All the Things She Said

Chapter 18, Sam's pov

I look at Rohan, blushing hotly...feeling the weight of Laura's head on my shoulder on one side, and Rohans hand on the other side...

How do I tell him I'm not interested? Lie, or tell the truth? Or do I just...ignore him?

I really don't want to hurt him...he's really quite sweet and it probably took a lot of courage to just hold my hand...

I move my hand slightly away from this, feeling awkward. He pulls his hand away and looks out of the window. I twist my mouth, wishing I could explain. Instead I just look away, taking Laura's hand in mine, and closing my eyes.

When we get out of the minibus, I can feel Rohan behind me...following nervously. I don't know what to do, I really don't want to confront him. I can't talk about it to Laura until we're out of earshot, but on our way to the canteen, he's walking beside us, and when we sit down he takes a seat opposite me. I feel myself blush again, god I must really be misleading him by blushing all the time.

Laura gives me a quizical look when she sees him opposite us, I bite my lip and shrug. She shakes her head.

"So, Rohan, did you enjoy it today?" she asks him. My eyes widen, as do his actually, as I try to figure out what she's doing?

"Uh, yeah, it was good" he says, eating his food. Macaroni cheese...one of my favourite meals, and yet, right now, I'm not really feeling in the mood for it. I shovel it round my plate, hunched over awkwardly. I can feel his stare burning into me. I just want to shout at him to stop it, stop staring, I'm not interested, okay???

But I don't, obviously. I just pick at my food with a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach,

"So, have you heard there's meant to be a disco on Friday?" Laura blurts suddenly. I choke and spit out the water I've just taken a gulp of. I hear Laura laugh and pat me on the back,

"you okay?" Rohan asks, as I wipe my face with a napkin. Luckily I didn't get any on him...as if this situation wasn't bad enough!

"yeah..yeah...just choked," I sigh, "a disco, lau, really..." I ask, incredulous,

"yeah, you know...there's no way to put it without sounding cheesy...but...a dance"

"rave doesn't sound cheesy" I grin,

"oh, yeah, cause the teachers are gonna organise a rave" Laura says punching me playfully.

"Well we can turn it into one" I say, and wait for Rohan to say something, but he's just watching us, staring at me. Oh damn, I bet he's just going to follow me around and try to dance with me...

"are you even going to eat?" Laura asks, looking at the untouched food on my plate. I pick at it with my fork, then push my plate away,

"no...I'm not that hungry...need to sleep really" I say. I'm lying, I'm starving from all the canoeing today, but I just don't feel comfortable with Rohan watching me. I can eat in the caravan...I just really want to get back so I can talk to Laura...

Laura is nearly done eating. I watch impatiently, and stand up a bit too quickly when she finally scrapes her plate clean and goes to put it away. Rohan stands up after us,

"Hey, me and the guys are gonna play table tennis, wanna join?"

I look at Laura, then back to him,

"uhm...I'm really tired, I think I'm gonna call it a night" I say, "maybe another day?"

Rohan looks a bit upset. Laura looks at me, "awh, come on, one game?"

I look at her, then back to Rohan, and sigh, "fine, guess its on the way out anyway"

Rohan's face lights up. I fake a smile.