The Wings of a Phoenix

Run baby, run-Ch.1

"Pssst...." she whispered.

Rolling my eyes, I kept my full and undivided attention on my worksheet. These calculations were way off. Was I even doing this properly, I thought to myself.

I was just about to fix them when she started clicking her tongue.

"Hey! Hey! Are you serious right now, Phee?" My best friend whined. Or should I say former best friend.

Fuming inside, I turned to her with a glare. "Stop making a scene. People are looking." I nearly growled.

Elaine froze. Her blue eyes searched mine, looking for something.

When she failed at finding whatever she was looking for, she begrudgingly nodded. Looking dazed and hurt.

I sighed to myself. To be honest, I seriously didn't care if people were looking or not. I just knew that Elaine had a bunch of detentions these past few weeks, and getting in trouble would score her some more. As much as I hated her for what she did to me, I wasn't completely heartless. I still cared.

That's what friends do. Right?

"Ladies," A deep voice grumbled, causing the frown on my face to deepen.

I looked into the eyes of a very frustrated and very tired Mr.Rodriguez. 

He took off his glasses, something he only did when he wanted to glare at you personally.

"Do we have a problem?" he asked us slowly, giving Elaine and I knowing glances.

Maybe he heard the rumors, too. Wouldn't be something new. Staff and students both loved to gossip. 

My heart raced.  It always did that when I was scared. Maybe I was scared of the Caterpillar on Mr. Rodriguez's face, joined right above his eyes. Uni brows were absolutely terrifying. Or maybe I was scared of the twenty or so people peeping in on our conversation.

I shivered, shaking my head as a no to his question. 

The sound of the bell ringing caused me to shoot right out of my seat with my binders in my hand, and my backpack barely hanging onto my shoulder.

A firm hand clamped on my upper arm, making me stop my jog.

"Whoa there, Phee." A husky voice that could only belong to Devin, said.

"I didn't realize that you were joining the track team," he teased me, blue eyes glowing.

They always did that whenever he was amused. Which was like a hundred percent of the time since he always teased me. 

Devin Lancaster was sort of like my best friend, but not really. I didn't really tell him all of my secrets. But other than that, we were close. As in, I could tell what he was feeling and when he was feeling it. Call it weird psycho lady voodoo but Devin wore his heart on his sleeve. Completely different compared to Elaine. I let out an internal sigh at the thought of her. She was a story for another day.

I drank in Devin's appearance. He was dressed in a gray sleeved top that was fairly loose and tight at the same time. He was average. Not extremely good looking but not ugly enough to make me run away or something. Even if he was ugly, I'd love him all the same.

Wait, wait, wait. Backtrack. Cut the music. Hold your horses.

"Love you all the same?" I blurted, terrified at the thought. Where the hell did that come from?

Devin blinked. He looked so confused, I would've laughed in his face had it not been the circumstances.

A few people were bumbling past us, trying to get their lunch from the cafeteria or the school store. Since the seniors had the privilege of ditching school to get lunch, I knew the people that were nearly stomping on us were lowerclassmen.

"D-did y-you...." he stuttered. Something I've never seen him do.

He visibly gulped, finishing the question this time. "Did you just say you loved me?" 

There was something about his tone that made me fearful. 

It was shock. And something else. Something much much deeper that I could hardly put myself through the trouble to recognize. 

So I did what any other girl my age would have done.

I elbowed him in the gut, snorting so loud you would've thought I had a drug addiction problem.

"Me? Love you? Pfft. Are you insane, Devin?" I chortled incredulously. I added another snort for good measure. 

His brow furrowed adorably, something that signified that he was seriously frustrated. See? What'd I tell you. He always wore his heart on his sleeve.

"Then what were you talking about?" Devin snapped; suddenly looking angry.

Woah.  I flinched. Where did that come from? He never got angry and cold at me. That was an emotion he especially reserved for his father. 

I tried to think of something witty. "I was just, um, talking about this tv show. You instantly reminded me of this vampire thing. Yeah! You know. The one with the blood and the diaries? Oh, blood. Ha ha." I laughed, it sounded so strained. Like someone dying. 

Before he could even reply, I turned on my heel and ran away. 

When I passed by the freshmen hallways, I released a monsoon of relieved breaths. He wouldn't find me here. His reputation was much too important. Good thing I didn't care about mine. What did I even talk about back there? Vampire Diaries? Seriously! Man, am I dork.

But going back to the whole "I loved you" thing, though...

That was way too close.