Feelings

Chapter 5: Studying...maybe {Thalia's POV}

       Thalia watched Reyna as she threw away their trays. In those few, extremely short seconds, she found herself thinking of a multitude of questions that she could ask Reyna, such as, "What school did you go to before you moved here?" or, "You don't happen to like girls, do you?" That last one was stupid, she knew that. But she couldn't help but wonder... No. No way. She wouldn't think about it. Getting her hopes up wasn't smart, because even if Reyna did, she would probably end up hurting her in some way anyways. Those thoughts and more happened in a total of 7.84 seconds before she snapped out of her daze and gathered her backpack to follow Reyna. She stood from her lunch table and followed Reyna out of the lunchroom, catching up to her in no time. Once their feet were side by side and moving to the same rhythm, Thalia turned to Reyna. "Do you want to study after school today?" She asked. She was slightly nervous to ask, but it certainly didn't show. Reyna's smile immediately got bigger, which Thalia found kind of distracting, and she nodded. "I would love to! My house or yours?" She asked. Thalia thought about her current living situation. "Your house. If that's alright." Reyna nodded. "No problem." She smiled. Thalia nodded. Cool, She thought. I don't have to show her too much of my life yet. They walked a few more steps in an awkward silence before the bell rang. She turned to Reyna. "See you after school?" They asked each other in unison. They laughed awkwardly, also at the same time. "Yeah." Reyna said before Thalia could. Thalia nodded. "Alrighty then. See ya." Thalia said with a short wave and walked off to her class. 

       After school, Thalia waited in the front of the school for Reyna. While she waited, she thought about what they would actually be studying. After all, it was the first day of school. They hadn't received much homework today. Thalia guessed it was just a sad excuse to hang out, but she didn't think too much about it. Reyna had agreed to it as well, so it wasn't like Reyna didn't realize this fact either. They both just wanted to hang out, if they got right down to it. After a few minutes of waiting, Reyna walked up to Thalia, her face cold as stone. Thalia looked up at her and her brow almost instantaneously furrowed. "What's wro-" She was cut off by Reyna's palm against her cheek. She was shocked. Reyna had slapped her, and she looked furious. Oh great, she thought. I've hurt her already and I don't even know what I did. "What was that for??" she asked, alarmed. "I realized that you asked to study, when there wasn't any homework. So I wondered why you asked to study instead of just hanging out. So I asked around, and learned a little bit about your past." Thalia's face paled. "I-" She was cut off again, but this time by her own breath hitching in her throat. "You're in a gang? And you don't have a home? And, according to the people around, studying tonight was far from the intentions that you had. You probably intended on making me a part of your gang or something! God, the nerve!" She said, furious. Thalia was starting to get angry. "And did you ever consider asking me if any of those things were true?" She asked sharply. Reyna looked shocked, as though she had never considered this. "Well-" Thalia cut her off. "And did you ever consider that the person you met today, the person I am, was either changed from what you heard, or that I wasn't that person in the first place, and what you heard was rumors? Yeah, almost all of the things you heard were true. I was jumped into a gang when I was six years old, attacked in the streets. When I was 14 I was finally strong enough to fight my way back out of the gang. That was three years ago. And yeah, I'm homeless. My mother was mentally insane, so I ran away before she could do anything to me. Why do you think I was jumped? Because I was on the streets, because I ran away, Reyna. I realized halfway through the second half of the day that we didn't have anything to study, and I was going to tell you that I had realized that, but I was going to ask you if you still wanted to hang out anyways. Never, ever  ask the people around here for anything, because they'll twist it to make people sound bad. So, if you would like to 'study' with someone, you'll have to find someone else. I'm going to find a new cardboard box to sleep in. The forecast tonight is stormy." She walked away.