Summer's Desire Vol. 1 (Complete)

Part 2: Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Looking at Seth's back as he's walking away from me, I have to lean against his car because I have no strength left in my legs to sustain me.

I don't know how long I stand like that, slumped against the black BMW. But eventually, the feeling of a hundred eyes trained on me breaks me out of my stupor. I right myself and look around.

A quick glance at my cell confirms that it's still early, fifteen minutes before the bell. And yet it seems as if at least half of Rockford High's studentship is gathered on the school's front lawn, next to the parking lot. And they're all staring... at me. Oh, for crying out loud!Really? I have to deal with this too, on top of everything else?

I realize the avid interest is due to the fact that I've just been seen getting out of Seth's car. And what the dickens will everyone be assuming about that little tidbit? I shudder to even imagine, so I don't. I can't think anymore; my mind has reached its breaking point.

I force myself to start walking.

Keeping my head down, I near the school. Just before I pass through the doors, I feel a sharper prickle at the back of my neck. So I turn my head slightly... and meet Jessica's eyes. She's glaring at me with virulent hatred. A shiver of foreboding passes through me.

I shake it off and continue walking.

* * *

After a detour to the bathroom, where I shut myself in a stall for ten minutes and tried (unsuccessfully) to calm myself, I am now moving through the student-infested hallways of Rockford High. It feels as if I'm traversing the burning circles of hell, heading straight for damnation.

Once they see me, students stop and stare. Then the whispering starts, like the buzz of a thousand crazed bees. My ears are ringing and my skin is crawling with the number of eyes looking at me: some curious, others disbelieving, some disgusted and hate-filled (the latter reactions belong to a daunting number of girls).

The one exception is Jacob, when I coincidentally cross paths with him in front of my Honors English classroom. The moment he sees me, his widened eyes move quickly between my face and the hoodie I'm wearing, of all things. Then his lips curve into an approving grin.

I duck into the classroom, and it instantly fills with a suffocating kind of silence. I head to my seat without meeting any gaze, sit down, and wearily lay my forehead on the table.

A minute later I hear someone taking the seat beside me. "I'm pretty sure we've never had so much excitement here. Before you started at R.-High, I mean." It's Marcie, her voice sounding cautious.

I raise my head and glance at her. Her eyes are kind.

"Well, I live to entertain," I murmur, too drained to muster the adequate amount of sarcasm.

She gives me a small smile, then her gaze sharpens. "What's with your lip?"

I stare at her stupidly for almost ten seconds before I can think of a lie. "I tripped and banged my head on the door." Original, right? I give myself a pass, though, since I have good reason for not being at my sharpest right now. And really, the cut was barely noticeable this morning when I checked in the mirror.

I quickly change the subject. "So it seems the students are talking about me?"

She nods cautiously.

"But just a few of them, right? And it'll blow over by second period, right?" I hate being the center of as much focus as I've had directed at me all morning.

Marcie looks incredulous. "Well, if by 'a few' you mean the whole flipping school, and by 'second period' you mean one in, say... I don't know, a year from now!"