Muse

Chapter Eight

*Knight's Perspective*

"Let's find Olivia," I suggested in a whisper. She pulled away from the hug and agreed. I gave her an awkward pat on the back. Why did I just do that?  I barely know this girl, why is she making me flustered? She felt it to, I think, but she just brushed it off. We began walking through the hallways and checking classrooms. Her next lesson was going to start any minute.

"Hey," I held her hand. "I haven't got a lesson next, I can continue looking for her."

"Will you talk to her for me?" Laura said, looking up at me hopefully. I smiled warmly at her. Why is she so cute? She reminded me of a little kitten.

"I'll text you if I see her." I responded and then chuckled to myself before continuing. "I don't have your number yet so-"

"Yes, you can have my number." Laura laughed. She pulled a pen from her pocket and held my hand up as she wrote on it. She made my palms sweaty: I hope the ink doesn't rub away. 

"I'll see you in an hour?" Laura asked.

"Meet me in the cafe."

"Okay," Laura laughed when she realised 'cafe' and 'okay' rhymed. Unsure if we should hug or kiss, we awkwardly shook hands. We both laughed at how dorky we just were before wandering off, both facepalming.

I wandered the halls for a few more minutes. The college campus was surprisingly large compared to how few students came here. I finally found Olivia who had been walking through the hallways frustrated as I had been.

"Olivia, right?" I said in an unsure voice. I knew it was Olivia, she was a popular girl. Everyone knew Olivia in Stella and everyone liked her. Unlike me. Not many people knew me, and most of those people did not like me.

"Yeah," Olivia responded awkwardly.

"Laura wanted to talk to you but she's in a lesson right now." 

"Right, well," Olivia swayed awkwardly. "Maybe I could just talk to you then?"

"Okay."

We didn't really talk much. I had mentioned that I'd be meeting Laura after her lesson in the cafe and we had mutually agreed to wait there, even if it was for almost an hour.

"You saw her at Pride?" 

"Do you really want to talk about that? Don't you want to know what happened with the phones?"

"Not really," Olivia said sharply.

"That's not fair," I felt my temper rising. "No one gives me a fair chance, no one looks at me twice. They see something bad happen and I get the blame. No, not today."

"I thought you were a badass who was always in trouble." Olivia said with a sweet smile but we both knew it was fake.

"I'm not bad," I pleaded. "I didn't do this,"

"Really? Prove it." I flinched when I realised that Laura had treated me the same, demanding for me to 'prove it'.

"Don't ever judge me again." I slammed my phone on the table and aggressively typed my password in. I brought up my phone number and allowed her to compare the number with Sally's. "Is that proof enough? Can you stop tying me to a stake and burning me, I'm not some witch!"

"I'm sorry!" Olivia raised her voice as well. She then repeated herself softly.

"Look, I don't really know Laura well enough to come between you two. I know you two are best friends. I do want to know her, though. There's something about her that I just can't shake."

"A lot of people have said that about her, and none of them meant it." Olivia lowered herself to a whisper. "If you hurt her in any way, I swear to God you will have to answer to me."

"Understood," I nodded slowly. I was pretty sure I could take Olivia with my hands tied before my back but I didn't want to test her, let alone hurt Laura.