He Was A Ten

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My parents came home just as Joshua and I finished his homework. "Hey, we're home!"

"We're in the kitchen!" I called, standing up and stretching.

My mom came into the kitchen and gave me a hug. "How was your day at school sweetie?"

"Great," I smiled. "But I still have to do my homework."

"Alright sweetheart, why don't you do it here so I can help you?"

"Sounds good Mom," I replied. I probably wouldn't need any help, but after doing Joshua's homework with him, I was a little exhausted. "I'll be right back."

I came back up and Mom was already starting on dinner. "What's for dinner?"

"I'm making pasta," she answered as she looked for a pot.

"Need any help?"

"No, but thank you darling. Why don't you get started on your homework? I'll be there in a second."

"Okay."

For a couple minutes, it was quiet with just the sound of pencil on paper and pots hitting each other. My mom got the water boiling and walked over to the counter where I had pulled up two stools. She sat down and looked over the paper.

"Well, what do you need help with?"

"I think I got most of it, but there's this one question that I don't really understand," I told her, pointing to it on the page. 

My mom was quiet for a second. I didn't understand why until I looked up at her and followed her gaze to my wrist. I panicked and realized that my sleeve had moved up, revealing part of the bruise that currently covered my wrist. 

I pulled down my sleeve and stammered, "It's just a small bruise. I was just a little clumsy at school today and closed my locker on my wrist."

"Do you want an ice pack for that?" my mom asked.

"No, that's okay," I responded, shaking my head. "I already have one."

"Okay then," my mom said, standing up to put the pasta in the pot. She came back and asked, "So, which question did you need help with again?"

The rest of the night went smoothly. I went to bed early that night though, just to make sure no one asked me too many questions about my wrist. I was way too tired for that.

I woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon. Sure enough, once I had thrown on my usual jeans, t-shirt, and sweater, I walked up to the kitchen to see my dad making bacon and scrambled eggs.

"Wow, this smells great," I exclaimed, taking a piece of bacon off the plate of cooked bacon. "Anything I can do?"

"Grab yourself a plate and dig in," my dad told me. "I'm almost done with this last batch and then I'll bring everything to the table."

I grinned and grabbed a plate out of one the cabinets. "Sounds good to me."

Joshua came in a couple minutes later right as I was finishing breakfast and grabbed a plate. "Hey Paige, isn't your bus supposed to come soon?"

I cursed under my breath. "Yeah. I'll see you guys after school!"

I ran out the door and didn't stop until I got to the bus stop. I looked around me to see if I could find Hattie, standing on my toes to make myself taller. "Hattie!"

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Hey Paige."

"Hattie," I smiled, turning around. "There you-Marcus!"

"How's your wrist?"

"It's fine!" I cried exasperated. "God, why do you people keep asking me that?"

Marcus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it must be so hard to have people who care about you."

"Oh, you mean people like you?" I spat sarcastically. "Yeah, so hard."

"Whatever," Marcus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I just wanted to let you know that-"

"Yeah, you know what? I don't care," I interrupted, walking away before he could say anything else. 

Alright, maybe I was being a bit rude, but still. I didn't trust him. How'd he even figure out my name? I know I never told him that.

Thankfully, I found Hattie and the bus came a couple seconds later. I took the first seat that was available and sat next to the window. I hid behind Hattie when Marcus walked by.

"Is there any reason you're avoiding Marcus today?" Hattie asked me once he passed by. "You know, with more passion than usual?"

"I just don't trust him Hattie," I tried to explain. "Besides he's dangerous."

I couldn't really tell, but it looked like Hattie paled when she heard me say that. "W-what do you mean he's dangerous?"

Some part of my brain recognized that Hattie, my friend who was brave to the point of stupidity, just stuttered. However, the larger part of my brain was busy coming up with a reason as to why I thought Marcus was dangerous. No one knew about my gift, so it was kinda hard to explain that Marcus might just literally be the most dangerous person on the planet.

"Um, well, I mean, you saw how he just threw Chase into the wall," I said, chuckling nervously.

For some reason, Hattie seemed to relax at that statement. "Oh. Right. I guess he is dangerous."

"Yeah," I agreed. "And besides, it feels like he's hiding something. Plus, he knew my name. I never told him my name."

Hattie laughed at me this time. "Oh come on Paige. I don't think he's necessarily hiding something, you just don't know him. Also, I'm pretty sure that figuring out the name of the girl sitting next to you isn't rocket science."

"Whatever," I muttered softly. Hattie did have a point. I didn't really know him well enough to know whether or not he was hiding something. And it was getting pretty close to a month that we'd been in school, so it wasn't totally surprising that he knew my name.

But no matter what she said to me, I'd never stop seeing the 10 hanging over his head.