Page 4 of Luci’s Lullaby

“That,” I swallow past the knot in my throat, “and I just have a bad feeling.”

“About?” she pries.

“Not sure.” I shrug. “Do you think she’s alright?”

“She said she was.” She stares at me. “We’ll go find her at lunch and check on her again.”

“Sounds good.” I bite my lip, thinking of her haunting blue eyes. “Do you know her?”

“Nope, not a clue.” She taps her pencil off her desk. “I think she’s older than us, though.”

“Why do you say that?”

“She’s not in freshman classes.” She stares blankly.

I roll my eyes. “Duh!”

“Is that it? Or is there something else?” She leans in, reassuring me as she always does.

“Chill, Oprah. I’m good, it’s just a bad day.”

The bell rings before she can ask anything else, and I send a silent ‘thank you’ up. This girl is going to be an amazing attorney.

“Let’s go find your mystery girl.” She throws her backpack over her shoulder.

“And some grub.”

“Do guys think of anything besides food?” She wrinkles her nose. Her mom is constantly admonishing her over her weight. Reese is by no means fat, but her mom thinks so, therefore she does.

“There’s sex.” I incline my head. “Basically, food and sex.”

“Gross! Spare me.” She makes a gagging sound.

Gavin stands across the hall with his arms folded. “Red, why are you gagging?”

“She asked if we think of anything besides food.”

“Sex.” His eyes widen at her.

She covers her mouth, pretending to be sick. “Please, stop. Y’all talking about food and sex in the same sentence is turning my stomach.”

“Why?” Gavin and I ask in unison.

“We’re having hotdogs for lunch.” She glares at us before we burst into laughter.

We stroll over to the lunchroom to grab our food and quickly find a place to sit. I’m still crowd watching, hoping to find the girl I ran down earlier.

“I don’t see her anywhere,” Reese whispers.

“Yeah, me either.”

Gavin twists in his seat, scanning the room. “Who are we looking for?”

“The girl Alden tried to jump this morning.” Reese giggles.

Gavin’s head spins. “Why are you looking for her?”

“I want to make sure she’s okay. She ran off without me knowing, thanks to you.”

“Do I even know you?” Gavin frowns. “What’s going on?”

“Geez, y’all.” I run my hand over my face. “It’s not a big deal.” I grab my things and walk away. Maybe I need some time to myself so I can shake whatever it is bugging me.