Survivors

Chapter 7: Xain

Chapter 7: Xain

            “Did you see that?” Abi tugs my arm, “Jada was looking at you.”

            “He knows,” Izzy says as she stuffs a piece of broccoli in her mouth, “He looked right at her and smiled earlier.”

            “He did?” Abi responds in a high pitched baby voice, “Awwww, Xainy has a little girlfriend!”

            “No,” I put out, “I’m just being friendly. Wait, where’d Clay go?”

            “Where do you think?” Izzy is looking over her shoulder, “He’s making a move on your ‘friend’.”

            I look to see a red head boy smiling and talking to Jada. I smile until I notice that her smile is actually filled with some annoyance. I get up to remove Clay, but then, Abi and Izzy stop me. I’m glad they do, because about five seconds after, I see Jada twisting Clay’s arm back and saying something in his ear. He gets up and starts to walk our direction and I see Jada and Melissa giggling.

            “So what happened to you?” I ask sarcastically.

            “She was staring at you, so I just sat down to talk to her and tell her you’re not interested,” Clay starts as he rubs his sore arm, “I started to talk about you and she was fine, saying she wasn’t looking at you in that way. I started to try and flirt and put my arm around her shoulder, then she twisted it around and said ‘I like you, but if you grab me again, I’ll rip your arm off,’ and then she let go.”

            Everyone laughed because none of us expected for that little girl to be so...feisty. I like her more now.

            “Her friend, the medic, said that I should rest my arms before I lose them,” Clay continues, “But Jada did say she liked me. She LIKES me!”

            “As a person idiot,” Izzy says the nicer version of what she’s thinking, “She doesn’t like you as much more than that.”

            “And you just know that,” Clay says sarcastically, “You know, if you didn’t look so much like an evil beast, maybe something would like you.”

            Izzy leaps forward with her dinner knife in hand and stabs at the edge of the table. If Clay hadn’t moved back, the knife would have pinned his hand to the table. Clay is left frozen in space and staring at the knife still gripped in Izzy’s fist. The whole table is frozen. Abi is staring at Izzy with fear glowing in her eyes. I’m looking at both Izzy, who has that death glare in her eyes right before she kills someone, and Clay, who is more terrified than anyone I have ever seen. His green eyes seemed to have exploded out of his sockets and his skin matches the whites of his eyes. I can now see that every vein on Izzy is popping out and her eyes aren’t moving from Clay one bit. I slowly reach out my hand and encompass it around her hand she’s holding the knife with.

            “Iz,” Abi breaks the silence, but Izzy’s eyes are still trained on Clay and her grip hasn’t loosened one bit, “Izzy, it’s okay.”

            Izzy’s grip releases and she storms off. The table is still frozen in time as the adrenaline of the situation dies down. Clay is still staring blankly into space and grasping his chair. Abi is holding her chest and sweating profusely. Her eyes are reddened, but I can’t tell if she’s crying or not. I look up and catch sight of Jada. She seems as scared as if she’d been sitting at our table.

            “Well,” I try to sound as stable as possible, but my voice cracks, “I think we should all go cool off and get some rest.”