A Murder Of Crows [boyxboy]

A Murder Of Crows {8}

The sky was starting to brighten as I weaved my way through the trees on campus. I'd wandered off the path, but my feet carried me exactly where I wanted to go.

And then it came into view; a tree stump, a big wild old thing that sat low to the ground. I approached it, brushing my fingers over the rings in the wood.

I sat down, dropping my school bag at my feet and looking up at the changing sky. Today seemed like we might get a small break from the rain, at least during the day.

A break from the rain, but not a break from Jamison.

Buy me dinner for real some time? He was supposed to be getting close to me, not flirting with me. Was I reading the note wrong? Thinking too hard about something too simple? He'd said he wanted me to join him for dinner again. Maybe it was just that simple.

I spread my fingers along the wood, feeling the grooves in the stump. There was too much I didn't understand about these people and this situation, and it was frustrating me.

I was usually good at reading people. Growing up, I'd always preferred to sit in the background and observe. I'd pick up on peoples' habits, their speech patterns, their body language. I'd study it as a way to keep myself from boredom.

But then there were those people I just couldn't seem to read.

People like Val and Jamison and sometimes even Kieran.

I dug my fingers against the tree stump. People I just couldn't read. Val, Jamison, Kieran. And the one who kept me in this mess. I was stuck working for a drug dealer because of someone I couldn't even figure out.

Maybe I should just go to dinner with Jamison and his friends. If I could just observe them more, maybe I could find a better way to play this game. News of last night's attack had surely reached the Crows by now, even though it wasn't a Crowe Academy student who was the victim.

Game. This was all just a game.

I'd go to dinner with Jamison tonight. I'd let him have his way and find out how to manipulate him until I got my way. I'd keep myself safe until I graduated, and then I'd get the hell out of here.

I watched as the sun rose above the trees slowly. I squinted my eyes at it, adjusting my sunglasses.

If Jamison thought seeing me in my dorm during the time of the attack cleared me, or at least credited me some innocence in the situation, then maybe he was just using me to get to Kieran. Clearly, the Crows couldn't plant a spy in Kieran's life directly. Val was the most outgoing and the easiest to think you were close to, and I was the wild card. The Crows didn't know much about me or how I fit into the group.

I watched the sun for a little while before checking the time. I picked my bag back up and walked along my own hidden path back to the campus sidewalks.

Kids were streaming towards the academic buildings already, and I joined in the crowd. Jamison was persistent enough that he'd surely ask me to join him for dinner tonight, and this time I'd accept.

I entered my classroom and took a seat. I watched as Jamison came in, walking alongside our teacher and talking to him with a charming smile on his face.

Jamison excused himself from their conversation and looked around the room. He spotted me and started heading my way. So predictable.

"Let me guess, you have an excuse not to go to dinner with me?" Jamison said, his charming smile turning into a teasing one.

I held up one finger. "One more chance tonight. You bore me at dinner again and you don't have to bother ever asking me to eat with you again."