white boys (river phoenix)

40

Chapter Forty

 (Friday.) The stares, the whispers, the barely suppressed laughs and meaty fingers pointing- they were all too familiar. She would open her locker and hear people whispering next to it, and when she closed it, they would turn away feigning disinterest and jump upon another topic. Eyes would follow her and glare as she walked past, silent literally, but screaming with something- disgust, fiendish delight, a general dislike, and even some envy. In every room she walked into, she got the feeling that people had just been talking about her- a feeling every high school girl is familiar with, sadly. Even the teachers seemed to know what was going on.

It was only her luck and Stacey's that Stacey didn't come to school that day. Otherwise, she would've made a slick remark, to which Robin most likely would have responded to with a not-so-slick jab... in the face. She wasn't a violent person, but under times of pressure, anything could transpire. She hadn't seen River or Dennis yet today, and she braced herself as she walked into Italian, the only class where she'd be seeing Dennis for the entire day. A hush seemed to come over the room as she walked in and she almost wanted to say - "yeah, yeah, get a good luck at me"- but she refrained.

The staring didn't stop when Denis approached her either. He walked up to her, almost nervously, almost humbly, and swiped his hands along his jeans once he got in front of her.

"Robin, can I talk to you?" he asked hurriedly.

Her face was stoic and cold, and impulsively her jaw clenched along with her fists before she answered in somewhat of a low growl,

"If you don't walk away from me within the next five seconds, God help me, I will kick you in your shin, and other places if I feel up to it."

He gulped, his eyes widening because she knew there was a measure of truth beneath her words- he knew her that well. He opened his mouth to speak again but he was interrupted by Ms. Tigre, who said,

"Dennis, Robin, unless whatever you're talking about is more important than this class, I'd suggest you two sat down. Class has already started."

While departing from Dennis, Robin glared ominously at him. She chose to sit at a table that was already filled up, and despite their distance, she felt his eyes on her for the remainder of the class. When the bell rang, she had already packed up her things and left the building, knowing that he would try and catch up with her.

She made it out of the classroom and by then the tears were threatening to spring from her eyes. Her face burned hot and lucid against her reddened cheeks and it took everything in her not to let a sob burst out from her throat. She swallowed a big gulp of spit and marched solemnly with her head down over to the closest bathroom, careful not to let anyone see that she was in such an obvious state of distress. But she was practically swept off of her feet the minute the first tear escaped from her eyes, rolling down her cheek. Of course, it was River.

He too had been victim of last night's events, and people were now bombarding him with questions - "is Robin your girlfriend?" "did she cheat on you?" "did you know she kissed Dennis?" Now, those questions were annoying enough, but even more annoying, the fact that no one, out of the handful of people that had asked him- no one had asked him "is it true?" And, according to Robin's tears which he saw now spilling over her face and onto her chest, no one had asked her either.

"Hey," he said in a hushed, consoling tone as he held her in an overbearing embrace.

He wasn't taller than her by much, but he was bigger than her, and he covered her body like a warm quilt on a cold and rainy day would. His warmth, body, and arms around her acted as a shield against the general public. His chin nuzzled into the top of her head and for the first time in a long time, she felt vulnerable. It was deja vu. What she had come to Boston to escape had eventually caught up with her.