"Do we really have to go now? I mean, come on! It's lunch and I am starving. Don't you have a soft bone in you? Don't you pity this growing girl who's in need of all the nutrients that she can get?" I tried to tug at Austin's conscience, who's currently placing his books from his bag to his locker.
It's lunch time already and I thought it would just be a typical Monday where I will drag myself down the stairs-from my room, go to school, listen to my teachers and have lunch with my super friends at the cafeteria. But Austin had to ruin that routine by throwing a piece of crumpled paper at my head during Literature, where he's my classmate.
Written on the paper are sloppily written words that read: My locker. After this. Oh how polite! He didn't even have the decency to write his locker number-which obviously I am not aware of or even his name. What does he think of me? A freaking psychic?
But being the naturally talented person that I am, I figured it was him and followed him from our Literature class to his locker. Which brings us back to the current situation at hand.
"I don't have another time," he replied, still not looking at me as he slammed his locker shut.
I leaned myself against the cold metal lockers and sighed, acting so disappointed and depressed so he could at least consider me a fifteen minute allowance before heading to our old, dusty library. "But I am starving. What if I get a stomach ulcer? Just fifteen minutes," I begged further, pouting my lower lip in attempts to look more pitiful and convincing.
Snorting at my dramatics which he obviously didn't believe. He raised the strap of his black Nike bag higher on his shoulder and frowned at me, dismayed.
"Yeah. Because this isn't for your progress," he taunted, turning to face me. Both of his eyebrows raised in a brooding manner, expecting me to rebut what he just said.
I know this is for my entry but...but...I'm hungry! And food is something that we should never deprive ourselves of, simply because it's food.
"But I'm hungry," I mumbled quietly, leaning away from the lockers and crouching down a little as I stand in front of him. I chew on my bottom lip and fixed my gaze at the cream colored floor of our school.
"So? I am hungry too," he retorted, leaning his shoulder on his closed locker as he peered at my face.
Yeah, he's probably right. This isn't his problem and I am just asking him a favor so I don't have the right to demand for anything.
Tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear, I stood up straight and looked right into his eyes. "I'm sorry. This is stupid. I shouldn't have bothered you in the first place." With that, I started to walk away. Taking small steps in hopes that he would call out to me just like what they do in movies.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... Oh come on! Nine, ten, elev-
"School paper girl!" He suddenly called out to me making me halt in my tracks. Ha!
Stiffling a grin, I made my expression blank before slowly turning back to face him. "Yeah?"
"I'll just treat you a scoop of ice cream after school," he grunted out, hands in his pockets as he look anywhere but me.
Losing all my control to restrain myself from grinning widely, I quickly rushed to his side and punched his shoulder playfully with a huge grin plastered on my face, causing him to stagger a little and glare at me. "Ice Cream Wonderland?"
"Ice Cream Wonderland," he confirmed, forcing out the words as if it's such a burden to him while nodding his head unwillingly.
Nonetheless, his answer made me squeal earning the attention of some of our schoolmates, ignoring them I grinned up at him. "I always knew you're nicer than they thought," I teased, wiggling my eyebrows at him.
"Don't sweat it," he grumbled, scowling at me before walking towards the direction of the library and blending in with all the other students. In which I just chuckled and shook my head humorously.
****
"-five, six, seven, eight. Wow this sure are, a lot of books," I noted, balancing all the eight hardbound books in my arms as I follow Austin who's searching for a good place to sit.
Choosing the table at the corner of the library-near the door, he plopped himself down together with all the books that he took from the old, dusty shelves that I swear smelled like soil. I bet it could even beat Gaea's scent.
I took a seat across from him and placed the books from my arms, down in front of me, on the table with a tired sigh. I winced upon feeling my sore muscles from the weight of all the books.
Letting my eyes rove over the library I smiled at the perfect view of students seated while skimming through books, letting the sound of flipping pages fill the quiet room. Our school library isn't new anymore but nor is it too old also. It has the average size, enough shelves, an antique interior and varnished tables and chairs. Along with the dark blue curtains, covering the windows and matching our school color.
Near the entrance and our chosen table, is Mrs. Morris - the school librarian. Seated in front of her desktop as she pushed her gray rimmed glasses up her nose. Mrs. Morris is a little scary, maybe it's because of her aura. Tall, skinny, piercing gray eyes and blond hair that's always placed in a tight bun. Perfect for students who can't return the books back on the shelves properly.
I let out a soft chuckle when I remembered the last time I've been here. I was brainstorming for a significant person during that time, who would've thought that he will be sitting in front of me when I come back?
"What are you laughing at?" Austin suddenly asked, pulling me off my thoughts.
"Oh nothing," I muttered, waving my hand dismissively.
Rolling his eyes at me, he pushed a book towards me, motioning to it with his lips. "Read that."
I looked down at the book to read its title, causing me to grimace when I read the word 'Math' on the dark blue cover along with its title.
"Oh come on! I'm not good in Math," I groaned, pushing the book away from me.
I know Math is an essential subject and a lot of people love it to bits; with all its complicated letters, points, lines, tangents and whatnot. But Math isn't just for me, it's something that makes my head hurt-literally.
"Shhh!" Mrs. Morris scolded harshly from her cubicle, throwing a glare at my direction. Giving her an apologetic smile in return, I looked back pleadingly at Austin who's giving me an unamused look.
"Math's awesome," he said in a matter-of-fact tone, thrusting the book back to me.
Looking at him with narrowed eyes, I pushed the book back to him with more force than necessary. "To you it is. I know you are showing me how it feels to be a nerd but can we do it a little more slowly? Let's start with nouns." I gave him a haughty grin, leaning my torso onto the table.
"Just read it!" He whispered harshly with a scowl causing me to glare at him and lean back in my chair.
"No!" I stubbornly said, crossing my arms over my chest.
Obviously annoyed by my actions, he pushed the book back aggressively to me, causing its edge to hit my hand. "Ow! That hurt!"
I threw the book at his direction which he caught in ease and threw it back to me, making it fall in a loud thud onto my lap.
I am already beyond pissed. Closing my hands into fists, I quickly grabbed the book from my lap and tightened my grip around it, feeling its pages crumple under my hold. With all the strength I could muster I threw the book hard and fast towards Austin.
My eyes followed the book as I watch it fly in the air, going at the direction of my target. It was like a slow-mo moment in 3D. I grinned evilly when I saw Austin's surprised face as his eyes landed on the flying book just a few inches above his head, but his reaction changed from startled to determined. With gritted jaw, he grabbed another book from the table and used it as a bat to hit the book that I threw, sending it flying towards another direction.
My jaw dropped and my breath hitched when the book hit Mrs. Morris' head in a loud thump, causing her to yelp and whimper in pain. "Ah!" She cried out in a thin voice while rubbing the spot on her head where the book landed. Making everyone in the room stop whatever they're doing.
What the actual bananas!
In front of me, I saw Austin flinch and freeze. His eyes focused on Mrs. Morris who's searching for the suspect. Her eyes slowly traveled from one frightened student to another until it landed on us. "You! Both of you! To the principal's office now!" she screeched loudly, making Austin and I wince and scramble out the door.
I always knew Math isn't for me!
****
"I'm sorry," I mumbled softly to Austin who's walking right next to me. His eyes focused on the moving floor beneath our feet, as we walk through the empty halls from the detention room.
After the incident in the library, we went straight to the Principal's office as instructed. Mr. Bates gave us a week load of detention after classes, banned us from the library for a week and made us apologize to Mrs. Morris who is now sporting a bump on her head.
After apologizing to her to which she forgave us, insincerely and through gritted teeth might I add, we stayed in the detention room for an hour. Something that we'd be doing for the rest of the week.
The highlight of this situation would be Lily and Kayla's reactions when they learned what happened. Let's just say that Vincent and Patrick had to drag them home so I can go to detention. Those girls, always making a big deal out of everything.
And now I feel terribly guilty because I dragged Austin to this mess. He might be the one who made the book hit Mrs. Morris' head because of his awesome baseball skills, but I am the reason why we're at the library in the first place.
If I was just contented by his answers the other day then we wouldn't be here. If I just read the book we should've been home an hour ago. Doing whatever we want. Well not whatever we want but yeah.
"It's my fault too," Austin suddenly said, voice low as he stopped in his tracks and turned to face me.
I furrowed my eyebrows, shaking my head vigorously before looking at him with teary eyes. "No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have dragged you to this mess. Now you have detention because of me and I...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," I mumbled, silently sniffling.
If there's another fact about me, that is I don't like feeling guilty. I don't want having someone suffer because of me and my stupid decisions. I'd rather suffer myself than drag anyone with me. It's something that I couldn't bear living with.
I wiped the tears away with the back of my hand, closing my eyes tightly to prevent more tears from falling.
Damn this tears.
When I opened my eyelids, confusion greeted me when I saw my white handkerchief in my face, held by Austin through the blurry sight caused by my tears. "Hey, why's this with you?"
He clicked his tongue together, thrusting the handkerchief harshly towards me. Taking it from his grip, I inspected the piece of cloth in my hand.
"I hand washed it after you gave it to me. It's clean," he muttered dryly, slipping his hand in his pocket and adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder.
Oh. When he got punched by that dude from Silver Paradise and tried to wipe the blood stain with his hand.
Chuckling, I used the the handkerchief to wipe the tears off my face. "Thanks," I mumbled, smiling softly at him. Who knew Austin had this side?
"Yeah, now let's go get some ice cream." He started to take long strides towards the exit, leaving me on my spot.
Reaching him, I tugged at his backpack causing him to scowl at me. "What?" He snapped, shaking his bag out of my grip.
Releasing his bag carefully, I looked at him confusedly through my lashes. "You're still buying me ice cream?"
He sighed and ran a hand through his brown semi-disheveled and semi-slicked back brown hair before looking back at me with serious eyes. "I keep my words Angela, now keep yours by returning me that handkerchief," he said, looking down at the white handkerchief in my hand.
Say what?
"But this is mine," I protested. Pulling it away from him and hiding it behind my back.
He shrugged. "You gave it to me already. Now hand it back or no free ice cream." He held out his hand a few inches away from my face, where I reluctantly placed my handkerchief down with a frown.
Let's just say my addiction to ice cream isn't healthy anymore.
"You better treat me three scoops of cookies n' cream or else," I warned, pointing out my finger in menace to him and my eyes narrowed.
He chuckled and shook his head in amusement. Tapping his finger thrice on my forehead he whispered, "Fierce looks cute on you, school paper girl," causing me to gape at him.
With that, he started to walk towards the exit again. "Coming?" He called over to me. His voice echoing through the empty halls.
"Fierce looks cute on you, school paper girl," I mocked quietly in a poorly imitated manly-voice before glaring at him. "Learn to wait sometimes will ya?"
_______________________________________________________________
Since I am feeling inspired to update, here's chapter 11 guys! Thank you so much for getting Pedestrian ranked as #653 in Teen Fiction THIS IS SO SURREAL!
Thank you everyone! I love you all.
This chapter is dedicated to @Ms_i6k4nyHhing for paying attention to the details and for her funny comments on the previous chapter :D
Question: How do you like Austin's new name for Anna? And why do you think he doesn't like calling her by her real name?
_Unedited.
*might not be able to update this week. Sorry!
Please Vote and comment. I love reading them ♥
Oh and guys, I hope you can check out my other story called The Royal Runaway. Thank you!