"Guys, this is Cress. She's a friend of mine," Thorne said. He gestured to the place where Cress was supposed to be standing, but she wasn't there. Thorne twirled around to find her trying to hide herself from Wolf and Jacin. Thorne laughed nervously. "Sorry guys. As cute as she might be, she's sorta shy."
Cress came out from behind, mostly hiding her face behind her hair. Next to Jacin, a girl, the most beautiful girl Thorne has ever seen, giggled and said to Cress, "It's alright, Cress. We don't bite. Trust me."
Wolf, with his crazy hair and super muscular body, said in a rough, but not mean voice, "If she doesn't want to sit with us, you guys can sit somewhere else. Not that much of a big deal, right Jacin?" But Jacin was too busy to tell some kids that were whispering about the girl that was sitting next to Jacin, to scram. The poor guys were scrambling away, and Jacin put a protective arm around the girl, while she seemed to notice nothing.
Thorne sighed, and Cress slowly moved her hair from her face, and said, "Hello… My name is Crescent Moon. I go by Cress, though." The girl next to Jacin smiled beautifully.
"That's beautiful. My name's Winter Hayle-Blackburn. I'm the stepsister of the principal at this school. She's Levana Blackburn. It's pleasant to meet you." Winter said this slowly, like she was reciting a poem.
Thorne grinned, glad that Cress was making progress, and said, "Well, the super-muscular guy is Wolf. He looks scary, but he's harmless. I think." Thorne chuckled at Cress's perplexed face. "And the guy sitting next to Winter is Jacin. He's sort of annoying when he talks, though. And you don't want to get on his bad side." Cress nodded carefully, and looked up at Thorne.
"Well, what do you know? Our very own Captain Thorne is almost back to himself again, just like how he was 5 years ago." Scarlet came from behind Thorne and Cress, and sat in front of Wolf. Wolf froze, as if someone had pressed pause on a remote control. "Well, what are you doing? Aren't you going to sit down?" Scarlet patted the chair next to her, and Thorne took a seat. "Who's the new girl?" Scarlet asked.
"That's my friend, Cress. She's new this year." Thorne started to dig into his food, and Cress sat next to him.
"Yeah, I sort of noticed that when you made the whole racket about being 'new' to this school this year. What was that about? Trying to show your arrogant side off, but failed?" Scarlet snickered. Wolf was still frozen, his bright green eyes fixed on Scarlet. She didn't seem to notice.
"Oh, I don't know. Trying to save a damsel in distress, I guess you can call it." Thorne winked at Cress, and she squirmed from the attention she got.
Just then, Wolf suddenly sprang up, and walked to the other side of the cafeteria as fast as he could. Scarlet frowned. "What's wrong with him? Ate something bad, or what?"
Jacin shrugged, his arm still around Winter. "Dunno. Been acting weird ever since you came. You must smell bad or something. Don't blame him, though." Scarlet rolled her eyes, and muttered something under her breath.
Beside him, Cress started to poke at her food, and she smiled at Thorne when he smiled at her. The feeling was amazing, like he was earning a sticker when he was younger from his teacher. Earning a smile from Cress made his whole day.
After lunch was over, Thorne walked Cress over to her class, and on the way, he saw the director's son, Kai, and Cinder fighting over something in an empty lab room. There were a lot of hand movements, and angry faces. Thorne stopped, and so did Cress. He smiled his mischievous grin he hasn't smiled in forever, and said, "Let's eavesdrop. This looks pretty interesting."
Cress widened her eyes into an alarming state, and whispered, "But isn't that a bad thing, Captain?"
Thorne shook his head. "Not if you're with me, you're not."
They both walked over to the door, and crouched right front of the door, and put their ears on the door. Even though it was a bit muffled, Thorne could hear just fine.
Kai: I don't get it. Why won't you even consider it? I'm sorry for what I've done in the past, bu—
Cinder: I don't want to talk about the past. Not with you anyways. Why do you even care? We might have had the same feelings back then, but I don't.
Woah. Cinder and Kai were dating? Thorne thought. Now this was shocking.
Kai: But I still do. Don't you get it? I still like you! I'm not over you, and whenever I see you, I just want to run over to you and hug you like crazy!
Cress beside Thorne squirmed at all the gossip they were hearing, and Thorne said, "I bet you 50 univs that they end up kissing. Deal?" Cress shushed him.
Cinder: I already told you. My feelings have changed! I don't like you anymore!
Silence. Thorne and Cress looked at each other, peeked over the door's window, and immediately ducked back down. Thorne whispered, "You owe me!" and Cress slapped his arm, softly, to shut him up.
What Thorne and Cress saw was unspoken, but they both saw it. Kai holding and kissing so tightly, that Cinder couldn't move at all. They didn't know if Cinder was kissing Kai back or not, but they both didn't get to know what was going to happen next, because someone tapped them on the shoulder.
Cress and Thorne turned around abruptly, and stared at who tapped on their shoulder. It was Torin. Cress looked worriedly at Thorne, but he winked at her, as if he were saying, I got it, girl.
"Excuse me, Mr. Throne and Miss. Moon. May I ask what you two may be doing on the floor in front of the lab's room?" Torin frowned at them.
"Well, you see, I found this trail of ants, a few days ago, before you came to this job. We were experimenting with these crumbs of bread to see if they would come again." Thorne pulled out a piece of bread that was for lunch. "See that corner over there? I found the ants there and was showing Cress today."
Cress nodded, not saying a word. They both stood up, trying to hide Kai and Cinder in the back. Thorne cleared his throat and said with a loud voice, "Well, I guess the ants aren't coming today. We'll come tomorrow, right Cress?"
"Ye-yeah! Of course. I really want to see the ants. It's very, very interesting." Thorne looked surprisingly at Cress. She blushed a bright pink, and cleared her throat. It was the first time Thorne had heard Cress talk in a loud voice.
Torin nodded, looking at them, probably thinking, Well, I guess there are students who like ants, too. Since he just started working as a teacher, he probably had no idea that Thorne was lying to him. In the room, Thorne could hear, "We'll talk about this later," from an angry Cinder. Luckily, since Torin was already walking away, only Cress and Thorne had heard this.
Thorne sighed in relief, and raised a hand for a high-five from Cress. She awkwardly raised her hand, and slid it against Thorne's hand. Thorne frowned. "Really? You call that a high-five? Come on, do it harder."
Right when Cress was going to give her second try, the door opened, cramming Cress and Thorne into wall, in between the door. Cress froze, and so did Thorne. Stars, she's beautiful. But he quickly recovered, and smiled teasingly at Cress. Cress was still frozen, her hands against Thorne's chest. They stayed like this until the door behind Thorne closed, and Cinder and Kai were gaping at them.
Thorne backed away, and Cress stumbled. Thorne caught her before she fell and said, "Woah, Damsel. You okay, there? You must be flattered from my very attractive face, seeing it close up." He kept in his laughter when Cress stumbled away from him, and she was shaking her head.
"N-no, Captain. It's just that… it surprised me, and I wasn't in the right position to stand." Cress stood correctly and looked past Thorne, to look at Cinder and Kai.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you guys okay? I didn't know… wait… were you guys eavesdropping on us?!" Cinder practically screeched.
Thorne turned around and rolled his eyes. "Wow, mechanic girl. I thought you were smart enough to know that Cress and I saved your butts out here. If you were caught kissi— ". Thorne stopped when Cinder gave him a warning glare. "Anyways, apology accepted, except you interrupted our high-five?"
Cress spoke up, "I'm sorry we eavesdropped, but I promise that I will never tell anyone what happened. And neither will Captain, right?" Cress looked at Thorne expectantly. Thorne sighed.
"Yes, I promise not to tell anyone and will not talk about this to anyone except maybe you two and Cress. Now, if that meets your terms in the contract of Not-Telling-Anyone-What-Cress-And-I-Saw, we'll be on our way now." Thorne grabbed Cress's hand, and dragged her down the hallway.
"Um… Captain?"
"Yes, Damsel?"
"You and I have the same 3rd period. And it's on the other side of the building."
"Right. I know that."
"Then where are we going?"
"Wolf said he needed to talk to me, so we're going to meet him first. Don't worry, we won't be late for class."
Soon, Cress was dragged into another empty lab room, and they both saw Wolf waiting for Thorne. He looked up, and brightened when he saw Thorne, but darkened a little when he saw Cress. Thorne felt Cress squirm beside him.
"Hey, Wolf. What did you need to talk about?" Thorne was still holding Cress's hand, and pretended that he didn't know he was holding her hand.
Wolf cleared his throat. "I wanted to talk to you. Alone."
Cress let go of Thorne's hand and said, "Oh, sure. I-I'll be waiting outside, Captain." Cress went out of the room and soon it was quiet in the room. Wolf broke the silence.
"So, you and shorty, huh?" Wolf snickered.
"What? Oh, you're talking about Cress. No, she's just a friend," Thorne stuttered out.
Wolf rolled his eyes. "Sure, sure."
"Whatever, muscle man. What did you need to tell me?" Thorne propped himself up onto a lab table, and crisscrossed his legs. Wolf started pacing back and forth in front of Thorne. He was also biting his nails. Thorne thought it was a bit funny to see his muscle man nervous. "Well? What is it?"
"You know the girl who sat with us at lunch?" Wolf asked, still pacing.
"Um… you mean Cress?" When Wolf shook his head, Thorne said, "Winter? Scarlet?" Wolf nodded.
"Yeah, Scarlet. There's something about her, and I can't stop thinking about her. Her eyes. Especially her hair." Wolf was staring at the wall as he said this.
Thorne mustered back a laugh. Then he said seriously, "Well, I think that you have a very strange seriously, "Well, I think that you have a very serious case that starts with a 'L' and ends with an 'E'."
Wolf paused his pacing. Silence. Then: "Lice?"
Thorne laughed. "No, Wolf. I'll tell you about it, but I got to go take Cress to class." Wolf shook his head.
"I've never seen you follow a girl before. Most of the time, it's the girls that are following you."
Thorne jumped off the table. "I don't know. I just have a feeling to protect her, that's all." After a second of thinking, Thorne said again, "Maybe I have the same serious case with you, just with a different person… Whatever. See you later muscle man."
Thorne walked out of the door, and saw Cress jump when he opened the door. He felt the blood drain out of his face. "C-Cress? Did you hear everything we just said?"
Cress shook her head. "No, Captain. I was just starting to get worried that we would be late to class, and was going to get you…"
Thorne sighed in relief. "Thank the stars. You're right. We should be going to class now." Thorne grabbed Cress's hand again, and started to walk down to her class.
"Captain?" Cress asked a few minutes before they got to their class.
"Yes, Damsel?"
"What do you call something when you feel your heart race every time you see a specific person?"
"I'd like to think that as love, or liking someone."
"I think I like you, Captain."
Thorne froze. Cress stumbled from the sudden stop, and Thorne caught her before she could fall. When she was standing up correctly, Thorne sighed.
"I can't believe it took you 6 hours for you to figure that out. I must be losing my touch."
Cress giggled and sighed. "I don't know, Captain. Every time I see you, I feel light headed, and I want to spend more time with you."
"Look, Cress. You're really sweet and all, but we just met. I think you're misunderstanding thankfulness with liking me. You see… I've helped you a lot today, right?" Thorne looked down at her.
Cress nodded, her blue eyes wide again.
"And… you're really grateful for what I did, right?"
"Of course, Captain."
"Well…" Honestly, Thorne was having the moment of his life right now. He couldn't believe that she liked him! But… he knew that Cress deserved better, and that she was probably misunderstanding thankfulness with liking someone. "I don't know, Cress. I like you, too, but you deserve a lot more than me."
Cress shook her head. "I'm fine with you, Captain. I can't be myself around anyone else because they're just so… scary. I don't know. But you're so comfortable to be around, and I keep finding myself to look for you, and I feel my heart racing whenever I see you."
Thorne was silent. Everybody around him was loud and noisy, but Cress and Thorne were in their own world, and they couldn't hear anything else.
"Um… Captain?"
"Yes, Damsel?"
"We'll be late for class if we keep staying still here."
"Right. Right. We're going right now."
They started walking again, and outside the classroom's door, Thorne said, "Look, we'll talk about this later, but think harder about whether you like me or not. I still think that you're just grateful about the things I've done to you and for you."
"Whatever Captain. Let's just get in before the bell rings. Oh, and we should do our high-five again soon," and Cress went inside.
Thorne sighed, scratched the back of his head, said, "Sure, Damsel. Sure," and followed her inside.