“That’s my seat.” I told her.
“Then why am I sitting here?” She shot back, taking books out her bag, as well as a small stopwatch and a packet of jelly beans. Really?
“Good question.” I stood aside, waving a hand for her to stand and give me back my seat.
She didn’t move. Instead, she put back her thick binder into her pink and grey satchel and retrieved another counter book with a full picture of some male celebrity shirtless. Her eyes lingered on his torso for a second, then she placed the bag into the small compartment next to the desk.
I squeezed my eyes shut, offering a silent prayer of tolerance, all the while wondering if this girl was truly created to be my personal irritant.
Professor Mikel’s voice broke into my angry musings, “Mr. Hastings, unless you feel like teaching the class today, please take a seat.”
No one laughed or made a sound, they never did that with me anymore, but they all turned to look at me. Everyone but Charlie. She continued to organise her books (all of them with shirtless men on their back covers), seemingly unbothered by me, thus worsening my ire at her.
I sat next to her, intentionally dumping my bag on her neatly organised notebooks. Apart from the mild irritation in her eyes when she saw her notebooks, there was no reaction. She simply placed my satchel down on the dirty floor and rearranged her books with a serene smile. Damn the female.
The lecture went by smoothly after that, excluding Charlie’s arrogant smirk whenever she raised her hand to answer questions or engage in a one on one dialogue with Professor Mikel. He seemed excited to have a student who knew what they were doing, though I assumed that had always been me.
He closed off the lecture with three extremely long assignments and the promise of a test the following week. The rest of the class filed out of the room and I remained seated, knowing that unless I moved, she had no space to leave. Painstakingly, I packed and unloaded books from my satchel, waiting for her to get as annoyed with me as I was with her.
We sat there for a few minutes, alone in the large classroom. Occasionally, she’d sigh contentedly, like she knew a secret I didn’t know.
“Am I keeping you?” I finally asked, after her fourth sigh.
She smiled politely, though her eyes blazed with steely resolve, “Of course not,” she dropped the stopwatch into her bag, “Whatever made you think that.”
“We should talk,” I tapped my pen on the desk, maybe that would get to her, “About what happened earlier.”
She turned to me, making her chair creak, “What’s there to talk about?”
My nostrils flared and I ground my jaw, girls were never this flippant with me. Hell, they clamoured for my attention. And so would she, once she saw what they‘d all seen in me.
Yet, these days, even I didn’t see it in myself anymore.
“Look, I know you’re upset. I shouldn’t have said what I said earlier. It’s just, I’m used to being a target for girls who want varsity fame and attention, because of basketball, and my family.”
Her face didn’t have the curiosity I was used to seeing, “Oh, it must suck, being you.”
“I’d appreciate it if you don’t tell anyone about what happened over the summer.” I said, my eyes riveted on the desk. My own weakness shamed me, and the fact that she had had a front row seat to it made it worse. But neither compared to the circumstances that had led me down that road.
Charlie’s expression changed, the pity I saw in her eyes almost made me wince at how pathetic I’d become.
“Xander, this is my first day here, I was a little relieved when I saw you. But you were rude to me, so now I know we don’t have to be friends or anything. That said, gossip isn’t one of my pastimes.”
“Umm, okay.”
“Good, please excuse me.”
I grabbed my satchel and stood to the side.
“Thank you, Xander.”
“Sure, and thank you too, Charlotte.” I said innocently.
She shot me a look, before grinning mischievously, “I hate that name.”
I grinned at her, satisfied that I knew at least one thing that ticked her off.
“Want me to walk you out?”
She started to walk towards the exit, “You’re headed out anyway, so we’re just two people going in the same direction. No one’s walking anyone out.”
“Right,” I trailed behind her, wondering what was wrong with her that she didn’t act like girls did around me.
We had reached the parking lot when awkward silence set in, I immediately felt ashamed of the things I’d said to her here.
“So, let me take you out to lunch,” I was suddenly nervous, “To apologize.”
She quirked her lip, I almost felt like touching her face. It must’ve been the heat that was giving me such thoughts, since summer hadn’t fully passed.
“You’ve already apologized, Xander. It’s all good.”
“Alright, let’s ensure that over lunch.”
“I have somewhere I need to be at lunch time, everyday.”
“Hmm, and where would that be?”
She turned to walk, and I followed her, “I volunteer from lunch up until two pm, three days a week.”
We got to her car and she got in, raising her eyebrow at my chevy parked on the other side of the parking lot, as if she were telling me that we were done here.
I ignored the hint, “I’ll take you to breakfast then, sometime. I owe you.”
She stared into my eyes, as if searching for any remnants of the horrors that I was facing the day we met. She smiled sadly at me, and I turned away, knowing that she had seen them.
“Breakfast would be alright.”
“Alright, cool.”
God, I hadn’t worked this hard to get a girl to eat out with me in a long time, and this wasn’t even a date. She drove off, and I walked to my car. I didn’t have basketball practice today, so I would be heading straight to see Cole.
Charlie
I’d gone out with boys before, even had a boyfriend. So, why was I considering watching YouTube make up tutorials tonight? Because, the first day of school in this new city had taught me that people did things really differently here. Really, really differently.
Whitfield County seemed like a place designed (yes, designed) for rich folks who had made enough money in the big cities to relocate and live the good, slow life. Unlike my hometown in Chadwick where competition was stiff at every level and one had tons of options, here, people used the same garage, same hospital and there was one large mall with everything. The joys of living in a small town, I guess.
Students at WU attended school dressed like celebrities, right down to the make-up. They had pampered pets that led to them meeting either at the vet’s or pet spa every fortnight or so. Everyone knew everyone, and no one seemed to mind their own business like in the big city.
So, as I finished off my assignments, I thought about how I could avoid any interaction with a certain basketball player. Xander was trouble, but there was also that deep sadness around him that made me want to hug him for a lifetime. Him being rude to me hadn’t changed that. I wished it had.
Everyone at WU probably thought he had it all, and I bet they wanted to be him. But did any one of them truly know what being Alexander entailed? I highly doubted that.
A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts, “Come in.”
My sister peeked into the room, an impish grin on her face, “Hey, sis. The parents were asking me if you’re enjoying learning at WU so far. What’s up?”
I shut my laptop and motioned for her to sit on the bed, “Why would they ask you that?”
“Well, because you barely said two words to anyone at dinner, and now you’re cooped up in your room.”
I groaned and she threw a pillow at me, “I’ll never see the perks of having one parent who’s a therapist.”
She laughed at that, and I joined in. Mel had lived in the house with mom and dad two months before I had come down. Her tran
sition from one high school to another had been relatively easy while I had to finish exams then get graded before I got accepted to WU. When I did arrive, I’d instantly been negative towards this move. She had lost weight, she didn’t talk much anymore and whenever I tried to pry, she’d clamp up. I suspected something was going on at school, or maybe she wasn’t adjusting so well, but mom and dad told me I was being silly. Seeing her happy now, maybe I was.
“Mel, remember that guy that brought me home that night over the summer?” I asked. I’d always confided in her, I didn’t have many friends.
She gave her trademark sigh with eyes closed, “You mean that fine specimen of man that looked he’d just stepped out of a GQ cover. And I ain’t talking about the back cover.”
I fell back onto the bed cover in mock horror, but it wasn’t really doing wonders for me to hear about Xander’s physical perfection from my fifteen year old sister. It made me dislike him even more. Okay, maybe not dislike, but it got me thinking that every other girl at WU was as attracted to him as I was possibly becoming.
“Yes, him.”
“Did he ask you to marry him?” she teased, “You better have said yes. Mom would approve.”
I gritted my teeth to keep a straight face, “Stop it, Melissa.”
She giggled, colour dusting up her cheeks. She was beautiful, with curves I could only dream of and hazel eyes, a contrast to my honey gold ones. Her hair hung straight down to her waistline, though mom often tried to force her to cut it halfway.
“Okay, sue me for being excited that my sister is finally over Jesse Thompson.”
I winced at that, the pain in my heart was almost physical. But I knew I was this close to finally healing. She must’ve noticed my sudden quietness, because she looked at me apologetically.
“So, what about this guy?”
“He’s in one of my classes at school.”
“And?” she widened her eyes hopefully.
“He sat next to me today. Well, he’ll do so for a while since we’re working on a few projects together.”
She jumped gleefully, wrapping me in a tight hug. Embarrassed, I shrugged her away, but she wasn’t deterred.
“Okay, we need to get you some nice-smelling floral perfume. I read in Cosmopolitan that it can instantly get you the guy.”
I raised my eyebrows, “You’ve been reading Cosmopolitan?”
She glared at me, “That’s not the point here.”
“No, but it certainly makes for good conversation,” I teased.
She pursed her lips like she used to do when we were kids and she wanted me to take her seriously. I laughed at her attempt to be grim.
We talked for an hour before she had to go to bed and I stayed up, syncing my school timetable to my phone. Tomorrow, I was going to start volunteering at Whitfield Children’s Hospital and I needed to pick up some story books to read to the kids from the local library.
I fell asleep in no time, dreaming about basketball courts and red chevys.
***
My parents sat across from each other at the kitchen table, completely grossing me out with their cooing and flirting.
“Where’s Mel?” I cut into their eye contact.
Dad answered, “Some friends came to pick her up this morning. She has cheerleading tryouts later, so she won’t be home until much, much later.”
Nodding, I grabbed my keys from the counter and left the house, leaving the two disgustingly adorable lovebirds to finish staring into each other’s eyes until hopefully, they decided to go to work, because they had school fees and bills to pay.
I sat alone through my first two lectures, Xander had absented himself from school. I wondered if maybe he was feeling ill, or if...
No. I wouldn’t think about that. I worried for most of the day, especially because there was no one I could ask about him without raising suspicion. He didn’t seem to have any friends and I doubt he would approve of me spying on him. However, the circumstances of our meeting weren’t normal, and I had a right to be concerned, as a fellow human being.
At lunchtime, I walked into the packed cafeteria and sat in a corner, alone and away from the noise. I had been sitting and scrolling through my phone for all of five minutes when I felt someone staring at me.
I looked up to see a boy, almost as tall as my brother, with dark skin and brown eyes. He sat across from me, but I’d been too distracted to notice him. A smile ghosted his lips as he continued to eye me speculatively, making me self-conscious.
“Umm, why are you staring at me?” I placed my phone onto the table.
He tilted his head, as if aiming to see me from a different angle, but he didn’t answer my question.
I frowned before picking up my phone and began going through my Pinterest notifications.
He snatched my phone and placed it onto the table. He sighed and continued to give me that curious stare.
“Excuse you, what was that?” I wondered if maybe he was one of those disturbed lunatics that ended up severing their victim’s heads in the crime documentaries I’d watched. He did look familiar though, but I hadn’t seen him face to face in this school.
“Ronald,” was all he said.
I gave him a blank stare before he added, “That’s my name.”
Ronald. Right, I’d seen his name and face on the huge basketball poster that was displayed in the administration block next to Xander’s. “And how may I help you, Ronald?”
I noticed that several people had turned to look at us, but he seemed unperturbed by it. He sat himself up straight and said, “Well, for starters, you can call me Ron. Everybody here does.”
“Okay, Ron.” I blinked, waiting for him to say whatever else he had come to say to me.
“And?” He asked.
“And what?”
“What’s your name?”
I hesitated, trying to come up with a fake one but his intense brown eyed gaze stayed on me. “Charlie.” I finally went with the truth.
“Okay, Charlie.” He nodded and got up to leave. I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering if there was a point to this strange interaction. I was about to ask him before he stopped and walked back to me.
“I haven’t seen you around before. You’re new here.”
I sat back in the cafeteria chair, “Is that a question or a statement?”
He didn’t answer that. Instead he said, “Are you dating Alex?”
“Alex?” I asked, confused.
“The guy you were with in the parking lot yesterday.”
“Oh, Xander? No, I just knew him before I started here.”
“So you met during the summer?” he probed further, slowly creeping me out.
“No, what’s it to you?”
“I guess if you two knew each other from way back, I’d know you too.” He crossed his arms over his wide chest and looked down at me.
“You’re a friend of Xander’s?” I asked. It didn’t seem like it though, and the shadow that passed over his features only confirmed my suspicions.
Again, he ignored my question. He only narrowed his eyes.
“Xander,” his mouth turned, almost as if he was hiding a smirk. “Hmm.”
With that, he walked away, blending into the crowd and I stared after him, baffled.
***
Two hours later, I parked outside the Harold Library, hoping to get more books before I got to the hospital. From the outside, the century old library looked like a storybook cottage, with a spiked roof and four additional spikes on all corners. The moment I got in, I realized why I’d always loved libraries. Books have their own separate scent, and it’s one of my favourites in the world.
I was mulling over whether to take Goldilocks or Aladdin when a hand reached out to get a book that was on the shelf above me. I turned to give the person room and instead found myself face to face with Xander. I gasped before composing myself and he gave me a cocky grin.
“Scared?” He asked, his eyes widening innocently.
“No. Are
you stalking me?”
He laughed, earning himself a shush from a lady that was seated on one of the oak desks. He smiled and mouthed an apology, making her blush and miraculously forget that he had disturbed her with his noise. Argh.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Charlotte.” He loomed over me, almost obscuring me from view to everyone else.
I shut my eyes and took a deep breath, inwardly swearing that if he called me Charlotte one more time, I would gut him and slide in his entrails. Yes, I’m possibly certifiable.
He perused a copy of Jack and the Beanstalk nonchalantly, as if I hadn’t said anything at all.
“Okay,” I sidestepped him. “See you around.”
He said nothing, but trailed behind me to the semi-circle desk where the librarian sat stamping the new arrivals.
He watched me as I got my books cleared, then he did the same with his, complimenting Lizzie, the librarian (Yep, they were on a first name basis) on her ruby earrings that made her green eyes pop (Imagine that).
As soon as we stepped outside, he offered to carry my small collection of children’s books. We walked in silence before he glanced down at me and cleared his throat.
“Umm, aren’t you a little too old to be reading these?” His eyebrows knitted, and this somehow made him look even more handsome.
I mentally chastised myself, adding reminders not to stare at him for too long.
“I doubt my literary preferences have anything to do with you.” I smiled sweetly at him, the way I did whenever I sassed my dad.
“If we’re going to be partners for our writing class, I want your pretty little head filled with Lord Byron, not Little Red Riding Hood.”
I rolled my eyes at him and he chuckled softly, almost making my insides melt. Almost.
“Why have you skipped class this week?” I asked him.
“You miss me?”
“No, I just don’t want to be dragging your dead weight behind trying to get you to catch up.”
He smiled that enigmatic smile of his again, “Darling, as sweet as it is that you’re worried about my academics, don’t.”
“I’m not worried about you.” I corrected.
“I’ve been tired.” He said. I snorted, wondering what kind of parents would let their child stay at home just because he was tired. Maybe he didn’t stay with them. Why was I even curious about his life?
With Every Sunset Page 3
