Because of Him

4

Chapter Four

After what happened in the library, Kacey surprisingly left me alone. I mean, other than the usual glare she would throw my way. But that didn't bother me. I would have that over the insults, any day.

          I never saw that guy again, but then again I didn't exactly want to. Maybe it was because I didn't know if I had to thank him. Whatever the reason was, I just didn't want to see him.

          The first thing I did when I got home later that day was call Emmie.

          "Hello?" The sound of her voice relaxed me. I missed her so much already.

          "Hey, Emmie." I greeted as I walked into my room.

          "Hi, honey," I could practically hear the smile on her lips. "How are you?"

          "I'm not sure, actually. Something.. weird happened today." I said as I laid down on my bed, looking up at the ceiling.

          "Weird? Why weird, what happened?"

          "Well," I began, "Remember about the whole deal with Kacey?" I knew she remembered, I was just stalling.

          "I remember."

          "Well, um, this guy.. he--he sort of.. defended me."

          There was a long silence.

          "He did?" She finally said. By the sound of her voice, I could tell that she was smiling. Grinning, even. I rolled my eyes even though she couldn't see me. I knew the fact that a guy, of all people, stood up for me excited her.

           "He did."

          "Well, how is that weird? It's nice. Cute even."

          Okay, now she was just embarrassing me.

          "Emmie!" I said exasperatedly. I heard her chuckle and shook my head. "The point is, that no one's ever stood up for me before. And he was.. popular." I whispered.

          "You know, Lauren," she sighed, "Not everyone is the same. I know you've had.. bad.. experiences, but there are some very trustworthy people out there. And I really think it's time to start over, honey."

          I realized it then; that I'd been stuck in the past for far too long. That's what had been holding me back from being social and making friends. I'd been so scared of finding someone who, in the beginning, I thought was a good friend and was trustworthy, but in the end realizing that I had been wrong the whole time.

          I had to move on. And the only thing I could tell Emmie was, "Me too."

❧

          The next morning, all my thoughts revolved around my mystery guy. I still couldn't wrap my mind around what he did. Like I said before, no one had ever stood up for me before, much less anyone popular. And the thing was, I had never even talked to him before. Why did he decide to defend me all of a sudden? He'd witnessed Kacey saying hurtful things to me, but he'd never done anything about it. So why now?

          My thoughts were jumbled up and all over the place when I walked into AP English -- my last morning class and the only class I had with Mystery Guy. I sat at my usual desk, the one in the far left corner, where I sat alone. Towards the end of class, when everyone was working on homework, I glanced at Mystery Guy. He was already staring.