To String Together ( Huaze Lei )

Solve the Problem

Huaze Lei

The moment she spoke, I could tell there was something bothering her. I walked over to her hesitant at first. Her back was turned towards me and could tell by her tone something was more than wrong. To my curiosity I gently took her arm to look at me and I noticed a grainy, but sticky substance on my hand. I took my hand away from her and noticed some sort of food. I noticed her coat ruined by the food and her white top was stained. She really must be clumsy.

"You're playing with food now?" I asked, slightly amused. It was a moment of silence before I looked towards her face and my smile disappeared instantly. I noticed her expression was a mixture of fear and being upset. I felt alarmed that something or someone happened. "What happened?" I questioned deciding to allow myself to ease her nerves after what had happened to her to cause her to look like this. I reached for her hand and noticed her hand was shaky. I looked down to see she was off. "You're shaking," I spoke softly, giving into her knowing I should help her out.

"It's nothing." She sounds upset as much as she looks. I shook my head not believing that was true. I gently took her hand and began walking back towards the bridge room. I led her into the room knowing I was the only who has been with her since I left the music building. We both took a seat at the built in bookshelf steps. I wanted to know who did this to her to put them in their place. Ximen won't be happy when he finds out.

"This isn't nothing," I started off. I know I purposely avoided her and been cold towards her to keep my distance, but it wasn't right to give her a hard time after seeing her like this. She is still Ximen's friend and I don't necessarily want to give her a hard time. "Who did this to you?" She lowered her eyes and fright with her hands. She was being very quiet and had a feeling she wasn't going to tell me. I sighed and began taking my coat off. "Take your coat off, it's ruined and it's cold out. You can wear mine" I wasn't going to let her walk around school covered in food.

It took a moment for her to get her coat off and I brought my coat around her shoulders so she could put it on. Once she had my coat on, I smiled to myself realizing she looked cute with my coat on. She hugged the coat closer to her, which made me turn my head away to smile for a moment. When I turned back to her, she was standing and I did the same.

"Have you eaten at all?" I ask her, realizing she may have not eaten yet this morning. For a moment she seemed into a thought before shaking her head. "Let's head back to the cafeteria," I started off and she immediately shakes her head.

"It's alright," she spoke lightly again. This time I knew there was a hint of fear in her tone. "I'll eat later." Not for a moment did I believe her. I took her hand once again and stood with her beside me. I begin making my way for the stairs. "We should get to theory," she said trying to change the subject. "I don't want us to be late."

"We can head to theory after we get something quick to eat," I say wondering if the person who did this to Faye was still there. We exited the business building and walked across the courtyard towards the stairs leading to the cafeteria.

"Lei..." she said lightly. I ignored her request and entered the cafeteria. I continued to hold her hand and looked around the spacious cafeteria. There were quite a few people here now. Most of them are looking towards us from their food or their friends. I took a few steps into the cafeteria when I heard several attempting their whispers.

"Are they holding hands?"

"She's wearing Lei's coat."

"Do you think they're dating?"

I pretended to ignore the comments and continued towards the food section. I looked towards the choices for breakfast. The whispering by the food did not stop either. I felt a small tug from my hand and I glanced towards Faye to see her attempting to pull away. Instead, I let go of her hand and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Instantly the whispering intensified making Faye uncomfortable.