Broken Faith ✓

Chapter 19: Wishes Do Come True

I sunk into my seat and smiled at the girl who sat next to me in maths.

She smiled back as I took out my things. Most of the class was already in their seats but the teacher hadn't walked in yet so there was a slight murmur in the air as people talked.

"Hey Faith, happy birthday by the way" a slightly raspy voice said.

I looked up and sure enough one of the two guys that sat at my table was smiling at me.

"Oh...thank you very much" I smiled.

"No problem. How's your day been so far?" Arthur smiled at me still, his tone of voice super friendly which was weird considering we hadn't interacted much before this.

"It's been really good, thanks" I tucked a hair nervously behind my ear and looked down.

"I bet it was, with everyone singing to you" he raised his eyebrows twice quickly in a suggestive and cheeky manner.

"Where did you hear that from?" I questioned with my eyebrows furrowed and a slight panic settling in me.

"Blane told me. He said everyone literally screamed happy birthday to you but that it was good fun"

"Oh really?" Matt, the guy sitting next to Arthur questioned to which Arthur nodded and turned his attention back to me.

"I mean yeah it was really fun and I did appreciate it a lot" I looked to the distance reminiscing of what had happened in the morning and couldn't help a large smile appearing.

"Well I'm glad you liked it. A girl like you deserves that" he looked nowhere else but me as he said this, his gaze unfaltering but his expression becoming a little serious.

My lips slightly parted but no words came out. I didn't know what to say. I had helped Arthur out a couple times with math questions when he was stuck but that was it. I didn't understand where the sudden interest was coming from or how I should have reacted to it.

"Thanks" I almost mumbled while trying to make sense of what had just happened. My defences and the quiet girl made a comeback because I wasn't quite sure how to handle this.

This hadn't happened though until Ryder started talking to me. Arthur didn't ask for help when he was stuck until near about the week Ryder told the whole year about me. Yup, that was it. It had to be it.

We had began working through some exercises after the teacher had gone through how to answer the questions. It was pretty straightforward but there were always those few questions in the exercises that were hard and liked to catch you out.

Most of the time it was relatively easy to work out how to solve them because the challenge was half the fun.

"Hey Faith, can you help me with this equation?" I looked up to see Arthur looking straight at me.

"Which one is it?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't like games if I wasn't playing with someone I knew. And this game? I didn't even know if it was for mere amusement or to build a rapport.

"It's 4B" he said as he slid his jotter a little my way so I could see what he had done so far to try and solve the question. He smiled at me.

"Right. Well you see it's just what Mr Morrison showed us with his examples but a little piece added at the end so to solve it you want to take that extra bit to the other side so you can then solve it" I looked up from his jotter to find his gaze still fixated on me. I gulped nervously. I wasn't really used to this much attention being paid to me by anyone other than Ryder at school and I don't think I wanted anyone else to give me the same kind of attention either.