The Way Back To You

Chapter 10

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Alex leans against the side of his locker, one hand shoved deep in his jean's pocket, eyes darting all over my face.

"Yeah," he says softly, his voice slightly rumbling.

"Good thing."

I watch disbelievingly as he hitches up his backpack and takes off down the hallway. I feel like tearing out his hair and breaking his already
broken nose, but that would mean I owe him thrice. Let's just keep it at two, shall we?

I let out a long sigh and retrace my steps to English class, where Charity waits for me impatiently. I slide into the seat next to her, letting my eyes linger a bit too long at the back of the classroom, where Alex sits paging through a stack of papers.

I don't miss the plaintive sighs of the rest of the female population in my class as they unashamedly stare at him, open-mouthed. I can literally spot the drool...It bothers me, though I suppose it really shouldn't.

I reluctantly tear my eyes away from him and his admirers to look at Charity. She's also looking wistful, but her eyes aren't pointed towards Alex. Her gaze is directed at the very front of the classroom, past the point where Mason sits slouched, leaning on his arm and copying words into his notebook.

I guess she's staring at the schedule on the board, but then...Why would her hands be knotted so tightly in her lap and her face pinched in such an expression? Surely differentiating pronouns wouldn't bring that look of longing?

I shake my head and stare down at my desk. She must be like me, thinking about something and so lost in that thought, her outside appearances don't adequately reflect her intentions. Yeah, that has to be it.

I drum my fingers on my desk top and sneak a look up at Charity. This is starting to worry me...

I lightly shake her shoulder and she snaps back to consciousness, looking at me with misty, glazed over orbs for eyes.

"I'm sorry....What?"

"Anything wrong? You seem a bit off."

I give her a partial smile and try to hide my concern by sounding light hearted. She flicks her eyes to the front of the room and then back to me, shrugging apologetically.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Didn't sleep well last night. I think I've perfected resting with open eyes, ya know?"

I smile in relief and nod along. " Oh, yeah. I get what you mean. Totally..."

I purse my lips and sigh. Charity resumes her far-away expression and leans her chin on the palm of her hand, letting out a long breath.

I lick my lips and pull out my books, trying to clear my head of any thoughts and focus on the lesson. God only knows how beneficial that will be to me right now...

                                ...

The lesson ends in a flourish of rustling papers and squeaking sneakers as everyone rushes out the door to their next class. I robotically force myself to follow Charity out of the classroom and down the hall with Mason, where he's headed to pick up Quinn. Charity expresses her chagrin to this, voicing my own thoughts.

"It's like they're joined at the hip or something! Like, really...He can't seem to go anywhere without her nowadays!"

I shrug. "She's part of our circle now, being his girlfriend and all."

Charity rolls her eyes and mutters under her breath. " I liked us better when we were a triangle."

Secretly, I agree with her. I get you like making out, but seriously, Mason. Come on!

The group of us, now apparently a lop-sided rectangle, make our way from class to class.

Sooner than expected, it's the end of the first set and time for lunch. I link arms with Charity, and the pair of us trail behind both Mason and Quinn.

We chatter abysmally about the heaping piles of homework we got from our classes, and I voice, for about the thousandth time, that I'm going to fail Calculus.

"There's no point in even trying to understand it, is there?"

Charity scrunches up her nose. "We won't even use it in real life? Like, what's the friggin point of learning Math at all? When will we ever calculate radius? Working as a tire mechanic?"

I laugh gravely. "Mr. Tucington would probably say it would come to a point where that's an option if I don't pick up my grades."

Charity snorts and shakes her head. "It's ridiculous. You know..."

She trails off and then suddenly stops walking. All around us, students are muttering to themselves and running out of the hallways, to the common grounds in front of the school.

Charity and I exchange curious looks and together, set off after everyone else. We push our way to the front of the throbbing crowds to find three men staggering forward.

I let out a loud gasp and nearly scream. Those are the three men from the factory, the ones that attacked me when I asked for directions to Holly Avenue...What are they doing here?

I shift my gaze to the edge of the crowd, where Alex steps forward with raised hands.

"Wasn't the last licking enough for you? Do you need me to introduce you to something called 'Run While You Can?'"

The first man cracks his knuckles threateningly.

"Why don't I introduce my fist to your face instead?"

I bite my fingers to keep from screeching and run forward. The man raises his fist to punch Alex, but I pull his arm away and his elbow slams into my nose.

There's a crackling pain in my head and I draw back. Alex easily grabs the man's arm again and wrenches it down to the ground before running over to me and bringing my hands away from my face.

"Are you-,"

"Mr. Valdez!"

Mrs. Roberta waltzes into view and at the sight of her, the crowd disperses. So do the ring of men, they must not want to be caught.

Mrs. Roberta looks to me and see's the blood pooling in between my fingers. She pinches her lips together and nods briskly.

"Ms. Clover. Both of you. In my office. Now."

I let out a sound of indignation, but Alex shoots me a warning look and shakes his head. He stares at me for a few seconds.

"Let me get antiseptic wipes to clean that up for you before we go."

I let out a shuddering breath, numbly aware that everyone is watching me.

I can't be in anymore debt to this guy. I shrug him off and race into the building, blindly staggering down the halls to the principle's office.