Stuck With You

11: Trains and rain

I ran into the school clumsily, and the books I was carrying for Anne spilled over my arms and onto the floor. I groaned. "Smooth, Rylee." I was already late. I crouched and began gathering the books. Only for them to keep falling.

Another one fell, but a large hand suddenly caught it. "Need some help?"

I looked up at whoever spoke. I'd never seen him before but he was obviously a student as well. He was tall, with black hair and noticably silver eyes. He also had a small tattoo on the side of his neck of a black snake. "Oh, yeah, thanks."

The guy shot me a charming smile and picked up the remaining books. "Why do you have all these?"

"Oh, I borrowed them all from my friend and was just going to return them today." I explained as we moved down the hall.

"Well, that's a lot of reading."

"I have a lot of time."

He looked me up and down, like he was trying to assess something. "What's your name?"

"Rylee. And you?"

"Jacob. I'm actually new here. Just got in today."

That shouldn't have surprised me. "Oh. Then welcome, I guess. Where did you move from?"

"Boston."

I nodded. "Cool. I've never been, but that's cool." I gestured to the side. "This is my locker."

Jacob stopped with a smile. "Good spot."

I unlocked it with a shrug. "I guess." I shoved the books inside and then stepped back. "Just fit those in as well as you can. I'll be dumping these on my friend today anyway."

"Okay." As Jacob stacked the books in my locker, I noticed another tattoo of a black band around his wrist. Interesting. "I'm glad I could help a bit. You seemed to be struggling."

"I was. Thank you, again." I closed the locker. "Well, I'm late to class, I should get going."

"Yeah, I need to go as well. He backed down a side hallway. "I'm headed this way."

I began walking the other way. "Sorry, I'm this way. Well, enjoy your first day, Jacob. It was nice meeting you."

"Good to meet you too, Rylee." He offered another smile, and then disappeared around the corner.

That was... interesting. I wonder why he caught my attention just now. There's something... odd about him.

* * *

I gazed out the window, my soul singing since it started raining just a few minutes ago. I never understood why rain was so soothing to me, but it was. And this class was boring, so watching the rain was more entertaining.

I could have fallen asleep right there in that uncomfortable plastic seat, but my pocket buzzed, bringing me back to full attention. After making sure Mr. Slater wasn't looking, I pulled the flip phone out and opened it. It was a text from Kason, of course.

"I see you dozing off, sweetheart. Didn't get enough beauty sleep?"

I glared back at him. He just smiled and raised his eyebrows. I turned back to the phone to respond.

"Pay attention, to the lesson, smokey, not me."

"You're much more interesting."

"Creep."

";)"

I snapped the phone shut and shot Kason a serious look. He winked. I turned away again. He was so hard to read sometimes. It was slightly frustrating.