Thank you to Alexandria M and corbettluv for reviewing :)
"Roman, she's gorgeous." I told my friend as he got lunch with me today. He's currently on the school's football team and one of the star athletes. Hell, he was considered by some as THE star athlete. "Long hair, blue eyes, and a smile that makes her look cute when she does."
Some would look at us and wonder how the hell two people on completely different levels of the social ladder ended up being best friends, but we didn't care. We were brothers and he knew me better than a lot of people here.
"I want to see this girl that you keep talking about." Said Roman. "You never talk about anybody like this and it's only the second week of school. I mean, I've heard of a new girl, but I haven't noticed her I don't think."
Looking around, I saw Leah walking to her locker with two bags. One was her bookbag and another was the bag that I had seen in her locker with glimpses here and there of clothes. She had on ripped jeans and sneakers that were beginning to look beat up as she opened up her locker as well as looking tired.
Roman just cleared his throat when he noticed what had my attention and he left my side to go up to her. "Ro, wait!"
"Hey, my name is Roman." He told her as he walked up to her. "You must be Leah."
She just looked up at him and smiled. "Hey, nice to meet you. How do you know my name?"
"It doesn't take long before everyone at school knows of someone new." He replied. "Dean is right though."
"About what?" She asked as she looked at me.
Before Roman could reply, I interrupted. "Nothing! Just that you're smart. Leah's taking AP Physics this semester. She's also taken AP Chemistry, AP Trigonometry, and AP Calculus at her old school."
Leah looked at me and arched an eyebrow. "If you and Dean are friends, then maybe I'll see you around. It was nice meeting you, but I have to get to class."
She grabbed her books and closed her locker before giving us both a smile and walking away. Roman gave me a smirk.
"Leah really does look good." He told me. "You really are right about that."
0.0
I heard footsteps coming from behind me, but I ignored them. By the sound of them, I knew that it was Dean so I kept walking. He's been ignoring me for the last two weeks and I didn't know why. I guess that the thoughts running through my mind must have slowed me down because I felt an arm grab me a bit roughly. I snapped back at him, almost hitting him in the face when I swung. Dean ducked just in time for me to miss.
"Damn, you're fiesty today." He said as he straightened himself up.
Rolling my eyes, I turned around and began to walk again and heard Dean trying to catch up with me again.
"What's wrong with you, Leah?" He asked. "Two weeks ago, you were fine and now you want nothing to do with me."
"Two weeks ago, you weren't ignoring me." I replied.
His eyes widened. "So that's what this is about?" Dean scoffed and and laughed as he looked around at the empty hallway. "What is it with you girls? A guy ignores you and you get upset over it? You didn't want to hang out with me when I asked, just in case you wanted to know."
It stung a bit when he thought that him ignored me upset me as much as he thought it did, but I didn't show it. "I never said 'no', Dean. I said that I didn't know about you coming to pick me up. I don't exactly have the most perfect living conditions right now."
"What's so bad about your living conditions, Leah that you can't tell me anything?" He asked.
"Don't worry about it." I replied. "Let me meet you somewhere."
Dean made a face. "No, not until you tell me."
"You're not going to let this go, are you?" I asked him softly.
He shook his head. "Nope. Not until you tell me."
"Damn it, Dean!" I exclaimed as I sighed heavily and looked around as I leaned my head back. I looked at him again to see Dean walking towards me slowly. "I'm homeless, Dean. It wasn't even two weeks after being here that I was already homeless!"
"I thought you lived with your mom." He said.
I just looked at him. "I did. But her husband tried to have sex with me one day while she wasn't home. I tried to tell her and she wouldn't believe me. When he tried it again, I threatened to go to the police so he kicked me out. He would rather have me out of the house than have his reputation ruined. My mother just stood there watching me pack my things, pleading for her to believe me, but she wouldn't. I walked out of that door the very next day with my bag which is the same bag you see in my locker and when I stopped to look back, Mom was just standing there watching me leave. Not once did she come out and stop me from leaving, she was staring right at me and she didn't stop me."
Leaning up against a wall, I looked down at the floor before looking back up at him. "I walked away with my head held high and and not once did she come after me or call out my name to stop me from leaving. She stayed by his side and defended him no matter how many times I told her about what had happened. I've been homeless ever since. But the thing is, Dean...I've been in and out of shelters since I was five, so being homeless is nothing new to me. That's why I was hesitant to have you pick me up but not once did I ever tell you that I wouldn't hang out with you. I would have gladly said yes but now you know why I didn't."
"Where do you sleep?" He asked quietly.
"At the park, but I'm close to finding a way to sneak back into the school for when it starts getting cold." I replied. "I'm not going back to a shelter, I wanna make it on my own and I'm not running back to my mother. I'm not going to beg anyone for anything, I never have and I won't start now. Call it pride, call it what you will. I'll be just fine either way. I don't want people to feel sorry for me, Dean and I don't want anyone's pity. I'll be okay. By the way, if you want to ignore me, fine. Go ahead and do it. Just have a damn good excuse for it instead of some petty bullshit."
His blue eyes pleaded for me to stick around a little longer, but I couldn't. Turning around, I looked at the time and saw that class was almost over. I groaned and walked back to my locker to put my books away. There was no sense in going to class when there was only ten minutes left. When I looked back, Dean was already gone. There was a part of me that hadn't wished that he left but I understood why. A lot of people would think that I came with a lot of baggage and some wouldn't want to deal with that.
All I could think about at the moment was Dean's blue eyes and his dirty blonde hair. He looked so adorable with those dimples of his and how he wore his hair sometimes. I shook my head to erase the thoughts from my mind and went on with my day.
When my last class was done for the day, I grabbed my bag from my locker and everything else that I needed and made my way out the door. It was a forty-five minute walk to and from school if I was to go from the park. I decided to go the library instead and do some studying. Getting an education seemed to be the only thing that could help me get out of the situation that I was in. With no other way of being able to pay for college, I was going to make sure that I got a scholarship which is why I always took so many AP courses and made sure that I always made straight 'As' and got a good score on my PSATs and SATs.
On my way to the library, I smiled at the familiar looking building. It was a one story building made of crimson bricks. It kept a great upkeep, both inside and out. It was a safe haven for me and I would spend hours upon hours there, never wanting to leave. But then I saw a familiar figure standing by the door. He had on a black leather jacket, jeans and sneakers with a bag on his shoulder. I assumed at first that it was a bookbag because of how far away from him that I was.
"Dean?" I asked in surprise as I saw the blue eyed, dirty blonde guy. I was surprised to him anywhere near a library. I'm surprised that he even knows how to get here at all as he gave me that smile of his.
"That Vanessa girl that you're always with told me that you'd be here." He replied. "So I figured that I'd meet you here."
Looking into his eyes, I could tell that he was genuine with what he was saying. He wasn't being an asshole at the moment and I enjoyed that side of him. He followed me inside, even though I didn't say anything to him. We sat at my usual table that was in a private and quiet corner of the library and got comfortable.
"What's in the bag?" I asked Dean while I took out my books and placed them on the table.
I heard him opening the zipper to his bag and placing it on the table, allowing me to see what was inside. Seeing some clothes in it, I looked up at him.
"You're not the only one who's not living at home." He replied. "I left last night and I slept a few blocks away from the park. An alley if you want to be specific, so we're kinda in the same boat here when it comes to housing."
"What happened?" I asked quietly as I sat down.
He put his bag in the seat next to him and fixed his hair, which really meant him messing up his hair a little more.
"My mom was having one of her drug parties as she likes to call them." Dean replied. "She got mad at me because I asked her if they could be quiet so that I could sleep and she hit me, so I left. It's not the first time and it won't be the last."
"I'm sorry." I whispered.
Dean shook his head. "Don't be. I'm the one that should be sorry. I didn't realize that there may have been something going and I should have, instead of being an idiot about it like I was. I just assumed that maybe you were just trying to reject me in the nicest way possible and that you didn't care enough to want anything to do with me outside of school, so I ignored you...without completely ignoring you."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"When Roman said that I was right earlier today when you two met..." He started off. "...He meant that I was right about how look. Anybody sees you in school and your grades and they know that you're smart as hell with a quick glance. But they don't realize how gorgeous you are until they meet you personally and see you up close. Just because I didn't talk to you, doesn't mean that I didn't notice you."
I looked down and smiled as my cheeks grew warm.
"Why do you always do that when you get a compliment?" Dean asked.
"Do what?" I asked him in return.
"Look down." He responded.
I waited a while before responding. "I'm not used to getting them. I don't remember the last time I had one before I met you."
We shared a smile before turning my attention to the books on the table. Dean ended up helping me study while making some jokes and making me laugh uncontrollably. After leaving the library, it was 8:00 at night and we stood in front of the doors.
"So what are you going to do for dinner?" Dean asked.
I shrugged. "Depends on what I have enough money for."
"Let's go get some Chinese food." He said to me. "I'll chip in."
I looked at him and tucked my hair between my ears.
"What?" Dean asked. "I'm not going to leave you out here by yourself and I'm not going to let you go through this alone."
"Dean, you don't have to do that." I told him, genuinly even though my heart soared knowing that he cared enough to suggest it.
"I want to." He replied. "And I think I may have found a way to sneak into the school. We don't have much time until Winter comes around. It gets really cold here even though you may be used to it. It probably gets pretty cold in New York."
I smiled and nodded. "Pretty cold, but I've gotten used to it."
"See, I remembered where you're from." Dean said with a silly grin.
I couldn't help but laugh and playfully pushed him before we went on our way to the Chinese restaurant.
A/N: Why do you think Dean stepped in when Roman was about to tell him what Dean had said about how Leah looked? Why do you think that the truth about why Leah didn't accept hanging out with him right away made Dean change his way of thinking? Do you think it'll last?