Edgewalkers

What have I gotten mysef into...?

As I had already suspected, I only caught a little bit of sleep. My alarm went off the fifth time, when I finally made my way out of bed. What time was it? Oh god! If I didn't hurry up, I would be late for school! Almost setting a new personal record, I jumped in the shower and threw on some make-up. With my hair still wet, I rushed to school. The weather was rather cold, and a strong wind swept through the streets. Great. With my luck, I would catch a cold.

I ran into the building and sprinted into the classroom, already seeing my teacher come from the other side of the corridor. My first class of the day was American literature. Luckily, Rebekah was also in that class. I dropped myself onto the seat next to her and was greeted by a bright smile. "Good morning, Care."
I only mumbled a muffled "Hello." back.

"You look tired," she laughed, moving her material aside in order for me to get mine out.
"I am," I said and set my bag down on the ground. That was partly her brother's fault, but I restrained myself from mentioning that fact.

"You're wearing your shirt inside out," Rebekah claimed, and I immediately looked down in panic. "Really?"
My friend burst into a giggle. "I'm just kidding. You look as good as ever."
"Very funny," I sighed relieved.

Our teacher entered, closing the door with a loud bang to get our attention. "Morning class. Today, we will jump right in and read the first passage of 'The Great Gatsby'. I am aware that you do not have the book yet, which is why I printed it out for you. Could you pass this along, please?"
He handed a student in the first row a pile of paper.

"Say, Caroline," Rebekah distracted me as quiet as she could, "did my brother chat you up by any chance?"
I turned to her attentively. "He did. Why?"
Had he told her about this?

"Did he annoy you?" she worried.
"If chatting me up in the middle of the night counts," I half-joked, then added: "But overall, no, he didn't."
The girl exhaled relieved. "Okay, good. At least he did what I asked of him then."

"Wait." I had a suspicion. "Did you give him my number?"
"Maybe..." she grinned, "but I asked him not to be weird!"
"Weird like what?" I questioned. "Is he a playboy?"
The sheets of paper had arrived in our row and we quickly passed them along, taking a few for ourselves.

"Far from it," Rebekah denied. "Sure, he flirts, occasionally has one-night stands, but I haven't really seen him sleep around every day. He had a girlfriend once, since then, he hasn't attached himself to any woman."
"Cami," I recalled the bar tender's name.
"Yes. I forgot you knew her already," she nodded. "Regardless of him not being a playboy, he is still an ass."

I let out a quiet laugh. "So, you're telling me what exactly?" I continued. "To stay away from him?"
"If you want to be part of our group that will be impossible. No, I do not want you to stay away from him. Consider this a notice. He is complicated, but he does have multiple layers to him. I merely do not wish for you to get hurt," she admitted. That was sweet of her.

"I'll just have to get along with him. It's not like we're gonna be dating," I chuckled.
"That's what you think." Rebekah's lips turned into a simper. "I saw the way you looked at him at dinner."

"Because I was curious!" I refuted my friend's thoughts.
"Liar!" she declared. Before I could answer, our conversation was disturbed by our teacher, who disapprovingly had walked up to our table.

"Ladies!" he spoke annoyed. "Would you two bless us with your attention or is that too much to ask for?"
"Sorry." I lowered my head, turning red as the entire class started grinning at us.

"Miss Forbes, how about reading the first two lines of this marvelous book?", our teacher instructed.
"Yes, of course." I took a look at the piece of paper before me.
"Today, Miss Forbes," he mocked.