I carried my lunch tray and walked around the cafeteria, not knowing where to sit. Jasmine wasn't here, so I sat on an empty table. I scanned the cafeteria, trying to spot Jasmine but instead felt someone rub my back. I stiffened and turned around to see that guy I saw earlier.
The guy who winked at me and gave me, well, that look.
I knew for once that I wouldn't like him. At all.
"Hey darls...", he said, sitting next to me.
I shuffled in my seat, feeling uncomfortable.
"Um...hello?", I said, avoiding his eye and tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.
"Hey...hey...look here...", he said, cupping my face in one hand. I nudged away slightly. I could feel him looking at me. "Why you so nervous?", he said, stroking my lower torso.
That's it. I had enough.
"GET AWAY!, I yelled, moving away from him.
I got up furiously and turned around to bump into Austin.
He looked at me and then the guy and then back at me.
"What's going on here?", he said loudly, looking at me but addressing it to the guy.
Now the whole cafeteria was looking at us.
Uh oh. Way to make a first impression Nicole.
"Dude. Chill. Everything's aight.", he said, putting his hands next to him in defence.
"You do anything to her...", Austin hissed, pointing his finger out to him in warning.
The guy turned to looked at me. I moved slightly to hide myself behind Austin. But not quick enough to see him wink at me. He snickered and made his way out.
"Sit", Austin literally demanded.
Being as scared as I was, I sat down immediately without a word. He sat down and looked at me. I looked down at my plate, not knowing what to do.
He placed his hand on my arm. "You okay?", he said softly.
I nodded. He smiled.
"Hey Nicole. Meet my guys", he said, gesturing to the guys infront of us. They happened to sit when Austin did, but I hadn't noticed.
"Zac", he said, pointing to the guy on the right. He had golden brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. The kind you'd expect to be the school's jock.
"Yo. So you're the new chick, huh?" he said.
I sighed. I was getting that comment a little too many times. "I suppose?"
Austin cleared his throat. "This is Shane.", he said.
The guy in the middle, Shane, lifted his head and popped it back down to say hello. Shane had brown hair, tanned skin and brown eyes. And boy was he tall! I figured he'd be just the right guy to be put in the swim team.
"And this is Lucas", he said pointing to the guy on the left.
He smiled. "Hey Nicole", he said gently.
"Hello Lucas", I said to him. He was the only blond in their group. He seemed sweet. And what was it with all these guys? How come all of them happened to be so cute?
There was an awkward and momentary silence until Zac interrupted.
"Dude Austin. Awant you goin tou start eawing?", he said, while eating his hamburger.
Austin blinked. "Dude what?"
I laughed. "I think he means to say, aren't you going to start eating?"
Zac cracked a smiled. He pointed to me and gave me a thumbs up sign. "I laike thwiz go"
Austin creased his forehead and gave him a look. He looked at me.
"Did you catch on to that Nicole?"
I couldn't stop laughing. "Haha yeah. He says he likes me"
Austin laughed. "How do you get that loser?"
"I'm no loser", Zac muttered.
Austin chuckled. "I got that alright"
We laughed and digged in straight away.
Lunch went by pretty quick.
I got up to leave when Austin got up too and held my elbow. I looked up at him and then realized something I hadn't before. He was damn tall.
"Nicole...", he said, breaking my thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"Stay away from Bruce."
"Who's he?"
"Well...you know, the guy...the guy who sorta...", he said, his hands in his pockets.
I raised my eyebrows and smiled. "It's okay. I get it.", I said, putting my hand infront of me, telling him to stop his fail attempt.
He smiled. "I thought you would"
Our eyes met for a moment. The world went blank then. It was perfect until I coughed.
Gah.
Curse me.
"Uh...I better get going...", he said, stroking his hair with his fingers.
"Uh yeah. Me too."
We parted our ways when he yelled my name out. I turned around.
"Don't forget our evening plans!"
"I won't!", I yelled back.
How could I possibly forget?
"How was school hon?", my mom said, as I got into the car.
I sighed. "Surprisingly really really really good."
My mom looked at me to see if I was kidding.
I laughed. "No really. I had fun."
My mom's surprised expression slowly morphed into an extremely excited one.
"Tell me all about it! Made any new friends?", she said, driving out the street.
"Yeah...Jasmine, Lucas, Zac, Shane, Jennifer, Lily, Kristi, Katy, Patricia, Blake and another brunette I can't remember.", I said, counting them off my fingers.
My mom looked at me in awe.
"You're kidding."
"Nope", I laughed.
"Aw honey. I'm so happy for you."
"Mom", I said, shrugging it off. But I guess I knew how she felt. She was really happy for me. All these years I grew up having no friends, nobody to support me.
She was genuinely proud of me.
"My little kid's all popular!"
"Mom. I'm not popular.", I muttered, although giving it a thought.
"Yeah. Keep talking."
I rolled my eyes.
I never did and never will understand mothers.
"COCO!", I yelled, as he ran to me and began to lick my feet. It tickled. I knelt and held him in my arms. He was impossibly cute. With his furry brown tail, big eyes and a tail that never seemed to stop wagging. I don't think I could ever abandon him. He was mine. All mine. Except the problem was he wasn't.
My mom's words replayed in my head.
'One night. Only one night.'
I shuddered at the words, but tried to keep them away because I was going to have an evening that I'd been waiting for since the moment he asked me.
I couldn't wait.
