Keeping The Pieces

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 

(music in external link!)

I run out of the classroom so Alex can't catch up to me. I head straight to my locker where Claire is waiting for me anxiously. When she sees me she almost pounces on me. "Luz he so likes you, I could tell he was like so guilty after you left but then I calmed him down and it was so sweet, he started asking all these questions about you, like he was really interested."

"Ok Claire stop right there, what are you talking about?" I say confused.

"What am I talking about? I'm talking about Alex liking you!' She whisper, screams.

"What? Are you crazy?" I ask.

She smirks at me, amused "No I'm not crazy, he clearly likes you."

"No he doesn't, he was probably recovering from his ego blow"

"Whatever" Claire says unconvinced and gives me a look to tell me this conversation isn't finished. I place my things in my locker and proceed to walk down the hall into the lunchroom with Claire at my side. As usual the lunchroom is packed so we get our food and go to sit inside the gym where the juniors and seniors sit when there's no sports on. The gym is never occupied by teachers so we can basically do whatever we want without a teacher interfering.

Once again Claire is greeted by almost everyone and a few cautious hellos my way from anyone that dares. I nod at them in acknowledgement but other than that I ignore them. I follow Claire to her crowd which consists of other popular people and wannabes. I glance around the hall and instantly spot Alex walking our way.

Claire who follows my gaze waves Alex over giddily. His face brightens when he sees me looking at him so I quickly look at the floor planning to not get too friendly with him so I can ignore him better. I can still feel Alex's gaze on me and it's seriously starting to annoy me.

I mean what is it with him and constantly needing to look at me like I'm some kind of science experiment? I let my eyes drift back to him and sure enough I was right he is still staring at me. I lift an eyebrow up at him in question and he flicks his gaze back to Claire.

"So do you two share any classes?" Claire asks trying to act nonchalant. I can already tell that Claire has given up on the idea of dating Alex and is going to be persistent until I'm with him.

*****

After school Claire drops Eva and I off at home to a silent house. Not that it makes me feel any better because Helen or Cyrus could be lurking around any corner without me knowing, at least when I can hear them I know if there is going to be an attack or not.

I continue to look around the house leaving Eva at the front door so she is less likely to be caught in the middle of an attack. Heading up the stairs I look through every room until I get to the study and find Cyrus. He cuts a glare my way for disturbing him. I ignore it.

"I'm going to work now so Eva is down stairs." I say quietly and close the door behind me. I head down stair to get Eva and tell her it's safe. I change my shirt for work. I'm currently working in a CD store that's full of every type of music you can think of, from Pop to Rock.

Heading out the door I walk a half mile to the music store. I walk up the main street while letting my mind run lose. I'm not really sure how I got to this point of life without braking down but I've some how survived.

I was pretty much born hated by Helen, for as long as I can remember she's treated me like dirt. The first time she hit me at the age of four I was terrified. That's when I really started to notice the hard look in her eyes she saved just for me. I can still remember the first time I was happy. When Eva was born, she was born with a head full of curly brown hair and bright pink rosy cheeks, wholeness filled my body, for the first time it felt as if I had a purpose in life.