Dawn of a Kiss (On hold)

Chapter 9: Zack

        Naumi and I were sitting in the cafeteria, eating our lunches when Jonah sat his tray down on our table.

“Hello, Naumi. Hi, Valerie.” Just hearing him say my name made my heart flutter. “How are you guys this beautiful day?”

“We’re good, aren’t we, Valerie?” Naumi replied, winking at me.

Under the table, I started to kick her, but I ended up kicking Jonah instead.

“Ow! What was that for?” He asked, rubbing his leg.

“Sorry. My foot slipped.” I told him and then I glared at Naumi.

“It’s okay. Man for such a small girl you can sure kick hard!” He declared, chuckling as he took a drink out of his chocolate milk.

Naumi just sat there, giggling as she took a bite out of her turkey sandwich.

For the rest of lunch I stared down at my food, stealing sideway glances at Jonah every now and then.

I was in gym class later that day when Francheska spoke to me once more.

“Oh look. It’s Valerie.” She said disgustedly. “Still stealing boyfriends?”

“Jonah isn’t your boyfriend, so why don‘t you just give it a rest?” I told her in a strong and steady voice.

She just narrowed her yellow-gold eyes at me and said, “Stay away from Jonah.”

With that said, she turned on her heel and stalked off to the other side of the gym.

“Hi, Valerie. This is Zack.” Naumi greeted me, walking over to me, the boy from History class following close behind. He had short black hair and black eyes. He wore a long, hooded white jacket over a pair of dark jeans and white t-shirt. On his feet he wore a pair of white shoes.

“Hi there, Zack. I’m Valerie Turpin.” I introduced myself, holding my hand out for him.

“Pleasure to meet you.” He responded, taking my hand and shaking it.

It was at that moment Jonah entered the gym, half-jogging, half-walking over to us.

“Hey, guys!” He greeted us happily.

“Hi, Jonah. This is Zack Hannson.” Naumi introduced him.

“Hi, Zack. I’m Jonah Conner.” He held his hand out for Zack to shake it, but when they did shake hands, a strange expression crossed Zack’s face.

“Um. . . It was nice meeting you guys, but I have to go now!” Zack dropped Jonah’s hand like it had been a snake that just bit him.

“But class hasn’t started yet.” Naumi said, appearing to be confused at Zack’s sudden need to leave.

“I’m sorry. I just remembered I left something in my locker!” With that, Zack ran out of the gym at top speed, leaving us all staring after him, confused.

“What was that all about?”

“I don’t know, Valerie. That was weird.”

“Well, it looks like Mr. Truman is here now, so let’s go find seats on the bleachers.”

The three of us made our way over to the many bleachers, taking a seat in the first row. It would be just our luck that a few minutes later Francheska plopped down next to us.

“Hi, Jonah.” It seemed that every time Francheska talked to Jonah, she batted her eyelashes. I had a theory that if she kept doing it, she would develop a permanent twitch.

“Francheska.” I could instantly tell he was frustrated at the blonde’s appearance.

“Oh, hi there, Valerie.” When she spoke my name, she flashed me a phony smile.

“Er-Hi, Francheska.”

“Do you need something, Francheska?” Naumi was always the one who spoke up when no one else would.

“Hello to you too, Naumi. That reminds me. I just saw your boyfriend, what was his name? Oh, right. Zack. I just saw him out in the hall with Valista. They seemed to be getting to know each other if you know what I mean.” Francheska grinned widely when Naumi clenched her fists together and an angry expression crossed her face.

“Excuse me. I must go take care of something.” Naumi stood up, got a pass from the teacher, and then she left the gym.

“Why would you say something like that, Francheska?”

“I was only stating the truth, Valerie.”

It took all of my restraint just then not to get up and slap her hard across the face.

I stood up, ready to bolt out of the place.

“What’s wrong, Valerie?” Whenever Jonah looked at me with a concerned expression on his face, my heart fluttered. Does he really care about me?

“I. . . I need to go to the nurse. . .” Was all I said as I stormed out of the room. Mr. Truman didn’t give me a second glance as I walked past him.