Broken Souls (Souls #1)

Chapter 7 - Destiny

My brain must be slow or I'm suddenly very forgetful because I can't seem to remember having a conversation with a girl who introduced herself as Madison. "What do you mean?"

Matthews sighs and drags a hand down his face, looking tired of this conversation. "What he means is that my parents were expecting a girl."

I look back and forth from between Hayden and Matthews. "What?" I close my eyes and blow out a breath and then open my eyes to look at Matthews. "Are you saying that you are Madison?"

Hayden walks over to Matthews - or Madison - and slaps him on the back hard, laughing. "This whole time Destiny thought that I was talking about a girl when I said I wanted to introduce her to 'Madison'. I didn't correct her because I wanted to see the expression on her face when I introduced her to you." He points to me and then exclaims, "And look! Absolutely priceless! It's even better than I imagined." Hayden laughs for a while and then when he catches his breath he tells Matthews, "She also thought that we were together or dating or something! Can you believe it! Us dating!" He shakes his head and then smiles at me. "Now do you understand why I broke out laughing when you first told me that?"

Slowly I nod my head but say nothing more. This information is taking long to register. I need some more time.

Meanwhile beside Hayden, Matthews is grabbing large handfuls of hair and tugging on it from the scalp. "Why did you tell her about my first name? I told you to never tell anyone! I don't tell anyone but close friends!"

"Well," Hayden mutters with a smirk, "you better make her a close friend fast."

Matthews spins around, away from me, and continues tugging at his hair. At this point it is looking very painful since his grip on his hair has tightened and his tugging is more persistent than before.

Hayden leans toward me and mock whispers, "He hates it when I tell the chicks his first name, but I love it. It's funny watching him come unhinged."

I focus my attention on Matthews and watch as he yanks at his hair and makes little frustrated noises. Some students passing by slow down and watch him with an amused expression while others walk far away from him. I can just imagine what they are thinking in their minds while they look at him warily. I must consist of: Is he okay? Or, Did he take his meds this morning? I laugh at the thought and Matthews spins around to look at me. I slap a hand over my mouth and stare at him with wide - and hopefully innocent looking - eyes. I hear him mutter something under his breath and walk away.