10.
The week flew by, faster then I anticipated it to. I don't really want Chris to come to school, in fear that he will leave me stranded. I can't do anything about it though as I step onto the bus on Monday morning. Cameron squirms in her seat in the back, and motions me to sit with her, probably wanting to tell me the latest gossip, but I can't pay attention to her, because I am focused on the angel who is sitting two seats away from her.
He is looking out the window, with a black sweatshirt coating his upper body with a sense of edginess. His lips murmur something to himself, before his dull eyes glance up front to see what is taking so long. He has dark circles under his eyes, and his body is sagging forward, like it always does when he's tired. His rag of a back pack, sat next to him, it is the color of his eyes, but dirtier. When he see's me, his eyes light up, so much so that you can hardly see the bags under his eyes, and they are blazing again instead of dull. I am once again hypnotized in his gaze, the world around me becoming fuzzier and fuzzier until it is just him and I alone. I am shot out of my trance though when the bus driver grunts.
"Sorry." I mutter to the bus driver, and start my descent down the aisle. I walk by Cameron and sit beside Chris, allowing his scent to embrace me with its usual sense of warmth. "Not to be rude, but you look like hell. What happened?" I try to ignore Cameron as she rolls her eyes at me and moves into the seat next to us. I lean forward, trying to block Cameron from his view, just so that Chris can tell me what's wrong before chaos seeks havoc among us. Chris's lips turn upward, but I can tell it's forced and insincere.
"I didn't get much sleep last night. That's all, don't worry." Something flickers behind Chris's eyes, but it happens so fast, I can't tell what it is; however I saw it long enough to know that Chris isn't telling the complete truth. I am about to ask him more, but Cameron's annoying voice, brakes all of the concentration I had.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your new friend, Miranda?" Cameron asks innocently. I almost glare at her, but I stop myself just in time.
"Oh right! Chris, this is Cameron. Cameron this is Chris." I lean back in the seat to give them room to shake hands.
"Not really her new friend, I've known her for years. But nonetheless, nice to meet you." Chris smiles warmly, releasing Cameron's hand. Cameron blushes madly and shoots me one of her famous this-guy-is-hot looks before giggling nervously. I give her one of my majorly pissed off smile in return. Her giggle dies off and her skin pales, as though she has just seen a ghost. Good, she should be scared of me.
"I'm Cameron, one of Miranda's good friends. Nice to meet you too. This is only the beginning, you're really in for it when you go to school. Everyone is so excited to meet you! Miranda has told us so much about you." This time I can't help myself and glower at her. Cameron rightfully shuts up, and mutters something under her breath.
"Yeah well this will be the fourth time I'm the new kid at school, so I'm kind of used to it by now." Chris sighs, his voice sounds as tired as he looks.
"Oh really! Why is that? Is it because of your parent's jobs?" Cameron's eyes widen as they get ready to swallow all of the gossip and all of the dirt. What Cameron doesn't know, is that what she is about to swallow is all about blood and death. I stomp on her foot and narrow my eyes, she immediately swallows what she was about to say and avoids my murderous glare. Chris puts his hand on my shoulder to calm me down, and my expression melts into a much more nicer and pleasant one.
"Nah, my parents died when I was a kid. While the police found me a place to stay, I was moved around to different schools, then again when I moved to the orphanage. Then once again when I moved in with my foster parents and now, here I am again." Chris lets out a light hearted, laugh, but I can hear the falseness of it. I place my hand on top of his and squeeze, I hate Cameron for forcing him to remember such terrible things. Chris side glances me and folds his hand into mine so that he can squeeze it back.
"I'm so sorry!" Cameron places a hand over her heart and acts sincere. Sincere my ass is more like it. Chris's lips tremble into a grin and he shakes his head.
"Don't be, you had nothing to do with it." Chris's eyes become dark and cold, and to be perfectly honest, it kind of scares me. Chris watches as other people come onto the bus, trying to forget about his past. Cameron looks down at our hands that are still interlocked and wiggles her eye brows at me. I roll my eyes, but I can't ignore the warm, little electricity streams that are now blossoming in my hand, and running up to tickle my heart. I desperately want to lay my head on Chris's shoulder, so that I can feel warm all the way to school, but I don't pay attention to that thought.
"Ron, Dawn, John, and Chelsea have been dying to see you! You are going to basically get raped when we get to school. Be ready!" Cameron babbles away again. Chris wrinkles up his nose, and it sort of looks like he's disgusted.
"Your names all rhyme. Ron, Dawn, John, Cameron, did you guys plan this or something?" The funny thing is that Chris is deadly serious, and Cameron laughs about it like it's a joke. Oh did I forget to tell you? Normally Cameron the name wouldn't really rhyme with John and Ron, but the way Cameron pronounces her name makes them rhyme. They all blended together anyway, it was easier for me that their names did rhyme, if they didn't I wouldn't have probably wasted my time trying to learn their names. I stifle a giggle myself, the way Chris said it made it funny. Either that or I laughed at Cameron's stupidity. You can pick which one.
"Oh Chris, I can already tell, you're going to be the comedian of the group." Cameron waves her hands under her eyes as her eyes roll up towards the roof, trying to keep the tears down. She is over exaggerating the funniness…she's flirting. Who the hell does she think she is? Jealousy spread like a wildfire in me, scorching my veins and baking my heart on top of the raging fire.
"That's funny; I thought you were the comedian. Oh that's right; you didn't mean to piss your pants last year." I smirk at her, shooting her the evil eye. Cameron's eyes widen as a blush creeps up her face and her laughter dies off. She glances down at our hands, and then glances away. Hopefully that got through to her dense head. He's NOT yours honey, hands off. Wait a minute, why do I care if Cameron likes Chris that way? Chris isn't my property, and we are just friends, so why do I care so much? Admit it Miranda. You have fallen for your best friend and according to everyone else he likes you too. My 'angel' voice speaks up. Where have you been? I was getting lonely with just my evil voice all the time…Not. Oh shut up, it's not like you don't talk to yourself.
I feel the warmth leave my hand, and I turn to Chris in panic. He gives me an accusing eye, and begins to rub my back, knowing that it will calm me down. I begin to get drowsy and lean against Chris for support. Curse Chris and him knowing me too well.
"Don't worry Cameron, Miranda was just joking. She didn't mean any harm." There goes Chris again, covering for me. He knows better then to add the 'didn't you Miranda?' onto the end of the sentence. "Miranda be nice, don't worry I can handle myself. I'm a big boy." Chris purrs in my ear. I want to argue with him, but with him stroking my back and being so close, it's hard to pull myself out of paradise.
"Its okay, I'm used to Miranda by now." Cameron grumbles and stands up as the bus stops. Remind me to laugh about that later. Regretfully, I stand up as well, swaying with the new found tiredness. Chris is right behind me though, grabbing my elbow to steady me. He holds me there until the bus is rather empty.
"Hey, are you okay?" Chris asks, concern racing through his expression. Sure, just peachy, now that I know I'm not the only one who thinks your good looking. Now that I know I have major competition to compete against. I sigh and step out into the aisle.
"Yeah, just having an off day." I promise to be on my best behavior with Chris today. Chris follows me off the bus and to where Cameron is standing.
"Right there with you." Chris says before speaking to Cameron. "Okay well I'll see you later today, I need to go to the principle to tell them that the newbie has arrived."
"But you can't leave yyyyeeeeeetttttt!" Cameron whines. I give her a warning glance and she stumbles to finish. "I-I mean you can't go without being introduced to our friends." Chris coaxes his head, thinking.
"I guess they won't miss me if its only for a couple minutes." Not another word is needed for Cameron as she trots ahead leading the way to our usual meeting place.
"She reminds me of Sarah." Chris whispers. Hmm, I guess I never thought of it that way. Either way I hate them both.
"Yeah I guess so, just be careful today, okay Chris? I don't want you to get tangled with the wrong people." I'm more worried than he could see, and I wanted to keep it that way. I had to warn him though, just incase he forgot. Not that he would, it just gave me a piece of mind knowing that I tied his shoes on tight before he went to run the race.
"Don't worry; I am very aware of everything after what happened at the last school." Chris as a whole, quivers, and I reach out to grab his arm, to make sure he wouldn't disappear. I hook my arm around Chris's to keep him close as we plow through the crowds in the hallways. People give Chris curious looks, but he keeps going as if they are not there. The colors of the walls just seem like splotches of black and white, blurring as we pass them. The only thing that seems solid and colorful is Chris, marching down the hall, striding past all of those other girls, and me holding onto him as we parade down to hell together.
Finally we reach the usual spot, right in the heart of the school, where we meet my other 'friends'. By the time we catch up to Cameron, she is already jabbering away with the rest of the group, vomiting up the gossip that she has learned minutes, if not seconds, before.
"…Anyway, why ask me when you can ask him?" Cameron motions to Chris, and a scowl tugs down on my lips. That's supposed to be my job. Cameron notices my expression and silently blends into the rest of them. They all measure up Chris with their eyes, making assumptions, and predicting, without even saying one word to actually get to know him.
"Hey guys. Incase you didn't realize, this is the guy I've been talking about. Everyone meet my best friend in the whole wide world, Chris." I step away from Chris and watch as Ron takes the first step out of his comfort zone and shakes Chris's hand.
"Nice to meet you man. Welcome to Edmund Burke High School. I'm sure you will be accepted here. I'm Ron, the womanizer of the group." Ron winks before getting a punch in the arm.
"Yeah right, like that's ever going to happen. Meet the real hunk with the junk, I'm John." John playfully shoves Ron out of the way, and claps Chris's hands with his own. Chris lets out a deep chuckle.
"Nice to meet you both." Chris's eyes are shining, all previous tension seems forgotten. Dawn barges through the boys and scans Chris up and down again, before smiling approvingly.
"I'm Dawn, you seem normal, I bet people will be all over you. No need to worry." Dawn gives Chris a tight shake of the hand and steps back into the blob of everyone else.
"Thanks Dawn, I'm sure I will enjoy myself here." Chris stands for a few minutes, waiting for someone else to step up. Sam hesitantly shuffles forward. His eyes search Chris deliberately before he glances over at me. His shoulders seem to sag, but that doesn't keep him from introducing himself next.
"Hello Chris. My name's Sam." Sam holds out his hand and waits for Chris to do the honor of shaking his hand. I want to ram Sam into the wall for talking to Chris in such a rude manor. He usually is really nice, why the sudden change in character? Chris narrows his eyes at Sam, ever so slightly, trying to figure out Sam's deal.
"Nice to meet you, Sam." I'm impressed at how calm Chris sounded, when his figure seemed so tense and angry. Although, I could be the only one who notices his anger, since he is concealing it so well. Sam gives Chris another warning look before stepping aside to let Chelsea in.
"Hi Chris, I've heard so much about you, I hope you find yourself liking it here. You are welcome to hang out with us whenever you want. I just know that we are all going to get along well. I'm Chelsea, the…motivator of the group." Chelsea beams and shakes Chris's hand, being clean, honest and polite. Chelsea is someone who I can definitely deal with.
"Nice to meet you Chelsea. It's great to know that I already have people who I feel comfortable with at this school. Thank you so much for making me feel at home already. Now I hate to run away, but I have to go meet with the principle and…organize some things." Chris grins at everyone with the kindest of all looks I have ever seen someone give, except Sam that is, where his eyes lightly brush over him. Chris turns to me, eyes glittering with hope that hadn't been there before. "Miranda, do you think that you could bring me to the office? I'm not really sure where it is."
"Sure." I see my reflection swimming in Chris's eyes. Chris is still haggard and worn out, but something has begun to burn within him. Someone clears their throats before speaking up.
"Bye, Chris." Sam spits, forcing Chris to tear his gaze from my own. Sam backs out of the group and looks at me accusingly, before his eyes become gentler. "See you later Miranda." He says softly and stumbles away, clutching his back pack close to him.
"Maybe you'll be in one of my classes." Dawn winks and rolls her eyes at Sam. "Hey wait up!" She shouts speeding up to catch up with him.
"
See you later dude!" John nods his head in a friendly matter.
"Yeah, later man." Ron claps Chris's shoulder before tugging Cameron away. Cameron spins around and opens her mouth, but I must be doing something because once she looks at me, her mouth snaps closed and she simply waves and runs after Ron. Chelsea steps up next, a little quirk on her face.
"Well now you've met our interesting little group. Have a good day." Chelsea nods knowingly at me before sauntering off with John. For what she looked at me like that for, I'm not sure, but I suppose it doesn't matter, as I turn to Chris again.
"Hey Miranda, is there something going on between you and Sam?" Chris blurts out, but then he modestly runs his hand through his hair and tries to switch the topic. "Anyway, lead the way." That's another thing I like about Chris, he doesn't force the answers out of you, he patiently waits until you are ready to tell him.
I do what I am told and step into stride with Chris, taking a left turn down the corridor. We don't speak for half of the way there until something pops inside of me. I can't have Chris thinking I am taken. Wait what are you- "Sam didn't officially say that he liked me, but he was hinting at it, and once he did…well I kind of just walked away. He and Chelsea haven't really talked to me last week, and so far, I've only had a 'see you later Miranda' from Sam this week." I cut off my thoughts before they end up confusing me again. Chris nudges me, a smile crinkling his eyes.
"Playing hard to get like always I see." He jokes to himself. I look up at him confused, what is he talking about? I don't play anything, I don't even want any of the guys to like me. Except for Chris that is, I want him to like me. That would be amazing if he likes me the way I like him. I feel like we would be together, forever, I know it. Listen to yourself! You can't get that stuck on a guy. Remember what happened to Cameron? "He's very possessive over you." Who the hell is he talking about? Oh right, Sam…
"He is?" Sam had barely talked to me lately, never mind being over protective of me.
"Did you see the way he glared at me to back off? He can see our closeness and he didn't like it, so he tried to scare me away from you." Chris takes a deep breath as he stands in front of the principles office. I ignore where we are and continue our conversation, before it is too late to talk to him at all.
"Well did it work?" I ask Chris with a smirk on my face. Chris sighs, the tiredness overtaking his features again. I didn't mean to make him upset, or anything like that, I am completely surrounded with guilt, which spread within me like a contagious disease.
"You should know the answer to that by now. Nothing could ever scare me away from you, not even yourself." Chris hugs me and winks at me before speaking again. "Wish me luck on my first day, I've requested to have classes with you. Other then that I probably won't see you for the rest of today, during lunch I have to see my teachers about extra help and later today I have stay after school for some tutoring and then I'm going work, so if I don't see you today, I'll see you tomorrow." He picks up my hand and squeezes it, I suppose it is to give himself some more confidence. I grimace; he is already drifting away from me. I shake the idea from my head and force a smile to my face.
"Right, totally. Just call me if you have any questions okay?" I feel like I am saying goodbye to him forever. It suddenly feels like the world is crushing down on me. Chris warily grins at me.
"If only I could." Oh right he doesn't have a phone…
"Right, well make sure you let me know, I'll see you in the mornings, and if you don't have work one day-"
"That one day would be Friday."
"Great, we'll catch up then for a few hours after school, if you want to of course; I mean I don't want to intrude."
"Miranda its impossible for you to intrude." Chris murmurs. I find myself smiling at the idea.
"Remember what I said." My thoughts are coming out as a jumbled mess in my head. I can't tell what I want, or what I fear, or what I need to be cautious of. The only thing that I do know is that Chris is in front of me, and everything might change after this. Just like it did 2 years ago.
"You've said a lot of things today, Miranda." He doesn't say the words harshly, but more like he has a headache, and he's tired, and he wants to get this over with. My smile falters a little bit, this is exactly like 2 years ago.
"Be careful of who you hang out with, I don't want to see you get hurt." I manage, through a broken smile. Chris opens his mouth to say something, but then he notices my expression and engulfs me in an embrace.
"This isn't goodbye forever, this is goodbye until I see you in class. No, its not even a goodbye, I wont allow it to be. This is seeing you later." He clutches me closer to him and all I can do is to breathe him in, and feel his warmth. Suddenly I am very calm and peaceful and I agree with him. What was I thinking, that we would never talk again? We would, Chris is polite enough that he would tell me if he didn't want us to be friends again. How silly of me!
"Ahem, there are no signs of affection allowed inside of school property." The principles beady little eyes glare at me as I pull away from him. My sense of warmth and calmness has escaped me, and is replaced with anger and a cold touch. I glare right back at her. I open my mouth to say 'well obviously you weren't there when Mark was basically raping Amber in the cafeteria last week,' but Chris places his hand on my shoulder, telling me I better calm down.
"Sorry, but we are just friends." Chris coaxes his head and smiles innocently. As I look up at him I roll my eyes, but then I beam as well. Not because I want to get on the principles good side, but because his smile made me feel happy.
"Yes well that hug told me that you are friends who want to be more then 'just friends.'" The principle says in a squawk, she honestly looks like an ugly fat crow. Chris and I blush madly, but we don't move away from each other. I sigh Chris always being the straight A student that he is, probably is relating this to torment. I might as well free him from it.
"This is Chris Mayson, your new student, and I was just wishing him good luck on his first day." I try to keep my voice from edginess, but I don't think it really works. The principle looks at me through narrow slits for eyes.
"Chris Mayson, it doesn't ring a bell." Chris looks embarrassed as he steps forward a little bit.
"Actually it's Chris Fedelity." I'm a little taken back, wasn't that his foster families last name? Usually when you are put back into adoption you have your original families last name. Jefferson was my blood parents last name, thank god I didn't keep the foster parents last name, that would be horrible. I stare at Chris confused, but then I return my gaze to the principle, I could ask Chris about it later.
"Ahh, nice to meet you Chris, come and step into my office." The principle opens her door and waits for Chris to go inside. Chris's hand slips down from my shoulder, to my hand and he squeezes it before shooting me one more glance and entering the dark pit that is the principles office. The principle gives me another bad look and shuts her door.
Today is going to be amazing, I can just feel it. Yeah, I wish.
A/N: ok so cool! I do in fact have 15 reviews for ch 10, and we went over! that makes me so happy! Anyway, so i know this is a long chapter, i couldnt find a place to stop! but after this chapter oh god, all there is going to be is drama to action to drama to romace to action to drama to romance! its going to be crazy! so keep tuned :) and thank you to Heartie Sarah, Emma, Topazdestined, BinkyBaby, Sammy and Claire Blake! Thank you to all who reviewed! its amazing, thank you so much for reading, hope you enjoyed!