theHeart

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I couldn't stop thinking about Wren. Of course I wanted him to pay for what he'd done, but I didn't want him to be hurt. I bit down on my lip lightly. I couldn't think about him right now. What I had to do was get back to the school and get any assignments I missed, thanks to his interruption.

I moved as quickly as possible, feeling better after talking to Alice but still not wanting anyone to really notice me. When I reached the school, it was mostly vacant aside from a few stragglers. I wondered if any of them knew what had happened and if they recognized me. Wouldn't it have been wonderful if they all had?

I feared I had been answered when I felt someone grab my arm. Turning with a start, I found Nick looking down at me.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

My arms almost moved to grab him into a hug, but I held that back. "Yeah, I'm fine," I lied, pulling my arm away from his grasp. "I just came to get any assignments I missed." Nick's fair skin turned red. "What?"

He looked down and bit his lip. I followed his eyes and found he was looking at the strap of his bag which was slung across his shoulder. "Yeah... about that..."

"You didn't..." my eyes widened. "How... how did you know my classes?"

Biting his lip he reached into his pocket and handed over a piece of paper: my schedule. "You dropped it," he said quickly. "I have most of those classes, and the ones that were today... well I just went in and asked the professors for the assignments for you. I figured you'd want them."

I couldn't stop my lips from forming a smile. Nick looked up and saw me smiling and his face broke into a smile as well, less nervous than his previous one.

"So... where's Eve?" I asked, remembering that his girlfriend was in the picture.

The smile faded from his face, and I wished I hadn't asked. "She, uh... she asked for a break... well... she kind of screamed it in my face after I told her that she had to be nice."

"Oh... I'm sorry."

"It's fine. She'll come around."

A silence fell over us. It was kind of awkward, I won't lie. Luckily, I remembered a new part to my life.

"Shit! I'm going to be late for work!"

Nick's eyes widened and the smile returned. "I can walk with you if you want."

I rolled my eyes. "At this point, I'd have to run in order to get there on time."

His look turned mischievous. "I'll race you..."

"I don't think that's a good idea," I muttered as I knew I had refused to feed and was probably as weak as hell.

"Oh come on," he teased. "You're not scared you'll lose, are you?"

"No!" I blurted. "I... I just don't feel up to it."

Nick sighed. "Fine... but we'll still have to run."

"Fine by me." And we were off.

Nick remained ahead of me by just a bit for most of the run. However, something lit up inside of me as I heard him taunting me, saying I could do better than that. I found myself passing him and I noticed him speeding up ever so slightly; what had started out as me not wanting to race, turned into me needing to race. Before I knew it, we were both running so fast that the only thing visible in the corner of my eye was him. We reached O-Positive Addicts out of breath. I thought that couldn't happen to vampires. Then again, I wasn't exactly in the best of shape at the moment.