Empathy

Chapter Eleven

"Wait, wait, wait," Luna said, walking around to my desk and standing in front of it and me, "let me get this straight. Aiden asked you to eat dinner with his family? Like bringing a girlfriend to meet the family?"

I shook my head. I sat in my desk, wiping a stray hair away from my face. "It's not like that," I said. I set my books down on the desk as waves of students came into the room. "We're not dating and I haven't agreed to anything yet."

It was true. Aiden gave me the weekend to think about dinner with his family. The following Monday, he never really brought up, not in person at least. He would text me every other hour and ask if I made up my mind yet. I could only tell him I wasn't sure yet. It was now Wednesday and he kept texting me every other hour still to receive my response.

"Honey, why wouldn't you agree to date him?" she asked, kneeling in front of me. "He's a total catch." Luna rested her head on her arms, which were on the table. "Plus," her voice lowered, "you've had a crush on him since the beginning of high school."

I gave her a look and she immediately quieted down. "Drop it, please. Luna, for me, please," I said, my bottom lip furrowing in a slight mocking way. I looked away and saw Aiden walk in through the entrance of the classroom. "Please stop talking right now, okay?" I asked.

My Eurasian friend turned away from me to look over her shoulder. Her almond eyes narrowed on Aiden. "Oh," she said. "I see. I'll just keep quiet then." She flipped her black hair over her shoulder, using her leg strength to get up. My eyes followed her back to her seat.

"Hey, you," Aiden said, taking his seat in front of me. Our class had seating arrangements in alphabetical order. "Still thinking about it?" he asked. I nodded my head in affirmation.

"Hey, baby," a sultry voice said from in front of Aiden and I. I looked up from him to see Katie Byrnes standing in front of his desk. She turned hateful blue eyes on me. "Why are you talking to that mixed trash?" she asked, the tone disturbingly cheery despite the harsh words that came out of her mouth. My mouth dropped in horror. "What makes her so much more interesting than me? Is it because her daddy died so now she's begging for attention?"

Aiden stared at Katie, a fiery hatred in his eyes that I could definitely see. I didn't need to be an Empath to know exactly what he was feeling. "What did you just call her?" he asked, tone scarily low.

"I called her trash," Katie said. "Because that's what she is. For talking to you, she's less than that. Wait, she was less than trash from the beginning." She smiled sickly sweet at me, turning away from us and heading to her seat.

I looked down at my desk and books. I heard high heels click on the floor of the classroom, knowing it was Luna. "Honey, do not listen to her. Katie's just an idiot whose opinion doesn't matter," she said, sitting next to me. Aiden also was by me, hiding me from Katie and her cruel words.

"Don't listen to her, Marvel. You are not in any way trash," Aiden told me.

I barely heard what they were saying. For one, I never did anything to Katie, just hated her from a distance. But I guess Aiden breaking up with her did not sit well, despite the two of them never really clicking. Katie was too much of a bitch to take the break up well. And she was way too possessive of him, despite him not being an object.

My Empathy decided to act up, feeling smugness from blonde in the front of the classroom. She was feeling hatred and joy at what she did to me.

I felt nothing. Not really, not from the situation.

"Okay, class, turn off your cellphones, sit in your assigned seats and do not talk to each other while I am talking," our teacher, Mrs. Lutz, said. She was almost like Katie in every way, uncaring about anyone and anything. She thought the world revolved around her and only her and people were simply obstacles in her way. She was clearly that one person who was never told "no" in her life.