The Hard Crush 1 (Feelings For You)

TWENTY-SEVEN

Winifred wasn't surprised at the attention drawn towards her when she walked into the cafeteria for lunch. Some stared at her in awe. Others looked uncertain as though they were trying to figure her out. She knew word had gone around about her encounter with Elijah a few hours ago, but she never expected the news to spread so fast. The looks she'd gotten during Calculus and Geography class was nothing compared to the sea of eyes fixated on her right now. True, there'd been a few whispers and glances thrown in her direction in class by some students but she'd figured it was undoubtedly because they'd been present when the incident had occurred. But right now, that thought seemed to be less of an assumption. Now it was pretty obvious that nearly the whole school was aware of her punching Elijah.

Tristian had gotten way too much information about it because Jerry had taken it upon himself to report her impulsive behavior to him. At first, Tristian had been impressed and he'd congratulated her on giving Elijah a little dose of his own medicine. The congratulatory didn't last long because he suddenly went grim and plunged into the subject of thinking before acting. She immediately dismissed the discussion with the excuse of wanting to pay attention to the calculus lesson, which was pretty lame an excuse because the teacher hadn't arrived yet. But Tristian got the hint and didn't bother her about it again. It was one thing to be chastised by Jerry. It was a different thing all together to sit and listen to whatever boring logic Tristian had to offer.

Speaking of Jerry; he sat by the window with Ashley by his side. He didn't attempt to acknowledge Winifred's presence whatsoever and didn't even care to spare her a glance. This made Winifred wonder once again if Hilary had been right. The thought was agonizing. She knew they never agreed to act in anyway cuddly related in school and especially with Tristan around but he'd gone a bit too extreme with the way he was avoiding her seeing as they'd shared a kiss the previous day. One she couldn't stop thinking about despite his lack of affection towards her lately. She was still trying to wrap her head around the events of yesterday and now today astonishingly chose to bring its own bizarre situations.

Elijah on the other hand acted unfazed by the whole thing. In class he went on with his usual attitude, making snide comments and boring jokes with his usual crew. He looked so unaffected by the fact that he'd taken a hit from a girl and he didn't receive weird looks from others like the way she did which was kind of strange.

Damon was a different story all together. He kept on glancing at her in class but not in the same way the others did. He looked more mesmerized than awestruck. Winifred didn't know if her role in the earlier incident had brought about his new interest in her or if he'd been secretly admiring her since her first day in the school and she had just never noticed it. Whatever it was, she wasn't interested so she resolved to ignore him. Tristian, however, couldn't ignore him because he immediately noticed Damon's head swiping back in their direction every now and again. Tristian wasn't stupid so he immediately figured out what was up and he obviously didn't like it. She felt him stiffen beside her as he gave Damon a brief glare prompting him to back off.

Winifred stood at the entrance to the cafeteria and took deep breaths. She mentally pushed the button for determination and kept her expression void of anything along the line of anxiety. She wasn't going to let these people assume she suddenly regretted her actions with Elijah because she didn't. Even though she didn't know him quite well, she'd come to learn that he was trouble with a capital T and she'd seen with her own eyes that he was a cruel bully. A maniac, she'd learned was what they called him. She marched forward, head held high, and she ignored the hushed whispers and eyes that were on her. She arrived at the lunch line and stood behind some girls who didn't try to hide their surprise when they saw her. Great. These were sophomore girls and it looked like they already knew who she was and what she'd done. It was amazing how news travelled far around here. There was no doubt Beatrice had heard about it too.