Togetherness

4

"Ella, right?" David whispers when the teacher's handing the assignment out.

"Uh, no," I mumble, slightly embarrassed. "It's Parker."

He obviously wants to say something else but all he says is, "oh."

"Yeah," I mutter back.

Halfway through the paper, which is about 9/11, David leans over in my direction and whispers, "you gonna try out for the team this year?"

Even though he's probably talking about soccer, I ask, "what team?"

"Soccer."

"Oh. Yeah, I was planning on it. That a problem?"

He just smiles and shakes his head, going back to his paper.

After reading, I had science and now, lunch. In science, Mrs. Krow gave us an assignment of writing twenty two vocab words out by tomorrow, which doesn't really bother me. It's not like I have friends or family to spend my evening with.

I carry my tray, with the minimal amount of food that the lunch ladies would allow us to have, to an empty table on the far side of the room, where nobody else but me sits. I set my food and the book I brought down on the table and went to go fill my water bottle up. When I come back, my table isn't empty anymore. Across from my stuff on the table sits a guy in a leather jacket, black jeans, and a pair of Converse. David. That's peculiar, to say the least. Walking closer, I see he also has a book with him. Instead of a tray, he has a paper sack with his lunch in it. I reach the table and sit down, slipping my legs under the table without tripping and dying. Neither of us say anything to the other. We just glance at each other, make eye contact, and look back down. Grabbing my book and a fry off of my tray, I glance back at him, only for a second, to see his eyes on me and the ghost of a smile on his lips. When he notices me catching him, he quickly looks back down at his book, remaining silent. I smirk and open my book to start reading, grabbing the occasional fry.

After a while of silence, something presses up against my leg. I look under the table and see David's long leg right against mine. I look at him over my book, watching his blue grey eyes flick from line to line, his bottom lip trapped between his teeth. I smile and go back to my book until the bell rings.