Rebellious

10. Odd Encounters

For a moment I just stared at the boy, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. There was an awkward pause where we both just stared at each other before Alec shuffled his feet, clearly uncomfortable.

Alright Cass, be chill... what does that even mean?!

His steel gray eyes were looking at me, clearly worried. I felt bad, this stranger cares enough to be worried for me, asking to see if something is wrong, and I had barely ever noticed him. He was just another face, albeit a pretty one, and I just don't bother to look outside of my friend group, letting everyone deal with their own problems in what I thought was a way that would give them peace. And here this boy stood, someone I thought was just another superficial popular teen. I really need to revise my people skills.

I drew myself back up to my normal height. "Yeah, just wrecked. Don't worry about it." I gave him a small smile, one that wouldn't come off as too suspicious.

"Alright, well..." He pivoted round and took a step before he turned back round to face me. "I- you sure?"

I raised my eyebrow at him and arranged my face to look amused. I was really just trying to drive him off. As much as I appreciate the gesture, I don't like people nosing around my business. "Yep." I gave a small chuckle. "I'm good, cheers though." I carefully stepped round him and put a litter distance between us and looked back at him. "Gotta go get screamed at, I've got Mr Gusev for careers now."

He looked at me curiously, completely forgetting the moment just now. "The guy with the really thick Russian accent?"

"That's the one. He has a tendency to speak really fast or curse in Russian if we aren't paying enough attention... so basically all the time." I smiled sheepishly. He laughed, his voice a low baritone. 

I looked at him, trying to understand why he approached me.

I studied him closely, trying to perceive if anything in his behavior and body language that could give me an answer to my question. Nothing really stood out. What I hadn't realized was that I had sub-consciously stopped smiling and was just staring at the poor guy. He seem to notice and started to look less confident and relaxed, awkwardly smiling what looked more like a grimace than a smile.

I blinked. Crap, I should have concentrated on coming off as normal. I cleared my throat. "Sorry, I tend to get distracted." I was smiling apologetically before I realized that sounded like I was hitting on him. "I- no. I meant that m-my, well, I, uh, just kinda drift off... does that even make sense?!" I choked, my face heating up. I never get this flustered. What the hell is happening? Stop!

Alec looked amused again, this time at my ridiculous outburst.

I took a deep breath."Right, so, I'm gonna go. Bye." I nodded my head awkwardly and slowly turned before walking on down the corridor.

"See yah later, Cassandra." I heard him call out behind me.

I lifted my hand up as I continued walking as a parting gesture. Padding down the corridors in deep thought, I looked to my left and looked out the window. The day was dark cloudy, as if reflecting my mood, this dreary and bland feeling. I felt a little detached, brooding over things yet again. I felt like my mind had let go and was floating, still conscious but separate from my body somehow. It was a strange feeling, indescribable other than I felt like my body was going on autopilot, moving without thinking about it. Numb.

My feet led me past the corridor I would have to turn to in order to get to the careers class, leading me onward. I padded up the stairs, still feeling light and airy, not quite there. I ambled along the corridors on the top floor and walked over to a door. I started to think maybe it wasn't such a smart idea to let this happen, but I was already pushing down on the handle on the door and decided 'Fuck it' and threw caution to the wind.