My College Life | ✓

Chapter 26

I tilt my head to the side, a bit confused. “What do you mean, not here?”

I was taken aback when he rolled his eyes at me, looking quite annoyed. “Her mom took her home.” Mom? Now I'm really confused. Britt doesn't have parents. That's the only reason why he works at McDonalds. He wanted to give her a better life—outside of the orphanage.

“But her mom—”

“Look,” he interrupted, “forget about the girl. I tried being nice and getting your panda back for you, but she had to ruin it.” Gazing at his eyes, they held an emotion I'd never seen before. They weren't the bright green I used to know. They were cold—dark, and empty.

Just who is this Neal? And why is he acting so differently?

“Do you still want it?” he asked when I didn't say anything back.

I blink at his tone of voice. It was like he was forcing himself to be nice. “No, um you can keep it.”

His eyes flashed anger, his jaw clenching; his whole facade flipped. “I got it for you. So take it.” He pushed the stuff animal into my hands, not taking no as an answer. As he let go, I saw a symbol on his right hand. Getting a closer look, I saw that it was a tattoo. The design looped around his wrist, with a small Chinese character printed right where his veins were.

“Is that a tattoo?” I couldn't help but blurt out. I never knew he a tattoo. Did he get it over Thanksgiving break?

“What?”

“There.” I pointed to his wrist. “That's a tattoo, right?”

He looked down, as recognition appeared on his face. “Yeah. What else would it be?” He looked at me like I was stupid, something he never had done before. Did something happen when he was away? Because this was not the Neal I know.

“Geez, it was just a question,” I spat back. Two can play at this. If he wanted to be mean, so can I.

He narrowed his eyes at me, his lips twisting into an evil smirk. “You better be careful to who you talk to Mandy,” he said, putting stress on my nickname (which I still hate).

Just as I was about to question him, John's voice shouted from behind. Turning around, I saw John racing towards me, with a stuff animal in his hand.

My panda!

“H-how d-did you—huh!?”

He laughed, probably at my struggle to come up with understandable words. “How I got this?” he asked, smiling. “Well, someone left their panda in the Ferris wheel, so when you were talking with Neal, I went back to get it.” Once he finished his sentence he looked down at my hands, seeing the messed up stuff animal.

“Um, Amanda,” he asked confused. “Why are you holding that?”

I looked down, running my hands through the soft material. “Um, Neal give it to me,” I said pointing my finger behind me.

John looked up, as his eyebrows scrunched down together. “What are you pointing at?”

Wait—what?

Whipping around, I saw no one. Not even a trace of Neal. It was like he wasn't even there. B-but that's impossible! He was just standing here a seconds ago. There's no way he could have disappeared without letting either John or I know.

“Neal—he was just here . . .” I whispered out loud, flabbergasted.

“Guess he left.”

“I guess . . .” I stared down at the stuff animal Neal gave me, not knowing what to feel. Neal . . . he lied to me. But, why? He said it was mine, but clearly it wasn't. John has the real one, so does that mean he won me another one? Was that why he was acting like a totally jackass today? That would explain the rude attitude he was giving me, but what does he exactly mean when he said, 'be careful to who I talk to'?