Crushed

Chapter 6

When I woke up, I turned off my alarm, like normal, got dressed, like normal, and ate breakfast, like normal. Everything seemed very normal. I got to school on time, put my stuff in my locker, and got my binders for first block, double french. When I got into homeroom, I finally noticed something odd, Anne wasn't gossipping in the corner with the rest of her clique. In fact, I hadn't even seen her in the hall. She simply wasn't there. I was excited at the thought of being able to talk to him, who knows where this day will take me.

French was boring, as usual. It wasn't until art when something interesting happened. Art is usually free studio time, and all that anyone ever does is work on their project, and talk to each other. Today was no different, just that we were told that if we were on the painting part of the project, that we has to sit in a specific table group. So, since I was painting, I went to sit in that group. I had just set up in one of the desks, when none other than Alex came over, and sat directly to my left. I immediately felt a wave of shivers wash over my entire body, I was shaking in my shoes. I was terrified of what I might do. All was well for about three seconds, until he started trying to talk to me. "Hey Bella, how's your day been?" "Um..." I looked up at him, and I must have looked pretty lost, because he then said, "Probably fairly boring... I mean, double french isn't very entertaining." I sweetly smiled at him, not realizing that I was no longer painting my sculpture, but empty air. I was embarassed to the soul, but tried to just laugh it off. Alex laughed too, which I was thankful for. I put down my paintbrush on my paint palette, which flipped, and covered him in paint. My face was bright red, I felt terrible! Thankfully, the paint was washable, but it still took him ten minutes to get it out of his sweater. I apologized profusely, and when he came back, it was time to clean up anyways. I decided to lay low for a while, but that didn't last long, math was after break.

I was walking to math when I suddenly heard behind me, "Bella Gray, stop where you are." I froze and felt a shiver run down my spine. The voice I heard was deep, serious, and vaguely familiar, but I couldn't seem to put a name to it. Sooner than I could turn around, I felt a warm hand land on my shoulder. I held my breath. "Don't even try to walk away. I need to talk to you, now." I slowly turned my head, and then my body. The hand fell from my shoulder. I was shocked when I realised I was facing Alex. He was wearing a dark hoodie, nothing like I'd ever seen him wear before. His crutches were gone, but I could still see his tensor bandage under the cuff of his dark wash jeans. "I need to talk to you." He repeated. I was still in shock of seeing that it was him. He took my arm, and led me towards the library. The library was empty, which I realized when I walked in. He sat me down in an empty chair, and started talking. "Look Bella, I know you like me." "What?" I said getting defencive. "Please, just wait until I've finished." He said. "I know you like me, and I like you." "Really? After all I've done? how could-" "I'm not done." "Sorry..." He continued, "I really do like you, but if we were to be a thing, I couldn't help but worry that everything we do would be broadcasted to the entire school by Anne." "So what you're saying is, we would have to date in secret?" "Exactly" He looked back at me with those frosty blue eyes you could get lost in. I never wanted that moment to end. The doorknob turned, and me and Alex jumped to our feet. We rushed to the other door, and left. We made it to math a moment before the bell.

The entire time I couldn't focus. I would look at him, and our eyes would meet, but he would look away before I got too deep. I couldn't wait to get home and tell Julie about everything. That was when it occurred to me, if it was supposed to be a secret, I couldn't tell her. But me and her share everything, this might get complicated.