Finding Tristan ✓

16: Odd Suspicion

"Suspicion always haunts the guilty minds."

Kylie

I ended up waking up late on a Monday morning, but I was lucky enough that Tristan had his license and everything. He drove me to school, and on the way there, I had seen Luke trudge up the hill wearing a light blue long sleeve underneath a gray pea coat. He was also wearing gray jeans to match. I couldn't help but to keep my gaze lingered on his black eye before the car did a left turn into the school's parking lot.

"By the way, how is that project coming along?" Tristan asked as we both got out of the car. He walked over beside me and held my hand. I couldn't help but to smile. He opened one of the school entrance doors.

We briskly walked in and a rush of cold air hit our faces as we did. I shivered unconsciously, tempted to put my hood over my head. "We're actually done filming it, we just have to get the movie edited. And Ace needs to make two copies of it on a CD." I rolled the sleeves of sweatshirt down to cover the flesh of my arms.

"Second quarter of the year is starting soon, and finals are just around the corner." Tristan clucked his tongue and ran a hair through his tousled black hair. "I wish the teachers weren't so hard on us with the homework. On test days, we shouldn't even be getting assignments; it doesn't make any sense."

I frowned as we rounded a corner. "I definitely agree with you, but it all depends on what kind of teacher you have. I know that my math teacher doesn't give out homework on testing days. She saves the introduction to the new unit for the next day."

"You have a lot of good luck don't you?" Tristan entwined his fingers with mine. My heart fluttered in my chest when my hand tingled from his warm touch.

"I guess you could say that, but not until the day we put my stalker behind bars," I murmured. He smiled half heartedly.

"The bell is about to ring." We stopped in our tracks alongside the wall by the hallway that lead to the gym doors. "I want to walk you to lunch as well, so please stay in your English class until I get there?" He mumbled quietly as the clumps of students by the lockers started to disperse.

"Okay!" I laughed and gave him a tight hug before letting him go. He placed his hands on my waist before tilting his head down to leave butterfly kisses along the crook of my neck. "Tristan, let me go change for gym!" I pat his chest with my palms and held back a whimper.

He groaned and let go of me. "Fine. But that doesn't mean I won't do this again later," He muttered. I gave him a kiss on the cheek before turning around to enter the women's locker room. A delicate smile spread across my face as I sat down on the bench. I changed into my gym outfit and tied my dark chestnut hair into a high ponytail.

The other girls that were in the locker room with me minded their own business. No one really talked to each other; we would only do our own thing. For the students who have gym first hour, I sympathize them. Some end up dealing with sweat for the rest of the day. Some get a sense of nervousness and paranoia that their smell is getting to the heads of others, and they end up overloading on their sprays. Too much Cologne and perfume for this school was like a hell house that specialized in suffocating its visitors.

I threw my gym bag back into my locker and casually walked into the gym. The class was huddled in a group at the far corner of the gym, near a black colored wall with a large whiteboard on it. "Hey Kylie! How's it going?" Mr. Peterson shouted as he entered.

"I'm feeling great!" I stated in a ecstatic tone. The gym teacher let out a heart warming laugh before placing the sack of soccer balls and colored Jerseys down.

"This week we will be doing our unit on soccer. And it is supposed to be a clear week; no rain whatsoever! We will be doing all of our fitness tests and jot down our final numbers for the week on our goal sheet like the usual! Remember that I only grade the odd number weeks. For example, this is week six, so I won't count this week's scores against your grade. Take it as a preparation for next week's fitness testing, and do what you can!"

Half of the class buzzed in quiet conversation. There were plenty more boys than girls in this class because I had signed up for an Outdoor Competitive Team Sports class. I had double up in gym this year due to the fact that I never took a gym class last year. I needed to gym credits in order to graduate. I knew that I was going to see Mr. Peterson again in fourth quarter in Outdoor Individual Sports.

I stood up with the only two other girls in this class and stood beside the wall in front of the boys. Mr. Peterson called up three other boys to play the team captain role for each of their teams. We most definitely weren't going to play full field. It was already way too much to even deal with first thing on a Monday morning.

I had first pick to choose someone to play for my team. Luke stared me in the eye and gave me a small smile. I knew that he wanted me to pick him. "Sir, I'll take Luke to be on my team." Mr. Peterson threw a red jersey at Luke. He easily caught it and slipped the stretchy fabric on.

As he slipped his left arm through the hole of the red jersey, I caught a glimpse of a jagged scar along his forearm. I sucked in a shaky breath while thinking about the night my stalker broke into Ace's house. I remember that I had swiped the blade across their arm. "Hey Luke, where did you get that scar?" The next boy I selected to be on my team asked him.

Luke shrugged,"I got this during the time the mad man sliced me for disobeying his commands." Luke cleared his throat in discomfort and pulled at the collar of his own shirt. Their small conversation was cut off the moment we stepped outside onto the field. I let out a breath of relief as the chilly air flowed past us. Mornings in the fall had a good bite to them that made you feel somewhat at peace; admiring its beauty.

After a few games and playing against the other teams, we headed back inside. We took off our jerseys and dropped them into separate piles on the floor of the gym. We did our upper body exercises such as push-ups and pull-ups before Mr. Peterson let us out early in order to give us time to change back into our school clothes. "You did great today Kylie!" Luke complimented me and I nodded in thanks before we headed off our separate ways towards the locker rooms.

I still couldn't help but to let my mind linger back towards the scar on Luke's arm. It could have been a total coincidence. Or maybe my paranoia was just giving me a hard kick to the gut.