Stalker

Chapter 5- Distance

Aiden

Keep your distance.

Marco's voice echoed in my head, the part where he gave me specific instructions to not befriend Maria. He didn't want us to speak or interact, afraid that Maria may have more than friends in mind.

Marco was strict about her dating rules, he never allowed her to have a boyfriend or anything close. He allowed her to have anyone of the female gender over, but Lauren's house was the only place Maria was allowed to go except for school.

I wondered if that would change because of me.

Maria and I didn't speak for the rest of our shared classes, I simply lurked in the back of every classroom, ignoring the way people looked at me.

They looked at me like they were trying to figure me out, give me some tragic backstory to match my appearance. I heard some of them and found them amusing, knowing their silly little fantasies were nothing compared to what I've actually been through.

"He's probably been to jail." "I heard he killed a guy at his old school." "He's probably on some sort of drugs."

Pathetic.

The only person I paid attention to was Maria, sitting in the front of every class. I studied the way she attempted to raise her hand to answer questions, and immediately dropped it. The way her hand twitched when the teacher looked at her, desperately wanting to answer but holding herself back.

Why do you hold yourself back?

When the lunch bell rang, Maria was quick to rush into the crowded hallways, and I had to throw a few elbows to be able to get her back in my line of vision.

I'm not a small guy, so shoving my way through wasn't easy. The cafeteria was large, and I watched Maria get into the lunch line. I sped up to get into the line as well, only a few people behind her.

I went through the motions of grabbing food absentmindedly while scoping out a place to sit, I decided on an empty table in the back when I felt a tap on my shoulder, sharp like a fucking knife.

I turned to my left and the smell of overpriced perfume hit me like a train. A tallish, bleach blonde girl was standing there with a tacky smile on her face, pink bubblegum smashed between her straight white teeth. Her blue eyes stared up at me expectantly, crinkling as they met mine.

"You're new." She said, sounding like a dog toy as she giggled. I looked behind her shoulder and saw three girls standing behind her like her minions, all looking at me with the same expecting look.

I knew immediately what this was. The queen bee of the school, it wasn't hard to figure out that they expected me to bow down and ask her for her number. Fall down on my knees and beg her to give me a chance.

I was the new kid, and I bet her football playing ex-boyfriend just got a new girl. Ah yes, she wanted to make him jealous.

I didn't feel like responding so I kept walking, my eye on the empty table. This barbie was distracting me, I needed to focus on Maria.

I heard the clicking of her high heels as she followed, her blonde hair bobbing in the corner of my eye.

"You know, I'm pretty well known around here." She said as I sat down at the empty table, letting my tray slam down in the middle.

She jumped slightly at the noise, her tacky smile faltering.

That made me smile.

She didn't sit down, simply stood across from me with her little group behind her. "Im Amanda."

"Aiden."

She grinned wider as I spoke, taking that as an invitation to sit down. "Look, you're new and I know everything about everyone. I can help you. Plus, you're cute and I'm hot. We would look good together." She extended a long pink nail, trailing it down my arm as she bit her glossed bottom lip.

"Are you asking me out?" I said, a small smile playing on my lips. God this is fun.

She nodded, now wrapping her hand around my arm. She squeezed, feeling the muscle. "You're really-"

"Yeah that's nice." I interrupted quickly, feeling nauseous as she touched me. I grabbed her hand between two fingers, flinging it off of me like a bug. "I think your bleach soaked into your brain hunny."

Her eyes turned into razors, an ugly scowl on her face. "Are you seriously turning me down!?" Amanda's voice turned into a screech, my grin widening. She was mad alright, just what I wanted.

"Yeah, but i'm sure you'll find another airhead who will entertain you." I didn't even have to look at her to know she was going to try and slap me, so I caught her hand midair. I met her eyes, looking up at her with a blank stare. "And you're predictable."

"You're an asshole, I hope you know that." She ripped her hand out of mine, storming off with her brainwashed worshippers. I grinned as she walked away, her tight skirt making it hard for her spray-tanned legs to move effectively.

Now that Amanda's perfume wasn't suffocating me, I could finally focus on what I was actually there for.

My eyes scanned the room for Maria, and I easily found her sitting at a table with Lauren and a few other girls. Maria and Lauren were wrapped up in their own conversation, the other girls also in their own little world.

Lauren had bright orange hair, which made her and Maria a million times easier to spot. I'd seen Lauren around Marco's place before a few times, but I'd never met her before. All I knew was that her and Maria were inseparable aside from school, as Lauren was a chatterbox with a theater obsession who didn't shut up long enough to be able to take the classes that Maria takes.

She would drive me nuts, but it was good for Maria to have someone I guess.

I watched Maria for the rest of lunch, watching the way her shoulders shook when she laughed, and the way she would always cover her smile when it got to big. I noticed that as the day went on her hair started to become wavier, her natural curls starting to come out. I also noticed the way that she would occasionally look over at me, and I had to pretend that I wasn't studying her.

But I was, and I knew nothing would happen to her if I looked away for a minute, but I couldn't seem to.

For the rest of the day I couldn't seem to, I skipped welding to sit outside on a bench, watching her through the classroom window. I watched as she never raised her hand but whispered every answer under her breath. I wanted to ask her about it, she was fluent in Spanish but never once gave an answer.

But I was just doing my job, I was keeping her safe like Marco asked. This was my job, I'm good at it.

And Maria will never know who I am aside from her biology lab partner.