His return.

ELEVENTH CHAPTER

The next morning, as I was getting ready to go to school, Jack came up to me while I was putting on my jacket.

"Bella, can I walk you to school?" he asked.

"Of course," I said, feeling relieved that he would be with me, even before a horde of journalists appeared in front.

We headed for the exit, but when we opened the door, we saw Dr. Green outside. He looked like he'd been up all night and his smile was too wide to be genuine.

"Good morning," he said, but his voice had a familiar tone of over-politeness.

"Going to school, Bella?"

"That. Jack follows me to school."

"Oh, how kind of you, Jack. But, you know, I think I might as well join. Just to make sure everything is okay. You know, security reasons and all that."

Jack tried to stay calm, but I could see that his jaw was slightly clenched.

"I think there is no need. I just want to walk with her to school. You don't have to worry, everything will be fine."

"You know, Jack, you're special to us. We wouldn't want anything to happen to you, would we?

And Bella, it seems to me that you two are quite close. We could say you're a couple?'

He laughed, but it didn't sound like a joke.

I looked at him in disbelief, but he didn't back down. Jack and I exchanged a look, and I felt my cheeks heat up at his remark. And I can't lie and say I'm not glad he thinks we're a couple.

"We're just friends," I said, although it was hard to hide my smile.

dr. Green nodded, but he looked like he wasn't up to the joke. He continued to walk with us to school, and I could feel Jack and I trying to stay away from his annoying questions.

When we reached the school, Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you for letting me see you off. I hope it won't always be this awkward."

"I hope so too," I said, trying to keep a smile on my face as I entered the school.

***

When I arrived at school, I immediately noticed that something had changed. The corridors were more crowded than usual, and the rustling and murmuring was louder. As I passed by the classrooms, I felt everyone looking at me. The feeling of discomfort grew with each step.

I was no longer invisible. Now I'm very noticeable and everyone wants to be near me just because of the situation with Jack.

When I got to my locker, a group of kids had already gathered around me.

"Bella, is it true that Luke met Jack?"- the girl I have physics with asked me with an excited gleam in her eyes.

"Did he really say he would be able to introduce us to him?"

I was taken aback.

"What? What are you talking about?'

"Luke said he knew Jack, the guy who was frozen and came back to life," added another boy.

"He said that he would be able to introduce us to him too if we were good to him. Is that really true?"

I felt my face heat up with anger.

"No, it's not true," I said, trying to hide my irritation.

"Jack is not an exhibition in a museum. He is my friend. And Luke shouldn't say such things."