Rejected At First Sight (Spinoff Series)

24

Thank you for being so patient! I love you guys! Enjoy <3

Ash

As the bell signals lunch, I start to gather my things into my backpack. Clementine turns around in her chair and folds her arms across my desk. "Hey!"

I blink at her and drop Romeo and Juliet into my bag. "Hi."

"I heard that Sage invited you to lunch with us. Did you want to walk together?" She offered.

Zipping up my bag, I find that I can't make eye contact with her. I did want to hang out with Sage and all of his friends, and meet new people, but I just felt that everything was moving fast. "Actually, I was going to stop at my locker." I say as I stand up, still dodging her gaze. "You go on ahead." I assure her.

Clementine's lips twitched into a slight frown, like she saw through my lie. "Okay, well, we hope to see you there." She stands up and turns her head back to look at me before walking out the door. "Bye Ash." Clementine smiles and links arms with Ronnie as they disappear.

Instead of heading to my locker, I dip into the hallway making sure to keep my head down as I walked unnoticed into the empty stairwell. I went directly into the library, not crossing anyone's path. I nod to the librarian and walk into the bookshelves to my hidden table.

The window was slightly ajar today, letting the noises of the cafeteria distantly filter in. I let my bag fall off my shoulder and onto the ground. Moving around the table, I flick my hair over my shoulder. Looking down into the cafeteria, I trail my fingers through my hair absentmindedly.

I watch students as they flock to their cliques and mingle amongst themselves. Dark hair catches my attention as Jay walks into the cafeteria. I stand up a little straighter and watch as he scans the room, as if looking for someone.

A moment later Sage stands up from a table, waving Jay over. I cock my eyebrow at the friendly offer but find myself leaning forward. Jay moves to stand by Sage as they both look around the cafeteria again.

I let the hair between my fingertips slip out of my grasp.

Jay suddenly tilts his head up, his eyes instantly connecting with mine. I start, jolting back out of view of the window.

How had he known to look up?

I shake the thoughts out of my head and sit on top of the table, pulling out my water bottle. I take a few careful sips before setting it down.

Kicking my legs out, I jump off the table, gasping as the pain hit me.

It only lasted a second, but the movement had irritated the bruises. I breathed out, then in, out, in.

Lifting up the hem of my tank top, I looked at the still boldly colored bruises on my sides. Sighing, I dropped my shirt back down. I sit down in a chair and dig the heels of my hands into my eyes.

These painkillers were messing with my head.

I bent down and dug in my backpack, pulling out my math homework. Popping a piece of gum in my mouth and placing earbuds in my ears, I got to work.

Time passes quickly and soon I am walking out of the library, shoving my earbuds in the pocket of my jacket.

"Again with the mint gum?"

I turn my head behind me to see Sage leaning against the wall. I catch the humor in his eyes and let a smile brush past my lips. "What made you have such strong feelings about mint?"

Sage chuckled and fell in step with me. "Nothing in particular. Someone I used to know chewed it all the time."

I tucked my hair behind my ear. "Anything I missed in Chem?"