The List

chapter 5

       

I was a naive girl, it was an established fact I had known, but my naivety turned out to be ignorance when I showed up to school on Monday expecting normality.

    Everyone was whispering about me.

    Luna and Claire found me before school and clung to both my arms, whispering stories that people invented over Eros and I's encounter on Saturday, something I didn't expect to happen; firstly that they were asking about this, secondly that they were both coming to me without the intentions of asking for homework or notes.

    "So- I heard from some guy that you guys were in deep conversation and that you made him laugh, and another said you guys made out," Luna looked at me with disbelieving eyes, "now you need to tell us which one is true."

    The eyes of many onlookers followed us through the corridor, their voices hushed, and yet, not hushed enough that I wasn't able to hear. I felt myself shrink under their oppressive stares and Luna's intruding words.

    "Neither," I confessed, to the shock of both of them, and they steered me away from everyone, finding solace under an oak tree that I often spent my lunches alone under.

    "Well," Claire demanded, "what happened then?"

    I stared up at them, two girls I barely knew, acting as if we were friends, as if they could and would pry into my own personal business. I was nice enough to them, but I was nice to everyone, and that didn't elicit a relationship of friendship between us.

    "He reminded me that he found me more annoying than most people and I told him that cigarettes would kill him," I told them, spinning a green leaf in my hand that had floated down from the tree above us. "So in short, nothing really happened."

    They looked back at me in shock, shock mixed with anger and confusion, "Well," Claire sighed and plopped down on the bench that was under the shade of the oak tree. "At least you've talked to him, he always brushes me away whenever I tried to talk to him!"

    I didn't even know how to begin responding to that, did I mention that we had an unexpected bonding during the nighttime? "I wouldn't exactly count myself lucky," I murmured softly, avoiding the gaze of both girls.

    "Did you meet Ryder Claire?" I added quickly after.

    I heard her sigh beside me, "No, but it's fine, this new boy I'm dating is cute enough, he'll do for now."

    Luna laughed softly and I looked up at her, her bright hair cascading over her shoulders, glinting in the morning light, brining forth a more orange tone in her red hair. "You mean he'll last a week if he's lucky, I swear Claire," she shook her head, "you're the female version of Ryder."

    Claire grinned mischievously, eyes twinkling, "Even better."

    I opened my mouth to respond to this, to tell them that Ryder just got around really well and never even tempted the idea of a relationship to his victims, so no, they weren't different versions of one another, but, I was cut off by the shrill sound of the bell signaling the start of the school day. I stood quickly, thankful for the excuse to leave, giving small smiles to Claire and Luna as I passed them, rushing to my first class of the day.

    What I expected in my Physics class was to work on a lab with my partner, Mason Greyback; to patiently work and help him understand the 'why' behind the actions of the lab, but what I got was the exact opposite.

    He wasn't in the seat next to me, instead he was across the room sitting next to another girl, and instead, a dark-haired girl sat in the seat beside mine, and looked as if she were waiting for me, her gaze firmly locked on my unmoving body.