Breathe

six

[ cole's pov ]

I storm back to my lunch table, trying to block out the thoughts in my brain.

I am not boring.

I mean, I may not be the star athlete, but I'm definitely good and that takes talent.

My grades have never been the highest, but I'm sure not failing.

With my bright eyes and jawline, I know at least my features aren't dull.

Plus, I wouldn't call partying nearly every weekend and owning a sleek Dodge Challenger as my getaway car boring.

Nora just doesn't know what she's talking about.

She lives in her head; her world being very different than everyone else's.

Nobody with a right sense of mind would walk away from me, especially after banging me on the head with a door.

I finally reach my group of friends.

Sierra sees me first and stops in the middle of her loud conversation. Her silence causes everyone else to take notice of me.

They all turn their heads to stare, their lips shut tightly.

I watch the shower of red shake as Tiffany faces towards me, slightly leaning in.

"Cole, what's the matter with you?" She whispers.

Concern is splattered across her face and part of me wishes I could call her mine again.

She is such a beautiful girl. With her glowing eyes and illuminating smile, she could draw in anyone she wanted to.

She also has these neat little quirks, or she used to.

For instance, her favorite music used to be anything by The Beatles. I would lay on her bed and listen to her terrible soundtrack run over and over for hours.

Later, we would laugh about it and drink coffee on her roof.

She loved coffee. She could down two cups a night, followed by a bag of dark chocolate I would bring her.

She used to be so fascinating.

She's changed, though.

She now listens to Drake, gulps down her power smoothies, and I don't think she's touched a single piece of chocolate since then.

I tear my eyes away from her.

"Dude, you've got a bump on your head the size of Texas." Derek automatically gets loud again, laughing and play punching.

My hand raises up to my forehead.

I hadn't noticed before, but now my head really hurts.

"Oh, I do?" I pretend I have no idea what they're talking about.

"Uh, yeah." He slings his arm across my back. "What have you been doing, exactly?"

Derek raises an eyebrow.

I choose to take advantage of the tone of his voice and reply, "It's a secret."

The whole table laughs, and the people around me poke their elbows into my ribs.

Internally letting out a breath, I realize I'm off the hook.

I wouldn't want them to know that in reality, a girl slammed my head against a door.

That could only lead up to following questions.

Why did you follow her, anyway?

Why did you stand in front of the door like a twelve year old about to say hi to his first crush?