There was just no way to explain it.
I don't know if my mother gave her life meaning by embarrassing the hell out of me in public spaces, but she surely wasn't making any effort to hide it. I glared at her back through the small creases in the blinds overlaying the large window at the front of the room. She seemed to be discussing something with one of the doctors but there was no telling what it was. I for a fact was positive there was nothing wrong with me besides a mild on and off fever. However, the mysterious mark on my forehead that seemed to be responsible for my fever was saying otherwise.
Since my father is always buried in his work up to the neck and hiding out at his office for most of the day, my mother was free to do whatever she pleased. That included dragging me out of bed at four in the morning to have a Psych Evaluation test at the nearest hospital after seeing the yin-yang symbol imprinted on my forehead. As suspected, she assumed I had gotten a tattoo without her permission, and on my face nonetheless... So she brought me here to see if I had truly lost all of my senses. I know the woman was a little erm... unusual -- but this? I was hoping that there was an underlying reason for her bringing me here and that is because I'd been feeling so terribly ill all weekend that I barely made it out of bed to use the bathroom.
I wanted to text my dad and complain about the absurdity of the entire situation but she took my phone away at the last minute. As much as my mom was stubborn about it, he knew how much I disliked the idea of being in a hospital ever since the incident... To make matters worse, she got my poor little sister involved in all of this, and instead of taking a nap at home within the comfort of her own room after her tiring day at school, the eight-year-old was dozing off in a chair to my immediate left. She was still dressed in her uniform and her pigtails had come undone, leaving behind a cluttered wavy mess resting on her face like a large black cat. The only visible feature on her face was her parted lips whose only purpose was to retract the small string of saliva that escaped every time she breathed out.
Ugh, how I wish I had my phone right now to take a picture of that.
The wooden door swung open with a gentle breeze and a petite pretty nurse in pink scrubs strolled in. She smiled at me kindly before her eyes shifted to the sleeping child in the chair beside me and a light giggle fell off her lips.
"I don't suppose you have a phone I can borrow to capture this sweet memory for the both of us?" I tried joking with her as she approached my bed and began fidgeting with the heart monitor.
Her head tilted slightly as she contemplated the idea then took a quick peek at my mom through the blinds. My mother still had her back facing us and after taking notice of this, the nurse retrieved her phone from a deep pocket in her shirt and unlocked it before handing it to me. I swiped open the camera app and pointed the device towards my sleeping sister as I hurriedly took the picture. Along with the loud shutter sound and a blindingly bright flash of light in the small room, my little sister was startled awake and she blinked at us both several times before coming to her senses.
"What was that?" She questioned us sleepily and I discreetly handed the phone back to its owner then squinted my eyes at my sister suspiciously.
"What was what?" I repeated, playing dumb.
"Uh..." She stared between the two of us for a while longer before sitting up straight and using the sleeve of her uniform to wipe the drool off of her mouth. "Was that lightning?"
"Sure," I answered her as I bit my lip to stifle my laughter. I turned my attention to the nurse and she too was unable to hide the wide smile on her face. I have never seen a guiltier look on a criminal.
"So," She finally said after composing herself. "I'm just going to run a few quick tests before we send you home for the night." At that moment, I noticed the two types of equipment she held firmly in her hands. She set the smaller one down on the bedside table and secured the padded part of the bigger one around my upper arm. I watched on in silence as she set everything up and the room remained quiet until the nurse began to squeeze on a small rubber-like ball that filled the pad up with air on my arm, increasing the pressure but not enough to actually hurt me.
"What are you doing to my sister?" The little one suddenly asked, grabbing both of our attention. The nurse didn't seem the least bit annoyed by her question so I allowed her to do all the talking.
"I'm checking her blood pressure," she informed her with a small smile before reading the numbers on the device as the pad on my arm deflated. After a few seconds, she unbound it and took it off of me.
"How does that work?" My sister continued with her interrogation as the nurse moved on to the next piece of equipment. This one was a lot smaller and she instructed me to hold out my index finger as she swiped a wet cotton ball over it to disinfect the area. I won't lie, I think I might have peed myself a little at the sight of a tiny yet shiny blade she then took out of a small container.
"Well, did you see the black cuff I had on Aurora's arm?" My sister nodded at the nurse's question, her hazel eyes wide with curiosity as she followed the tiny blade movements that were carefully being placed into a small meter reader. "So I just fill that up with air and it prevents blood from flowing in that area. I then wait for it to slowly deflate and as it does, your sister would have felt heartbeat-like vibrations in her arm. Do you know what that's called?"
"A pulse!" She answered confidently.
"Ah, you are very smart." The nurse complimented her and I was actually beginning to feel a little proud too.
But then a boring look overcame her little face and I knew all too well what was coming, "No, but you just eventually learn a thing or two when Rory is always panic-studying for a test at breakfast every morning."
"Shut your mouth, Raquel," I warned her smart ass as I flung my hospital pillow at her. Luckily for her, she ducked at the last second, completely missing my shot. She stuck her tongue out at me sassily and I rolled my eyes.
"Anyways," The nurse laughed at our banter and I didn't realize she had already taken a sample of my blood until I looked down and saw a little Shrek band-aid wounded tightly around my finger.
"Niceee," I smirked, admiring it.
"Those vibrations are transferred to the cuff as it deflates and they're converted into electrical signals that I can read." The nurse continued with her explanation. She seemed genuinely interested in discussing the operation of her nerd-vices but Raquel was already losing interest.
"Sounds complicated," My little sister sighed, hopping off the chair and peeking through the blinds for our mom outside. I guess that was her way of saying there would no longer be any more questions from her.
The nurse was smart enough to catch on to this and dismissed my sister's antics with a light chuckle. She then turned to me and handed me a small styrofoam cup, an all too natural smile on her face as she said, "I'm gonna need a urine sample now."
I made a disgusted face at her, internally cringing, "Do you really?"
"Mhm," She hummed, the fakest apologetic look in her eyes. "Or do you need some water first?"
"No, it's okay," I sighed and swung my legs over the edge of the bed to get up. "My mom forced like a bucket of it down my throat since we got here this morning."
"Great, I'll leave you to it."
I excused myself to the cramped bathroom to the right of the room and quickly did my business. I don't think I've ever wished I was a male, like ever, but when it came to peeing in cups, let's just say I wasn't the best aimer. I took more time cleaning up my mess than I did actually making it. I carefully washed my hands after and returned the styrofoam cup to the nurse.
Her gloved hand then collected it with a slight frown and her brown eyes squinted at me.
"What?" I asked her nervously, my cheeks growing hot.
"There's like half a centimeter of urine in here." She pointed out.
"Are you criticizing my bodily fluids right now?" I argued, plopping myself down on the bed.
"No, no. of course not," She snorted and stuck a colored stick inside of the cup. She plucked it out a few seconds later and instructed me to dispose of the urine in the toilet. She waited for me to return before excusing herself from the room and promising to return soon.
"Raquel," I called out to my little sister who was still peering through the blinds intently. She had a rather confused look on her face that worried me a little. "Is mom still talking to that doctor?"
"No," she answered dejectedly and slowly made her way towards me. "She disappeared."
"She'll be back, don't worry." I tried reassuring her and stretched a hand out towards her. She grabbed ahold of it and allowed me to pull her into my lap. "In the meantime, let's fix this bird's nest on your head."
"Speak for yourself," She mumbled, referring to the not-so-cute messy bun I was sporting on my own head.
"Sshhh," I quickly shushed her and began combing my fingers through her silky hair, parting it away and out of her face. "Do you have any hair ties on you?"
"Nope. I lost them."
I rolled my eyes at her obvious response and proceeded to loosen the one hair tie that was holding my own mane of hair together. When it came to hair texture, she stole all the good hair genes from our dad so because her hair was mostly straight and so silky, she was constantly losing her hair ties because they slipped out so easily. Not to mention the length of this thing -- sis was way overdue for a haircut. I quickly tied it all up into a low bun that rested at the base of her neck and shooed her away back into her chair.
Just as she was seated another nurse entered the room in matching pink scrubs from the one before, only this time they were of the male species. And sad to say, an undeniably attractive one at that. He had a strong build and a great physique with just the right amount of facial hair, and even longer hair that was combed into a neat dutch braid down the middle of his back. I discreetly tried to shake my tight curls loose and make my own hair as presentable as possible. But based on the judgemental look on Raquel's face, I don't think I was doing a very good job at it.
"Hi, I'm here to take a quick blood test," He announced and hastily approached me with a rather long needle and a small cylindrical tube. I was too overwhelmed by the scent of his cologne and the bulging muscles in his arms that took up eighty percent of my view to think straight.
"Didn't you already take a blood test, Rory? With the other nurse from before?" My sister inquired, snapping me out of my daze. I frowned and pushed the male nurse's hand away as he inspected my arm for a vein.
"Wait, yeah. A nurse already came and bore my finger. See?" I held up my bandaged index finger close enough to his face that I almost poked his pretty brown eyes out. He not so gracefully moved my hand out of his way and proceeded to harshly rub a wet cotton into my elbow pit, disinfecting the area.
"Yeah, this is a different blood test," He deadpanned, eyebrows furrowing as he flicked his middle finger against my skin harshly, presumably having a hard time finding a vein to draw blood. It hurt like a bitch but I was trying so hard to put up a front for him -- no matter how disinterested he seemed. I would have done the same had it been the female nurse from before, though. If it's one place I hated showing weakness was in a hospital.
Pfft, how ironic.
"Is that going to hurt?" Raquel asked the nurse as he aligned the long needle with my arm, about to puncture me.
"Only a little." He lied and practically rammed the needle into my arm. I let out a loud yelp that sent my sister immediately rushing to my side, but the sight of my blood filling up the small cylindrical tube was enough to scare her back into her seat. I bit my lip to refrain from making any more embarrassing sounds until he was finished and inspected his work shirt for a name tag. I definitely had intentions of putting in a not-so-good word or two about him to the doctor or whoever was in charge.
"Do you hate your job so much that you have to take out your frustration on the patient?" I reprimanded him when he was finished and just stood there scrutinizing me.
A sad look came over his cold face for a split second before he handed a dry cotton ball to me. Unlike his rudely rough behavior, I gingerly took the cotton ball from his hands causing our fingers to brush for a brief moment. I gasped at the intensifying cold feel of it and quickly retracted my hand. His eyebrow quirked and for the first time since he entered the room, he seemed like he actually cared about how I was feeling. I pressed the cotton against the tiny wound in my elbow pit to stop the bleeding and tried my best to avoid eye contact with the nurse. I suddenly felt very sick to my stomach and the longer he stayed in the room, the more difficult it became to keep the contents in my stomach well... in my stomach.
He continued to just stand there before me, scrutinizing me under his hard gaze. I peered up at him through my eyelashes only to realize his face now held a kind of softness that completely contrasted with the harshness of his actions barely a few seconds ago. His eyes didn't even seem so darkly brown anymore but more a deep honey-gold color.
"I'm sorry," was the last thing he said to me before hastily leaving the room. Just as the door shut behind him I felt myself breathe a sigh of relief and it was like clarity began to slowly creep back to me.
"Raquel," I turned and faced my little sister who looked only half as confused as I was. "Is it just me or did that nurse look extremely familiar?"
"Familiarly rude," She answered and sucked her teeth.
Okay, how is she only eight?
↻ ▾ ↺
I threaded slowly behind my mom and Raquel as we made our way into the parking lot. Ever since my encounter with that strange male nurse I've felt like I'm being constantly watched. To make matters worst, the spot on my arm that he took the blood sample from was still hurting and the area was even beginning to feel a little warm and swollen. I told my mother about everything that happened and she promised she would have made a complaint to someone before we left but they all thought I was lying or just making stuff up since my description of the nurse didn't match any of the staff members that worked at the hospital. So now she was upset with me for another thing I had absolutely no control of or explanation for.
My life was beginning to feel like one big joke. And just so we're clear, no one is laughing.
The parking lot was quite cluttered, to say the least, and there were barely any lampposts to illuminate the area enough so we could locate our car. My mom was still rummaging through her large purse for her car keys as we strolled through the barely lit area.
"They should really get these lampposts fixed," I uttered to no one in particular. I heard my mom sigh loudly followed by a loud jingle of keys.
"Found it." She announced, holding them in the air briefly for us to see. She pressed a button and the car's headlights lit up with a loud sound to indicate its location. It was a little distance away from where we were and we all began to speed walk towards it. Halfway there I heard someone whisper my name and I paused.
There was that feeling again. Just when I thought I had forgotten about it, the goosebumps slowly took over my skin again and my heartbeat quickened. I scanned the area with wild eyes, squinting them as hard as I can to make out something — anything. But the parking lot was dead quiet. Not even the wind dared to disturb the silence.
I shook my head and tried to shake off the uneasy feeling before speed-walking again to catch up to my mom and sister.
"Aurora..."
"What?!" I yelled and turned around, frustrated that someone decided now was a good time to play a prank on me. But all I was faced with was the thin-cold and empty air.
How was that possible? The voice sounded from right behind my ear. Who moves that quickly, anyway? Was I being haunted by the damn Flash himself? It was a male's voice that I heard after all but it wasn't anything special that I could pinpoint to remember.
Suddenly I heard loud shuffling and what sounded like muffled screams from behind a blue pickup truck on my right. A red light flickered on and off every three seconds in the vehicle that cast a shadow on the rear windows. I drew closer and closer to it until I could make out what the shadow was. The most I saw of it was two figures embracing each other at an awkward angle before my mom was blaring her horn and yelling at me to get in the car.
I hurried towards the car without a second thought and quickly slipped into the backseat beside my sister.
"What were you doing back there, Aurora?" My mother began to argue as she slowly pulled out of the parking lot.
"Uh, nothing." I lied, trying to even out my breaths as my heartbeat hammered in my ears. "I just thought I heard someone calling me. Maybe the doctor or something."
"Well, we have everything you need. If they need you for anything else they might as well just give us a call." She informed, peering at me briefly through the rearview mirror.
"Yeah... yeah you're right."
"What happened to your hair?" She frowned, a disapproving look on her face.
"Long story," I smirked and playfully nudged Raquel. She gave me a warm smile in return that I tried to hold on to for as long as possible until my paranoia went away.
↻ ▾ ↺
The ride home was short and quiet -- as it usually was when my mother was positioned at the steering wheel. The lights in our house were on when we got there and my dad's SUV was parked in the garage. I expected to see all of these things since it was already a little after eight and my dad normally got home at this time. I wonder why he didn't meet us at the hospital. I'm sure he talked to my mother for the day. Unless she formulated some other ridiculous lie about taking us out for ice cream or something.
One particular scene I did not expect to see was my best friend sat out in the cold on our doorstep basically cocooned inside of an oversized hoodie. Her albino face was caught in the headlights as my mom turned and parked the car in our yard. The engine was cut and I quickly unbuckled my seatbelt, beyond anxious to get out of the car and see my best friend. I heard my mom let out a disapproving grunt as I exited the car but the last thing I needed to hear was how she disliked the idea of me hanging out with Jayda after she had specifically told her to stay away from me.
Pfft, yeah right.
I ran straight into Jayda's awaiting arms and embraced her in a bone-crushing hug. It felt like I was seeing her for the first time after being locked away in prison for twenty years even though it was only a little over sixty-four hours. Noth that I was counting or anything.
"Rory, you're okay," She whispered in my ear sounding relieved, and pulled me impossibly closer, apparently trying to break my spine. "I missed you so much."
"I missed you too," I admitted and reluctantly pulled away from her. I could just feel my mother's presence behind my back boring daggers into the back of my head. I tried my best to ignore it and instead focus on the fact that my best friend was here.
"I called you like a thousand times but your cell went straight to voicemail," She glanced briefly at something behind me and then said in a softer voice. "I called your mom too but she said you were too sick to have company over. But then when you didn't show at school today, I thought something might have happened to you."
"Oh, no, I'm fine," I told her while subconsciously scratching my nape. My mother walked by us without saying anything to Jayda -- despite the albino greeting her with a gentle 'goodnight'-- and headed straight for the front door. Raquel stopped beside me for a brief second to say 'hi' to Jayda before my mom shot her a look over her shoulder and she quickly ran up the steps towards her.
"Uhm, can we talk?" Jayda asked in a surprisingly soft voice, grabbing a hold of my hand and sidestepping to partially stand behind me. It looked like she was hiding from my mother and her never-ending glares. The tension between the two was killing me and I hated how unnecessarily uncomfortable my mom made Jayda feel whenever she was around.
Before I could give Jayda an answer, my mom pushed the front door open and beckoned me inside with a tilt of her head. I interlocked my hand with Jayda's and tugged her along with me as I carefully made my way up the steps, not once breaking eye contact with my mother. She opened her mouth to say something, most likely about to chase my friend home, but luckily my father made an appearance on the other side of the door and cut her thought short.
"Ah, I thought I heard you guys come in," he smiled and stepped aside for us to enter. Raquel quickly ran inside to escape the tense situation whilst my mother still stood rock solid in her spot and glared at us.
"What's the matter?" My dad asked, his eyebrow lifting suspiciously.
"Uh, dad, is it okay if Jayda spends the night?" I rushed the sentence out quickly before my mom had the opportunity to voice her disapproval. My father itched at a random spot on his forehead with an uncomfortable smile, finally having taken notice of the thick tension in the air.
But that didn't stop him from giving me a proper answer, "Of course. I don't see why that would be a problem..." He glanced at my mother as he said this and she scoffed before clutching her purse close to her chest and stomping inside. "Oh-kay, then," He chuckled uneasily and made a welcome gesture with his hand for us to come inside.
"What are you doing?" Jayda whispered in my ear as we stepped inside and kicked off our shoes at the door.
"Don't worry, I'm just going to make her feel as uncomfortable as she makes you," I informed her, unable to hide the mischievous look on my face.
"Rory," She breathed out and stopped me from walking away, her hand on my shoulder with a doubtful look in her green eyes as she said, "Please don't make this worse than it already is."
I quirked an eyebrow at her, "What's worse than this, Jayda?"
She looked away, unable to provide an answer.
"Exactly. Just trust me, okay?"
I walked ahead of her and made my way towards the staircase but paused on the first step when my dad suddenly asked something.
"So, did you guys bring back any ice cream for me?"
He had this huge goofy smile on his face as he walked around in the kitchen, a wooden spoon in his hands as he glanced between me and my mother who was sat in the living room. The entire downstairs was bare of any partitions that separated the kitchen and living room so there was no way for my mom to send me any kind of signal so I could follow up on her obvious lie. Or so I thought. She dug through her purse quickly and held my phone out towards me, beckoning me over to collect it.
This was it. This was my opportunity to confess and tell my father what I had been wanting to tell him since she forced me out of the house this morning. But the more I thought about it, I realized she was only doing what she thought was right. Aside from the fact that she insisted that the doctor put me through a Psych Evaluation test -- that was mostly just her punishing me for inking up my forehead with what she believed to be a tattoo -- I know her true reason for taking me to the hospital was because I was, in fact, feeling terribly sick.
But most importantly, the pleading look in her eyes at that moment as she held out the phone for me told me that there was no reason for me to out her to my father. That would only result in them falling into a big argument for the rest of the night and those arguments never ended well.
So for peace's sake, I made my way over to her and retrieved my cell phone before pocketing it and turning to my dad.
"Sorry, dad. The ice cream parlor was closed so we just took Raquel to the park."
"Aw, I was really looking forward to a nice cone of rum and raisin. But that's alright, what do you girls say we take a trip back down there when I pick you up from school tomorrow?" His question was directed towards me and Jayda who happily nodded our agreement.
I turned to my mom with the most cheeky look I could muster up and spoke very slowly. "Jayda and I will be in my room if you need us," the scowl immediately returned to her face at my words, but I was already sprinting up the large staircase with Jayda in tow before she could respond.
We bumped into Raquel in the hallway who was only wrapped in her Spongebob towel with her hair fully drenched and clinging to her face in all directions. She sized Jayda and me up with weary hazel eyes and I decided to bring her up to speed with mom's lie.
"If dad asks, we went out to get ice cream but the parlor was closed and mom and I took you to the park. Got it?"
She nodded slowly and without asking any questions, slipped into her room quietly.
"I like her. She doesn't ask questions about anything. Just goes with the flow. I wish my brother was like that," Jayda complained from behind me as she followed me into my room.
"Jade, your brother is two years old. Of course, he's going to ask questions about everything," I reminded her and turned around briefly to lock my door. "Plus, Raquel catches on to stuff pretty easily. Didn't you see how quickly she disappeared when my dad came to the front door?"
"That's the thing," she laughed. "It happened so fast that I didn't get the chance to see it."
I flicked off my bedroom light and switched on the surrounding LED lights lining the corners of the ceiling instead. Jayda threw me the remote to control the lights and I set the color to a deep purple that enveloped the entire room in a luminous atmosphere.
"Great, now all we need is some music," she suggested and wiggled her pale eyebrows teasingly.
I wagged my index finger at her to dismiss that idea and collapsed into a sitting position next to her on the bed. "Nah uh, you need to tell me everything that happened today first. All the spicy stuff always happens when I'm away from school, so spill."
Jayda pulled a face that suggested otherwise and I frowned.
"Wait, seriously? Nothing happened at all?" She shook her head and heaved out a long sigh. "What about Cecilia? Are there any updates from James and Christopher?"
"Nope but they're still out every night looking for her. James said to tell you that he hopes you feel better and he's sorry that he can't come to see you," her green eyes held me in a strong gaze as she said this, and I could tell she was analyzing every inch of my face to see how I would react to her words.
My lips formed a small smile and I nodded slowly to express my empathy on the matter. There was no reason for me to be upset about it anymore. The situation was greater than any petty feelings I could bring myself to feel. So instead I'm choosing to just let things be and only hope that James eventually finds his friend.
"That's okay. I hope they find her soon." I admitted to Jayda.
"Me too," She agreed and shifted closer to me on the bed. Her warm hands suddenly found my face and she used her thumbs to slowly part my bangs away from my forehead. Her lips were a breath away from mine and I tried to focus my attention on her curious eyes instead. "So I guess this isn't going away anytime soon," she noted before removing her hands from my face.
I blinked and tried to figure out what she was talking about, "Huh?"
"The mark on your forehead," she reminded, a playful look in her eyes that suggested she knew all too well where my mind was. "Did your mom see it? Or anyone at the hospital?"
"Oh. Yeah, my mom saw it this morning. She threw a fit and cussed me out -- obviously."
"Oh no," She laughed and I hit her with a pillow.
"If you think that's funny, wait till you hear how she took me to get a Psych Evaluation test to see if I was losing it."
"Shut up. Tell me you're joking right now," she begged in disbelief.
I shook my head and fell back onto the bed for dramatic effect, "To spare me the embarrassment, I honestly wish I was."
"Aww, you poor thing," Jayda chuckled and made herself comfortable beside me. "Well did you at least pass the test?"
I shot her a sidelong glare and she fell into a fit of giggles again, "Don't be annoying."
"Okay, I apologize," she whispered after a few seconds and draped her arm over my stomach. "Wanna tell me about your day?"
I angled my face so that we were facing each other and turned over on my side so that her hand was resting over my hip bone. "It wasn't really interesting and no I didn't get any cute nurse's number in case you were wondering."
She smirked and pinched a small piece of skin on my hip playfully, "I wasn't."
"Sure," I rolled my eyes. "Though, at one point I think I was violated by this one nurse. Like, he was so rough with me just to take a stupid blood sample. I even think I might have met him somewhere before but I'm not sure where."
"Oh my god, imagine if you had accidentally bumped into him at a coffee shop or something and spilled his drink. That's definitely motive for him to seek revenge," Her eyes were wide with fascination as if she had the whole scenario planned out in detail in her head, and the stupid smile on her face was not doing a very good job at convincing me otherwise.
"Alright, first of all, I'm gonna need you to stop watching all those criminal psychology videos on YouTube. And second, the last time we went to a coffee shop was early last summer when James forced us to get that new Unicorn Tears Moonbucks drink with him."
Jayda immediately made a disgusted face at the memory as if she could already imagine the awful taste of the drink in her mouth again, "Yuck, remind me to never trust James with any kind of drink ever again."
"Noted," I laughed along with her.
"On a serious note, did you file a complaint about that nurse?"
"I tried," I told her and sighed, "Well, my mom tried but weirdly enough when I described the nurse to the other staff they said they didn't know anyone by that description that worked there."
Jayda's pale eyebrows drew together stiffly in concern and she frowned, "Wait seriously? So you're telling me some rando came into your room unsupervised and took your blood? And no one knows who the heck they are?"
"Uhh..." A minute amount of fear struck me just then but it was enough to make my blood run cold at the possibility of a complete stranger having my DNA. And especially in such large quantities too. "Maybe? I don't know. You don't really believe that, do you? I could just suck at giving a proper description of people."
"Rory..." Jayda was giving me her famous 'cut the bullshit' look and that's when I began to panic.
"Okay, so maybe I did allow some rando to just steal my blood," I sat up in bed once more and raked my hair back in frustration. "Shit... This could be bad."
"Rory," I felt a warm hand rubbing soothing circles into my back as Jayda sat up next to me. "Don't freak out. Maybe it was just a new employee that the staff hadn't gotten familiar with as yet."
My heartbeat that was rapidly building up its pace in my chest suddenly began to force-tame itself at her reassuring words. "Yeah... I guess that makes sense."
"But," she countered firmly. "Just to be safe you should probably try and stay clear of hospitals for a while."
I made vague gestures to the hidden symbol on my forehead and frowned, "If this thing keeps trying to put me into a coma then that's not gonna be the easiest task."
"Speaking of that thing..." She began, eyebrows scarcely arched. "...That teacher was asking for you today."
"What teacher?"
"You know, Miss Stiff Shoulders," she said, failing to give me clarity.
"Miss who?"
"Ugh, that one teacher dude. The one constantly glaring at me like I'm an annoying mosquito or something whenever we're in her class together."
I was beyond confused now.
"Jayda, I hate to say it, but you've completely lost me."
She sighed and feigned annoyance, "The new English teacher."
I analyzed her for a long poignant moment before giving her my response, "You know you don't have to pretend like you don't know her name, right? I know you have a crush on her."
That's when her mint green eyes widened in mild shock and her facade finally crumbled. A huge smile quickly replaced the obviously false frown on her lips. "Ugh, how can anyone not? She's so hot."
I made an unnecessary glance towards my closet as I said, "She's alright."
"Oh, shut up. I see the way you gawk at her in class. And the cafeteria. And in lessons. And after lessons. Sometimes even before less--" I turned to face her again and clamped a hand over her mouth to shut her up.
"Alright, that's enough out of you," she suddenly licked the inside of my palm, forcing me to withdraw my hand from her mouth. "You little shit."
"You love me."
"Anyways," I tried to laugh it off and steer the conversation back on track. "What did Miss Addington say?"
Instead of responding right away, she instantly took me by surprise when she climbed on top of me and straddled my thighs, her arms moving to casually wrap around my neck. I don't know if this was her way of trying to distract me and run my train of thought straight into a fucking brick wall, but it sure was working.
"Uhm... Jayda, w-what are you doing?'" I somehow managed to get out in one breath.
The albino peered down at me steadily with innocent eyes and teasingly swiped the tip of her tongue along her bottom lip before replying in an unusually sensual tone, "Just getting comfortable."
What is air?
"Oh..." I muttered and tried desperately to keep my eyes level with hers. "Right. So uhm... Miss Addington?"
"Oh yeah, so she wanted to talk to you about something but I told her you were taking a sick day."
"She wanted to talk to me?" Jayda hummed and began playing with my shirt collar. "I wonder what that could be about. Did she mention anything else?"
"Nope. But she did kind of interrogate me and James for info about Cecilia. There wasn't much to say obviously besides the fact that she openly bullied you in lessons then disappeared soon after. But James was being awfully rude to Miss Addington for like no reason at all."
"Ugh, he still hasn't gotten over that stupid skateboard incident as yet?"
She shook her head and a stray strand of white hair unfurled on her forehead. "Apparently not."
Anxious to do something with my hands besides have them awkwardly resting on her waist, I reached a hand up and cleared the strand of hair away from her face. I sighed and gave up on resisting the urge to touch her and wrapped my arms around her waist.
"Hey, don't worry about him. He'll get over it eventually," she tried to reassure me but James was the furthest thing on my mind at the moment. There was so much going on in my head, there was barely any more room left to squeeze in petty issues like James' grudge towards an innocent teacher.
Wait... innocent?
Jayda cupped my face in her hands and tilted my chin up so I was looking at her again. "What's with that face? What are you thinking about?"
I shrugged and pouted my lips, "I don't know, it's just too much. I kinda just want to sleep and forget all my problems."
Her eyelids lowered halfway and suddenly, her thumb was tracing along my bottom lip repeatedly, "Or... you could sleep with me and forget all your problems."
I stared at my best friend for a very long and mind-boggling moment, contemplating every single one of those words. I might have even blinked several times in a very sad and failed attempt to un-dumbfound myself. I couldn't figure out for the life of me whether this was one of the rare moments where she was joking about it or not and that... That kind of scared me.
The room was too dim for me to read the emotion in her eyes and our faces were far too close together for me to think up a sensible answer.
Wait... Why was I overthinking this so much? Clearly, she was just making a dumb joke, right?
Right?
Her lips parted slightly and I allowed my eyelids to flutter close as I anticipated the kiss she would undoubtedly mold into my lips.
But it never came. Instead, she redirected her lips to the tip of my nose and pressed a delicate kiss into it.
About a second later she pulled away all too abruptly and unwrapped herself from around me as she burst into a fit of laughter, "You look scared as fuck right now, babe."
Confused, I sat frozen in my spot for roughly fifteen seconds before forcing a laugh out of my suddenly clogged-up throat.
"Hahaha..."
"Aww, don't look so disappointed, Rory," she cooed and playfully nudged my shoulder. "I was just messing with you..."
I subconsciously scratched a spot behind my ear and let out a nervous chuckle, "Yeah, yeah, of course. I knew that."
A pale eyebrow quirked suspiciously in my direction but she didn't say anything.
"Uhm, I'm gonna go take a shower," I stood up from my spot on the bed and made a show of dramatically sniffing my armpits. "I got hospital stench."
Thankfully enough, she simply laughed off my weird behavior and chased me in the bathroom with a light wave of her hand.
I locked the door behind me as I entered and released a deep and unsteady breath. There really was no need for me to get so worked up over something like that. Plus it's not like Jayda never made inappropriate jokes like that before. Of course the other times she made such jokes, we were around our friends and sitting next to each other, not necessarily being intimate in any way.
But this time was different. Obviously.
What would I have done had she not gotten off of me?
Had she not laughed in my face and rule it out as her just "messing with me"?
Even if she was... I don't think she was entirely joking.
But even if she wasn't, would I have really gone through with it?
Ugh, here I am overthinking things again. Enough of this worrying over nothing. I know just what to do to make all this frustration go away.
I stripped myself of all my clothing and stepped into the shower. Completely ignoring the hot water knob, I went straight for the one labeled 'COLD' and completely drenched myself in the freezing water from head to toe until my insides were no longer burning up and my teeth began to chatter.
This was going to be a very long and painful night.
↻ ▾ ↺
The next day at school during lunch period, I ran into James in the hallway on my way to Miss Addington's class. For the first time in the six years I've known him did he look so miserable. I don't even think he looked half this bad the day after we had broken up.
So of course I was curious to know what was the reason for his gloomy expression, disheveled hair, and notably dark circles around his deep-set brown eyes.
He was speed walking past me when I placed a hand on his chest and stopped him in his tracks, "Hey, hey, where are you going with all that speed?"
"Rory? Hey, mamas, how are you?" Surprisingly enough, he pulled me into a hug and didn't let go for several seconds.
Given our height difference, I was pretty much being smothered by his deep athletic chest that was unusually bare of his sharp Axe cologne today.
"Feeling much better, thanks," I answered honestly once he let me go. "How about you? You look exhausted as hell."
He let out a deep gust sigh and shook his head, "Yeah, I've been out all night with Chris trying to find Cecilia. This search party is draining me, dude."
"Yeah, I see that," I admitted and frowned the closer I got and realized his frame was also looking a bit frailed. "Have you not been sleeping at all? Or eating?"
"No time to think about either when Cecilia is possibly lying dead in a ditch somewhere and nobody here seems to give a single fuck."
I knew for a fact he was punishing himself too harshly about the situation with the way he switched from being caring, frustrated to angry all under five minutes. I didn't how to reply to his last statement so instead, I reached into my backpack and handed him the massive fruit sandwich my father made for me this morning.
"Here, take this and please eat it. I understand you're frustrated right now, but don't punish yourself like this."
He accepted the sandwich with a barely audible 'thanks' and stuffed it in his leather bag. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Jade already gave me this lecture in study hall this morning."
"I'm not lecturing you," I deadpanned and tried not to glare too harshly at him. "I care about you a lot more than you're taking the time to care about yourself right now and if you won't do it, I'll happily feed you and rock you to sleep like a baby if I have to."
He stepped one foot away from me and squinted, "You're not rocking me to nothing."
"Wanna bet?" I challenged him and reclaimed the space between us.
"Alright, alright, damn. Back up a little bit, woman," I rolled my eyes at him and stayed glued to my spot.
"Where were you going in such a hurry just now?"
"Oh shoot, right. Christopher received a call from one of his buddies on the hill where Jeremy hangs out and they said they might have spotted Cecilia in the area."
"On the hill? What the hell would Cecilia be doing within ten feet of a bunch of gang members?" I lowered my voice on the last part as a group of cheerleaders passed by and eyed me and James with their not-so-subtle judgemental looks.
The blonde boy shrugged and walked around me, suddenly in a hurry again, "That's what I'm about to go and find out."
"James, wait!"
He stopped abruptly in his tracks and turned around to face me with a question mark on his face. I reached into my backpack for a second time and retrieved the silver bracelet I found on Friday. I held it out to James who gingerly took it off my fingers and inspected it carefully.
"Aurora... why do you have Cecilia's bracelet?" The look on his face wasn't anything close to accusatory but there was still a little bit of doubt there.
"I found it near the big Oak tree in the schoolyard on Friday night."
"And you're just now telling me?"
"James, I was laid up in bed burning up with a fever all weekend that almost fucking killed me. So yeah, forgive me for not putting off my sickness until next week or something so you could have gotten the damn bracelet sooner."
He was standing in front of me within a millisecond after, the apology spilling out of his mouth like an overflowing cup. "Of course, yes. I know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Rory," he embraced me in another hug and kissed the top of my head before pulling away, "Thank you so much, love. I can be a real idiot sometimes."
"Hey, you said it. I was only thinking it," he pinched my cheeks then, forcing a small smile onto my lips.
"I'll see you later," he promised before turning away and speed walking down the halls again.
↻ ▾ ↺
By the time I made it up the third floor and threaded up the last flight of stairs, I felt completely winded. Sure my fever might be gone now but I was still slowly trying to regain my strength after puking up my stomach for the past three days. I felt especially light-headed all of a sudden and had to press my forehead into the cold concrete wall for a long minute before my vision cleared and I could walk again.
I made it to Miss Addington's classroom door and knocked three times. They weren't particularly heavy knocks so I was surprised when the door slowly creaked open for itself on the third knock. I carefully took two steps into the room and her keen grey eyes were already fixated on me as if patiently awaiting my presence.
"Hi," I greeted in an embarrassingly soft voice and slowly shut the door close from behind. She didn't smile or say anything back and naturally, I assumed the worst. We don't speak a lot. Not as much as I would to Sir Leon or Miss Aaliyah anyway. And in the rare short moments that we do, it's always about me and my petty high school problems. I don't think she gained anything out of it and just tolerated me to be polite. Perhaps she changed her mind about wanting to keep a safe distance between her students and coworkers and was trying to make up for it by doing so.
Still, I wasn't anything special for her to want to have a one on one with me for the sole reason of boosting her reputation. What good would it do in an empty classroom with no one around to witness it? Unless she assumed I was the type to run and brag about her brave act of kindness towards my friends. I would sure hope not because that was certainly not the kind of impression I wanted to give off. Not to her.
With that canceled out, there was only one obvious reason left.
I made my way towards the front of the room and stood awkwardly beside her desk, "Am I in trouble?"
Miss Addington's head tilted slightly to the side, almost in the same manner a confused puppy would, and slowly quirked an eyebrow.
"You know, if this was last year, and I was still in junior year, I would be pulling excuse from the book to try and defend myself. But because of all the weird stuff that's been happening ever since the beginning of my senior year, I'm just gonna take a seat and accept whatever punishment you have for me," I averted my eyes to the floor and moved towards an empty seat positioned at the front of her desk. I dropped my backpack on the ground next to my feet and sighed.
I guess detention didn't sound too bad -- if that was the punishment she had in mind, anyway. At least I could sit in silence for an hour and rearrange the thoughts in my head to something that didn't give me a migraine every time I pondered too hard on it.
"Aurora," The teacher said my name gently to grab my attention away from the floor. "You're not in trouble." She reassured with a faint smile.
"I'm not?"
"No," she answered simply and picked up a paper from her table. "I wanted to talk to you about your essay on the poem Thousand Eyes."
"Oh... What about it?" As relieved as I was that I was not exactly in any kind of trouble, there was still a noticeable undertone to her voice that suggested I wasn't a hundred percent in the safe zone yet. And since she stated that this had to do with my essay, it didn't take long for me to realize what the issue was.
She skimmed over the front page a few times and briefly turned it over to inspect the back before chewing on her bottom lip in a very distracting manner, "Well, for starters, it's incomplete."
I frowned and deviated my attention to her eyes, "But I reached the word limit..."
"That's my point, " she sighed. "You started really well in the introduction but halfway through the body you deflected from the original points you were trying to make and towards the end, it felt like you were just writing short sentences to reach the word limit."
When she finally looked up from my paper and took in the despondent look on my face, the sternness in her grey eyes leisurely diminished.
"Yeah, I'm not really that well of a writer..." I justified lazily and stared at the whiteboard directly behind her.
"I won't necessarily put it that way," My eyebrows furrowed and I averted my eyes to her once more. "I enjoy your writing. However, it does have the potential to improve and become better. You just need to sort your ideas out up here before you can put them down there," she pointed the tip of her red ink pen towards the side of her head and then towards the paper.
"In that case, I just might be a little hopeless. I can barely sort my own thoughts out as of late."
"Do you think that's why you're having trouble with your essay?"
I shrugged, twirling the end of my braid around my index finger and curling it, "Maybe... I don't know. I haven't really been focusing in any of my classes."
"Or staying awake..." she trailed off, a hint of a smile on her red lips.
A rush of heat warmed my cheeks as I thought back to the embarrassing memory of me waking up in her empty classroom long after the lesson was over. "Oh, god, don't remind me. I'm so sorry about that. I'll try to avoid any chances of that happening again."
"Or you could try getting some more sleep," she suggested, her tone genuine. I smiled, not really knowing what to say but then she spoke again. "Your friends told me you weren't feeling well. I suppose you're doing much better now since you came in today."
It was more of a question rather than an observation so I found myself slowly nodding following her words, "Yes, actually. I won't say much better though, just enough to make it out of bed."
She soundly settled the temporarily forgotten paper and pen onto her desk and leaned back in her chair with her arms resting comfortably on her stomach, "What was the matter?"
I sat back in my chair as well to get comfortable since it didn't seem like this conversation was going to be over anytime soon. At least it won't be if I went into detail about why I couldn't make it to school yesterday. But could I actually tell her? The truth that is? It was either that or the lies I fed to everyone else. Jayda was the only person aware of my situation. James knew of it but never questioned me beyond his curiosity of the mark in my palm -- which still strangely enough -- now resides on my forehead. I fingered the bangs on my forehead, suddenly self-conscious that it wasn't doing a good job of concealing the mark when Miss Addington kept staring at me.
It was only when she quirked her implausibly artistic eyebrows that I realized she was still awaiting a response from me.
"Food poisoning," I blurted out.
She stared at me thoughtfully for a long moment and crossed her arms.
"Oh," was all she said, her tone genuine but the expression on her pale and refined face suggesting otherwise.
"Yeah, it was pretty bad," I continued with the lie even if she didn't care. "I had to take a quick visit to the hospital," and a little bit of truth never mind the hospital visit was anything but quick.
"Is that so..." she trailed off, uncrossing her arms and leaning forward with her elbows on the desk.
I nodded.
She studied me carefully for several more seconds and I was beginning to grow a little uncomfortable. But not so much that I wanted to bolt for the nearest exit. I just didn't appreciate anyone staring at me for extended periods of time because then I would become too self-aware of how I acted in front of them. With that said, I was trying my best not to make a complete fool of myself in front of this particular teacher more than I already have in the past.
"Well, it's good that you're feeling better now. We're still going to have to do something about this essay though..." She picked up the paper again and smirked at me.
"Right," I chuckled. "Do you need me to write it over? I'll get started on it as soon as I get home later." I suggested a little more enthusiastically than I was actually feeling. I guess I just wanted to show her that I cared and was actually willing to try and improve on my work.
But she shook her head and stood, slowly walking around her desk until she was standing directly in front of me.
Immediately an overwhelming scent of Jasmine and pinewood shocked my nostrils and I subconsciously leaned a centimeter over my desk as the compelling smell drew me in. Luckily, I caught myself just in time before I leaned in any closer and she had the opportunity to label me as a full-on creep. She then moved to the chair on my left and took a seat next to me.
"I have a better idea," she smiled, like a real genuine smile, and handed me my paper. "We can work on it together. That way I can help you if you find yourself struggling whether it be to arrange your thoughts on paper, constructing a really good paragraph, or anything really."
To say I was surprised would be an understatement. I don't remember any teacher ever sacrificing their free time to offer to help me with anything school-related. They were all always busy doing something else or only willing to help their favorite students. And I wasn't anyone's favorite student. Not anymore anyway. The one teacher I actually thought had pure intentions for all those times they were being suspiciously nice to me is in prison for the production and distribution of child pornography.
Anyway...
I peered up into Miss Addington's sharp and penetrating eyes in thought, "Are you sure I won't be taking away from your free time? I can always ask a classmate for help or something..."
"I'm sure," she reassured and then added, "Aurora, you're not a bother to me in any way. I do want to help you exercise your writing skills because I see a lot of potential in you to be one of, if not the most outstanding essay writer in the whole grade."
"Woah there," I stopped her with a raise of my hand. "The whole grade? That's kind of a stretch, no? I'm not that good..."
Had it been anyone else repeating the same words to me I would have simply laughed it off but seeing as Miss Addington's aura was always screaming 'no bullshit', I don't see why she would voluntarily choose to waste her time feeding me lies. Unless of course, she wasn't lying and actually meant every single one of those words.
"But you could be," she countered and leaned into me slightly 'causing me to get another whiff of her perfume. Her clear grey eyes regarded me with a kind of softness that made me blindly believe every word that she said. "I'm aware of the incident that happened last year," she then added and my heart stopped.
Of course, she knew. Either through the Principal or gossiping teachers that just wanted something to talk about with the new teacher in the rare chance that they would become besties.
"Hey, look at me," I had immediately averted my attention to the floor at her confession but was now prompted to stare into her eyes again. "You don't have to say yes. If you feel more comfortable going to a classmate for help then by all means. I just want you to know that I'm available if you ever feel stuck with the material. You can come to me at any time."
I thought about it for a short moment and sighed. As much as I wanted to trust her -- and I really wanted to trust her -- the feeling was almost compelling, but I still had some doubts. They were very little, minute air bubbles bouncing off of the opposing thoughts, but they were there nonetheless and I could not bring myself to ignore them.
Nodding, I then said, "Thank you, Miss Addington. I'll... think about it."
"Good," she smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. Her head lowered to the thin black watch on her wrist and she reclined in her seat. "Fifteen more minutes until the bell rings..." she declared then glanced up at me tentatively. "Have you already eaten?"
I felt the frown forming on my lips as I remembered the fruit sandwich I voluntarily gave to James like charity. "No, I gave my lunch away."
The teacher lifted a thick eyebrow in a way to suggest that I was crazy but didn't say anything.
"It's a long story," I decided to add, and she sighed before getting up from her seat.
"Come with me, I'll get you something to eat," she ordered, already halfway to the door.
I hastily stood up as well to stop her, "No, that's okay. I'm really not that hungry anyway."
It was a lie. I was starving. In fact, I was severely famished. I usually skip out on breakfast and simply munch on a granola bar on my way to school so my lunch was the only thing I would look forward to. But now that it's gone, I suppose I can just pretend I am a plant and spend the next fifteen minutes of the lunch hour out in the sunlight for energy.
Miss Addington peered at me over her shoulder and reached for the doorknob, "I wasn't asking."
She disappeared behind the door before I could protest so I was left with no choice but to follow behind her. I retrieved my backpack from off the floor and sped walked to catch up to the incredibly fast teacher. We descended the staircase in silence with the only audible sound emitting from the loud click-clack of her heels. It always amazed me how suspiciously deserted the top floor was during lunch considering there were at least twelve classrooms to be occupied. I guess no one wanted to go through the hassle of unnecessarily climbing these dreadful staircases unless they actually had a class to attend.
My eyes began to wander as I followed quietly behind Miss Addington. Before I knew it, my eyes were trailing up from her heels to the back of her long and deceptively delicate legs all the way to the black pencil skirt that hugged her shapely round butt perfectly.
Uhh...okay, that's enough of that.
I quickened my pace until we were walking side by side and she glanced over to me with a thoughtful expression. I offered her a small smile but she squinted and directed her attention back to the front. We passed a few dozen students in the wide hallway posed off at their lockers chatting and laughing loudly amongst themselves on the second floor. Miss Addington then took a sharp turn on our left and I quickly realized she had lead me all the way to the cafeteria. We entered the noisy and high-ceilinged room and made a beeline towards the counters where the women and men in aprons stood behind idly making conversation with each other.
The teacher signaled one of the women over with a ringed finger and she greeted us with a blankly courteous smile.
"Miss Addington, hi. How can I help you today?"
"Is there anything left?" She inquired as her eyes briefly scanned over the multiple empty containers through the glass case.
The woman smiled at the teacher mischievously and placed her gloved hands on top of the counter, "Finally ready to ditch your strict diet and give our cafeteria menu a try?"
I glanced at Miss Addington and analyzed her side profile as she answered. "Not today, no," she rejected and eyed me for a brief second. "However, I do need something for one of my students. Can you help us out?"
The lunch lady averted her kind eyes to me and asked, "You're not a vegetarian are you, Rory?" I shook my head in response and she nodded once before disappearing to the back. It was no surprise that she knew my name. I on the other hand struggled to remember hers because she was always helping out with the cooking in the back and rarely ever serving food at the front.
I turned to the older woman beside me and was surprised to see she had already been staring at me. I tried to think of something to say so we didn't just stand there and awkwardly stare at each other. I thought back to what the lunch lady said about her strict diet and decided to ask her about that.
"That red drink you're always drinking in a styrofoam cup... was that the strict diet she was referring to?"
"Mhm," was the only audible response I got.
"What is it? Like a smoothie or something?"
Miss Addington leaned her hip against the glass case and crossed her arms, giving me a small secretive smirk, "Or something," she answered and licked her lips.
"Or something..." I repeated and trailed off, eyeing her suspiciously.
She then rolled her eyes and said, "It's just a very nutritious beverage."
"Right..." I trailed off again, my eyes still squinted at her slightly but I could already feel a small smile growing on my lips. "Why so secretive with the details then?"
Her smirk grew as she replied, " 'Cause it's not for kids."
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes, "Why? Do you add alcohol to it or something?"
"Maybe." She winked and my heart skipped a beat. "I might have needed some extra help to get to the end of that essay of yours."
"Don't be cruel." I frowned at her but then laughed immediately after so she knew I didn't take her words to heart.
The lunch lady returned shortly after with something thick wrapped tightly in foil. She handed it to me over the counter and it was surprisingly warm.
"I got them to make you a chicken burrito," she informed and I thanked her gratefully.
Miss Addington handed her a crisp ten-dollar bill over the counter and instructed her to keep the change. I gaped at her when she turned around and flashed her the hefty burrito, "I didn't even know they made these here."
"Maybe it's your lucky day."
"Pfft, very lucky," I chuckled then offered her a sincere smile. "Thank you. I promise not to make a habit of giving away my lunch."
"I hope not," she warned -- her grey eyes stern.
"I promise."
"Good," her eyes softened and she stared at me for a few short moments, not saying anything.
"Uhm, I guess I'll go eat this now," I stated awkwardly and quite unnecessarily while pointing to nowhere in particular towards the sea of students surrounding the tables.
"Of course. See you," was the last thing she said before turning on her heels and making for the exit.
"Bye," I mumbled to her retreating frame.
I wasn't spared another second to release the breath I was unwarily holding because someone appeared in front of me almost immediately and snatched my burrito.
"Why is Miss Addington buying you lunch?"
I blinked at the albino for several seconds before coming to my senses. "You know, Jayda, it wouldn't hurt you to greet me with a 'hi' every once in a while."
"Hi, why is Miss Addington buying you lunch?" She tried again, her pale face stone cold and serious.
The corner of my upper lip quirked and I carefully retrieved my burrito from her offending hands. "I don't see you buying me lunch."
"Because you specifically told me over the phone this morning that your dad was making your lunch."
I began to slowly walk away towards an empty table so she wouldn't see the guilty look on my face as I realize I had completely forgotten mentioning that to her.
"Why are you acting so jealous?" I asked her instead as I took a seat and began to unwrap my burrito.
She huffed and sat in the seat in front of me, her mint green eyes glaring at my innocent chicken burrito. "I'm not jealous," she denied stubbornly.
"Mhm," I hummed around a mouthful of food so she knew I didn't believe any of it. "Come here," I patted the space on the bench next to me and she heaved out a sigh before slowly getting up to claim the spot. When she was seated next to me, I snaked an arm around her waist to pull her closer and leaned my head on her shoulder. "Want a bite?" I teased her and waved the burrito around her mouth. She then glared at me when it touched her lips and I accidentally smeared some sauce across her bottom lip. "Oops," I sat up properly to clean the sauce off her mouth with a quick peck on her lips.
That seemed to have broken the thin ice wall she had up and I smiled as the blush began to creep up her neck.
"Rory..." she whispered softly and quickly glanced around us to see if anyone had been watching. I shook my head at her and continued to devour my lunch. I don't know why she was always paranoid about these things. Even in a crowded room, no one actually gave a shit about what any of us did cause we all goofed around and did dumb things. It wasn't anything they haven't seen before either. But most importantly people knew that was just how we were and never dared to question it. If anything I should be the paranoid one all the time since I wasn't sure where exactly I stood on the sexuality spectrum. But just like everything else, none of our classmates gave a shit.
"Sshh, Rory nothing."
"You shouldn't do that you know..." she spoke softly, avoiding any eye contact with me.
I played dumb and took another bite of my food, "Do what?"
She remained silent and just fidget with her fingers in her lap. I sighed and decided to ignore her for now then removed my arm from around her waist. I chose to finish off my lunch before diving into a potentially heavy and energy-draining conversation. I reached into my backpack for a napkin and my water bottle which I took long sips from and peered at Jayda from out of the corner of my eye. She sat facing forward with her hands folded on the table, looking at everyone else except me.
I replaced my water bottle in my bag when I was finished and pushed the crumpled foil wrap and used napkin to the side before leaning forward on the table.
"Alright, what's up with you?" I questioned her.
"Nothing," she sighed and finally looked at me. "What did Miss Addington want to talk to you about?"
"My English paper. I need to rewrite it."
"Oh," she muttered. "That sucks."
"Mhm," I hummed and continued to stare at her suspiciously. "I might need your help."
"With the paper?"
"If I'm going to write it over, yes."
"If? So you're not sure if you will?"
"No, I am." I deadpanned.
"Okay."
"So will you?"
"Will I what?"
"Help me write the paper?"
"Sure. Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know. You tell me."
She stared at me for a long moment until the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch hour. Within the midst of everyone gathering their lunch trays and hurriedly packing up to get to their next class, I remained rooted in my seat and refused to leave until Jayda gave me a proper explanation for her weird behavior.
"You're acting weird," she said to me and made to get up. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back down to sit.
"Because you're making me feel weird. Tell me what's wrong."
She groaned and threw her head back, "Ugh, for god's sake I said it's nothing."
"Is this about last night?" I pressed on. She stiffened beside me and her voice fell a few octaves.
"No."
"But it's something...?"
Jayda released a covertly weary sigh and didn't say anything. I knew she was quickly growing irritated by my questioning but she had been completely normal since this morning up until a few minutes ago when I ran into her and she ever so rudely snatched my lunch. The cafeteria was almost entirely deserted by now and I decided if we didn't get up now we would be late to class.
"Alright, I'll stop pestering you. But I do need your help on that paper and I was hoping to start tonight." I stood up from my seat and gathered my belongings. "Can you come over later?"
With her eyes glued to the table, she nodded, "Sure."
I stared at her for a few short moments and then asked, "You're not going to class?"
"Free period," she answered and retrieved her headphones from her bag.
"Okay. I'll see you later I guess."
"Yeah."
"Love you," I threw over my shoulder as I walked away.
There was no answer.
↻ ▾ ↺
A/N: Damn, even I can feel the tension in here, phew! *aggressively fans self*
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter ((: Don't forget to vote and leave your feedback in the comments for more frequent updates (;
~ Natalia Xx