Worth The Risk

Chapter Seven

SPENCER

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Classes went the same for the next few days, except for Administrative Law. It was now Friday, and Mrs Laurier lectures was becoming a little too boring. With the slightly throbbing ache at the back of my head and my runny nose, it was really hard to concentrate.

You guessed it, I was still sick. But luckily, I was managing pretty well.

And after what felt like forever, it was finally lunchtime.

By the time I made it to the dining hall, Walker was nowhere to be seen. I looked around for Blake as well, but he wasn't in the dining hall either.

He was probably with Coach, even though he hadn't exactly messaged me about it— something that he usually did if he was ever going to be unexpectedly missing lunch.

I took my food and went over to my usual, empty table before sitting down with a heavy sigh. Blake never sat with his football friends, only because he knew how out-of-place I felt at that overly crowded table with all those popular kids.

Rubbing the sore spot at the back of my head, I opened my water bottle and took a small sip.

"Hi, Spencer."

I jerked up my head in surprise, almost wincing a little at my reaction when I saw the tiny smile on Charlotte's lips. I didn't have any difficulty recognizing that voice and anybody else in my shoes would've been surprised too.

Charlotte rarely ever spoke with anyone. Her light blonde hair was combed into a messy bun on top of her head, her bright blue eyes looking at me.

"Oh, hey." I smiled at her, before pulling my books from the chair in front of me. "Come on, you can sit here. I was alone anyway."

She hesitated for a moment but sat down anyway, and I was happy that she did.

"You aren't sitting... with that friend of yours?" She asked.

"Which one?" I questioned.

"The "famous" football player," she rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"Nope. Blake is probably with his football Coach or something." I shrugged, taking a few more sips of my water.

Charlotte nodded at that and eyed her lunch. "You look a bit tired today. Are you alright?"

That was sweet, coming from her. I even smiled a bit at that. Charlotte and I never had conversations other than usual greetings.

"Slept late last night," I answered, totally different from what I had told Blake. It wasn't exactly a lie, but still a lie. "So..." I directed the conversation towards her. "How come you finally decided to eat lunch here? I mean, I've never actually seen you here in the dining hall."

It kind of sounded like I was personally attacking her, and I almost told her that I didn't mean it like that, but she beat me to it. "I saw you sitting alone and I thought I should sit with you, maybe come out of my..." she struggled to find the right words.

"Shell?" I suggested with an understanding smile.

She smiled back and nodded. "Exactly."

"Well, that's great. I could do a lot with a girlfriend, you know," I gave out a short laugh. Really, I only had Blake and Walker as my friends and that crept down to an extremely irritating level sometimes.

"Speaking of which, there's actually a party tomorrow tonight, if you want to come along?" I suggested. I was probably pushing my luck, asking Charlotte Lance of all people to hang out with me at a college party. "Never mind," I waved the idea off.