𝐈 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔

𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈 | 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄

Ownership (n.)
the act of possessing something entirely
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   Cage was behaving strangely.

    Not only did he ignore his usual group of friends and girls that he hung out with to make an immediate beeline towards (Y/N) in all of their classes before lunch, but now, during lunch, he was sitting at her table with a relaxed smile on his face. He looked completely at ease, as if he had always sat with the girl when it was the exact opposite.

    "I think your friends are mad at you," (Y/N) pointed out, gesturing her head to the table in the middle of the room behind him.

    "They're fine," he waved away her concern.

    She shrugged.

While she was a bit wary about the hostility that she would receive from others about Cage suddenly becoming close to her, she also just really couldn't care less. Soon enough, she knew his attention would wane and he would revert back to ignoring her like everyone else did. No longer would a spotlight be beamed down on her, and she could go back to her regular, routinely life.

"By the way, where's your lunch?" (Y/N) questioned after a moment. "You never seem to have one... are you just not hungry?"

"You've been watching me?" Cage smirked as he propped his head up.

"Sure," she shrugged again.

Chuckling at her answer, he then answered, "Yeah, I'm not normally hungry during lunch, so I just choose not to eat."

"Oh."

"Why?"

"I just know that I would not be able to do that," (Y/N) shook her head before holding out her container full of strawberries and grapes, her expression still blank yet a type of kindness that Cage hadn't expected residing in her (E/C) eyes. "I know you said you're not hungry, but you should still eat something."

"Are you worrying about me?" Cage leaned forward ever so slightly.

"Yeah, sure," she spoke bluntly.

    Blinking in surprise by how easily she said such a thing, he then hesitantly reached his hand out and plucked a strawberry from the container. Staring down at the red fruit, he couldn't help but recall that (Y/N) was the first person to ever offer him food when seeing he didn't have any of his own.

    It was unexpected.

    But at the same time, it was nice.

    "You know, you're pretty blunt, (Y/N)," Cage started after eating the strawberry, his lips tilted upward into a smile. "But you're also pretty nice."

    "I'm blunt?" She stared at him.

    "You didn't know?"

    "No..."

    Cage stared at (Y/N) for a moment longer before he began to laugh. He hadn't meant to, but the way the girl looked so disheartened by the obvious fact to anyone but her was absolutely hilarious to him. She always looked so calm and composed, but to look so bewildered wasn't something he expected.

    (Y/N) frowned.

    He's making fun of me, isn't he?

    "If you don't stop, I'm going to kick you out and back to your other table," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

    "Sorry... your reaction was just funny," Cage chuckled as he tried to smoothen out his expression, his lips however still twitching while his dark eyes glimmered with mischief. "You know what you remind me of? A cat."

    "Why a cat?"

    "Cats are cute."

    "And?"

    "That means you are cute," Cage placed his elbows on the table so he could then place his chin on the back of his hands. "Adorable, mostly."

    "I know I am," (Y/N) closed her eyes and nodded.

    "Aren't you confident?"

    "I should be considering I was just complimented by the most attractive guy in our school," she pointed out, Cage's eyes widening from her words, watching as she acted as if she didn't even seem to realize what she just said. "I must be drop-dead gorgeous by this point."

    "Wait..." Cage held up a hand, his smirk returning. "You think I'm the most attractive guy here?"

    "Who doesn't?"

    Cage could only scoff with a smile.

    He couldn't believe this girl.

    (Y/N) was saying things that normally no one would ever really say to his face. He knew he was right about her being blunt, but now he also knew two more things about her: she was straightforward and to the point.

    "Has anyone told you that you're a natural at this?" He then murmured.

    "At what?"

    "Flirting."

    "I'm not flirting with you," (Y/N) held up her hand in a stop motion as she gazed at him blankly, deadpanning. "I'm just stating the truth."

   "So, despite the fact that you think I'm the most attractive person in this school, you wouldn't try flirting with me?" Cage questioned with a tilt of his head, finding that by such logic, she would have little to zero interest to him in a romantic light, something he found ludicrous considering her previous statements. "If that's the case, then who do you also find attractive but actually will flirt with?"

    "Uh..." (Y/N) popped a grape in her mouth as she rolled Cage's question around in her mind. "If he wasn't our teacher, maybe Mr. Henderson."

    Cage's smile dropped.

    He hadn't thought she would give him an answer, much less that answer.

    "But then again, he's our teacher and I'm still seventeen, so that's a no-go," she crossed her fingers in an 'X' shape. "Why are you suddenly so interested in that?"

    "Who knows?" Cage clicked his tongue, tapping his finger in an agitated manner against the surface of the table, his dark eyes narrowing. "I guess I'm just a little jealous that you picked Mr. Henderson over me." He stopped his actions, glancing back towards (Y/N) so he could meet her eyes, then saying, "Yeah... I think I am jealous."

    "Well, we're friends and Mr. Henderson is our teacher, so that should say something," (Y/N) shrugged.

    Her lips then parted.

    She hadn't meant to say that.

    She and Cage weren't friends, and she was sure he didn't want to be with her.

    "You're right," Cage suddenly interrupted her train of thoughts as his smile returned, looking entirely too pleased at the moment. "That does say something. Thanks, (Y/N)."

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To be continued...