down his face, he caused his eyes and lips to pull down slightly before his hands fell down to his lap. His face returned back to its normal appearance as he looked at me, nervousness in his features. 

The fact that he was nervous made me all the more anxious. I guess I should have been slightly nervous or on edge about him asking me out, but to be honest by now I had convinced myself it was a joke. A prank on the quiet kid - funny! Not really. More like scary, sitting here while I waited to see if he was going to have a mood swing back to intimidating Travis again. 

"Okay, here's the thing. I need you..." he stopped and bunched up his face, as if he was debating with himself, "To teach me how to be normal." His words came out slowly and quietly. His eyes, as they had been all day, were intently looking at my own. 

I leaned it a bit closer to him with the top half of my body, keeping eye contact with him. 

"Don't they have institutions for that?" I whispered as quietly as I could so any passerby wouldn't overhear. My voice was serious and my eyes wide in expression. How was I supposed to help someone like that?!

 Travis let out another loud groan and smacked his forehead with one of his hands. He leaned back on the bench so he was lying down on his back and had a leg on either side of it. His hands flopped down towards he ground as he started mumbling to himself. 

Maybe he really did have issues... 

In a snap, he leaned back up into a sitting position, as if it weren't a trouble to him at all. My mind flashed back to the muscles I felt earlier under the staircase when he was so rudely holding me against my will.

 I mentally shook my head. Okay, no thinking about muscles.

 He ran his hands through his black hair again and I watched him until his blue eyes met mine and I looked back down at my fingers quickly. 

"I need to be," he started but then paused, "I'm not exactly..." he sighed. I looked back up at his eyes, his inability to say what he was thinking having caught my attention. 

"I come on a bit strong, as you and the whole school probably might have guessed... And I want to blend in. I need to blend in." He said slowly, watching my face. "Does that make any more sense?" he squinted a little, as if he was thinking hard.