Between Love and Admiration

Chapter 3

 "Here's his jacket. Give it to him the next time you see him." Dani said, handing me the black Nike jacket as she took her seat. "Oohh, how'd you get it!?" I said knowingly, just to pick with her. The twins leaned in, "Whose jacket is that?" Dani rolled her eyes and focused back on her assignment. This was an art class but we never did anything artistic. She had us filling out a packet on the different types of paint. "You give it to him, you found it after all." Dani had spent the remainder of our time in the gym looking for Xay's jacket, even after I gave up. "No, I won't see him before you." she shook off the rest of our questions and we focused back on the assignment. I tucked the jacket to the side and tried to figure out when I could get it to him, since most of his classes were in a different building all together. After finishing my assignment, I looked up from my paper to see how the rest of the class was doing. Looking at Alana's table which was one person was short. Alana. She wasn't in class today and there had been rumors that Nick and Jessica were getting a hotel room this weekend. I figured this was why she skipped out on school for the day. "I heard she's going to show up and ruin their night if it's true." Summer said, turning her head to confirm if I was indeed looking for Alana. With that confirmation, she turned back around fully ready for some scheme to be messy. "The upperclassmen are going to be up there to see if she really shows. We should go guys!" All of us let out a collective groan, for Stormi it was because she knew she couldn't go due to starting swim practice this week and they practice on weekends too. Dani just didn't want to be bothered and I wasn't going to be allowed to go anywhere near a hotel. I didn't need to bother asking. "I can't wait until we ARE the upperclassman, I'm tired of living through them." Summer said sulkingly. "Ladies! Want to share your conversation with the class? Some students are still working" quieting us in an instant besides the weak "No Ms. Riley." we all let out softly.

Dani and some of our class was playing basketball so I spent most of the period sleeping. When I woke up there was a text message from Xay, Can you bring it to the cafe? I tried to wave Dani down to come with me but she was too far on the other side of the gym. The gym coaches were focusing on the athletes who had to start practice this weekend. Thankfully, it made it much less stressful to sneak out. So much so that I walked out the main gym entrance into the hall. As large as the school was, the cafe was closest to the front of the building and the walk was going to take a few minutes. I just needed to not get stopped by anyone. Luckily, I made it. Once I was inside the cafeteria, I realized that I should have called Xay to come outside. I was so wrapped up in making sure that I wasn't stopped without having a hall pass. I didn't think about actually finding him. It was hard to spot Xay. This lunch wave had way more people than ours, even though the tables were full but there were still so many students in line waiting for food. I walked through, trying to find him since the instructors were also here and using my phone would get me in trouble. I was looking for him with his perfect brown complexion and shoulder length dreads, he had a strong jaw line and was around 5'10. His teeth were so perfect that if he smiled, it would draw attention. Just when I was about to start praying for him to smile. He spotted me. "Kaia!" hearing his voice from behind me, turning to see him at a table full of people, closer to the wall where there was some shade but near the line for snacks. It was one of the better tables in the cafe. Walking over to the full table, I took the seat next to him and handed him his jacket. "Why are there so many people in here?" I asked him, still seeing more people from the other lines gather. There was not enough room for all of them to sit in here. Couldn't be.

"I don't know, it is more than normal." Xay replied, looking around at the people and shrugging it off before turning back to his food as if this wasn't his problem. So I decided to follow suit, I saw some other familiar faces at the table and caught myself in deep conversation, almost forgetting to give Xay his jacket. After I handed it to him, I took a look at the time I decided to head back. I was about to leave when Xay turned to me and said "Sit on this side of me. That's his seat." Before I could respond telling him I was leaving, I realized someone was behind me. Ignoring the person for a moment to ask, "Whose he?", Xay turned around and pointed upward, "Nick this is Kaia, Kaia that's Nick." before returning to his food, for the second time he seemed as if this wasn't something that affected him. I turned to look in the face of Nick. THE Nick. We locked eyes just for a moment while I took him in. Standing at least at 6 feet tall, he had a slim build that was toned thanks to basketball. His skin was the perfect shade of chocolate brown, without a single blemish on his face. That skin must run in the family, I thought looking over at Xay before the single chuckle from Nick brought my focus back to him. His full lips that brought out the single dimple on his left cheek when he smiled his crooked grin. His eyes were hazel brown and he had eyes that always looked high and you weren't sure if they were even open when he smiled. I noticed this because he fixed his devil's smile onto me. "Can I sit down?" He even had a deep voice, filled with bass and a hint of something of an accent from somewhere. I can see forgiving him once or twice. Dani's words rang in my head, yes he was very handsome and he smelled good too. Just a fine piece of shit. Getting up from the seat without a word in response, I sat on the other side of Xay and found myself observing Nick. Investigative work. There were a few girls at the table, all sitting on the same end as him. One girl was playfully attempting to take food off his plate before he gave her a death glare. He can't even take a joke. She tried to play if off with an awkward laugh just as he bowed his head. Grace?! He was saying grace, who knew even the devil prays. I looked back at Xay and the other half of the table, smiling and nodding to whatever they were saying. Before turning my attention back to Nick, who was staring directly at me. His face was blank and he didn't even try to pretend he wasn't staring, just continued to look before I had to turn around from discomfort. He started laughing, that deep and rich sound which made everyone turn to look at him because of how loud he was. He cleared his throat, looking at everyone before settling those evil eyes on me "It's not fun when it's you, is it smidget." My face dropped from the realization that he had felt me staring at him the whole time. I started to get up to leave but the smug look on his face reminded me of Alana and just how much of an unchecked jerk he really is. "You should keep your voice down, you're annoying others." Knowing how lame that sounded, I got up to leave with my hardest neck roll that I made sure he saw. Wait a minute. Turning around to face him "What's a smidget?" I saw the slow smile spread on his face before he even turned his head up to me, "A small midget. So basically, you." pinching his fingers together, "people who stopped growing in the 5th grade." Before I could respond Xay started laughing, "Kai, you are very little sis, I don't even believe you're really 5'0." I'm 5'1! Nick was still smiling at me and it was starting to really piss me off. "So what am I, Nick?" the girl from earlier asked. "Right, because I'm almost her height" added her friend, eyeing me suspiciously. I was ready to get far away from this situation, without another word I turned and walked away. Not once feeling Nick's eyes on me as I stormed off. Only pissed and embarrassed. It was definitely time someone humbles him.