AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He stiffens and his nostrils flair. “Sit down before I have you thrown out of the class.”
“Don’t bother. I was on my way out.”
I walk over to my desk and Tyler gets up. “Rubiana, stay in class. Don’t listen to them,” he pleads.
I grab my stuff. “I’m good.”
“Why are you leaving? You can’t skip class…you know that.”
“Don’t worry. You can tell your father I fucked up as usual.” I turn and make my way down the aisle.
“Let her leave, Tyler. She is good at that. Like Jen said, no one wants her here. She stinks anyway, dude,” Ky says sarcastically.
Everyone laughs and my chest goes tight. My eyes find Ky’s, my nostrils flaring.
He makes a motion with his fingers, shooing me away. “Run along, freak.”
The wordfreaktells me he was also behind the word written on my locker. He knew about the cheese and Jen’s little pranks. That’s fine and I’m game…
He wants a battle; I’ll bring him a war.
***
I’m sitting in the cafeteria alone. I’m sure word is going to get around about my threat to Jen and Ky, but I don’t care. It was weird how Tyler was trying to defend me and not laughing along with his friends, though. He was probably just worried about getting into an argument with his father about how he is allowing his friends to treat me. So he can go to hell too.
I left the classroom because I didn’t trust myself around Jen and the others. I would have punched her square in the face. I can’t wrap my head around why Ky has to treat me like dog shit. I left him a letter. I told him goodbye. Big deal.
I don’t have another class with him, but the next time I see him, I’m going to confront Ky because I want to know why.
“H-hey,” Patrick greets me before taking a seat in front me like he does every day at lunch.
“Hey,” I say, taking a bite of the hard chocolate chip cookie they had in the lunch line. It tastes like cardboard, but I’ve had worse.
He looks at the cookie I’m holding and swallows after taking a sip out of his Thermos. “That tastes n-nasty. How can you eat that?”
I look at the cookie before turning it in my hand and then looking back at him. “It’s better than nothing…and I’ve had loads of that in my life.”
He points. “Anything would be better than that cookie.”
I rub my lips together after taking another bite. “Where I come from, you’re lucky you get a taste of anything. Trust me, it’s not that bad.”
His eyes soften. “I-I’m sorry.”
I angle my head. “What are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything.”
Why would he be sorry? I wonder why an attractive guy like Patrick doesn’t have a steady girlfriend, or why he isn’t seated at one of the popular tables. Maybe even have a table of his own with friends he has things in common with.
“I criticized your choice of food. I don’t know the s-specifics of where you lived before or your situation.”
I point my spork at him before digging into the tasteless cafeteria mashed potatoes. I’m actually really hungry, but I keep that to myself. “How could you not. There are plenty of rumors about me floating around the halls and in the classrooms.”
He shakes his head. “I prefer to hear it from your lips.”
I quirk a brow. “My lips?”
His face flushes beet red. “I-I didn’t mean…”
“Why do you stutter when you get nervous?” I interrupt him.
