Obsession From the Shadows

Promises

F/c - your favorite color

The clock ticked quietly on the wall, a metronome for my impatiently tapping foot. The last class before lunch always seems to take the longest. Groaning silently, I scan around the neutral beige classroom. All I see are equally as bored students staring at the teacher drone on and on. I begin to doodle on a blank piece of paper in my notes absentmindedly, just a few more minutes until the bell rings to signal my momentary freedom. To my right I hear a tapping noise against the glass I'm beside that looks into the hallway. Turning my head to investigate, I'm surprised to see Jasper there. My eyebrows raised in astonishment and he grinned sheepishly, then put a finger to his mouth as a signal for me to not make any noise. I take a quick glance to the teacher, making sure she didn't notice. I feel relieved at the fact that she's facing the whiteboard, so I turn back to face him. We stare blankly at each other for a moment before he seemingly gets an idea. Suddenly, he dips down out of the window's view. I tilt my head in confusion until he pops back up with a piece of scrap paper. In messy handwriting he scrawled out 'lunch is still on, right?' It took me a moment to remember, but then I realized. I promised him we could eat lunch together while I was in the nurse's office. It felt so long ago, but really it was only a few days. Most of the bruises were still prominent on my body too. Just thinking of it made me tug at the sleeves of my f/c sweater that concealed any evidence of what happened. Snapping out of my thoughts I answered him by nodding my head up and down. His smile widened in happiness and gave a thumbs up.

"Y/n, are you paying attention?" Mrs. Johnson snapped, quickly bringing my focus back to the front of the class.

All the students turned in their creaky wooden desks to face me, causing my back to immediately straighten. Feeling my cheeks heat up from embarrassment, I gulp. "Y-yes, I'm paying attention."

Her eyes narrowed behind her thick glasses, her deep wrinkles even more prominent on her face from her scowl. Moving past the first couple of rows of students, she makes her way to my desk. I sneak a quick glance towards the window and there he is, golden eyes still fixated on me and his grin still prominent as ever. To my astonishment he doesn't budge, not a single wisp of his brown hair moved like he was completely unbothered from a almost certain detention when the teacher would soon lay eyes on him. I dared to look over at Mrs. Johnson once again. She had now reached my desk and was leering over it a sneer on her face while observing my doodles. She starts to turn her head to look at what was distracting me and I follow her, feeling my heart drop down to my stomach. But... there was no Jasper to be seen. The older woman purses her lips together in subtle disappointment on not getting to punish a student today. "Just face the front of the class next time young lady." She grumbles out, staggering back to the board. Before she even got to go all the way back to the front though, the shrill bell chimed out to signal lunch. I haphazardly threw my stuff into my bag and headed out the door with the rest of the students.

Jasper pops up right in front of me as soon as I get into the hall, "Y/n!" He exclaimed, dragging my name out in a raspy sing song voice.

"Jasper! How did you manage to dodge Mrs. Johnson so fast? Why did you think that was a good idea? Do you know how much trouble we both could've gotten?" I cry out, equally in shock and awe for the feat he just pulled.

He chuckled slightly, "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to give you a scare like that. But I thought the look on your face was rather funny." Jasper bounced up and down on the balls of his feet quite noticeably while we walked towards the cafeteria, I assumed he was excited. I can't help but to recall how he said that he doesn't have anyone to really sit with at lunch. My heart swelled with pity for him. Besides being a little socially awkward there was really nothing wrong with him.

On the way, I spotted Clay chatting with a couple of his buddies from the summer camp he went to. We caught each other's eyes and he beamed widely. Having his attention on me — even if only for a brief moment — felt like basking in the warm rays of the summer sun. He turns back to his friends for a moment before heading my way. "Heading to the cafeteria?" Clay asked.

"Mhm! Jasper and I are on our way just now." I tell him, keeping my eyes locked onto his. I couldn't help myself when he's just so amazing.

He gives an approving nod, then acknowledges Jasper, "hey dude, how's it going?" He tilted his head as he asked his question.

Jasper stiffened, disliking how close he was to the man he hated and how Clay's tallness and large frame almost shadowed his leaner one. Nonetheless, he responded, "I'm doing great. Thanks for asking." To back up his statement and to not let Y/n get suspicious, he pushed a little smile out towards the teen in front of him.

"I promised Jasper I'd eat lunch with him today!" Y/n piped up, happy to share. "He did me a huge favor so this is the least I could do to pay him back." Jasper smiled inwardly and began to fidget with the hem of his blue sweatshirt with green stripes. He felt almost nauseous with the overwhelming joy from the fact that she so outwardly announced them going to be together for a good 45 minutes.

Clay seemed happy for a moment, then his contented smile turned into that of a slight grimace. "I wish I could stay and eat with my amazing girlfriend and get to know Jasper better, but I gotta help my friends out with moving some stuff for the football team." He says with a twinge of regret lining his voice.

"Man it really is a shame that you didn't try out," one of his buddies interjected, "the coach would've loved you man! You're tall and with a bit of training you'd be totally jacked!" The freckled boy talked with such passion that his light brown hair shook.

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his camouflage sweater, Clay huffed, "you know I'm not into that kind of stuff, Adrian. Tackling people over a weirdly shaped ball just isn't my thing."

"Whatever." The bulky adolescent muttered, clearly disappointed. Y/n couldn't help but snicker quietly at his deflation, the contrast from daydreaming about her boyfriend being on the team to his reaction of the rejection was night and day. Her movement to hide the smile clear as day on her face caught Adrian's eye. "Yo is this your chick?" He pointed his finger at Y/n's face while staring at Clay. Jasper scowled at how disrespectful this stranger was being to such a wonderful girl, but said nothing.

Clay grimaced, "yeah, she's my girlfriend." He emphasized the last word then turned to Y/n expression softened. "She's very special to me and I don't think she's just a 'chick.'"

Adrian snickered. Clay shifted his weight from foot to foot and crossed his arms stiffly. "You gonna help or not?" One of the other boys inquired.

"Yeah, coming." Clay answered. "See you later, Y/n!" The pack of guys walked off in the opposite direction while the two continued their trek to the cafeteria. The girl felt disappointed from the interaction with Clay's friend and the fact that he can't come with her, but her heart still fluttered from her boyfriend sticking up to her.

Jasper was quiet, but kept close to the girl. He only spoke again when the duo reached the cafeteria, "where should we sit?" He asked, looking directly into Y/n's eyes. It was almost if he was staring right into her soul, searching for an answer to a question that he has yet to ask out loud.

Hesitant, Y/n answered, "... yeah." She broke eye contact with him. It felt like something she had experienced before, but can't quite pinpoint.

[This was supposed to be the part where you and Jasper eat lunch but I suppose I was too detailed because I wrote as many words as I usually do for my chapters, oops! Don't worry you'll get to eat lunch with him next part.]

-Fuzzsoda