How He Saved Her

Chapter Three

Oliver

I haven't gotten the best sleep after my impulse decision to ask a complete stranger to play my girlfriend. Word got out quick and soon enough people were talking about it online. Most of the guys were congratulating me on finding such a pretty girl, it infrutiated me seeing as nobody knew who she was before this. It dawns on me that I didn't know who she was either. Some of the girls congratulated me while others left not so nice comments.

I spent half an hour reporting all the mean comments about her and afterwards I felt guilty bringing her into this. As she said yesterday, she is not the type of girl to be in public. As I get ready for the day, I try to think of ways to make her feel comfortable around me. First, I make sure I smell good and that I dress nicely as opposed to the sweaty gym set yesterday.

I arrive in front of her house at 7 on the dot and wait for her to come out. Not knowing how her neighbors will respond, I decide against honking. She comes out three minutes later looking more self conscious than she did when I dropped her off. Her backpack is perched on one shoulder on the opposite side of her sprained leg. The thing I'm most worried about is the frown that is settled into her mouth and how she is rapidly blinking. The clothes she is wearing today drowns her more than it did yesterday.

"Are you okay?", I ask her as soon as she gets in, but she only buckles her seatbelt and looks out the window. I ask her the question again and this time she turns to me with a jerk of her head and I take notice of the tear slipping down her eye. My hand aches to remove it but she only says,"Drive."

"Are-"

"Drive, Oliver", she asks louder. This is the loudest I've heard her speak and yet it is not any louder than how I usually speak. Frowning, I pull out of her driveway and start driving to school in utter silence. The whole way I was worried about her but when I park, she turns to me with a small smile and the tears are gone. I blink at how fast her demeanor changed. She only gives me a look and then opens the door to my car and gets out. I get out of the car too and jog to her side and hold out my hand,"Bag."

She hands me the backpack this time rather than throwing it at my feet and then takes a huge step back from me. I frown but we start walking toward the building. Once we get in, all eyes are on us and I stop walking to let Aurora catch up to me. Once she does, I walk slower and hope that people don't ask anything about my new girlfriend walking a good 5 feet away from me. I glance at the way Aurora is looking into the crowd and she hugs her body with her arms.

"Rory?"

"Yeah?", she asks looking up at me and I take a step closer to her. "Can you, I don't know, maybe grab my shirt sleeve. I won't reciprocate that, I promise."

She looks up at me and her lips purse up in thinking. I have the sudden urge to move away the hair that is blocking my view of her face but resist as I remember the way she had me promise to not touch her. She nods slowly and then takes a step closer to me and her hand makes it's way to the sleeve of my shirt. She fists it up and I grimace at the way this doesn't look like a couple scene but take the win anyways.

"What's your first class?", I ask her and sensing that people are listening I add,"Babe?"

"English Lit 3", she says in a whisper and I nod as we walk toward it. Once we get to her classroom door, I hand her the strap of her bag, making sure to not touch her, and say,"I'll see you at lunch."

"Okay", she asks looking uncertain but I only nod at her encouragely. The people around me start whispering so I call Aurora back and say,"I'll miss you." And then I give her my cheekiest smile and walk away. Right before though, I notice the blush appearing on her skin.