What Divides Us

The Boy With the Green Eyes

            The scent of greasy fries and hamburgers leads me to the swarming cafeteria room.  Silently, I scan the room for Lucas’s looming frame, brown hair, and blue eyes, but I don’t get a glimpse.  Due to my analytical nature, I additionally scan the room for potential dangerous threats but find that the only thing that looks dangerous is the meatloaf.  Ha.  I made a joke, how unusual.

            I’ll wait until everyone is settled down before I resume my search.  Growling in frustration, I make my way towards the cafeteria.  Food is my weakness.  Snatching a hamburger, a water bottle, and a brownie, I pay the old woman wearing a hairnet—courtesy of the agency.

            I sit down at the nearest empty table and begin to rub my temples in order to calm myself.  Lucas is not in the cafeteria.  Lucas could be getting kidnapped this very second because I am not with him.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Think logically.  No one in their right mind would kidnap Lucas at school during the day, let alone Agent 0013.  Speaking of whom, I still have no idea who it could be.  The best way to go about finding him or her would probably try to befriend as many diverse people that I can.  Then I should get to know all of Lucas’s friends because there is a high probability that one of them is Agent 0013.

            “Mind if I sit with you?” someone asks from behind me.  I scrutinize his body closely; that may sound weird but it’s the first thing I notice about a person, to determine if they are a threat or not.  You can’t determine if someone is dangerous by their face; faces lie.  The stranger has pretty muscular arms for a high school student which kind of puts me on edge.  Approximately he stands at 6’3 tall, but since I’m in a sitting position, it’s hard to determine his exact height.  Nevertheless, until proven otherwise, he is a potential threat because I’m not sure I could take him down if he turns out to be Agent 0013.

            In order to keep my cover, I merely shrug resume eating my greasy burger.  The table releases a metallic shriek as he takes a seat across from me. 

            “You’re new here right?” he asks.

            Dramatically, I sigh extremely loud and make a big show of putting down my burger.  Finally I take the time to look up and actually make eye contact and immediately wish that I hadn’t.  Those emerald eyes, I’d know anywhere.  My heart nearly stops and I mumble an answer incoherently.  He’s the boy that haunts me; the boy I see all the time; they boy who happens to be around during all of my mission, including this one.  Except this is the first time he’s ever spoken to me.  Running a tan hand through his tousled light brown hair, he smirks, obviously satisfied with my stunned reaction. 

            In my entire life, I don’t think I’ve ever been this fearful.  With every ounce of my being, I know that this boy is dangerous.  And since I’ve only caught glimpses of him before, I don’t know what he’s capable of or if he’d attack right now.  My body tenses and my throat restricts.  So much so that when I try to speak, it only comes out as a breathy whisper, “Who are you?.”

            The boy with the beautiful green eyes extends his hand towards me and I grasp it tentatively.  “I’m Aiden Reynolds.  It has been nice meeting you Alex Pennington,” he says emphasizing my name, “but it looks like Lucas wants to talk to you, and that’s my cue to leave.”

            For the first time in my life, I have no idea what to do or say.  I’m nearly frozen with uncertainty.  Well, at least I know for sure that I’m not crazy and that I’m not seeing things.

            Aiden stands up and walks around the table toward me.  He leans over and his cheek brushes against my ear, sending a shiver up my spine.  “I’ll see you around,” he chuckles and walks out of the cafeteria.  Ha.  How funny.  “See” me around, because for the last few years he’s been freaking watching me!!