Bound By Nature [ A NaNoWriMo Novel]

Chapter Ten

By ten I was shivering. The pale, harsh glow of the school light drifted over to me, not that it did any good. My toes and fingers had lost feeling, and my lips were well on their way there. I tapped my feet on the cement of the sidewalk to the faint rhythm resounding from inside the school, still debating- as I had been for three hours now- whether or not to go on ahead and walk to the nearest phone. It wouldn't be a long walk- the front office was twenty feet away- but still. I'll just ask the next person outside.

"Annie?"

I jumped at the voice and looked up to see Kale.

"I was wondering where you disappeared to." Kale took a seat on the bench next to me, and then quickly sat up again. "Holy shit, that's cold!"

I rolled my eyes. Such grand vocabulary, Kale- you go. Two originality points to you.

Kale sighed and looked over at me and I grudgingly rose my eyes to meet his. Damn those gorgeous pale green eyes. Kale then did what I didn't think he would do. He knelt down in front of me and nervously took my hands in his, a faint hopeful smile on his face. "Annie, may I have this dance?"

"Are you going to dance with me this time?" I asked, eyebrows raised and he exhaled slowly, his breath coming out in a pale gray cloud in front of him.

"I danced with you last time."

"And then you left and forgot about my existence."

Kale's shoulders slumped and his head dropped, and then he finally looked up again. "Please, Annie? I'm really sorry, and you're freezing. Just one dance before I call the others out here to go eat."

I sighed and stood up. That one simple action materialized a smile on Kale's face and he stood up from his kneeling position, keeping one hand in mine and placing his other hand on my waist, just as we had before. We began to moving to the rhythm, dancing around in circles, and he even twirled me a time or two. I spun around and went to come back, and he took the hand that was holding mine and put it in front of me, spinning me around so my back was to him. He pulled me over to him, wrapping his other arm around me. In the cold, him holding me close wasn't such a bad thing.

"I really am sorry," he murmured again. I looked over at him- those pale green eyes were filled to the brim with sincere honesty. I couldn't turn them down.

"It's alright," I half-whispered. For the second time tonight, he began to lean forward, ever so slightly- just the barest budge of the head- and I braced myself. This is it.

But no. Just as we were almost close enough, a single snowflake drifted down between us, separating us. Kale almost went back to the moment, but-

"No PDA on school grounds!"

I rolled my eyes when I recognized the voice and Kale and I shifted apart. I put my hands on my hips and shook my head at Mr. Gold.

"It's a dance, the whole point is PDA," I reminded him, grinning, and he just laughed.

"I know, but I couldn't resist ruining that moment," Mr. Gold said with a wink.

"Am I allowed to insult you with profanity outside of classes?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest but still playful.

"Hmm- maybe, but right now I'm still an authority figure on school grounds, here to make sure the kids refrain from beer and marijuana!" Mr. Gold cheered sarcastically and I rolled my eyes, and then remembered Kale standing there awkwardly.

"Oh, right- Mr. Gold, this is Kale Reed," I explained and Mr. Gold raised his eyebrows.

"He your boyfriend?"