Guarded Love©

Smile -- Chapter 6

Tuesday morning I walk into English, empty stomached. My mom had started screaming at me this morning, so I bolted from the house as soon as I was ready for school. I hadn't had breakfast.

I sat in my usual seat, and pull out my English assignment. I began working on it as the usual crowd mulls through, and I notice nothing odd, until my teacher stands up and calls the attention to herself.

"Good morning students," she began, smiling at us all. "This morning we are changing up our seating arrangements, so when I call your name, move your stuff to the desk I tell you to go."

The entire class groans, except for me. Inside my head, I'm begging the teacher to not put me beside Autumn or Jo. I wouldn't be able to handle them every single morning. I can barely make it through the morning with them in the same class, let alone one of them beside me.

The teacher started calling names, and thankfully I wasn't put near Jo or Autumn. I was placed at the back of the class, by myself. I was happy about that, until...

"Well hello Taylor Rose, looks like we're desk buddies in this class too!"

I turned towards the voice, and no surprise there, it's Jessie. "Jessie." I said, turning back around as he sat down beside me.

"Did you get home okay?" Jessie asked me, taking out his pencil case. I nodded in return, not looking up.

"Good," Jessie paused, and I could feel his green eyes burning into the temple of my head and I almost thought he was reading my mind. I wanted him to stop looking at me. It made me feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Hey, Fuckboy?" I said. I realized I had been reading the same sentence in the book I had pulled out over and over again, so I moved onto the next sentence, annoyed with myself.

"Mmhmm?" Jessie hummed, unzipping his pencil case and taking a pencil out.

"Stop staring at me."

I knew I had taken Jessie off guard, as he froze in place, and he snorted. "I'm not staring at you," he defended himself.

I opened my mouth to respond, but my stomach let out a loud growl instead. My stomach had begun to hurt from hunger. Jessie must have heard my stomach, because he gave me a sympathetic look, which made me pissed off. I hate pity. "Hungry?" Jessie asked, and I nodded in response. "Then have food." Jessie nodded to my bag, which was partly open.

I ducked my head. I hadn't had time to pack a lunch, like usual. "Nah," I said, looking back down at my work. I pretended like poetry was the most interesting thing on this planet. News flash: it's not.

"Why not?" Jessie asked, and he reached for my bag. I grabbed his arm out of protest, but he just shook me off. I saw him open my bag and look around for a lunch bag. "Where the Hell is your lunch?" He shot me a confused look.

"Didn't pack one." I mumbled.

"Why not?"

"None of your fucking business!" I snapped loudly, making a few people stare at me in annoyance. I snapped my mouth shut and just glared at Jessie. "How about you just piss off?"

Jessie's green eyes seemed to bore into my soul, reading every secret I had, and I felt the need to shrink back into my seat, a little bit intimidated by his stare. "What happened to you Taylor Rose?" Jessie asked in a low voice, not taking his eyes off me, "what could have possibly happened to make you so scared to let someone past the walls that you put up?"

This kid hadn't even been here for two days and he already knew something had happened to me. I tried to answer him honestly, but I just ended up opening and closing my jaws wordlessly, before I finally said, "I don't want to talk about it."

Jessie nodded understandingly. "That's fine, take all the time you need." I gave him a little smile before turning back to my work. I was just starting to read a new sentence before Jessie interrupted me again. "Will you ever trust me enough to let me in?"

I sighed, "I don't know, it depends I guess. Do you want me to let you in?" I asked him.

Jessie sat back in his chair, and thought about it for a moment, before nodding his head. "Yeah," he said. "I do."

I smiled a little bit again. "Okay," I said softly. 

"You should smile more often Taylor Rose," Jessie said. "It looks good on you."

After he said that, he turned to get started on his work, leaving me blushing.