Just a few minutes after their last class the next Monday, Alex found himself walking straight to the main doors instead of going to the courtyard to chat with Jakira. She'd wandered off somewhere, and since he had no idea where she'd gone, he figured he'd text her later to ask what was up.
Right as he rounded the final corner, he stopped as he suddenly saw her a little way ahead of him. Shawn, one of the girls in their class, who also happened to be a hopeless romantic, was talking to her. Jakira was looking . . . honestly, in a mix between flustered and terrified. As Alex stepped a little closer, he managed to catch a few words of their conversation and tried not to groan.
Shawn had somehow gotten the idea that he and Jakira were . . . a thing. And now she wouldn't stop approaching them about it. Every time she did, it was one of the most embarrassing situations in the world.
He inched just a little bit closer, just to make out Shawn saying, ". . . act like you like each other. I mean, you two are pretty much inseparable."
"We do like each other," Jakira was protesting in response. "Just not that way. We're friends; that's why we hang out so much. And anyway, I alread—"
She cut herself off suddenly, and all the color drained from her face. Even though she hadn't finished her sentence, Alex had figured out what she'd been about to say: she already liked someone else. It shouldn't have been something to be scared about, but his friend looked as white as a ghost.
And as if things weren't already awkward enough, that was when she looked past Shawn's shoulder and caught his eye.
Then, apparently too flustered for more humiliation, she simply turned and quickly walked away without a word to either of them.
Grabbing his backpack from the floor and swinging it over his shoulder so fast he almost flung it across the room, Alex took off after her. When he caught up with her, she didn't try to push him away, to his relief, but she didn't look at him, either. Her face was bright red.
"So . . ." he began awkwardly, desperate to break the silence. "I saw that Shawn caught you in her trap."
"Yeah," she growled, and he couldn't help wincing at her tone. "Thanks so much for saving me."
He looked away, uncomfortable and guilty. "Sorry."
But to his relief, her expression softened, and she exhaled. "No . . . I'm sorry," she replied quietly. "That was kinda mean. You're good." She ended her words with a smile, and he relaxed.
"She's rubbing off on her new boyfriend, too," he added with a sigh, the slight frustration in his voice genuine. "James cornered me by the boys' room and practically hit me in the face with a brick wall of questions."
"James." A faint smile played on her lips. "The Jamaican dude with the unhealthy obsession of Hawaiian shirts."
"Is he the one you like?" he asked, looking at her curiously, and immediately wished he hadn't. The grin disappeared from her face, and she dropped her gaze and replied tensely, "No."
He inwardly slapped himself. "I won't bring it up again if it makes you uncomfortable."
She smiled again at that, easing almost all of the remaining tension between them. "Thanks."
"And I won't tell anyone."
"Thanks."
Completely relaxed now, he took a deep breath, then continued briefly, "So. Everyone apparently thinks we're a thing. We need to do something that'll make them change their minds." As nothing new, a really dumb idea came to mind as a prompt to keep going. "How about at lunch, we'll eat and talk under the tables instead of at them." Jakira started to giggle at his words, and only laughed harder when he persisted, "They'd never see us that way."
YOU ARE READING
Where Light Meets Dark
Teen Fiction[COMPLETED ~ TO BE PUBLISHED... eventually] Sunray was the light, lonely and shining. She was a beacon of hope to the public, but quiet in her own life. To everyone else, anyway. Night was her shadow, sworn to protect her just as much as his home. H...
