The Boy Next Door (Editing and Rewriting)

Chapter 8

I always hate school cafeterias, the food sucks, it was always so loud and everyone sits in their own little cliques. The only good thing about the whole clique idea is that if you weren’t in one, like me, then no one would notice your absence. Meaning if you’re a jock, you have a place to sit, if you’re a queen bee, there’s a table for you, whatever your personality is, there’s a place or a table for you. Even if you hate sitting with people, you prefer to eat alone, there is bound to be a table somewhere in the school cafeteria for you. I, however, don’t like being in rooms full of people, no matter who they are, so I don’t ever stay in the cafeteria, I head for a more quiet place, outside and luckily no one ever comes looking for me. So as I walk in with the rest of the students from my last class, History, I don’t stop, but rather I continue walking until I get to the other side of the room where another set of doors wait. Unfortunately this set of doors doesn’t transport me to some alternate land where I can spend my lunch times in peace; it just leads to the outside seating area.

In the summer time this place is where everyone else sits but, luckily for me, it’s too cold outside so everyone else stays inside to eat, so at the moment this place is empty and peaceful.  After walking out of the double doors from the cafeteria I cross the open area to the seats and tables that line the walls. Opening up my bag I pull out various packets and containers that contain my lunch, like I said before cafeteria food sucks, and place them all on the table in front of me. Lunch is the perfect time to think about the day, to unload my thoughts to no one in particular and prepare myself for the next three classes I have before I get released from this place for the day. It’s the perfect time for one main reason; I’m alone out here while I eat, so there is no one listening and no one to judge.

So, as I eat the food that is set out in front of me, I also think about the weird day I’ve had today. Seeing Adam with Lucas and Jonathon wasn’t that surprising, it was bound to happen at some point, I just didn’t think it would happen that quickly. But, that wasn’t the weirdest thing today, not even close, ever since homeroom I have had a continuous feeling that I’m being watched by someone. I don’t know who because every time I turn around there is no one there, so it may just be in my head, who knows maybe I’m going crazy. Which is possible, things have happened to me that would drive any normal person crazy. After everything that happened with Ryder I was sure I would go a bit crazy, and then everything with my mum, I wasn’t sure that I was sane anymore. My dad thinks I’m crazy, that’s why we moved to London, he thought a change of scenery would help my mental state, and who knows maybe it has helped. But, before I could contemplate my mental health anymore the noise of a door opening dragged my attention away from my thoughts and back into reality. The opening of that door was weird since no one ever comes out here much during this time of year, though the people was came out of those doors was even weirder.

Looking up from my food that was sitting on the table; I saw Adam, Lucas and Jonathon. They had exited the cafeteria through the back doors and were heading over to where I was currently sitting. Adam was in front while Lucas and Jonathon walked behind him, almost like they were his own personal bodyguards. Though the thought of that was crazy, Lucas and Jonathon couldn’t be controlled or told what to do, by anyone least of all by someone they had only just met. It all looked like a scene straight out of a movie, the school’s ‘it’ boys headed over to talk to the school’s freshest meat, the only difference being I was new in this school; that was Adam.

The three boys came to an abrupt stop a few meters away from the table I was sitting at and I was getting more uncomfortable by the second. Adam turned around to say something to the two boys behind him, something too low for me to hear unfortunately, and they turned around and walked away while Adam continued to walk towards me.

“Hey Ally,” he said after he sat down on the chairs across from me.

“Hey,” I replied, still slightly uncomfortable since I don’t really like being around people, I always get really awkward.

“Why are you out here?” he asked, pausing to allow me to answer but he continued when I didn’t say anything in reply, “I was looking for you inside and Lucas told me that you might be out here, and he was right,” he continued, sounding slightly uncomfortable himself.

“Yeah, I don’t like crowded places, out here is much nicer,” I told him, sort of answering his first question.

“Really? But isn’t it kind of cold to be out here in this weather?” he asked me, sounding genuinely concerned, or not, I wouldn’t know, I don’t know him that well yet he could just speak like that normally.

“Not really, plus I prefer the cold, it’s calming,” I said more to myself than anything else, when he didn’t say anything I decided to ask the question that had been on my mind since I saw him walk out of the doors. “What are you doing out here though?”

“I told you, I was looking for you,” he said, slowly as if I was stupid.

“Yeah, but why?”

“Oh, umm I wanted to hang with you,” he replied; now he definitely sounded really nervous.

“Hang with me? Why, you have to perfectly good friends in there,” I told him, now I was slightly annoyed, why did he suddenly want to be my friend, was he put up to this by Lucas and Jonathon. Well, that would explain why they followed him out here.

“You mean Lucas and Jonathon?” he asked, sounding slightly shocked, I nodded my head in reply, “I wouldn’t really call them friends, they are more like the annoying people that you talk to because you don’t want to be rude,”

“What do you mean, like you don’t want to talk to them? Why not?” I said, now I was officially confused, who doesn’t want to be friends with the most popular and exclusive kids in school?

“Well, them seem nice enough, but they also seem to scare everyone and act like total snobs, so they aren’t really my kind of people,” okay, so maybe he wasn’t totally oblivious like I thought at first, he does seem to see some things, who knows maybe he’ll be a good person for me to keep around. No, what are you thinking Ally, you can’t trust someone you just met, or anyone really, remember what happened last time. “Ally? Are you okay,” he asked, I looked up at him and nodded my head in reply, “you kind of zoned out for a minute there, you sure you’re okay?” he pushed.

“Yeah, sorry was just thinking,” I replied, giving no more information than was absolutely necessary to keep him from asking more questions.

“About what?” he asked, so apparently he wasn’t going to leave it alone, time to take a different approach, time to change the topic.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” I said in reply to his question, “how were your classes today?” I asked him, getting people to talk about themselves was always a good move, no matter how much people don’t like to admit it; we all love to talk about ourselves. That was how the rest of lunch went, him asking me questions and me giving short answers before turning the conversation back around to him. 

A/N: If you have any questions, comments or ideas please don't be afraid to comment or send me a message :) I'd love to hear from you guys! 

Until next time!