I don't want to feel

Chapter 39

Kane had been true to his word.

He had walked me to each of our classes, sat next to me, and told Coach he’d be my partner in P.E. until further notice.

Coach was startled at first, but he then agreed with a smile.

Unfortunately, there was nothing Kane could do about the pitying looks and the constant whispering. I would have given anything to be invisible.

It was now lunch time.

Martin was there as we got to my locker, so I thought I’d tell Kane he didn’t have to baby sit me anymore. I didn’t want him to miss out on anything because of me. He was already going out of his way to make sure nobody bothered me and I was grateful for that.

 I turned to him.

“Thanks for… Well… for everything, really. You can do your own things now, if you want.”

My heart sank when I saw the hurt in his eyes.

“I mean, if you have some friends or a girl you’d like to see to… you know… I mean… well, you do know what I mean, don’t you? Although it doesn’t have to imply anything… Argh… Well, anyway, feel free to go… As Martin is here, I’ll be ok… I just don’t want to burden you…”

 “Sam,” Martin put his hand on my mouth to put a stop to my rambling. “I think Kane got your point.” He chuckled.

Thanks ever so much, Martin!

Feeling awkward after my verbal diarrhea, I forced myself to breathe slowly to regain my composure. All my efforts went to waste as Kane suddenly said,

“Sam, there’s nowhere else I want to be. You’re all I have left, now… You’re my family…” His gravelly voice was barely above a whisper for the last part, sending shivers all over me.

The only one he has… His family… Wow…

I couldn’t explain why, but his words touched me deeply.

“Ok.” I whispered shyly after a few seconds.

The silence that ensued was deafening.

Martin just stared at us wide-eyed, shaking his head slowly in disbelief while neither Kane nor me knew what to say.

Martin finally recovered from whatever had got him so dumfounded. He put his left arm around my shoulders and the right one around Kane’s, before gently guiding us towards the lunch room.

We were almost there, when he abruptly stopped, making me and Kane stumble.

I looked at Martin and saw that he was gaping at something in front of him.

I followed his gaze and saw that the “something” was in fact a cute dark-haired girl who’d stopped right in front of the double doors leading to the lunch room. She seemed to be mustering some courage before pushing the door open and thus, face the looks and whispering that the new girl she was, would most certainly generate when stepping on her own in the lunch room.

“Go and invite her to our table.” I whispered to Martin.

“I…I…I can’t.” He answered.

Has he just stuttered?!

I turned to Kane who looked just as bewildered as I was by Martin’s unusual behaviour. 

Drastic situations called for drastic measures so I walked to the girl.

“Hey, I’m Sam and these two over there are Kane and Martin.” I said as cheerfully as I could, while pointing to my two friends, who nodded at her.