Accidental Love: Book One of the MARZ series

chapter 3

The next morning I stood outside waiting on Mariah to come pick me up. My little sisters were heading to their bus stops and they both paused to give me hugs.

“Hey, you have a little cut on your neck that is bleeding,” my little sister, Bobbi said. She was seven years old and was pretty. She had eyes that made her look Chinese.

“Yes,” I said, playfully,” this is what happens when you don’t watch what you’re doing when you are cutting things up one day for lunch. She laughed and my older sister, Riley gave me a face.

“Don’t give me that look,” I said, and gave her an aggressive hug, and she wailed out in playful complaint.

“Can we not try to kill me?” she requested before I let her go. I watched them both with a smile as they headed on down to the corner and laughed as I saw Riley push Bobbi towards the curb in annoyance.

            When Mariah got to the house, I jumped into the back seat with Amayah.

“Okay,” Mariah announced as I got into the car,” I already told them, but I asked Ashley if she was dating Spencer and she said yes.” I gasped and Amayah and Zariyah were just shaking their heads.

“He is dating Ashley?!” I screamed. “How dumb can you be to date somebody who is going to the same school as your already current girlfriend? You have got to be kidding me! I am going to have words to say to him when we get to school.”

“NO,” Mariah shouted,” don’t. I want to talk to him first.”

“Okay, fine, but after you talk to him, I will give him a piece of my mind.”

“I just can’t believe he would do that to me.” Mariah said, and I saw through her rear view mirrors that she was close to tears.

“Mariah, no!” I screamed and grabbed her, from behind her seat. Hugging her and her chair.

“Ryan, I am driving!” she screamed and swerved the car a little bit.

“Well, explain to me how that would have worked if your eyes are tears and you can’t see were you are going.”

“I could see where I was going!”

“Look, you better have because that is my life!” Zariyah burst out.

            We drove the rest of the way talking about everything and nothing, and when we got to school we all went our separate ways into our classes and I didn’t see Damien anywhere. I looked around to see if I saw his car, and it was parked on the side under a tree. I picked up my phone since class didn’t start for ten minutes and called him. It run twice before going to voicemail. I shrugged my shoulders and headed to first block.

            When I got into first block Lawrence was already sitting in his seat beside me. When he saw me he smiled and embraced me into a big, unexpected hug. I hugged him back after a few moments and breathed in his scent without realizing it. He smelled so good. He didn’t say anything, he just smiled a child-like smile at me, and I smiled back.

            Without a word we both sat down and I opened my chemistry folder. Lawrence didn’t remove anything from his book bag, he just sat there looking into space, and then he looked at my chest and froze.

“Where did you get that deep scar from?” he asked, and my shirt was a little further down than it was supposed to be.  It was showing the beginning of a really red scar that was really noticeable. I quickly pulled my shirt up.

“Oh, I got attacked by a dog.”

“You got attacked yesterday? It wasn’t like that in school yesterday.”

“Yeah,” I said, looking down at my folder, now.

“There aren’t any dogs in our neighborhood.”

“I was with my boyfriend yesterday, remember?” I snapped, starting to get a little testy. He grew quiet and a pang in my heart hit as soon as I saw that look on his face. He looked at his binder and didn’t say anything.

            That class went by so slow. Every time I looked at Lawrence he would look away. I felt bad for getting an attitude with him. When the bell rang, he didn’t say anything. He just hopped out of his seat and exited the room. For some reason, I felt empty after that class. I felt full of sadness. Maybe it was because I hadn’t talked to Damien all day. I walked into Geometry and the class seemed to drag along today. I couldn’t concentrate on my work and I was so sleepy. My body felt sore and I wanted to just pass out and sleep for three days.

            When I walked into third period, everyone instantly saw it on my face.

“Girl, what is wrong with you?” Zariyah asked.

“Nothing,” I lied,” I am just tired.” I double checked to make sure my scar didn’t show before I sat down. Everybody talked and talked among themselves and I chimed in with a silly comment here and there, but I wasn’t really listening. I was thinking about last night. My head began to hurt.

            Then I spotted Lawrence across the room. He wasn’t even facing my direction. The teacher walked in and she sat down, not saying a single word. She didn’t seem to even notice the group of students in her class awaiting instructions. Well, some of us were. The rest were enjoying their free time to talk. I took that opportunity to pull out my phone and text Damien.

Babe, you at school?

Once again I didn’t get a response. My nose flared up but I told myself not to be angry. His phone was probably dead or being stupid again.

            The day went by so slow. I was talking to my friends and laughing, but I could retell you anything that happened. I kept wondering where Damien was. I sent him more than one text hoping that one of them would go through. I needed to talk to him. Honestly? I needed some comfort.

            After school I ran outside to see if I could catch him before he left. When I got out there I saw his truck rushing out of the entrance. I watched in confusion because it looked almost as if I saw blonde hair waving in the wind out his passenger seat.