A Ship Without Sails

Chapter 16

"Oh my god, it's them!"

"Did he really do it? He seems so chill..."

"I'm kind of scared to be in class with him..."

"Shh! He's looking at us!"

The rumors and whispering of Kurt were relentless on Monday. No one but Shayna, Daisy, and some members of the baseball team would talk to him.

At lunch, Shayna found Blake with some of his teammates, as usual. When his light brown eyes met her amber ones, she felt a chill run up and down her spine and sent shivers through her whole body. His eyes were the coldest she had ever seen them.

"Shayna! Why didn't you call or text me back last night?" he asked, breaking away from his friends to talk to her alone. Shayna felt her face grow warm at the thought of the previous night with Kurt.

"S-sorry, Blake," she said quietly, "I was busy."

"Doing what? I was worried," Blake replied, obviously annoyed. Shayna looked up at him and for the first time, his tall and strong build didn't seem protecting anymore, only threatening.

"It doesn't have anything to do with you," Shayna said, brushing past him. She lifted her chin and searched for Kurt, but her hand was almost immediately grabbed by Blake. He tugged her back towards him and snapped, "Tell me what you were doing!" Growing equally as annoyed, Shayna shot back, "It's none of your business what I do with my free time!"

A small crowd had formed around the couple, and a murmur of surprise ran through it. Everyone viewed Blake as the cool, collected guy and Shayna the shy, submissive girl.

"What could you have been doing? You can't even do anything without me or your sisters!" Blake shouted.

"I can too! I'm my own person! I have my own thoughts and can do what I want! You've been wrong about me if you've thought I'm a doll that's helpless to defend herself!" Shayna cried, her fists clenched, eyes narrowed. Her hands loosened and she felt the indentations from her fingernails digging into her palms.

Blake stood back a little, stunned. "...Shayna?" he asked, reaching out to move the hair out of her face. Shayna jerked back before he could touch her and said, "Bye," over her shoulder.

Once she had broken free from the crowd, she ran to the nearest girls bathroom, rushed past the girls doing makeup and giggling at the mirrors into the large stall, and collapsed onto the floor. She wasn't crying; she couldn't feel anything. Everything was numb, and she felt time slipping by as she sat on the floor.

The warning bell shook her to her senses twenty minutes later. Slowly, she gathered her things and stood up. She hadn't realized her hands were shaking until she reached out to unlock the stall. She slid the lock out and exited the bathroom, slipping into the stream of people moving to their next class.

"Shaye! Are you okay?" a worried voice called to her when she entered the classroom.

"Yeah, Kurt, I'm fine. What about you?" Shayna lied, trying to keep her voice steady. She forced herself to look up at Kurt and meet his gaze, but she had to look down.

"Okay, Shaye. I'm going to explain something to you. There's I'm great, I'm good, I'm okay, I'm bad, and I'm fine. Fine means you're not fine at all. I heard about lunch with Blake." Kurt led Shayna to her seat and she explained what had happened. After she had told him, she could feel again. When Jessica came into class, Shayna waved her over.

Instead of bouncing over, full of smiles, Jessica's nose crinkled upwards and she made her way over to the group of the class on the other side of the room. With the kids who had seen Shayna's outburst. Who believed Kurt was a murderer. Jessica's eyes met Shayna's and they were harsh and expressionless. Shayna felt cold and numb again and couldn't breathe until she felt Kurt's hand take her own. He gave her hand a slight squeeze and she took in a deep breath. She had to remain calm.

"Okay, take your seats," Ms. Harper ordered as soon as she strode into the room. She took one look at the division of the students and sighed. "Okay, let's get started. To your seats!"

The class was awkward to say the least. No one would even look at Shayna or Kurt unless it was to shoot them a dirty look. Ms. Harper tried to keep things going for as long as she could, but after a while, no one was paying attention at all.

When the bell rang, everyone rushed out. Shayna and Kurt walked out together and made their way to their street.

"Guys? Hello? Forget someone?" a shrill voice cried from behind them. They turned and saw Daisy standing crossly at the end of the street. She flipped her hair back and sauntered towards them.

"Why didn't you wait?" she asked when she reached them. Kurt and Shayna looked at each other and tried to hide their smiles. Unfortunately, Daisy picked up on this immediately.

"Are you guys... are you going out?" she shrieked. "What about Blake?"

"I thought you would've heard about what went down at lunch," Shayna said bitterly.

"So? Are you guys dating?" Daisy asked again, crossing her arms.

Kurt said, "Not yet," and turned to Shayna and dropped to one knee. "Shayna, will you go out with me?" He couldn't help breaking out into a goofy smile from mostly the left side of his mouth. Shayna giggled and nodded. He stood up and draped an arm over her shoulders. They faced Daisy and Kurt said, "Now we are."

Bubbles of excitement filled Shayna. This was what she had wanted since she saw him step out of his family's car the day he moved in. It wasn't the same warm, fuzzy feeling that she had with Blake. This was light and breezy and made her feel free.

A look flashed across Daisy's face that Shayna couldn't decode. She felt Kurt pulled her lightly forward and they started walking down their street again.