Page 4

“God, he’s looking at you again,” Skye whispers. I can see a glint in her eyes. “He likes you!” she says in a way that makes it clear. “That makes sense now!”
I look at her without saying anything. My cheeks get a little warm, and I get a little flustered.
“Maybe he just wanted to help because he heard me scream for help, and maybe he let me sit next to him because he was asleep. Stop jumping to conclusions, Skye,” I say with a sigh.
She just smiles, and the light in her eyes is still there.
The sound of the bell.
“Time for lunch!” she screams. “Let’s go,” she says as she stands up and takes my hand. I grab it and we leave. As we walk inside, I can still feel the same intense eyes on me.
I get a strange feeling in my chest.
.I try to remember Jude, Kira, and Zeke’s names. I don’t feel comfortable with Skye’s friends right now, but I think I’ll get used to them over time.
Kira has dark brown skin, beautiful black eyes, and long, dark hair that she wears in a ponytail. She doesn’t seem interested in anything that’s going on and is busy with her phone.
Zeke has blue eyes and blonde hair. He is a little shorter than us—maybe 5’3″—but he is very big. I don’t like how he is looking at me, so I try to stay away from him as much as I can.
Jude is tall and thin. His presence is comforting in a way that Zeke’s isn’t, and his look doesn’t scare me. He is kind and funny, and he makes jokes from time to time.
While we eat lunch, I can’t help but think about everything that happened today. I can’t wait to get home. I feel a wave of sadness.
I tell them, “I’m going to get some air,” and then I stand up to leave.
“I’ll be there,” Skye says, her voice full of worry.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll be back in ten,” I tell her. She thinks about it. She sighs and says, “Call me if something happens,” after a while.
I mumble “okay” and walk to the school field.
I sit on the grass and pull my knees up to my chest. Everything that happened today is flashing in front of my eyes. I feel like I’m about to cry. If I said I didn’t miss my old life, I would be lying. I didn’t have a lot of freedom, but I did feel safe. At least I didn’t feel alone.
“How’s your wrist?”
I gasped and put my hand over my heart. My heart is about to jump out of my chest.
I turn around and see Austin standing tall with his hand in his pocket and a blank look on his face. His dark eyes pierced my soul, making him look as scary and intimidating as ever.
“How’s your wrist?”
I stand up and turn to face him, and my heart rate goes up a little. I never noticed that he is at least eight inches taller than me. His hair and eyes are almost the same colour.
Brown chocolate that has melted.
I lick my lips. I don’t answer and make a fool of myself by stuttering; I just show him my wrist. His eyes move from my face to my wrist, and his face stays blank, but I can see that his jaw is tightening. There is a bruise that is now bluish black.
He doesn’t say anything; he just looks at it and studies it without touching it. I choose to speak up. I let my wrist fall.
“Th-thank you,” I say, and my voice sounds squeaky. I groan inside when I hear it. He looks back at my eyes and stays there. “Thanks for helping me,” I say.
What makes his stares so strong? I stop looking at them and look at my feet.
“I mean before,” I say again.
Okay, that’s enough. He gets you.
My cheek is getting hot.
He keeps looking at me, as if he is trying to find something. From a distance, his eyes are very intense, but up close, they are even more so.
He doesn’t say anything; he just nods slightly in response to my thanks. The bell rings, and I don’t know what to say, so I smile tightly at him and then turn around and leave. In the most awkward way possible.
Please kill me now.
When I go back to the canteen, my cheeks are burning with shame. I see Skye and her friends, so I walk over to them. When they see me, her eyes brighten and a look of relief crosses her face.
“Are you feeling better?”
I shake my head. She smiles at me.
.Everyone thought painting nature sounded boring, and they all groaned when Mrs. Moreno said we had to paint something about nature. I didn’t think painting nature was boring. I was never bored with painting. I loved painting, whether it was a basket of fruit, a person, or a leaf. But I never could get my feelings across in it.
It’s hard for me to choose between a forest and an ocean. I looked around and saw a lot of green, so I chose the ocean. I love paintings that are bright and make me happy.
The world is already hard and sad, so why make it even worse? That’s why I didn’t like sad endings in films or books either.
I stepped back and looked at my ocean painting when I was done. It was missing something. I don’t get it; I gave it my all. It looked happy, but it was missing something, as usual.
I turned around because I thought someone was looking at me. I turn back because I don’t see anyone looking at me, but I do see Austin painting at the back of the class.
I suddenly want to see what he was painting.
I sigh and decide to look at more paintings. There are all kinds of landscapes, like forests, rivers, and fields. Jude also painted a forest, but he doesn’t really like it because he starts to look at the trees. I laugh, and he gives me a crooked smile.
The class isn’t very neat. Mrs. Moreno is busy with her own things. As long as we get our work done and don’t make too much noise, she doesn’t care if we move around.
I think about Austin. I really want to see his work. But how? I try to think of something. I look back one more time and see Zeke painting in front of him.
I don’t like the way he acts, but he is much easier to talk to than Austin. What should I ask him? Brain, please give me something.
An idea comes to mind.
I walk over to Zeke.