Strings of Fate: The First Loop

CHAPTER 9

I’m talking too fast, like I’m stacking excuses in front of me before he can ask anything else. I don’t even know if I’m lying. Maybe I’m just hiding behind a schedule that feels safer than his eyes.

His smile falters for just a second---like a shutter letting in too much light. Just long enough to catch the sadness underneath.

But then it clicks back into place.

“Yeah, no worries,” he says, nodding like it doesn’t sting. “You’re busy. I get it.”

Before I can say anything else, Inez loops her arm through mine like a perfectly timed rescue mission.

“Too much nerd vibes between you two,” she declares. “I’m stealing her, Matt. Lunch and hot boys are waiting.”

Matt chuckles, stepping aside. “Guess I can’t argue with that.”

We walk past him, and Inez starts talking about pancit palabok or Tim’s arms, I don’t know. Her words melt together again.

But I feel it.

That pull.

I glance back.

He’s still there, standing in the middle of the hallway like a punctuation mark that doesn’t quite belong.

His expression is soft, too soft. Not just sad. Yearning. Like he wants something but doesn’t know how to ask for it. Or maybe he already did, and I didn’t hear him.

Then someone bumps into him and he disappears into the flow of students.

I look forward again.

But the ache lingers.

The cafeteria is already buzzing when we walk in. Fluorescent lights humming. Trays clattering. The familiar scent of pizza and disappointment in the air.

Inez tugs me by the wrist toward our usual table by the window. “Quick, before the freshmen steal it again.”

I barely sit down when the room seems to shift.

A collective hush rolls through the crowd, like a ripple of attention pulled by gravity toward the door.

And then they walk in.

James and the rest of the basketball team.

They move like they own the place, laughing too loudly, high-fiving each other, tall and broad and obnoxiously confident. It’s like someone turned up the contrast on the entire room just for them.

I shouldn’t be watching. But I do.

James scans the room, his gaze sweeping like he knows exactly what he’s looking for.

Then he sees me.

His whole face lights up. He beams, like something in him was waiting for this exact moment, and then winks.

Winks.

My face flushes instantly, like heat blooming beneath my skin. I look down, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear, trying not to smile and failing.

Inez, of course, sees everything.

“Oh. My. God.” she gasps, loud enough for the next table to hear. “Was that a wink? That was a wink, wasn’t it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I mumble, cheeks still burning.

“Please, you literally just tucked your hair like you’re in a coming-of-age movie. Don’t lie to me, Betty.”

Before I can respond, she’s already lifting her hand and waving, at someone behind me.

“Hi! Call me!” she mouths dramatically.