Shifted

Chapter 2

Jackson walked me to my next three classes without uttering a single word. I could not figure out what his problem was. Other than him, most of the kids were pretty friendly. Everyone wanted to know where I was from, why I had moved. I was not fond of all the attention. I was actually glad to have the silent walks with Jackson to give me a break from the constant interrogation.

When Jackson and I walked into the cafeteria, I was immediately overwhelmed by the sensation that I was being talked about by everyone in the room. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I definitely noticed several people watching me as I looked around. I turned to where Jackson was, only to realize he'd disappeared. I couldn't help but deflate a bit when I caught sight of him sitting at a large table full of jocks and girls. He had his arm around the waist of a pretty girl with fiery red hair.

I jumped when I turned around and Liz was right next to me. "He Cas! Mind if I call you Cas? I think you look like a Cas. You're sitting with us, remember?"

I laughed at how hyper she was all the time, and replied, "Thanks. Cafeterias have got to be the worst part of a new school."

She just laughed and dragged me by the arm to a table towards the back. I saw that Todd was already sitting at the table, along with a tall, thin guy with about a thousand freckles, and two girls, one short and Asian, and the other lean with dark skin and curly hair that made her a good 5 inches taller than she was. Liz sat down next to Todd, as he tried to swat at the other boy to keep him from stealing his tater tots. The two girls saw me and grinned, splitting apart and patting the space between them. I walked over and sat down, feeling a little nervous.

"You must be Cas!" The dark skinned girl said. "I'm Naomi, and this is Ping."

The other girl rolled her eyes. "My name is actually Sophia, but Naomi has been calling me Ping since we watched Mulan for the first time as kids. I don't really care. You can call me whatever."

I smiled and nodded. Across the table, Todd now had the other boy in a headlock. Todd smirked at me, obviously proud of having bested his friend, and said, "This loser is Gabe."

"Let go of me, asshole!" Gabe yelled before he gave Todd's arm a big lick. Todd immediately let go and started cussing and wiping his arm off.

"You're disgusting!" Todd yelled back at him, but Gabe just grinned and swiped a couple more tater tots from Todd's tray while he was distracted.

"So Cas," Liz said. "Tell us about yourself."

I swallowed nervously then replied, "Well I moved here this week from Washington DC. But I only lived there for a couple years. My mom and I move around a lot. I've lived in Seattle, LA, New York City, Boston."

"Oh so you're a city boy," Naomi said. "Won't find many of those here in Tennessee."

Liz started to kind of vibrate in her seat, and suddenly she burst out with questions. "Why have you moved so much? Are you guys fugitives? Or did you see like a violent crime or something? Are you running from the mob? Are you in the Witness Protection Program?"

Everyone rolled their eyes at her and Todd lightly whacked her in the back of the head and said, "Liz, you can't just ask someone if they're in the Witness Protection Program"

I chuckled and responded, "It's always a different reason. This time we moved because the hospital my mom worked at had a huge budget cut and let half of the nurses go."

"So your mom is working at the hospital here now?" Sophia asked and I nodded.

It was then that I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise, and I looked around. Across the room, I caught sight of Jackson watching me intently, as his friends all chattered away around him. He and I locked eyes from across the room, and I couldn't help the small shiver that down my spine. I wanted to look away. The intensity of his gaze made me uncomfortable, but something held me in place, too scared to move and too nervous not to.