Sensitivity

Chapter 4: Back off.

It was 4:10PM that same day, everyone was leaving the building as school had just ended. It was the first day back, and everyone was glad it was over. Olivia was walking with Darren & his friend Nathan, who she had met briefly before. Suddenly, Darren & Nathan felt a head appear between them, and push them apart. It was Leah, and she was there to talk to Darren.
"Hiiii, Darren." She said, with a cheeky smile, as his arm rested on her shoulder. He dropped his arm back down to his side, and waved to her.
"How's it going Olivia??" Leah said, smirking at her. Olivia's head turned towards Leah, and she looked at her with a dead serious look.
"Hi, Leah."
"Soooooo, you excited for later, hun?" Olivia said, placing an arm around Darren, and batting her eyelashes at him. His face went red, and he looked away from her.
"BAHAHA! You're nervous!" She chuckled, before pulling him in and leaning her head against his.
"Aw, I love you, and it's gonna be alright, it's a first for me too."
The four of them continued walking, before they reached the bus stop. Olivia kissed Darren goodbye, and Leah waved him goodbye, before standing in at the bus stop, just like that morning with her & Charlotte.
"So, what's going on tonight?" Leah asked, acting clueless.
"Of course you'd like to know." Olivia said, taking her phone out to message Charlotte and ask her where she was.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Leah asked, her entire mood having shifted from the sudden jolt at her from Olivia.
Olivia sighed.
"Look, I know you're 'touch starved' and you really want a boyfriend or even just someone to hook up with, but PLEASE don't do it with my boyfriend."
"That's not... that's not true at all. Darren was just talking to me about the homework we were set in Home Ec." Leah said, her face going red like Darren's moments before. She lied to her face.
Olivia's expression changed from an angry one, to a confused one.
"Hey guys." A voice said, as someone appeared in the corner of their eyes.
It was Charlotte, carrying an envelope, with a bunch of pink, yellow & blue hearts all over it.
"What's that? Did you get dress coded too?" Leah said, giggling at the absolutely terrible joke she just made.
"No, umm.. it's a love letter. To me. From someone." She muttered, her cheeks flushing into a pastel pink as she said so.
"WOAH. ARE YOU BEING FORREAL??" Leah asked, yanking the letter out of Charlotte's hands.
"Yoooo, Callie that's sick!" Olivia said, as Leah violently opened it and began reading what it said.

Dear Charlotte Harris

You probably don't know me. But heck, I do know you.
I know that every morning you get off the bus with your friends, and you're the mother of their group. You've always got your hair tied in two ponytails at the sides, your glasses match your cardigan each day.
You always get your friends to order at the lunch line for you, because you're too nervous to go up there and order for yourself. Whenever you're alone, you go up to the library and you read a different book each day.

Gosh, you're so beautiful and admirable, and I love that about you.

From;
Your secret admirer ;)

"Wow. Dude left a winky face, he wants you BAD."
Olivia added.
"I know right? And like it's crazy because I found it on my seat in History??" Charlotte continued, as the bus pulled in, and Charlotte grabbed the envelope back from Leah. Usually, their bus stop is the second stop after another school, so there's usually no space for any of them to sit down. The 3 of them flooded onto the bus, after letting everyone else at the stop on. They were forced to stand, as all the seats were taken. And since it wasn't a proper bus, it wasn't meant for standees.
Leah, Charlotte & Olivia all stood, cramped up in to eachother, holding onto the overhead bins for support.
Leah was unaware that someone sitting beside her had noticed her, so they made a space for her and tapped her on the arm.
"Hey, there's a space here if you want it."
She turned around, and saw Nathan, Darren's friend.
"Oh, cool, thanks." She said, as she plopped herself down beside him.
At first there was silence, before the small talk arrived.
"I'm Leah." She turned and said suddenly.
"Yeah, I'm aware. You're friends with my friend's girlfriend. Nice to finally meet you, though." He said, sticking his fist out.
Leah stared at it confused, before bumping his fist with hers.
He placed his hand back on his lap, leaning his head back against the seat, and looking up at the vents above his seat.
"What stop do you get off at?" He said, turning his head back towards her.
"Uh, I'm one of the first couple ones, I think the third stop?"
"Ah, rad. 4th for me."
He turned his head back to the vents above the seat.
The two sat in silence, well, as much silence as you can get when you're surrounded by a good 30 other people.
Leah couldn't actually tell how she felt. And all the noise around her didn't help either.

"So uhhhh, i really hate to ask but, is the whole thing about you sending like, stuff to Paige Wilson's brother true?"

Leah felt herself jolt at even the mention of her name. Her entire face went red, and her body felt like it was a volcano, bubbling up and getting ready to just erupt. She thought it'd be different this year, it's been 2 years since it happened. It was her birthday weekend, in 2021. She was so excited and happy about her birthday and everything going on that... she took some pictures which were then sent out to her entire year. As time went on, people forgot about it, but every now and then she gets asked about it.

"Ummm, no.. no not at all." She said, scratching the back of her head as she felt herself physically sweating.
"Oh, alright, I guess people can be horrible, but you should totally get something done about that, though. Rumours aren't cool man." He said, tilting his head towards her again.
"Yeah, umm, I probably should. Anyways this is my stop, bye."
Leah got up almost immediately after feeling it slow down, pushing past her friends and everyone else. She got off the bus, looked around her. She knew where she was, it just wasn't her stop. She couldn't stand being on that bus any longer, beside him and thinking about his stupid question. She didn't even feel like crying, she felt all numb to the whole feeling of it at this point.