Chase your fate

chapter 14

Devyn went to her locker with a quiet, nervous excitement, stealing glances all around in hopes of catching him watching her.  She kept going over it in her mind, and the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.  She and Liam were only 'friends' in a very loose definition of the word.  They only spoke during art class, and even then, not very much.  He was a quiet boy, always polite, and treated people with respect.  He had dated that Lenora girl for a short time, and seemed to have treated her like she was a gift from heaven until she had broken his heart.  As far as she knew, that was the only girl he had ever dated.  He was shy, awkward, kept to himself mostly, and had just recently began talking to her more than one word replies.  His reaction to the note was very telling too.  He had said his mind was a scary place?  That it was full of secrets, and that he wasn't ready to share them yet... just like the notes had said.

Sure, he wasn't what some would call handsome, but he wasn't ugly either.  He had a nice, soft quality to him that could easily be called attractive, but she knew that he thought he was ugly.  She knew that he was a good artist, but had never seen his handwriting, and never heard him talking about poetry, but, then again, it's not like they talked a lot.  Not everything fit, but, it was just that he was the only one that made sense.  She wasn't sure what to do about it, not really sure how she felt about him other than not ruling him out.  She could see herself with him, maybe, but, it would just depend on a lot of different things.

........

Chase had written this note and made his way to her locker, hoping that no one was around yet when he got there.  It usually wasn't a problem, because he typically got there before anyone cared or noticed.  He looked around, not seeing anyone, so he pulled the note out, reaching up to slip it through the vent.  That's when he saw the shadow and heard the footsteps coming, so he quickly pushed it up into the vent and rushed down the hall to the corner where he usually waited to see her open the notes.  He looked back, his heart falling into his stomach as he saw that the note had not fell into the locker, but was kinda dangling out.  He almost choked when he saw the small folded note teeter, then fall to the floor.  People began milling through the hall, and that was when he saw the boy, Liam walking over, seeing the note and bending down to pick it up, reading the name he had written.  He sighed in relief when he saw Liam reaching up to slip it back into the vent, only to have his heart sink to his feet when he saw Devyn walking up just then, grinning as she put a hand on Liam's shoulder.

........

Liam jumped as he felt the hand on his shoulder, dropping the note back to the floor.  Devyn blushed lightly as she whispered "I caught you.".  Liam backed up, hitting the back of his head on the locker, looking at her stuttering.  "n..no.. no.. Devyn... I... I found it on the floor.. It had your name on it.  I ... I just put it back.. I.."  "Liam... it's.. it's okay... Give it to me?"  she smiled as he nervously picked the note up and handed it to her with a shaking hand.  She looked up at him, smiling "Liam... why... why didn't you just say something?" "I.. what?  you.. you don't think... no.. Devyn .. no.. it's not me.. I wouldn't.. I couldn't.. I mean.. you..".  Just then, it hit her how wrong that she had been.  No, of course it couldn't have been Liam, it couldn't be anyone.  She looked down a little hurt, not really knowing why, but feeling that she had just been rejected.  How could she have ever thought that this was anything but a cruel joke.  Someone trying to get off on getting her hopes up.  She folded the note, stuffing it into the sketchpad.  "It's ok, Liam, I understand" she said sourly "I don't know what I was thinking.  I know I'm not.. I know.. It's ok.".  She opened her locker gathering her things and moving on to art class, knowing that now she was going to have the awkward time of sitting through class with someone that she had assumed liked her, and was so wrong.  "Devyn... it's not that... it's.."  "You don't have to explain Liam.. I don't need the 'it's not you it's me speech, ok?" "You don't understand Devyn... really.. you don't..." "I said it's ok.. we better get to class." she said as she walked away, trying to fight the frustrated tears that wanted to spill out, but she wouldn't let them.