A flashlight in the shadows.

Chapter 13: Partner in crime.

Our plan was to be set in motion once Cc's dance recital was finished. I tried to sit calmly through the whole day of school, swimming through the sea of apologetic stares and warm smiles, trying to comfort me. Vinny even stopped me in the hallway before lunch,
"Hey, sorry 'bout jane." I nodded and kept walking, thinking of the plan. Bennett's established table of friends were currently rough housing in the lunchroom. It was all fun and games until James and his friend, Jeremy, walked over to me. James stood behind Jeremy while Jeremy smirked and said,
"Hey, you the sister of that one girl?" I nodded.
"Yes. Her name is jane."
"Jane, that's right. Hey, sorry about her accident, it's a shame something that fine was wasted." James snickered and they both high fived. I felt my fist tightening into balls as I tried to refrain from punching him.
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah, shame. I mean, you ain't bad, but she's straight up sexy." They high fived again. I looked him dead in the eye.
"You bastards."
"Huh, what's that?" James asked, taking a step closer. I looked up at him.
"Do you think that's all she was?" I said, loud enough for the table to hear me. He frowned. I shook my head and pointed a a finger in his chest.
"Well you know what else she is? She's smart, funny, kind, caring, and decent! All she ever asked was to be treated right, and now that she's been hurt, you decide it's ok to talk about her in that way?!" I had taken steps towards him until he was backed against a wall. The whole lunch room was watching now, but I didn't care. James looked scared and I wanted to put him in his place.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Well, you did!" I shouted, taking one last step. I didn't notice that my fist was fully clenched and ready to punch. I felt a hands wrap around my shoulders and leading me down the hallway away from the lunchroom. Everyone was murmuring. I spun around to see Bennett standing behind me, trying to calm me down.
"It's ok, Sarah, just take deep breaths." I took a step back and looked at him.
"What're you doing?!?"
"Um...trying to calm you down?"
"No! Everyone was watching!!!" I exclaimed, crossing my arms. He looked to the side and murmured,
"Maybe I don't care."
"What?!" I asked. He shook his head,
"Nothing, nothing. Are you going to be ok until after school?" He asked. I set my hand on my forehead and nodded.
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
"Ok, I gotta go." He jogged back to the lunchroom, leaving me alone in the hallway. I wiped some strings of hair that managed to escape my ponytail and went to the bathroom, breathing. I leaned against the sink and looked into the drain. I heard the door fling open and spun around to see Dina, Kendra, and Hannah all wide eyed. I turned to them and tried to pretend like nothing was wrong.
"Hi, guys."
"What the hell just happened?!" Hannah asked, getting closer to us. I frowned and shrugged,
"Uh, I told James to-"
"No, not that!" Dina yelled. "We mean the part about Bennett saving you!"
" 'Saving me?' " I asked, raising an eyebrow. Kendra smirked and pushed me a little.
"Don't pretend like you didn't notice Bennett pulling you away." I rolled my eyes and shrugged.
"I don't see why it's such a big deal."
"Are you kidding?! You're going to be the talk of the school for weeks!" Hannah exclaimed, smiling. The bell rang and we all sped off to our classes. I shook my head and thought to myself, 'great. Just fantastic, now people think Bennett likes me.' Which I knew he didn't. Not truly. I knew in the end he'd choose his ego over me. Once at my next class, which was English, Sabrina and her friends invited me to sit by them. Sabrina patted the seat next to her, smiling with her perfect teeth. I sat at the table next to them by myself. She leaned over and said,
"Hey, sorry about your sister. It must've been tragic for you," her friends snickered and she looked away, still smiling. I twisted my sweatshirt in my hands to keep myself from beating the ever living crap out of her. Our teacher came in and announced,
"Now, the end of the semester is coming, which means that English and biology are at an end. You will be allowed to take two classes of your choice, here are your options, choose wisely and hand them into me ASAP." He handed out small slips of green paper to the class. I sighed and looked at my options. There weren't very many, so I chose phsycology intro and French. Mr. Frediew looked over my shoulder and smiled.
"I think you'll do very well in French, good choice." He patted my back and looked around the room. Sabrina bit her lip and glared at me for a second before saying,
"Sweetie?" I bit my lip and turned to her,
"Yes honey?" She smiled before flipping some hair from her face and saying,
"Remember what I said about Bennett?"
"I remember a lot of things, like when my friend punched you in the face and how you still have some lipstick on your teeth." I smiled and turned back to the front, leaving Sabrina scowling at me. I sighed to myself and checked the clock; 2:45. Almost time for our plan.