Trust

✍ Chase

It wasn't hard to hear the murmurs that started up around me the moment my name was linked with Chase's. I looked around the room, trying hard to remember who Chase was. Somewhere in the foggiest depths of my cluttered mind, I was sure I knew who he was. My eyes scanned rows of faces before it fell on the right one.

Chase.

The first thing that struck me about him was how out of place he seemed. Tall and slim, he stood out from the crowd in a peculiar way. It was hard to explain specifically how and what about him made him different, but there was just a general feeling. It tugged at my gut and made my stomach churn.

Almost instinctively, I stood up. My chair was sent scraping backwards and hit the table behind. The whispers grew louder.

Ignoring the curious looks sent my way, I smiled politely at the boy sitting next to Chase. I knew his name; I was sure of that, but that stubborn piece of information floated just out of reach in my mind. I grasped mentally at it but it was useless. The harder I reached, the further the information pulled away.

I really need to pay more attention to my surroundings and stuff like people's names, I thought grimly.

"Hi. Do you mind if we swapped seats?" I asked. The boy gave me a long look before standing up and moving. His curly blonde hair fell into his eyes as he brushed past me and he smelt of peanut butter and cookies. It was a pleasantly sweet smell and I found myself involuntarily taking an extra long inhale. Then, realizing how creepy I was being, I quickly slid into the empty seat.

Squirming a little at the warmth, I let Ms Sloan's voice fade into the background and smiled at Chase.

"Hi. I'm Pia but most people just call me Poppy." I held out my hand. Chase took my hand slowly and shook it.

"Chase."

For a moment, we just stared at each other, taking each other in. Chase had wavy dark brown hair and his eyes were grey, the same shade of stormy skies. He had a well-defined jawline that was being accentuated at that moment by a very flattering ray of sunlight piercing through the room window. His nose was a little crooked and I figured it was because it'd been broken before. If I had to classify him in the attractive or non-attractive category, I would have fitted him easily into the middle. Something about him was off-balance and though he was good-looking, that feeling threw me off.

"So, do you have any ideas for the assignment?" I asked. The noise level in the classroom had grown and I was glad that people had forgotten about gossiping about me for the moment. I wasn't too worried about Chase. As I raked back through my messy memory, bits of gossip and rumours had come back to me- stuff about Chase ditching school and carrying a pocket knife around and other nonsense like that. It all sounded a bit ridiculous to me, but it proved that Chase was quite a popular topic for lunchtime and after school discussion and I highly doubted that he didn't know about it.

"I think Romeo and Juliet is a pretty safe bet," Chase said. I shook my head, scrunching my face in disapproval.

"That's too…" I paused. "cliché."

A wry grin slipped over Chase's tanned features. "Okay then. What do you suggest?"

"Noah and Alice from The Notebook," I said almost instantly. Chase shook his head.

"Absolutely not."

"What? Why?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Because I know that Ryan Gosling guy acted in the movie and all you chicks basically lose your minds over him," Chase replied, shaking his head. He ran a hand through his hair so that some bits stuck out. I frowned.