In the Shadows

chapter 10: well excuse me miss shadow

"I hate you so much. I hate this. Why do you hate me?" I keep complaining to James as he is dragging me by the arm to his lunch table. After the fourth period bell rang, I made a run for it to Ms. West's room, so I could eat lunch in peace. Just my luck though that James knew me too well and caught my arm, dragging me in the opposite direction.

"We have a deal, Kitty Kat. You agreed, you lost, and now you have to own up to it. Sorry." James responded with a smirk that showed he clearly was not sorry. I know he's right, despite how annoying it is to admit. With a huff, I pull my arm away from James.

"Fine. Let me walk to my doom on my own at least." James refuses to let go.

"I think both you and I know that if I let go, there is a strong chance of you running away. Besides, I don't mind having control..." James finishes his statement with a wink, definitely making an innuendo out of something the opposite of sexy. Personally, I think my demise is a turn-off. I was almost positive that if he let me go I would comply, but then again the irrational part of my brain could send me running without my permission, so he wasn't wrong.

"Really? Does everything have to be sexual with you?" I retort with an eye roll.

"Only with you babe," He responds with a cheeky wink. Could this guy be any more of a flirt? I shove my shoulder into him as hard as possible, catching him off guard I managed to make the football player stumble a bit.

"We like it rough, do we?" He continues screwing with my head, making me blush.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WILL YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH JAMES!" I yell, as he finally gets a rise out of me. This, however, does not make him shut up. No, you know what he does? He laughs, hard.

"Jesus Kat, I didn't know you had that in you." James retorts gasping for breath. He finally can tell I am done with his B.S. and an apologetic look takes over his face.

"I'm sorry Katheryn. Please sit with us. I won't make you, but I promise I will behave myself." He really does look sorry and I know I would feel guilty skipping lunch even though he gave me the choice.

"Ugh, let's just go get this over with" I grab his arm since he managed to let go of my arm sometime in our bantering.

"That's the spirit!"

I follow him reluctantly, as he ends up taking the lead, dragging my feet as I head to the torture that is the cafeteria. Our school actually has a surprisingly nice cafeteria with good food, booths, high ceilings, and beautiful windows. This sounds great right? Well, the school is way overpopulated so the fact that they try to manage to stuff all of us in a tiny amount of space makes the whole ordeal very claustrophobic. There aren't a ton of students, but the school was built a LONG time ago, so it was meant to accommodate a smaller population. Also trying to find a seat and having people to sit with is a struggle in of itself. Needless to say, the cafeteria is extremely stressful; the reason I avoid it at all costs. Of course, James' demand would drag me to the one place in school I avoid besides the courtyard (which is a death sentence to someone who hates people).

"Hey guys," James greets his posse snapping me back into reality. Great, we're here. A chorus of heys from his friends answers back. I take a deep breath to prepare myself for how badly this may go.

"James, who is this?" A beautiful girl with hair as dark as night and stunning blue eyes asks with seemingly genuine curiosity. Is it possible a girl this pretty and popular could be nice? Of course, I know who this is: Marissa Zhang. Marissa is hands down the most popular girl in school and puts the cheerleaders to shame. She puts her stunning looks and graceful figure to good use by looking flawless on the ice as a figure skater. The girl is one of the best skaters in the nation and often has to miss school to go to competitions. Rumor is that her parents want her to be home-schooled, so she could skate full time, but she would rather drop ice skating than lose out on the "high school experience". The school accommodates her in every way they can because not only can they use her for bragging rights, but because she pretty much runs everything as the student body president.