Chào các bạn! Vì nhiều lý do từ nay Truyen2U chính thức đổi tên là Truyen247.Pro. Mong các bạn tiếp tục ủng hộ truy cập tên miền mới này nhé! Mãi yêu... ♥

39. Enemy or Friend?

After an attack, I want to avoid everything... especially being touched by anyone. 

I feel raw. 

So, when Will texts to say he won't be at school today because of a computer science field trip, it's a gift that extends beyond not having to be around him. Nick and some of his gang are going too, since they all share that class.

Throughout the morning, I stare at each male face as they pass me in the hall. It's hard to look into each set of eyes without blinking or turning away. But the drawing of me behind the bleachers has me on edge. I hope to God the message was 'I know where you hide and I can find you,' and not 'I'm going to hurt you and your sister is next if you don't...'

If I don't, what? 

I come back to the same helpless thought. What does he want from me? 

My attention? 

He has it. Now all he has to do is get up the guts to talk to me and tell me why he's doing this.

At lunch, the idea of a walk is too much. The last thing I want is to give someone a chance to sneak up on me. I swallow, pushing the thought aside, and take a book from my locker. It's the first time I'm doing this, but I'm going to the cafeteria alone.

The lunchroom seems a little less crowded today when I enter. Still, there aren't any empty tables. Christine sits at a table by the window with a group of girls. She's hard to miss with her flaming red curly hair. But even though there's an empty spot right beside her, the look she gives me tells me I'm not wanted. 

Of course, she only likes me when I come with Will.

I hesitate, wondering where to go, when I spot Liz sitting in her usual spot, her limp blonde hair falling over the pages of a book she's reading.

"Hi," I say, standing above her.

She glances up and her lips purse before she continues what she's doing.

"Listen, I'm just going to sit here and read." I slide into the seat opposite her. "I won't bother you."

She stares up through pale azure eyes. "Sit wherever the hell you want." She scoffs, shaking her head. "As if I give a shit where you sit." 

I pull out a Tupperware of chili and broccoli and place it on the table while Liz surveys me with a flat expression.

"I'm Leila, by the way," I say without making eye contact.

"I know who you are," she snaps back.

"I know you do. We sat beside each other in Mr. Wolburn's math session and you're in my English class. But I thought I would introduce myself since you never want to acknowledge me."

Partly I'm doing this because Liz frustrates me. She waited for me outside of math class as if she was watching out for me and yet otherwise, she brushes past me like I don't exist. 

Mostly, I hate how she sits alone day after day and talks to no one. It disturbs me how she's treated like she's invisible because I've discovered in Ludford that being invisible is a euphemism for being disliked.

She puts her book aside again and gives me her full attention. "Okay, Leila. You want me to notice you?" she says with a hard edge. "I'll notice you."

I swallow, unnerved by her prolonged staring.

"What do want from me?" She pauses waiting for an answer. 

"You've got everything." The disgust in her voice is thick as she scrutinizes me through narrow eyes. "Go on. Tell me, what do you have to complain about?"

My brows lift at the aggression in her tone. I have no clue why she hates me so much.

"You're rich, aren't you? Your dad's a big-time surgeon. You don't need to worry about getting out of this place. You just ask and he'll hand you the tuition to go to any university."

I can't argue with her. It's the one thing my father cares about when it comes to me, but the rest isn't true. "I don't have everything. My parents are divorced. Things are pretty tight for me and my sister."

She looks away, mouth pursed. "Sure. That's why the runners you're wearing cost four hundred dollars."

"My dad bought them for me."

"So, if things are so tight, why doesn't he help you out more?" she asks. "I think you're full of it. Nothing about you adds up."

"He doesn't like my sister, okay, and he's tight-fisted when it comes to spending money on other people, especially people he thinks haven't earned it." 

My face flushes with heat as I defend myself, even though I owe her nothing, especially insight into my life. I immediately wish I could take back my words. "Can you keep that to yourself?" I say, lowering my voice. "It's not exactly something we're proud of."

Liz looks at me through small pale blue eyes. She must decide I'm not lying because she nods. "Who would I tell, anyway?" she says, picking up her paperback again. "I don't exactly have people lining up to hear me talk."

We sit, me eating, her reading, with just her quiet chewing breaking the stillness as she reaches for her cut carrots to take another bite. At one point, I catch her staring at me. She lingers on me for several moments after being caught, before her gaze meanders back to her book and turns a page.

When we're both packing our lunches as people around us start to rise and leave the cafeteria, she says, "I overheard what Wolburn said to you. I wouldn't go to any sessions with him alone if I were you."

The soft peace from the lunch we shared evaporates, replaced instead by the heavy uneasiness I carry with me everywhere, only it ratchets up several degrees.

"Why?"

She glances around to make sure no one is listening before she responds. "Ever notice how he treats Emily?"

I think back to math class and the girl with the straight black hair and heavy eye makeup who sits against the back wall, the girl he made move into Will's old spot when Hilary insisted she didn't want to sit with me.

"She was with me in his afternoon class for the first week and then there was some mixup with the timetable and they moved her to his morning class. Something is going on between those two and it's not good."

I swallow, unsure how to take her words.

"Before her, there was a girl named Amy. Same vibes. Same creepy attention to her. She left school in the middle of April last year. No one knows why. I see the way he is with you. That's not okay. What he said to you is also not okay."

The conversation I had in the car floats to the surface. "Will thinks he just wants to be considered the cool teacher everyone loves."

"Yeah, maybe to the guys he's like that, but he isn't stroking their necks."

I shiver, remembering his touch against my skin.

"Just stay away from him. Tell me when your next session is, and I'll come." A small wicked smile curls her lips. "Invited, or not."

"Aren't you afraid he might..."

Liz smiles, showing slightly crooked bottom teeth. "I live with my dad and messed up brother. I'm not afraid of anything."


[Author's Note: 

Sorry for the interruption in posting. Next installment will be Monday!]

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro