Lovestruck (EDITING)

29: Douglas High, Where Dreams Come to Die

"Hey, Landon," I give him a confused expression and I almost choke on my own breath when he throws an arm around my shoulders.

"Who's this?" he acts interested and I forget to answer for a moment, too shocked by whatever is happening right now.

"Oh- uh, this is Tasmin, an old friend of mine, she's a sophomore," I gesture to her and she gives him a smile that doesn't reach her eyes the way it usually does, "She just moved here from New York."

"Why would you move here from New York?" he questions her and I can't help but frown at him.

"We kind of moved to New York from here. We had to come back though, couldn't stay there forever," she struggles to explain herself as briefly as possible.

"Right," Landon mumbles and I'm about to dig my elbow into his side when Jayden walks over to us from the truck and his eyes narrow on Landon's arm.

I instinctively push Landon's arm off my shoulders and my cheeks heat up when I feel his eyes on me.

"And this is Jayden, Tasmin's older brother, he's in our grade," I stutter slightly under pressure and feel an intense urge to run away from this uncomfortable situation.

"Cool, yeah, well I've got to get going then, I'll see you 'round," Landon says as he walks away from us back towards his group of friends.

What the hell was that?

"I didn't know you had a boyfriend," Tasmin giggles in an attempt to break the silence that Landon left behind him.

"Oh- he's not my boyfriend," I give the response she probably expected from me, "I don't really know what that was to be honest, whatever," I brush off the strange encounter and feel Jayden's eyes on me. "So, is there anything you definitely want to do today? Any extra-curriculars you were wanting to join?" I break the tension with questions, something I do often.

"I wanted to check out the cheer leading team. I was a cheerleader at our last school and I wasn't too bad at it," she grins, filled with excitement all over again.

Somehow I expected Tasmin to be a cheerleader. She's tall and thin and she's a gymnast. She'll fit right in at this school.

"Alright, well I think they have practice before school on the football field, but if I'm wrong it's easy to spot them. Just look for the purple cheer leading uniforms, they're everywhere," I point out a group of them leaning against a car on the far end of the car park.

"I see," she nods, showing me her wide grin once again, "Thanks Skye."

The bell rings loudly and I resist the urge to cover my ears. I haven't missed that sound.

"Well I guess I'll see you guys around, then?" I smile encouragingly at Tasmin, who surely doesn't need my help, and my eyes flicker to Jayden whose silent treatment is starting to get to me.