Crumbling Time

Crumbling Time (Chap. 4)

4. Unexpected Attention

Daphne picked me up for school as she usually did. It's not that I didn't have a license or anything, because I did. It was just that my parents used both of their cars to go to work, and they refused to get another car for me.

When Daph parked the car-in a pretty decent spot I might add-the jocks and "popular" kids usually took the closer spaces-we headed towards the school building. Everything was normal.

That is, until I saw Cam leaning on the hood of his bluish gray Chevy truck. That was not the strange part though. That came when he began heading towards Daphne and me. As soon as he reached us, I noticed Daphne put on her flirty smile. I held back the urge to roll my eyes at her.

But Cam didn't notice her. "Hey," he said to me. "Um..." He scrunched his eyebrows as he tried to recall my name.

"Lexie," I informed him, not in the least surprised by his lack of knowledge of my name.

"Right. Hey, Lexie," he said. He looked at Daphne for a moment. "Hi...Daphne, right?"

Sure, remember the drunk.

She nodded, and gave me a look that said: Ohmigod! The most popular and hot guy in school is talking to us-and knows my name!

I let the urge out and rolled my eyes. But then I noticed that as soon as Daphne was about to say something back to Cam, he looked at me again. Interesting, very interesting.

"What's up?" I asked nonchalantly, when really I was feeling a bit flattered he was talking to me in public.

"I just wanted to know if you would mind my walking you to class," Cam said politely.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Daphne give me two thumbs up and a big teeth showing smile.

"Uh, sure," I replied, now surprised. "I guess."

What was he going to do next, ask to carry my backpack? I sure hoped not. I didn't need that type of attention, and Cam didn't either for that matter.

Thankfully he didn't look like he wanted to ask. He turned to start walking and looked back at me, waiting.

I stepped up beside him and we started walking towards the school. I glanced back at Daphne quickly, and I saw her grinning at me, proudly. I guess I could understand that. I was finally walking and talking with an actual person of the male species, just like her.

I knew that was confusing. She was considered a freak, and yet at the mall she can get a guy's number practically with a snap of her finger. That was mainly because the people at the mall came from different schools and districts, not just from our school. Therefore most of the guys at the mall had no idea who she was. But even if they did, it was really annoying to know that just because of some baby fat-that was long gone by now-and bushy hair-which had gotten better with the right hair care products-she was a freak.

People can be really annoying.

I'll admit it. I have the same type of affect on the guys at the mall. When they see me walking past, I'll see some guys lower their sunglasses to look me over, and some will even try to talk to me. The only reason I never got any numbers was because, unlike Daphne, I didn't try to talk back to them. I ignored them and kept walking. Most of the guys now know to not even bother with me-not that any guys from my school even tried, as I've explained why-but my reason was because I hung out with the baby fat and bushy haired girl.

People can be really judgmental.

Which was why I was really surprised to see Cam asking to walk me to class. He seemed to be oblivious, despite living here his whole life, to the fact that everyone categorized me as an outcast. Either that or he didn't agree with them, but I was really convinced of the former idea. He did seem to be secluded to his sports, and thus unaware of the more social aspects of his school. But I was perfectly fine with that; I was getting the perks from it.