The New Girl

The new girl chapter 24

Math paper was tough. I knew I should have spent more time studying for it instead of pondering over what happened that day at the party. Yes, I was still thinking about it. A lot. But something just wasn't right. As I still had some time before my next class, I slowly dragged myself over to the building next to mine begrudgingly. I didn't want to see him, but only he had the answer. I had to be sure.

I caught a glance of those sky blue eyes heading towards the canteen. Lucky he was tall. I darted towards the direction of the canteen, but stalled in my steps when I saw he wasn't alone. He was with that friend of his who had made fun of me. My face scrunched up in disgust. I wasn't about to volunteer myself for a massacre. I felt like a stalker as I spied on him from behind the wall, a sigh escaping my lips as I watched him eat his carbonara, talking loudly with his blonde-haired friend. So inconsiderate. Were they deaf? 

Then, his friend stood up, gestured his head towards the toilet, and left the bench. It was my cue, it was now or never. I took a deep breath and headed towards him.

"I need a minute." I was standing opposite of him, looking around me with a poker face as my voice barely came out as a whisper.

He looked visibly shocked when he realised it was me. "Are you crazy??" He mouthed the words as he pretended to look at something behind me.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't want to be here too if I had a choice." I mumbled in a low voice. I looked towards my right at the table next to us. Those girls hadn't seem to notice me. Yet. I had to be quick. Before his friend came back from the toilet. I pretended to drop my pen I had in my hand. It dropped with a clank as it hit the side of the table. "Oops." I commented in a monotonous tone as I bent down to pick it up. "Number." I said softly, but just loud enough for him to hear as I threw a small piece of paper, along with the pen I just picked up onto his lap in one swift motion. I gave myself a mental pat on the back. I couldn't have been smoother.

"Mine?" Skye mouthed to me, looking confused.

"Yes, you dumbass!" I whispered back in frustration, pretending to be looking for my pen under the table. How long did he want me to be squatting for?

I waited with bated breath as I analysed the tiles on the canteen floor, searching for my "missing" pen. Finally, I saw an outstretched arm from below the table, holding the balled-up piece of paper and my pen. I quickly grabbed them back and stood up, "Ah, found it." Nobody seemed to give a damn about what I was doing, which was great. I'd better run before his friend came back. I turned on my heel and walked out of the canteen.

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I punched in the numbers on my phone, squinting at the scrawny digits on the paper. Did he have to write them so small? But I guess I couldn't really complain considering the dire situation we were in. Well, not really dire but still. At least I managed to get his number without any problems. S.. k.. y.. My thumb hovered over the letter 'e' before jumping to the backspace key after a two-second pause. There. I laid back and sighed contentedly at my newly created chat page titled "Jerk".

Hey, this is Seli- I started to type but stopped mid-sentence. What if his friends happened to see his messages? I jabbed at the backspace key hastily. Nope. Not wise, Seline. I wouldn't want history to repeat itself again. Of course I didn't know if his friends had access to his phone, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Was finding my pen that day. I started again. I could only hope he remembered that incident enough to know it was me. You were there at the stairwell that day, right? Yeah, it was probably better to just dive straight to the point. Any extra word would make me seem more suspicious. Or more of a lunatic. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and pressed 'send'.

DING!

My phone sounded almost instantaneously to indicate I had a reply. That was fast. I placed a hand over my chest to calm my racing heart. Calm down Seline. What was I so afraid of? I pressed on the notification to pull up the chat.

I'll meet you at your place now.

Huh?? I stared at his reply in disbelief. What did he mean by my place? Did he mean... he'd come over to my house?? But why? I panicked and stood up hurriedly, my phone dropping on the floor with a thud. Urgh. I picked it up and started pacing around the house, frustrated. What did he want?

I guess I wouldn't know till he was here.

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