The Five Dimensions Part 1: Shadow World

Chapter 9

Nolan and Hailey were walking through the school canteen, looking for a place to sit.

"We can sit there." Nolan pointed to a small free table in the corner. Hailey had started to walk in that direction automatically, when she saw the new boy's eyes looking at her. He looked at the empty Nolan had pointed out and smiled, knowing that Hailey was going to sit there, and he was standing right next to it. Abruptly, she stopped walking and Nolan bumped into her.

"Ouch. What's wrong?" he said, putting his soda can up again, since it had fallen over.

"Isn't there any other table where we can sit?" she replied, looking around. The canteen had never had many tables and you had to be early to get one at all. What would you expect of a school that had two large hockey fields, which even had special heating so the fields wouldn't freeze during the winter? Of course, they could not lose a bit of money on canteen tables.

"Nope. It's that table or no table," Nolan answered her. Silently, they walked to the table and sat down. She took the time to fix an unwelcoming sneer on her face.

Hailey had the opportunity to take exactly one bite of her lunch before the new boy came to sit across her, next to Nolan. Even though she sternly looked away from him, his presence was hard to ignore. The smell of roses was back again. She noticed it wasn't the kind of smell rose perfumes had, it was the odor of the actual flower as if there were some in his pocket.

"I forgot to tell you my name," the boy said towards Hailey's direction, but she fixed her eyes on her food and didn't give a reply.

"Hey. You're the new kid, right?" Nolan said, putting his hand in the air for the boy to shake. "I'm Nolan Coleman."

"Ash Alborn," the boy said, shaking Nolan's hand. Then looking at Hailey again. "So, what about you?"

She remained quiet.

"She's usually a lot more talkative," Nolan apologized jokingly, looking confused. How could Nolan sometimes be annoyingly perceptive when she didn't want him to, but then other times he didn't understand any of the clear signs she was giving. Most of the time, Hailey was okay with that, it was something she liked about his character. Now, it annoyed her nearly as much as the boy – Ash, apparently – did.

"I don't think she likes me that much," Ash said, a little disappointed. She wasn't sure whether he was genuine because she wasn't studying his face closely. Anyway, what did she care?

"Oh, she doesn't like many people. What did you do?" replied Nolan with a laugh. Hailey tried to keep her mouth shut and keep up her ignoring act; not the easiest thing to do for her.

"I think I became popular. It's what she said," he suggested uncertainly.

"Oh man, that's bad. She does not like popular people," Nolan said seriously. Then he and Ash both laughed.

"Do you think she's going to keep her mouth shut for much longer?" Ash asked, looking at Hailey intentionally. As if he thought that she would start talking if he looked at her the right way.

"Nah, she can't not talk," Nolan said, only giving Hailey a quick glance and then turning back to Ash. Nolan had at last picked up on that he should be careful not to anger her too much with his jokes.

"Why doesn't she like popular people, anyway?"

At that moment, Hailey couldn't hold herself back anymore and opened her mouth.

"I tell you why I don't like them, they're―" Before she could go on, Julia jumped up behind Ash.

"What are you doing here, Ash?" she said with a big smile and a terrible, and obviously fake, sweet voice.

"I've asked the same question several times," Hailey muttered under her breath, hoping the others didn't hear it. But they did, and Julia was the first to comment on it.

"Well, well, how I thought we'd never agree on anything." Julia spat the words out as if they tasted sour. "Let's get out of here, Ash, she's not someone to mingle yourself with. She injured my brother, you know." Julia already turned to leave, but Ash focused on Hailey, looking extremely surprised and fascinated.

"She did?" he asked with mild admiration. He didn't wait long enough for Julia to reply. Just when the girl was about to answer him, he continued, "She just became a lot more interesting."

"She is not interesting! Would you just go with me?" Julia's head turned red. She clearly felt abashed and maybe even slightly stupid by Ash's lack of attention. He turned and looked at Julia for a moment. From the movement of his shoulders, it looked like he sighed. But in the end, he stood up and started to walk away in the direction Julia indicated.

"It's Hailey. Hailey Fell," Hailey said, just hard enough for Ash to hear. Her voice was just as cold and unwelcoming as before. Ash, however, seemed pleased. He turned his head slightly, not quite looking over his shoulder, and smirked.