Never Cry Wolf

Devyn

"It's okay. You don't need to tell me until you are ready." I pull away, my eyes narrowing.

"How do you know I'll even tell you?" He thinks he can get me to spill my whole life story? I don't think so.

"Devyn, I can see you're struggling. I'm fighting my own demons right now and I know that all you need is someone who will listen and I'd be more than happy to be that friend if you'd let me." I look down too ashamed to meet his eyes. Especially since he hit me right on the mark. He reaches over and squeezes my hand as if to reassure me, but I still can't look up, so he reaches over with his other hand and lifts my chin to meet his eyes. "Devyn, you have no idea how you affect people. You are so strong and you can't even see it." I shake my head before he can go on and take a few steps back, increasing the space between us..

"You came here knowing nothing, so I let you off the hook." I turn around and before I've taken a step, Lucius reaches out and grabs my wrist. I don't even look at him, but before he can say anything, the words I was trying to keep in come out. "We shouldn't be friends," I whisper as I walk away. Why did I say that? Ugh, I will be lucky if he ever wants to talk to me again. He was just trying to be nice and I freak out. Maybe this is the real reason why Jess was the only one of my friends to stick around. I'm too hot and cold for their taste.

* * *

My next three classes seem to go by in a blur. I meet Jess at our usual spot under the shade of the best tree on campus and start to dig into my lunch. The school always makes this gross food, so I make a big deal of packing my own. It's great that my uncle's the principal, because he'll always tell me not pack a lunch on cookie day. He's awesome like that.

"Did you hear about the new guy?" Jess says this coherently for once as she tries not to spit out the bite she just took.

"His name is Lucius and what did he do?" It takes everything I have not to roll my eyes.

"I heard he totally brought up the sacred subject and got bitched out by a girl in his class." She laughs hysterically. "Who would do that? He's new, he doesn't know."

"Yeah, Jess that was me." Everything seems to stop. Jess's eyes widen as she spits out her food.

"Oh my gosh Devyn I'm so sorry. I-"

"Jess, don't even worry about it. Lucius and I are on good terms now." I pause before adding, "I think."

"Speaking of good terms." She nods her head in my direction. I turn around just in time to see Lucius standing in front of me. It looks like he's up for the challenge after all. I consider myself lucky.

"Do you mind if I join you guys?"

"No!" Jess nearly shouts. "I mean, no, I don't mind if you join us." She repeats quietly. He sits down with a big smile on his face. Yeah, enjoy bub. I'm sure I can say something to wipe that smile straight off your face. I smirk, thinking about all the things I can say, before taking another bite of my sandwich. Jess and Lucius stare and me and I realize I haven't introduced them.

"Lucius this is Jess. Jess this is Lucius." Covering my mouth with my hand. Hmm classy, but I hold my tongue, so nothing else can fly out whether it be food or my stupidity.

"So Lucius tell me about yourself." Before he speaks she clarifies what she's really after. Something I failed to do, now that I think about it. "Something we don't already know." He pauses for a minute and then says, "I speak 4 languages."

"Holy Jesus, which ones?" Jess asks. I stop, suddenly interested in what he has to say.

"Russian, French, Romanian, and of course English."