Love Maze

Chapter 8

Time seemed to slow down as Anya looked around the cafeteria helplessly, feeling the slow burn of embarrassment on her cheeks.

Students seated around her were snickering, and every laugh felt like a stab to her.

"Anya! Oh my god, are you okay?" Faith ran up to her, concern written all over her face. She reached out and shook Anya by the shoulders. "Are you hurt?"

She winced. "No, but if you keep shaking me like that, I sure as hell will be."

Faith dropped her hands immediately. "Sorry. I was just worried."

Anya looked down at herself. Her clothes were ruined, every inch of her covered with spaghetti. Thankfully, her tea had only spilled onto her arm, but the skin there had turned red.

Her eyes travelled down from her arm and she realized that Aiden was still holding her hand. Lifting her head, she raised an eyebrow at him, and pink spots appeared on his cheeks as he let go of her.

Faith began talking to her again. "How did you fall? Was it because your shoelaces were untied? If that's the reason for all this, then I swear to God, Anya, I-"

"Stop," Anya interrupted. "Stop talking. It's alright. All I need to do is change into clean clothes and I'll be fine."

"Okay," Faith frowned uncertainly. "You can borrow a tee shirt from my locker, but I need to get going- Mrs. Price wants to talk to me about something."

Anya's eyes rounded. "You were called to the principal's office? What did you do?"

Faith rolled her eyes. "Nothing. I have no idea why I've been called. Will you be alright without my help, though?"

"I'll be with her," Aiden volunteered quietly. "I'll make sure she's alright."

Anya only stared at him. It was the first thing he had said after his teasing comment about her shoelaces. Faith, on the other hand, beamed as she glanced between the two.

"Great," she chirped. "I'll see you guys later." She tossed them a smile before skipping away in the direction of the principal's office.

Aiden tugged at her hand. "Let's go."

After they had picked up the clothes from Faith's locker, Anya instructed Aiden to stay put as she headed to change.

She slipped into the girl's bathroom, which was thankfully vacant. She really didn't need a bunch of girls staring at her right now.

She turned on the tap and splashed water on her face repeatedly, sighing in relief as she washed the gunk off her face. Once her face and arms were clean of all food, she directed her attention towards her clothes. Her top was most definitely ruined, but there was still hope for her jeans.

She quickly locked herself in a stall. Her top covered her hands in spaghetti sauce once again, so she dropped it to the floor in disgust. Much to her relief, there wasn't a lot of damage done to her skin, so she slid into Faith's top and smoothed it down.

She let herself out and washed her hands again, then attempted to rinse the food out of her hair. When she was satisfied that she was as clean as she could get, she stared at herself in the large mirror over the sinks.

She was wearing a deep blue tee shirt that belonged to Faith, which read "Your only limit is you". Anya rolled her eyes; her best friend was crazy for motivational quotes. She had tied her brown jacket around her waist to hide the food stains on her jeans, and let her damp and curling locks loose. She nodded with approval and turned to leave.

When she emerged from the bathroom, Aiden was leaning against the wall outside. He pushed himself off it when he saw her, and tossed her a smirk. "Look at you, you clean up pretty well," he teased.