little bird // r.keene

iii. confidence and kissing.

The cafeteria was busy, that was the first thing Wren noticed. She had survived all her lessons that day easily, none of the teachers really pick on the new kids but this was the part she had been dreading.

When travelling with her mum, she had hoped from school to school with little thought, it hadn't mattered where she sat, who she spoke to, who liked her and who didn't. She never stayed long enough for any of that to matter. But since she was staying in LA for the foreseeable future. Now it mattered.

She managed to find a seat and sunk into her chair, she didn't really eat but began to read one of the books Mr. James had given her yesterday. It was a beautiful tale called Tuck Everlasting, about a young girls journey as she fall in love with a family and boy who cannot age or die. Teenagers might have surrounded her but in her head, she was alone and had no problem with that.

"Is it cool if I sit here?" A kid said to the boys sat behind her, she didn't mean to eavesdrop but it was difficult not to. She adjusted her sitting position, tucking her chair in a little more so the boy who spoke could walk behind her.

"Sorry, table's really blowing up right now." One of the boys responded which she smirked at since it was only him and another boy sitting at the table, his sarcasm was something she admired and found rather entertaining. She could tell he was joking but the kid who asked, though she couldn't see his face, seemed confused. "I can put you on the waitlist, but it's probably next semester at the earliest." She smirked and, little to her knowledge, the boy beside him did too.

She looked over her shoulder, a breif but interested glance, still smiling from the boy's sarcasm, up from her book, and made eye contact with his friend, he was smiling too and she noticed he had a small scar on his lip. When he noticed she was looking at it, his smile dropped and he looked down.

Good going, idiot. Wren scolded herself, not meaning to make him insecure.

"No, I'm kidding. Sit." The sarcastic boy told the boy standing behind Wren. And he did as he was told.

"Miguel." The boy said.

"Demetri." Answered the other, "This is Eli." He gestured to his friend but Wren didn't hear him respond and still felt a surge of guilt for letting her eyes wander. "He's a man of few words." And Wren snuck another look at Eli, more discretely this time, but he had already been looking at her. She gave him a small smile, letting him know she was harmless but he broke eye contact and bit his lip nervously.

A couple of days went by and school was yet to become interesting to Wren, she hadn't quite made any friends yet and every day when she got back to the shop, Mr James would ask and every day she had come back a failure.

"It's alright, little bird, things like this take time." He told her, she just hoped he was right.

She had been sat in the library when Miguel walked in with a bruised cheek and a plaster on his forehead, her brows furrowed but she didn't know him well enough to ask.

"So that's it? No more karate?" Demetri said the three boys were sitting in front of her so she could hear everything... Again.

"I guess so," Miguel responded, sounding a little defeated to Wren.

"It's probably for the best." Demetri told him, "It was starting to boost your confidence."