“Soooo,” Kaeleb begins, wiping the grease from his extra-large fries onto the paper napkin in front of him, “You need a Boarding Buddy.”
Freaking traitor Quinn left me stranded with him when she went to refill her water and has yet to return. My eyes rake over the tables until they land on her, laughing with two extremely skinny, yet equally boisterous blondes clear across the cafeteria.
Damn it. I was depending on her to make conversation.
Sigh.
“Is that a statement or a question?” I ask, avoiding his gaze while feigning interest in the extremely unappetizing slab of meat on my plate.
“General observation only.” Kaeleb offers nothing else, so I force myself to make eye contact with him as he sits directly across the table from me.
He chuckles under his breath, throwing the napkin on top of his empty plate and relaxing back into his chair. “You’re not very fond of conversation, or people for that matter, are you?”
“No, not really,” I remark, stabbing the mystery meat before once again meeting his stare.
The corners of his mouth slip downward and he tilts his head slightly. “Why is that?”
May-Day! May-Day! Man Down!
QUINN!!!!
Trying to calm my anxiety level, I inhale deeply before answering.
“I don’t know,” I lie. “I don’t really see why that’s any of your concern.”
My eyes break from his, raking over a group of girls flocked just behind his chair, giggling while eyeing him with interest. Their faces are all smiles as they nod and they speak to one another, most likely discussing their strategic plan of attack. And then, right on cue, they disengage their stares and each set of their eyes land right on me. I watch as their smiles fall and their expressions turn from that of pure delight to ones of absolute disgust. In response, I tighten my gaze and lean forward, causing them to quickly clear their faces of the previous revulsion and disperse every which way. Satisfied with their reaction, I lean back, laughing to myself as they all run into each other, clearly not having planned an effective escape route.
Dumbasses.
Shaking my head, I bring my attention back to Kaeleb, who’s watching my silent threat with humor-filled eyes.
“Don’t you have something to do?” I inquire. “Like go talk to someone who actually would like to reciprocate?”
His lips jerk upward as he attempts to fight yet another annoying smile…and loses. “Yes, I guess I could do that. But I’m talking to you, which is like pulling teeth. I find it fascinating, so if you don’t mind, I think I’ll just stay put for now. I’m always up for a good challenge.” He tilts his head. “So I’ll ask again…what drives this lack of fondness for conversation and people?”
Tightening my gaze at his audacious tone, the hold on the fork in my hand hardens as I lean forward, attempting the most ferocious glare I can muster. With the cat eyes, I’m pretty sure I look downright terrifying right now.
“You really want to know?” I mock his stupid head cock and raise my brow.
Okay, maybe not so terrifying because he counters with some kind of sexy smirk that probably rips the panties off of normal girls. With me, it only manages to get my panties in a wad.
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t,” he counters.
The look in his eyes tells me he won’t be giving up anytime soon, and the fact that he seems so blasé about it all just further peeves me off.
F*ck it. He asked for it. It’s his funeral.
“People die around me.”
The panty-sweltering grin disappears right along with the coloring in his face as his head jerks back.
“What? What do you mean? Like, you kill them?” He narrows his eyes, assessing me before seemingly drawing his own conclusion. Humor once again settles into his features as he leans toward me and lowers his voice, whispering, “Do you shank people, Raven?”
I refuse to smile, but a tiny breath of laughter bubbles into my throat and out through my nose. “No, I don’t kill people. Or shank them, idiot.”
After watching him for a while I release a long breath, the all too familiar morbidity of the conversation suddenly draining my energy. As much as I would like to pretend that I’m like every other normal girl traipsing through the cafeteria at the moment, I’m just not. I never will be.
I clear my throat and finish my statement with ample warning. “They just tend to meet an untimely death, and if you knew what was good for you, you would cease this random line of questioning or there’s a likely chance that you could drop dead tomorrow.”
His breath stalls and I can’t help but feel victorious and very self-satisfied with the delivery of my message. That is until he draws a huge breath of air into his lungs and then proceeds to laugh in my face.
Right. In. My. Face.
And he continues laughing. So loud, in fact, that he begins to draw very unwelcome attention to our table. Questioning stares are all I see as he slams his hand down on the table repeatedly, bending at the waist, hiccupping as though I just told the most hilarious joke he’s ever heard.
Literally sinking into my seat, my face heats with embarrassment and I have no choice but to watch his overtly conspicuous reaction, until he finally rises and leans back against his chair, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes as he reclines.
“Pheeeeeew,” he draws out breathlessly. “It’s just so funny. I’m sorry.”
He’s totally not sorry.
“What’s so funny?” I inquire, finally rising in my seat and cupping my free hand across my forehead, throwing my hair forward in an attempt to just disappear from the humiliation that is this moment.
Slicing the fork still within my grasp through the mystery meat, I vow to chew and swallow as quickly as possible so that we can just get the hell out of here. Just before it hits my lips, Kaeleb leans forward and points at my plate, stalling my attempt to eat when he says, “That.”
I raise my eyes from underneath my hand only to see that same craptastic smile crossing his face once again. “What? My plate?” I ask, lowering the fork.
“No. Not the plate. It’s just…” He breaks to chuckle under his breath, but finally manages to compose himself before continuing. “It’s the fact that you’re so worried about triggering the untimely death of everyone you meet. So much so that you don’t speak to others, rarely make eye contact, and try to make yourself look like a freak. Yet, you eat…meat. And it doesn’t seem to bother you. At all.”
He unsuccessfully tries to hide his amusement. “I can’t help but laugh. The irony of it all kills me.” His eyes break from the meat, latching onto mine as he adds, “Pun intended.”
Our stares remain locked and I watch his full lips twitch as he clenches his jaw in an effort to keep a straight face. Narrowing my eyes, I push the plate as far away from me as I can and not so subtly reach over to grab the lone apple from where traitor Quinn is supposed to be sitting. I say absolutely nothing as I take a bite and begin to chew, suddenly missing the mystery meat. There’s no denying I will be starving later, but it’s the price I’ll have to pay, because it’s then and there that I take my oath and pledge my allegiance to vegetarianism, trying to push the newfound guilt of every single hamburger I’ve ever eaten out of my mind.
A breeze blows by and I catch the scent of sunshine and rainbows as Quinn finally decides to grace us with her presence and join us for dinner. She lands forcefully in her seat, the excitement rolling off of her in waves. Her eyes fall to the table and then to the apple in my hand. Smiling, she shrugs her shoulders, “I ate something over there with Candace and Sabrina. You can have it.”
Glancing over to the where the emaciated bobble-head twins stand, I find myself met with two very disapproving and unattractive grimaces. I sneer back, partly because I already dislike them immensely, but mostly out of some instinctive need to protect Quinn. They remind me of two grotesque demons, hungry and ready to feed on her love of life and genuine kindness.
I really need to stop watching so many exorcism documentaries.
Or maybe I’m just experiencing meat withdrawals already because all I can seem to think about as I watch them is hunger and eating.
Regardless, I don’t like them.
Forcing my stare away back to Quinn, I gesture at the empty space on the table in front of her. “You couldn’t have eaten much, considering they also only have like one piece of celery on their plates, and you only had an apple, which I took. Sorry about that.”
Guilt flashes in her eyes as she timidly shakes her head. “I ate before we came anyway. I’m not really hungry.” A fabricated smile magically appears before she adds, “I just wanted to hang with you and my Boarding Buddy.”
Just as I’m about to challenge her, because I know for a fact I didn’t see her eat anything before we left together, Kaeleb interjects, “Speaking of Boarding Buddies…where’s yours, Raven?”
I roll my eyes so hard it hurts. I have no idea why he’s focusing on me so much. This freak getup is supposed to frighten people, not invite inquiry. Unfortunately with him, it seems to be having the opposite effect.
“I don’t have one,” I remark. “I skipped orientation.”
“So you need one then?” For once, his face is devoid of any sarcasm or laughter. Sincerity laces his expression as he rests his elbows on the table and leans forward, clasping his hands together in front of him.
I, however, have sarcasm coursing through my veins instead of blood. “Um, not really. I own a map and possess a brain. I can figure it out on my own.”
Not even remotely fazed, Kaeleb reaches his hand across the table. “Let me see your schedule.”
“What? No.” My face scrunches and I shake my head.
“YES! Do it Raven! We can all tour the campus together and plan out our schedules tomorrow!” Quinn screeches from beside me. Leaning far away, I stick my finger in my ear, wiggling back and forth a bit to try to lessen the pain of my now bleeding eardrum, while giving her a hesitant, wide-eyed stare.
Kaeleb, of course, just laughs.
Quinn’s face falls a bit with disappointment, forcing an incomprehensible emotion into my cold, dead heart known by others as caring. Dislodging my finger from my ear, I hold my palm up to her face before responding, “Okay. But, please…don’t scream.” She nods and claps, but makes no sound.
Scooping the handle of my backpack into my hand, I fling it onto my lap and open the second pocket to produce my schedule before handing it over to Kaeleb. I can feel Quinn as she eagerly bounds up and down next to me and I swear she’s about to explode as she attempts to contain her excitement. Without the release of a scream, I’m actually afraid she might.
Kaeleb casually peruses the paper and I’m a bit surprised when his eyes widen a fraction once he’s finished. It’s slight, probably not even noticeable to most, but I saw it. He hands the paper back to me and I immediately turn it in my hands to read over it again.