Haven's Knight (Sample of Published Book)

Chapter 5 - Part 2

Haven

I unwrapped the sandwich and ate while Chris talked. One of things I loved was listening to him ramble on about trivial things like what he watched on TV or the latest gossip from the school. The sound of his voice was relaxing and for those few minutes I could relax.

My stomach was stuffed by the time I finished all the food. I opened the soda and took a sip. I loved the fizzy bubbles.

"Thank you," I said softly, when I glanced in his direction. His eyes met mine and they widened in surprise. Then he smiled. It was a big smile that showed his perfectly white teeth.

I didn't want to form any type of friendship with him but he was slowly starting to break the walls I'd built up around myself. I'd tried to fight it, but he was so damn persistent.

"You're welcome," he said. "Do you have any requests for lunch tomorrow?"

I shook my head. Just the fact that he was thoughtful enough to bring me lunch was enough for me, so I wasn't going to get fussy. There was no way Chris would have any idea what was happening to me at home and, if he did, he'd realize how much I appreciated the lunches he packed for me and the company he gave me during lunch.

I'd led a very lonely existence for the past seven years and for once it was nice to have someone to keep me company. I'd actually started to look forward to spending my lunches with Chris. I would just have to make sure that I was careful and that he didn't find out anything about what was happening to me. If he did become suspicious, then I'd have to move again, and I didn't want to. I'd just started to settle down into my new life.

"Did you hear the big news?" he asked, before he took a sip of his soda. I looked at him curiously because I never kept up with the gossip. I only vaguely remembered what he would babble on about at lunchtime.

"Damien dumped Angela," he revealed, watching my reaction. I gave him a shrug. "Not that they were dating, they were just doing each other. So technically they are not doing each other anymore."

I remembered Damien pushing her up against the lockers. They'd definitely been doing each other. I don't know why he thought I'd be interested in that news. Who Damien 'did' had nothing to do with me. In the back of my mind I couldn't help but wonder if Damien had dumped Angela because of the little incident between me and her. Why would Damien care about what happened to me? It was a ridiculous thought.

He probably didn't like the fact that Angela was insinuating to people that they were dating when technically they weren't. From what I saw and what Chris had told me, he was the type of guy that kept things casual. He probably got nervous when Angela starting talking about a more permanent arrangement.

I shook my head. I needed to get rid of thoughts of Damien. It shouldn't matter to me what was happening in his life. As long as he left me alone I was happy.

"Apparently he wasn't happy about her telling people that they were dating when they weren't," he explained with a smirk. I'd hit the nail on the head.

He dropped the subject of Damien and started talking about something else while I drank my soda.

When lunch ended he walked me to my next class and, when we got to my class, instead of ignoring him like I had previously, I gave him a weak smile before he turned and left. Baby steps.

The rest of the day passed quickly. The couple of times I saw Barbie she just glared at me; time would tell if she actually listened to Damien and left me alone. In my last class of the day I got held up. The teacher had wanted to ask me how I was settling in. So even though I ran as fast as I could, sore rib and all, I didn't make it to the bus stop in time. The bus was long gone.