Bending the Rules

By: BrendaBites

The next day, Ana had gotten to school with only about a minute to spare, and she had to hurry to her class. Yesterday she only had half her classes, since it was block schedule in this school. Today she had the other half of her classes.

No Mr Grey today, the back of her mind pouted as she made her way to her first class. Today was going to be painfully slow, she just knew it.

And she was right, the classes dragged on and it wasn't until lunch that she felt awake. "You said your name was Anastasia right?" a girl with beautiful strawberry blond hair smiled.

Ana nodded, "Uh yeah. But you can call me Ana.."

The girl smiled again, "I'm Kate. Do you already have people you sit with at lunch?"

Ana shook her head, "My first day was yesterday, I'm still pretty new here."

Kate smiled and motioned for Ana to follow next to her, "That's great, you can sit at our table. How are you liking it here so far?"

"It's okay so far," Ana murmured.

"It's pretty bad around here," Kate said in understanding. "Half the class are morons."

The two began to walk down the halls, and out where everyone ate their lunch. "We usually sit by the vending machines," Kate pointed. "Oh, Jose is already there. You'll love him, he's a total sweetheart-"

Ana looked up and saw Jose waving, she waved back shyly. "He kinda showed me around on my first day."

Kate tilted her head, "Wait. Yesterday right? Hm.. that's why he's been so cheerful." Ana didn't have a chance to reply, instead Kate said, "I'm gonna grab a slice of pizza, wanna come get something too or just meet me at the table?"

"I'll meet you at the table," Ana said, seeing a sign that said 'Pizza, $2'. She hadn't thought to bring money, but it wasn't like she ever really ate anything at school.

"Okay, I'll only be a few minutes."

Ana nodded and started walking towards the table where Jose was in. "Ana," he greeted, with a big smile. "Here, sit down." He moved the backpack he had on the space next to him. "How's your day going?"

She took the seat, and smiled, "It's been good. How's yours?"

"Great, especially now. I didn't think we'd have both lunches together." He picked at the fries on his tray and took a bite. "Aren't you going to eat?"

Shaking her head, Ana responded, "I'm not really hungry."

"Here," he smiled, pushing his tray between them, "We can share my lunch, I never finish it."

"I'm fine, really. But thanks."

"Did you have a big breakfast?" he asked, trying for a conversation.

"Uh.. I actually didn't have time to eat this morning-"

"Oh jeez, no wonder you're so thin," he teased. "You don't eat!"
"I do," Ana flushed, she didn't want to seem like someone who starved herself. "I'm just not a fan of .. er- fast food."

Jose raised an eyebrow then reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumbled dollar bill. "They have granola bars and stuff in the vending machines, I'll go buy you one if you'd like-"

"No, no. I'm fine seriously."

"Or chips. I think they have cookies too. The lines over there have salads-"

"Jose, I'm not hungry."

He scratched the back of his head, "I just feel bad eating when you haven't had anything."

Ana bit her lip, trying to find a good excuse to say no. She looked away from him for a second and her eyes landed on fierce grey eyes. There he was, across the room, looking straight at her.

She quickly looked away, and wished she was anywhere but here. "Actually, I think I'll get a granola bar after all."

X x X

Christian always brought his own lunch, but today, it had gotten past him. His plan had been to go out to the nearby restaurants and take something to go, but instead, he found himself making his way to the lunch room. Some of his students had mentioned selling subs and pizzas to raise money for their sports team, maybe he'd go give that a try.

"We have turkey, and ham left," the student at the stand said when Christian asked what kind of subs they had.

"Turkey," Christian said, hoping they tasted better than he expected. While the student reached back to grab his sub, Christian let his eyes wander over the cafeteria. There was so many students here, but he managed to instantly see only one.

Big blue eyes stared back at him before quickly turning away.

"Two dollars Mr Grey," the student said, bringing him back.

"Right," he handed them the money and glanced back to where the blue eyes had been, but now they were gone.

Christian shook his head, he wasn't worried about that, he tried to convince himself, but he could use something to drink. He walked in the direction Ana had been, but not to find her, just because the soda machines were that way.

He had a water bottle back in his classroom, but he was suddenly craving something more like soda or a juice. Or whatever it was that they sold in those damn vending machines.

Before he reached them, he spotted Ana, trying to shove a crumbled dollar into the vending machine.

"Oh god," she whispered, impatiently. "Damn him, damn him."

Who was she talking about? Christian glanced back to the table she had been in before and frowned. Jose was sitting there, and another girl was just about to take the seat in front of him. Was Ana mad at Rodriguez? For talking to another girl? Had he done something to her? Maybe rejected her- No, that wasn't reasonable, but maybe Ana was jealous?

The thought of Ana liking Jose was unsettling.

"Is something the matter Miss Steele?" Christian asked before he could stop himself.

Ana looked up, her eyes even wider. "What- Oh. No. I'm fine." Her cheeks turned a light pink and she went back to trying to insert the dollar.

"It's too crumbled up," Christian murmured as he pulled a different dollar from his pocket. "Try this one."

Ana looked surprised that he was still talking to her, "No, thank you. I think, I'm just going to head back-"

Christian merged his eyebrows together, "It's no bother, take the dollar. Buy whatever it is you wanted to buy."

Ana shook her head, "Jose was the one who suggested I buy something here, since I haven't ate anything, but I'm really not hungry. Thanks anyways." She turned around and quickly walked away, not bothering to hear what Christian had to say.

He resisted the urge to pull her back, did she say she hadn't ate anything? It shouldn't have bothered him as much as it did, but Christian thought it was better not to dwell on it. Instead he looked at the vending machine and saw she had already typed in the numbers for what she wanted.

With a quiet sigh, Christian put in his dollar and heard something fall with a small thud. He bent over and reached in to grab whatever it was that Ana was going to buy.

It was a small granola bar, not enough to be considered lunch, but it was something at least.

He spotted Ana in the table again, sitting by Rodriguez, fidgeting and keeping her head down.

Christian couldn't admit to himself how much he wished he was a student here instead of a teacher. But he did do something he wasn't expected to do. He walked through the tables and made his way to Anas.

The girl in front of Jose looked at him with wide eyes, but they weren't nearly as beautiful as Ana's-

Beautiful? Christian shook his head, annoyed with himself for thinking such thoughts.

"Eat something," he grumbled, dropping the sub and granola bar in front of Ana.

He made himself walk away, not hearing her response. He was sure if he stayed any longer, he'd push Jose aside and sit by Ana to make sure she finished at least half of that sub.

Christian didn't even look back, or go buy lunch for himself. He always ate, never missing a single meal since he joined Grace and her family, but now, his appetite had disappeared.

Ana was doing something odd to him.