Warmth

04

"What was that?" Courtney asked beside me as we walked to our next class after lunch ended and everyone went their separate ways.

"We've talked about this, Lottie. You have to be careful who you--"

I stopped walking and grabbed her face with both of my hands. She looked at me wide eyed, her cheeks squished against my palms while I stared at her seriously. "Like I've said, I didn't invite him, I'm not friends with him and I am not interested in him. Absolutely not and never will. Now, can you stop interrogating me?"

Her warm brown eyes took in my form. I watched silently as she tried to figure out where my thoughts truly laid; however I kept myself relaxed and smiled as if I wasn't affected at all by a silver-eyed boy.

She nods and I let go of her.

"What are you going to do then?"

I sighed. "I'll have to find out what he wants with me."

Courtney placed her hand on my arm, the gentleness hidden in the action made my heart clench. I silently took a deep breath to try to ease the ache. It wasn't hard to tell everyone's worries for me hence their display of hostility with Jace in the guise of protecting the reputation of the Elites. Seeing their worries, feeling them painfully reminded me of how weak I am.

"I'm fine, really," my voice softened to try to ease her worries and held unto her hand. It seemed to work seeing her furrowed eyebrows relax and lips turn up into a small smile. "Are we still on for later?"

With that, I successfully changed the subject.

***

The last bell of the day rang throughout the school, cutting off my last class. After months of not being in school, the atmosphere made me feel slightly uncomfortable and I wasn't in favor of getting caught up in the stream of students rushing out of school so I took my time.

The halls were slightly less crowded than I expected however no one was really moving, they were either standing in the middle of the hallway talking or walking impeccably slow. Irritation spiked through me making me groan. I grabbed my phone from my pockets to check any new notification to keep me from losing my patience and saw the group chat active.

'We're at the entrance,' a text from Simone read.

With my phone still in my hand, I side stepped a pair of teenagers talking in the middle of the hallway and sped through the halls and stairs. Looking at the texts, I was probably the only one they were all waiting for.

My heels clicked on the tiled ground floor until finally, I reached the exit.

I scanned through the mass of people and noticed a hand waving. My frown turned into a smile as I slightly sprinted towards my friends.

"Lottie!" Casey squealed as she embraced me in a bear hug. I hugged her back and turned towards Courtney who was standing a few steps away from me.

"Where are we eating?" I asked as she stepped forward to give me a light hug after Casey stepped back.

"A new cafe opened up a few blocks away," she answered and looked up at Bryan, who I now noticed standing behind me. "Who's riding with who?"

"Me, Jace and Simone brought our cars," he tucks his hands into his jean's pockets. "You all can choose."

At the mention of Jace, my eyes turned towards the silver-haired boy leaning against a pole beside Alex with his hands in his jeans and his eyes staring at mine. I stiffened and immediately looked away. I guess everyone decided to let him tag along.