Rogue

Chapter 8 - Friends

Chapter 8 – Friends

Leto grimaced as her schoolbag cut into her shoulders. The bruise that spread across her back burned every time the weight of her books pressed against it. Her uniform covered most of the bruises, but there was a cut on the side of her face and a mark on her wrist that she couldn’t hide.

“Here you are, Leto!” Karen emerged from the classroom next to the one she just exited. “What a good coincidence. We can walk to the field together, if you don’t mind?”

Leto plastered a smile on her face and nodded,

“Sure. Did you see Morné anywhere? I think I might have scared him off yesterday.”

“I think he had Afrikaans last period, since I saw him in that area. What did you do to scare him off?”

“It’s a long story that involved me clinging to the outside of a train. Don’t worry too much about it.”

“LETO! Thank goodness, you’re alive!”

She staggered as Morné hugged her from behind. She let out a gasp of pain as he brushed against her injuries.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You were hanging off a train! I was so worried! What if you fell off and died?”

“Please, I’ve done worse before.” She grimaced and shifted her bag to the floor. Since they weren’t walking anywhere, there was no point in carrying it and hurting her shoulders.

“As much as I’d love to hear what happened, I just remembered that I’ve got to get to the tuck-shop before it’s too full. Meet you guys by the tree!” Karen walked off, fishing in her blazer pocket for money.

“You know, you don’t look like a daredevil. What possessed you to do such a thing?”

 She shrugged.

“There was no time like the present, I guess. It was fun.”

“But you could have been killed!”

“That’s the point. I wasn’t.”

He shook his head in despair.

“Come on, the others will be wondering where we are by now.”

She sat down, slowly, on the grass. Her hair began escaping its ponytail, so she loosened it and began retying it. Morné watched her curiously. To her surprise, they were the first ones at the tree.

“What?”she asked, stopping a stray wisp from falling into her mouth.

“What happened here?” he touched the side of her face gently, where the cut was. She winced as his fingers pressed against the tender flesh.

“Nothing...It happened on the train. I leaned against a sharp piece of metal by mistake.”

“It doesn’t look like that kind of wound. I mean, I can see that the area around it is also sore. Did you fall off the train?”

She shook her head,

“I didn’t fall of the train. That was just an accident.”

She moved to brush his hand away, but he stopped her hand.

“Was this also from the train?” he carefully pulled up her shirtsleeve to reveal the blue mark on her wrist.

She felt her cheeks turn crimson as her lie was exposed.

“And that scar?” he released her arm and touched her neck. Her heart clamoured in her chest like a drum.

“It’s nothing.”