I Can Feel Her Heart Beating

Chapter 2: In Which Libraries are Concerned

"Dude seriously, you've been staring at her all morning," Danny stated matter-of-factly. Laura knew that she'd been staring at the girl that she spotted in her English lit. class first thing that morning. It hadn't helped that she found the girl sitting in the back of her math class that morning. She was glad she had Danny there, at the very least, to keep her from gawking too much at the mysterious girl that sat in the back. And walking into the cafeteria with her new friend, she once again noticed the pale girl instantaneously.

"I know," Laura sighed, defeated.

"Alright, well before you start drooling again there's a couple of people that I want you to meet," Danny started again, steering the conversation away from the girl that she knew all too well. "I can't stick around because I have a Summer Society meeting," Danny concluded confidently. Noticing the confused look on the much shorter girl's face, Danny continued, "It's a group in our school, I run it. It focuses primarily on female empowerment," She concluded happily.

"Oh, I see. That sound pretty intense there, pal," Laura chuckled, awkwardly socking Danny gently on the shoulder.

The taller girl looked down at her with an amused smirk and led her away to the other end of the cafeteria. Danny sat down at the table with two other red heads. One with short, styled hair, and one with messy curls thrown into a loose bun.

"Laura this is Lola Perry," Danny said, pointing to the girl with the curly hair.

"Oh hello! It's very nice to meet you. You've been the talk of the school for quite sometime!" The girl piped, in a polite tone.

"Nice to meet you too!" Laura greeted happily, shaking the extended hand of the chipper girl seated at the table in front of her.

"And this is LaFontaine," Danny introduced the other.

"Call me Laf," they greeted casually.

"Nice to meet you, Laf," Laura smiled. "Have you girls been friends for a long time?" Laura questioned innocently, sitting next to the girl with the curly hair. Danny's head instantly shot up from her phone, right as the question slipped out of Laura's mouth.

"Laura tha-" the tall girl started before she was cut off by Laf.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. Anyway, I've got to take off. I need to meet with the Alchemy club to discuss the molecular structure of this fungi's genes," The ginger with the short hair quickly stood up, nearly knocking over her milk container.

"I hate to leave you here Laura but I have to go to my meeting now. See you in history," Danny quickly followed suite.

Laura had realized by this time that she'd done something wrong. The last remaining redhead sat opposite her now with a sympathetic look on her face.

"So Lola, that's your name right?" Laura started, fidgeting awkwardly with her fingers.

"I prefer Perry, but either way really. Listen about Laf, they're pretty sensitive about pronouns and prefer they or them. It's not something I should explain to you but I'm sure she'll gladly tell you about it!" The red head said hesitantly.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry I had no idea. Can you please make sure she knows I'm sorry?" Laura questioned, looking away from Perry and down at her fidgeting fingers.

"Oh of course! No problem," Perry began again, "Don't worry about it at all." She concluded, a pleasant smile settling on her face. But Laura had lost interest in what Perry was saying as she found her eyes once more on the pale girl on the other side of the cafeteria, reading on her own.

"Carmilla," the curly haired girl spoke, tearing Laura's gaze away from the girl. At Laura's confused expression, Perry continued, "Her name's Carmilla. The girl you keep staring at," she continued casually. Laura grew increasingly uncomfortable knowing she'd been spotted. "I'd stay away from her if I were you though," Perry finished.