Leap of Faith

Chapter Six

Rebecca

"You know you've lost your mind right?" Matt said, staring at me. He glanced back and forth between our lunch table and I.

"No, I haven't, I'm just a nice person," I responded and he laughed, shaking his head at me. He turned on his heel but not before letting out a heavy sigh.

"Whatever Becca." I stared at his back for a moment and then followed him back to the lunch table where Mason was waiting for us. I felt bad for abandoning him with Shannon, who was currently fawning over him, but Matt dragged me away the second Mason sat down at the table with me.

I sank down onto the seat across from Mason and Shannon eyed me warily. Finn looked grumpy as ever and Matt picked at his food. We made quite the group.

"So! Do you guys want to see a movie or something Friday night?" I said, trying to break the tension.

"Yes!" Matt cried, "I've been dying to see the new Percy Jackson movie."

"Awesome," I said, "Sound good?" Everyone nodded and Finn looked at me incredulously.

"You're inviting him too?"

"I'm right here you know!" Mason snapped and I wondered what was going on with Finn. He was never purposely rude to someone. In all the time I had known him, I had only seen him get upset a number of times.

"Finn! Of course I'm inviting him! What the hell has gotten into you?" I glanced over at Matt for a hit of an answer but he avoided my eyes. I sighed. I didn't expect this to be so difficult.

"I'm going to the library," I snapped at them and then stood up, gathering my books. I shoved them in my bag and headed to the door.

"I'll join you," Mason said uncomfortably, getting up as well and following me out.

"I'm so sorry about them," I sighed, "I don't know what the hell is up their asses." He laughed and shook his head. Mason seemed to be the ultimate paradox - cool yet uptight, young yet wise beyond his years, attractive yet unbelievable modest.

"It's fine, I appreciate the effort Becca." I smiled up at him and he grinned back.

Mason

Damn. There was something about this girl.

She smiled up at me and I couldn't help but think that I had never seen anything so sweet.

Shit. This needed to stop right now. I repeated my mantra over and over until I felt the joy fade slightly. But only slightly because like sadness, joy would never leave you forever.

Love is a curse, attachments are fatal, relationships are doomed.

I then considered what the hell I was doing, going with her to the library. Why was I sitting with her at lunch, talking to her friends?

Shaking my head I stopped and turned to her. It killed me to do this, but I had to. To protect both of us. This needed to end before it started, because if it started then there would be no turning back.

"I've got some stuff to so..."

The look on her face gave away nothing, but her eyes did. She seemed...upset. But why should she be? And why should I feel so guilty? We barely knew each other!

"Oh sure, of course. Bye Mason."

With that, she turned and left me standing in the hallway alone. I turned on my heel, walking down the hallway at a snails pace as I considered the last schools I had attended. I was a different classification each time.

A geek, a jock, a loner, a stoner, when in reality I wasn't any of those things. I didn't belong in any group or under any label. I gave myself a label.

Mason.

Rebecca

I turned and walked away from him, my heart heavy but my head high. After all, it was what I wanted, right? High school boys just weren't worth it.

I sighed and stepped into the library. Mrs. Anderson waved to me and then pointed to a stack of books on the counter. Clean cut and all with the same scent, books would always prove to be less complicated than humans.

"These are the ones you ordered, they came in this morning," she grinned at me and held up one of the books. "I started this one, I hope you don't mind. It seemed good." It was Something Maybe by Elizabeth Scott.

What? Just because I don't believe in true love and all that crap doesn't mean I wouldn't love if it were real. That's the thing about books - they can show you whatever world you want.

They can pull you out of your own life and make you someone you aren't, in a place you may have never heard of. Books had endless potential, like a baby. You have paper and a pen and suddenly the world is your oyster. You put the pen to the paper, cross the t's dot the i's and take a leap of faith.