One Day At A Time

Chapter 12

Morgan's POV

April and the new girl made it into class just in time. I could barely hear Landon and his buddy, Mark, whispering behind me.

“Don't you think you should be keeping an eye out for her?” Mark asks quietly.

“Um, no. I can't be bothered with her,” Landon snorts.

I sigh. He's always been such a jerk. The teacher looked up from his desk. “Hello April, and you must be Miss Carter. Pleased to have you in our class.” He flashes a genuine smile. “You can sit over next to Morgan.”

I suddenly got excited. She was so pretty and I honestly wanted to get to know her. She looked quite vulnerable, so now was my chance. I only felt bad that she had to endure sitting in front of those two jerks behind me. She slid into the chair beside me.

“Hey Alicia, I'm hoping we can get to know each other better.” I made sure to smile as big as I could. For a minute, the vulnerability and pain vanished from her eyes and she grinned back at me.

“Then your wish is my command.”

Alicia's POV

After biology period was over, I headed down the hall with Morgan.

“It looks,” she said, scanning my list, “that we literally have the same classes. This is so freaky!” She squealed while jumping a circle around me. “Or maybe you'll get super tired of me and wish you hadn't commanded anything,” she frowned. I laughed, her answers pulling at some old familiarity. I couldn't decipher what it was yet.

“Not a chance. So far, the way I see it, we're sticking this out together!”

Morgan giggled before I felt her slide her arm through mine. I blinked back a few tears threatening to spill out. I didn't want to pull away, in fact it felt good, but since leaving home, I had tried to avoid any form of touch. Instead of bringing happiness and pleasure, it only seemed to bring pain now. But Morgan hadn't noticed, and I couldn't hurt her. Her short blonde bob was a mass of sweet curls and her hazel eyes had been sparkling all morning. She reminded me of someone, and though I didn't want to be reminded of the pain, I couldn't bring myself to knock that sparkle out. I shoved those thoughts out, trying to focus instead on the friendless and comfort Morgan was bringing me since the day had started. If it wasn't for her, this day would have been a hundred times worse. When we reached the English room, I got giddy all of a sudden.

“Whatsup?” Morgan giggled, feeding off my sudden vibe.

“I'm an English freak, can't you tell?” I said, before running over to an empty desk and grabbing the lone pair of black-rimmed glasses that sat on the surface. Shoving them on my nose, I threw her a nerd look and watched as she burst out laughing.

“Oh, ain't that attractive,” Landon sneered, plopping into a desk beside where I stood. I felt my cheeks tinge light pink as Morgan shot him a death look.

“Actually, it is,” came a voice from behind me.

Morgan's eyes shot up, Landon turned his head and I whirled. I blinked a couple times to make sure what I was seeing was real. There stood a tall, finely built boy in a soft, green button up and khaki pants. His auburn hair was quiffed ever so slightly and his light brown eyes bored into mine. To me, he honestly looked like an angel, and from behind me, I heard Morgan let out a soft whistle.

“Sorry,” I rushed, “Are these yours?” I pulled the frames off my nose.

He laughed and it sounded warm. “They happen to be mine, yes, but I think they look much better on you.” Once again I felt my cheeks heat up. “I'm Kayden,” he extended his hand.

“A-alicia,” I stuttered.

His handshake was firm and comforting. Before anything else could be said, the teacher called from the front,

“Please take your seats and we'll get started.”

I gave Kayden a small smile and walked over to our desks, pulling Morgan down with me.

“What in the world was that?” she whispered excitedly.

“I have no idea,” I shook my head, “but someone shoot me now.”

She suppressed a giggle. “No way, the fun has just begun!”

The rest of the class, I think I can say for both Morgan and I, we were trying to focus but it clearly wasn't working. All I wanted to do was turn around and Morgan kept fiddling with every small object in sight. It didn't help that I could feel Landon's cold stare penetrating through my back. Eventually the class was over and I realized that was the first English class I couldn't stand. It made be slowly smile. As Morgan and I left the class to go to the cafeteria, I noticed Kayden already way off ahead of us, surrounded by three other guys. They laughed and were punching him in the arm. Guys really. Though I was hungry from not eating breakfast, the soup that was being served didn't really appeal to me. Morgan scrunched her nose up.

“I hate soup day.” I smiled knowingly at her. We found a seat and began eating, her talking non stop. I found myself scanning the room for two people: Landon, who was nowhere in my vision and Kayden, who had conveniently chosen a seat not too far and had a clear few of me. It was taking everything I had to keep eating, when I realized Morgan had stopped her chatter and was looking past me. I was about to ask her what was wrong, until I felt someone pull harshly on my hair.

“Hands off,” I slapped the hand away, knowing exactly who it was. Landon scooted in beside me. “What in the world could you possibly want?” I seethed at him.

He just flashed his infamous smirk. “I want a lot of things.”

I held up a hand to his mouth, not wanting to hear what he was about to say. He shot me a dark look and I removed my hand.

“What's wrong with that guy over there?” he asked, jutting his chin at Kayden. “Does he have staring problems, or did that door do something to your face?” I stared straight ahead at Morgan, taking in her pitying look. “Oh I forgot,” he continued, “the door didn't actually do that.”

So this is what he wanted. To come over and make my meal a misery in perfect vision of Kayden.

“You know, I would think you had better things to do than waste your time with me.” I spat. “And remember, apparently you and I were going to be strangers to one another today? You sure aren't very good at keeping your word. Or is it just impossible to stay away from me that long?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Morgan's devilish grin and felt a tinge of pride. I turned and raised an eyebrow at him, staring into his eyes that had now changed to nearly black. It startled me. I never imagined someone's emotions able to change so quickly and show in the eyes so dramatically. Why did he get so angry anyways? His hand reached under the table, grasping my knee in a painful grip. I tried to swallow the uneasy feeling that came over me again. If anything, that's all Landon seemed to produce inside of me.

“Get your hands off me. You don't own me,” I whispered.

His grip loosened before he poked my in the chest. “We'll see about that.”