Casters

CHAPTER FOUR

                                      Abandonment

“So you guys just ran and that’s it? Not even a goodnight kiss?” Erin was shocked at the lack of information I gave her the next day. It worried me how open my best friend was to the idea of me liking a boy we didn’t really know that much about. At least I didn’t have to worry about her approving of him because if anything it seemed as if she was trying to push us together. It felt like when I was a child and all the kids my age would be forced by their best friends to kiss someone, now that I think about it it’s kind of nerve-racking that children do that to each-other. 

“Well…” I teased as I paused to flick through my notebook on the desk in front of me. “Robert did ask me to your parents’ ball like you blatantly told him to.”

“Good!” She squealed, pleased with herself. “I’m so happy for you. This looks like the start of a very attractive relationship.” Erin winked as we were sat in our English classroom waiting for everyone else to arrive when a group of people poured into the room like a stampede in the wild. Hidden between the swarm of youthful faces was Robert’s as he joked with some of the guys on the football team. I knew a big idiotic smile had grown upon my face but I couldn’t help it.

“Good morning, Carmen, Erin.” He greeted us as everyone took their seats. Erin nodded in return to him and the three of us spoke for a few minutes until Mrs Gerritson got to the lesson about our uneventful mornings.

During English we were learning about Gothic Literature and its influence on its readers throughout the centuries. Robert seemed to know a lot about the subject because I didn’t see him once write any notes in his notebook. The lesson was really interesting to and I enjoyed it a lot. It was something I’d never heard anything about and the way Mrs Gerritson dove straight into it made it much more interesting. She asked us to write any essay about the subject at hand. I chose to write my essay on beast transformation/werewolves. And Erin chose demon lovers/immortal and mortal relationships. Our choices caused Robert to chuckle breathlessly to himself like he so often did which seemed strange to me, seeing as we chose the more interesting points and he decided to write his about insanity and how even the most crazy people can be often represented as the wisest.                                                         

Robert walked me to my Social Studies class after English. Erin had taken off with Ben when she saw him in the corridor, it was rather funny actually. It was like she had a tracker on him because she almost ran over to him as soon as he turned the corner and started walking down the corridor towards us. They were probably in some empty classroom hooking at the time Robert and I were talking about our assignment. I told him how excited I was about the subject, and how I liked books such as Frankenstein and Dracula. I’d read them when I was younger which could be seen as unusual but I’d always loved books. They had the power to change you perception on the world entirely and make you see it in a completely new way.  

However, Robert was not at all pleased with it, he said it was a waste of time and Mrs Gerritson didn’t know the half of the things she told us. I didn’t want to annoy him by asking him about it any further because I could see the brooding look on his face as he complained to me about it. So I changed the conversation and offered to meet him afterschool to go running again. I was looking forward to it but there was just something about Robert that seemed different that morning. His once gleaming golden eyes seemed much duller and settled at a typical hazel colour, his skin still looked very tanned but more of a greyish colour, and his grin he wore so well wasn’t playing on his lips as often as it usually did during the course of the day.

With my thoughts circling around Robert and his less charming behaviour we parted ways at the door of my next classroom. The smile I received as he walked away didn’t meet his gaze that was fixated on somewhere in the distance that I doubted no-one else besides him would be able to see the same way as he did.