Because of Him

21

Chapter Twenty-One

I was beginning to grow tired of the snickers aimed towards me while I walked through the hallways of this dreaded school. It seemed as if Kacey had turned the whole school against me. And did speaking up for myself help my life one bit? No. All it did was give people a new reason to make fun of me. Maybe it was also the fact that I still had those damn bruises on my face. Everyone was confident I had gotten them because Kacey had beat me up to show who Logan belonged to, whatever that meant.

"When are you going to grow up?" Faith yelled at some guy. "Leave her alone, asshole!"

"Faith," I nudged her arm, struggling to suppress my laughter.

"What? Like he didn't deserve it." She said, before catching a glimpse of my face and rolling her eyes. "And I know you're trying not to laugh."

I shook my head, chuckling. "Come on, let's just go to lunch."

We reached the cafeteria, walking to the same lunch line. We bought our meals and made our way towards the table Logan and the guys sat at. Faith had yet to meet everyone, except Logan of course, so she agreed to come along. When we arrived, everyone looked up at Faith and I.

"Hey guys. This is my friend Faith. Faith, these are my friends Cole, Daniel, Andrew, Thomas, and you already know Logan."

"Hi," Faith waved, smiling confidently. Everyone greeted her simultaneously.

"Sit here, Faith!" Daniel said, patting the empty space next to him. She listened and went to sit down next to Daniel, as I walked over and sat down beside Logan. While the guys were busy flirting with Faith, I turned to Logan.

"Where's Tyler?"

He shrugged. "I think he's still in the lunch line."

Seconds later, Tyler approached the table with his tray full of food.

"Seriously? You didn't save a spot for me again?"

"Hey, blame Faith. She took your spot." Andrew said jokingly, nodding to Faith.

Tyler looked over at her, not noticing she was there. Faith turned her head at the mention of her name, cutting her conversation with Daniel short.

"Did someone say my..."

She trailed off when her eyes landed on Tyler. Her eyes widened for just a fraction of a second before she realized it and blinked a couple of times, looking away. I looked up at Tyler, who was just staring at her as if he had never seen a girl so beautiful before.

Faith looked down. "Oh, um, I'm sorry, I'll just...I'll just move somewhere else." She stood up, just about to grab her tray to move.

"No, no, I'll just...squeeze in." Tyler said, snapping out of the trance he was in. He made Thomas scoot over as far as he could, trying to squeeze into the tiny space he had to sit.

While everyone went back to their conversations, I glanced at Logan. I raised an eyebrow, silently asking did you see that? He nodded and looked between Faith and Tyler.

I looked over at Faith, who was suddenly very interested in her water bottle. She was chewing her bottom lip as if she was nervous for something. I stared at her until she finally glanced up at me. I pursed my lips, raising my eyebrows. I knew she knew what I was silently talking about. Something was going on, and I wanted to know what it was. I nodded towards the girls' restroom, motioning her to come with me to spill what she was hiding.

She rolled her eyes and stood up to go.

"We'll be right back." I commented to the guys.

We walked side-by-side in silence on the way to the restroom. I pushed the door open and we walked in together. She made her way to one of the sinks, pulling herself up to sit down on the edge. I placed my hands on my hips and raised my eyebrows.

"Spill."

"Lauren, there's nothing to spill." She said, glaring at the wall.

"Then what was that?" I asked, motioning towards the cafeteria.

She groaned, letting her face fall into her hands. After a moment of silence, she finally peered up at me through her hands. "That was Tyler Raves, right?"

  "You know him?" I said slowly, eying her carefully.

She sighed. "I've known him–well I've known who he is ever since kindergarten." She admitted. "We've never been friends, but I've had this huge crush on him since the sixth grade and, I don't know, I guess it hasn't fully gone away."

I grinned. "That's so cute!"

She stared at me with disbelief. "No, it isn't! He doesn't even know who I am."

"Did you see the way he was staring at you?"

She rolled her eyes. "He's never noticed me before, and I highly doubt he'll start now."

It never occured to me until then that Faith actually wasn't the confident girl she portrayed herself to be. I didn't realize that she was just as insecure as any other girl. Maybe that's why she never payed attention to any of the guys that chased after her. I guess she felt that if she couldn't see anything worth chasing after, how could anyone else?

I comforted Faith as best as I could before we exited the restroom to walk back into the cafeteria, where I found that half of my food was gone, eaten by the people with literal vacuums for mouths called my friends.

❧

"Do you want the last slice?" I asked Logan, motioning to the pizza box on the coffee table.

"Yeah, sure," He answered, his eyes never leaving the TV screen, intently watching a scene from the movie we had chosen for movie night, Fast and Furious 6.

"Cool," I replied before taking the slice of pizza and taking a bite from it. Now it was my turn to keep my eyes glued to the TV screen, while Logan stared at me blankly, watching me eat what was supposed to be his slice of pizza but was now mine.

We were hanging out at my house, just like every other time, lounging comfortably on the black, leathered couch. Logan came over after school to help me with my homework, but we ended up ditching that plan five minutes into it and had a movie night and ordered pizza instead.

Just as I was finishing up my pizza, I remembered of the incident that happened during lunch between Tyler and Faith.

          "So, what do you think happened at lunch today between those two?"

"Oh yeah, that was weird, huh? I tried asking Tyler about that after school, but he kept denying that anything ever happened, so I just dropped it."

"Faith said that she's liked him since the sixth grade, but she doesn't think he could think of her in that way because he never really noticed or talked to her." I explained.

A mischievous smile curled onto his lips, and somehow I knew he was planning something.

"What?" I asked, narrowing my eyes, hoping that whatever he was thinking was going to be smart.

"Well, I was thinking that we could get them to hang out together with you, me, and the rest of the guys so they can get to know each other a little bit, and then set them up on a blind date with someone they think they don't know."

I chewed the inside of my cheek. "You really think that would work?"

He shrugged. "It's worth a shot."

"Okay," I said, the corners of my lips curling up in a sly smile. "It's a plan."