Chapter 4: Searching

I woke up to see Josh in baggy dark wash jeans and his abs glistening in the morning sunlight. He was searching for a shirt. I got up and went across the hall to the bathroom. I took a quick shower and was back in the room before Josh even realized I was up. I turned to him, his eyes darting all over the room as he searched for something. What was he looking for?

"Hey, Josh, what are you looking for?" I asked him.

He looked up, surprised then quietly answered back, "I'm looking for my yellow t-shirt. Have you seen it?" I glanced at his hand and laughed.

"Dude I swear you're going to lose your mind one day."

I grabbed a pair of blue jeans and a red t-shirt and ran out the door, eager to get to the cafeteria to see if Reed would be there. I usually never made a point to be early to anything, but I wanted to talk to her.

I arrived in to café and looked for her brown head bobbing up and down. I spotted Ariana looking at me and quickly looked away.

You have to go over there Thomas, I told myself, they are the only ones who would have noticed her.

I held my head high and walked over to Noelle Lange. Around her were Ariana, Kiran Hayes, Taylor Bell, and Dash. Leanne Shore, Natasha Crenshaw, Cheyenne Martin and the others were on the opposite side of the table, but no one gave a damn about them. I walked right up to Noelle just as Josh sat down beside Dash with five powdered doughnuts and a chocolate milk on his tray. That boy takes in more sugar at breakfast than any 5 year old does all day. Noelle looked at me and sighed.

"What do you need Thomas?"

I sighed; I can't believe I was asking for help from NOELLE!

"Have you seen a tall-ish girl with straight chestnut brown hair and soft blue eyes walk through here? She's really pretty, looks like a junior but hangs out with sophomores because she is one?" I took a quick glance at Ariana. I saw the anger that flashed through her eyes. She'd have to get used to that.

Noelle stifled a laugh.

"Oh, you mean our new Glass-Licker? Yeah I know her; she was watching us from her sophomore dorm last night. Looked like she was salivating, the poor girl. I haven't seen her this morning though, probably hiding her face. If she wanted to meet us so bad why didn't she just come talk to us? I don't bite or anything…" I held back a laugh.

Sure Noelle, you don't bite people's heads off at all on a daily basic. I sighed, frustrated at the idea of not seeing her till lunch. Unless I see her at the morning services.

Noelle looked at me with confusion.

"Why, you got a new crush on her? Wow, I thought you'd do better than that." Noelle chuckled to herself. I shot her a look of death. I didn't need her shit now.

"Shut up Noelle. I'll see you guys at morning services. I got stuff to do."

As I walked away, I could hear Noelle whispering to Ariana.

"He must really like her, he's willing to attend morning service to see her." I could feel Ariana's glare boring into my back. I didn't turn around, though. I just kept walking forward. I was counting down the days until Ariana would realize that this year, there would be no "us".