The Hooded Figure

EIGHTEEN

Alexander Marauder voice again! ^

It was lunch time and I stood in the doorway of the cafeteria, frozen as I realized I had no one to sit with. Layla was no where in sight and Jade wasn't here today. I crumpled my bag slightly in my hand and turned around swiftly. I ran into someone and went head first into their chest. I bounced back and stumbled a bit.

I held my poor head as I said, "oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I looked up and made what should have been eye contact, instead, it was cloak contact. His expression was grim as he dismissed me and brushed passed me, bumping my shoulder as he did. I gaped as I turned to watch him walk away. I was going to ask him what I'd done when I decided that I didn't need more shit today.

I turned around again, and to my never ending misery, I hit another person.

I wanted to shout: 'you've gotta be fucking kidding!', but I knew it was my fault for stopping in the middle of the doorway.

"Sorry, I-" I paused when I made eye contact with Damian Pierce. His green eyes glistened with annoyance, but he said nothing as he went to walk past me. Gathering my courage, I said, "hey, wait!"

Damian paused where he stood and turned to face me. I took a few steps towards him and thankfully the cafeteria was too busy for anyone to notice the encounter. "What?" He demanded rudely, glaring down at me.

"'What'?" I repeated in a dumb tone, imitating him. "Stop being a dick to my friend, that's what." Damian's eyebrows drew together in confusion.

"What?" He asked again, less rude and more confused.

"Layla. You've been rude to her all week and I'm asking you to stop," I explained a little slower to make sure her understand the concept.

"I haven't touched your friend, why would I?" He questioned rhetorically, quirking an eyebrow at me and crossing his arms over his chest. Since I was 5'5" I didn't even bother guessing his height because I couldn't even see the top of him.

"Pride, ego, I'm about as confused as you are," I sassed, leaning my weight onto my hip.

"I'm telling you, I haven't done jack-shit." He looked angry now, grinding his teeth and clenching his jaw.

"Harassing her on the street, writing on her locker, other things she won't tell me about..." I trailed off somewhat sadly. I looked up at him only to find that he looked genuinely confused. Either that, or he was just really good at faking it.

"I'd never do that to her, I-" he paused and stopped himself before saying something he looked like he'd regret, "-I'm not that kind of guy." I looked at him disbelievingly and he glared at me.

"I like her, alright?" He snapped in an angry whisper. "I've always liked her..."

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded. I couldn't process it, it was like this new information was hitting a brick wall. Repeatedly.

"It doesn't matter, at least you know it wasn't me." He huffed, running a stressed hand through his blonde hair. It did nothing, his hair just fell back into his eyes.

"But it was your friends who did it, she told me, so why not talk to them?" I inquired hopefully, slowly adding, "to her..."

"I'll talk to them, but you can't tell her," he agreed, looking down at me intimidatingly.

"Okay, thanks Damian," I said, smiling slightly, happy with how well this went.

"Whatever," he stated, walking away from me with his hands tucked into his pockets irritatedly. I then walked out of the cafeteria with my lunch in hand and found somewhere to eat in peace.

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It had been a week and a half and Layla hadn't spoken to me once. I didn't know if Damian had talked to his friends about leaving Layla alone and Jade was caught in the middle. I'd always try to talk to Layla when I saw her, but she'd simply ignore me as if I wasn't there.

I went to my first few shifts at the restaurant and Maria, as I learned her name was, showed me how to make pizzas. The hot delivery boy was doing just that; delivering. Therefore, I hardly ever saw him. We didn't talk and I still didn't know his name, but it was Monday and I was currently on my way to the mall.

Trey and I hadn't spoken for the past week or so because we'd had no occasion to. My life had gone from movie material to not even noteworthy in a day.

I had my earbuds plugged in and I was listening to some of Alexander Marauder's music. It was actually quite catchy and enjoyable. It was stressful, not having anyone to talk to about anything. Jade wasn't really talking to either of us because she didn't want it to be 'unfair' or 'awkward' and well, I've already said that Layla wasn't speaking a word to me. I felt guilty and lonely.

Overall, I felt like shit.

As the bus pulled up to the mall, I got off and walked through the parking lot. As I entered the mall, I could smell the faint pizza scent from across the food court. It was the only actual restaurant in the entire mall and I thought it looked adorable with all the tacky pizza decorations. As I entered, I smiled at Maria. She waved at me and I waved back as I walked through the push doors. Inside, was the warm, fresh smell of pizzas and I took a deep breath with my eyes closed.

This is exactly what I needed after this lonely week.

"What are you doing?" Someone asked with a chuckle. My eyes snapped open and I looked around the kitchen until my eyes landed on the delivery boy.

"Oh, um, smelling the pizza?" I tried awkwardly, unable to cover up the fact that I was practically inhaling the tomato sauce. The boy laughed while I stood the awkwardly and somewhat nervously.

"It's okay, I do it too, sometimes," he said with a small smile. There was a small pause before her introduced himself, saying, "I'm Asher."

I returned his grin and replied, "I'm Amy."