When Winter Comes

Chapter 4: Winter Runs

Chapter 4: Winter Runs

I ate in silence once I entered the cafeteria again. Penelope and Winston chatted as I consumed the salad I had gotten from the lunch line. The lettuce was stiff in my mouth and it hurt to swallow. It'd been a while since I'd eaten lunch. Mostly I ate dinner because that was the only time Marie watched me eat. All the other times, I pretended. Meals would venture up to my room, and then find their way into my garbage. By the end of the year, my room stunk of rotten meat. It probably would have helped if I took out the garbage every so often in my bedroom.

"Babe." a voice crept up behind me. Cold fingers pressed themselves against my neck. My body tensed, but it shouldn't have. It was only Austin. His arm continued and rested on my shoulder before he plopped a seat next to me. His dark brown eyes stared at me in a gentle way. To him, I was always going to be a hurt puppy. "Why didn't you come sit with us?"

Penelope and Winston's voices hushed and their full attention went to me.

My shoulders shrugged under the weight of his heavy arm. My eyes were fixated on the lettuce in front of me. Slowly, my fork flipped over the bulky green vegetable.

"I saved you a seat," Austin whispered just before nibbling against my ear.

"Sorry," was all I could manage.

"Is everything alright?" He pushed further into my ear. His lips were touching my earlobe. Austin clearly felt as if Penelope and Winston weren't worthy enough to listen to out conversation, if you could even call it a conversation.

"Just peachy," I remarked. My lips pushed themselves against one another.

"Taylor would've loved to see you."

"Stop lying, Austin," I scoffed.

For once, Austin leaned away from me. His dark eyes were narrowed and a wave of fear swept over me like a wave. Slowly, his hand fell off my shoulder.

"What are you talking about, Winter?" He asked with his voice rough.

My entire body was hurting. More than anything, I wanted Austin to leave. I wanted him to stand up, break up with me, and leave. But that would never happen. For whatever reason, Austin felt he had to stay with me. He felt as if he had to fix me, but I didn't need fixing and especially not from him.

"Taylor hates me. She told me so yesterday morning." I rolled my eyes down to the ground. My fingers picked out picked out the sweater I was wearing.

"She didn't tell me that," he hushed. Again, his body leaned into me.

"And sense when did you talk to her?"

"Winter," Austin sighed. "I've talked to her ever sense you guys became friends. When you left, we became even closer because we both lost a best friend."

"Can you stop?" I asked. My eyes darted up and stared at him. The darkness of his eyes stared back at me like a black whole. Shutters fell down my spine.

Austin opened his mouth to respond. His brows were furrowed and I imagined he was going to ask "stop what?" But I raise my finger towards him.

"Just stop," I sighed. Grabbing all my belongings, I scooted off the bench and headed out of the cafeteria once again. The shutters didn't leave my spine, and I knew it was because Austin was watching me. Everyone was watching me, and an echo of Taylor's snicker followed me out the wooden doors and into the hallway.

. . .

The room surrounding me was soundless. Comforting books piled up around me to keep me company. Sure, I was alone, but I had the books. I had the books and all there characters. The books made me feel needed. Somebody needed to read each and every book in the library, and I was that girl. I had read books about vampire princesses, all the way down to the H encyclopedia.