Blaze

Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Helena and I had different classes right before lunch, and now I had to go search for her. We usually met in front of the school, at the benches, but she wasn't there today. So I doubled-back and went searching at her class.

I was climbing the steps when I heard her voice amongst the hundreds of others.

"Go away,"

I sped up, taking three steps at a go, my legs were now long enough for that. When I reached the top, I sprinted down the corridors, skidding to a stop near a crowd of people who blocked up the entire hallway. I pushed past the onlookers, but eventually they gave way. I bursted through the crowd to find Helena and a Rook guy.

The guy had her wrist in his hand, and he was leaning in uncomfortably close to her face. Helena was backed up against a locker, her hand on his chest trying to push him away in a futile attempt.

"Get away from me!" she screamed, then lashed out blindly, scratching his face.

The Rook felt the scratch, examining the smudge of blood left of him finger. He bared his teeth, and his eyebrows furrowed. "That hurt."

"Go away," I walked up to him.

He didn't hesitate to let go of her wrist, backing up a few steps immediately. He gave me a once-over, then continued glaring.

"Yeah, I know I'm handsome, but I'm straight, so scram."

There was snickering in the crowd around us, silenced only when the Rook stared the crowd down. Helena rubbed her wrist and came to my side, giving the Rook the same glare. He spat at my feet, turning on his heels and pushing through the crowd.

"I hope you're gonna clean that up later!" I called after him.

More snickering, but the Rook didn't look back. He disappeared behind the mass of bodies. I felt a hand on my arm, and then a light tug. It was Helena. She didn't like crowds.

A few minutes later we were in our nearly-deserted homeroom class. Our next class was History, back in here, so we'd detoured along the way to our lockers and grabbed the stuff we needed. Helena sat leaning back on her chair, I had my head down on the table.

"What was that about?" I asked after a few minutes.

"Failed flirting, that's what."

Silence hung in the air once again after that. I listened to the fan overhead as it turned, creaking from age. Two geeky kids chatted at the back of the class, talking over a magazine of some sort.

Helena was a really pretty girl, in an innocent way. She always had guys coming for her. Of course, none had succeeded in their pursuits till Trevor. And that hadn't ended well either.

"You know, you're a nice guy."

I sat up and looked at her, eyebrow raised. She swept her brown hair off her face and looked away, out onto the school field.

"Huh, thanks, but nice guys just don't seem to get the girls." I looked the other way.

"That isn't always true,"

"Well it is for me." I hoped she got the hint, "Maybe it's because I need the courage, eh?"

"I don't think you need anymore than what you've already got." I felt a hand on my shoulder, a breath on my neck.

When I turned back her nose was barely a few centimeters from my face. Her eyes met mine at that instant, and we both turned away, face reddening. I turned back, mustering up all the courage I had. Before I'd done anything, her lips were on mine. She broke away immediately.