Unshed Tears

I yanked my bag under my desk and pulled out a notebook and pen. The bell wrung, and I got lost in writing.

“Miss. Castle? May?” our teacher said. “Why don’t you come up front and explain to the class.”

Slowly I got to my feet, kicking my bag and sending pain through my foot as I stood. Although it stung my feet, I managed to stumble to the front of the class room and collect myself before the white bored. When I finished my thoughts I was met by the blank stares of my class mates, all besides Jake and Jace. Jace was writing something on a small piece of paper, his light curly hair shading his speckled eyes. Out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed a few words. He was talking about me! I tried to let it go as nothing, but since I couldn’t know all of what he said, it bothered me.

Classes flew by. Most of the time, in class, I was writing anything that came to mind out of a silly hope that once I was done I could go back and read it all and make some sense of it. I filled up close to forty pages of writing by the time we reached lunch.

“I need a good caffeine fix,” I grumbled as I reached towards the number pad on the vending machine. “E5. Don’t be out. Do not be out.” Cold red Mt. dew dropped from the slot, rattling around as it slid down for me to grab. “Yes!” I scooped down, curling my fingers around the icy cold bottle, soaking up the numbing effect with joy.

Jake laughed and inserted his own dollar. “You’re addicted,” he said as he hit E5 as well. Another drink rattled to the bottom of the machine, and he picked it up. “What do you want to do this weekend?” he asked out of the blue.

Turning, we headed out into the open, Mt. dews in hand. “How about just hang out and watch movies or something. I like things simple.” The corner of my mouth twitched as I managed a small smile.

He nodded as we got closer to the court yard, to where our friends sat around eating lunch and laughing. Amy spotted us first and waved from out on the grass. I plopped down next to her as I uncapped my soda. Kathy and Kathleen sat down across from us, already yelling about something. Kathleen gripped a camera in his pale hand that she was waving around like a mad man.

“I’m going for food,” Jake said. I smile up at him and watched as he headed into the cafeteria, his black hair swaying at his shoulders. This was a great time for me to check him out, and I sure was taking advantage of it.

Amy smirked and elbowed me, wiggling her eyebrows when I turned my face to her. “You are so lucky,” she said.

“What?” I asked, truly confused.

She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak right when Jace dumped his bag on my foot.

“Bloody hell!” I said, yanking my legs up to my chin. Taking a deep breath, I tilted my head up, and stared at his gorgeous honey eyes, forgetting my moment of pain. It was too hard to stay angry at him, but I tried. Jace chuckled and sat down next to me, reaching out his hand toward my soda. I swatted his hand away, ignoring the sensation it caused when our fingers brushed. It was more then the mere burn it caused because he had to radiate heat, and it was far more then the numbing sensation that had settled over me in place of the pain.

“Where did you get your gloves?” Kathleen asked.

Mentally cringing, I tried to keep a straight face as I mumbled, “I don’t remember.” Beneath the rough material, threads poked the cuts that had reopened.

Then someone else joined us, and I felt my lips turn up even more as Amy shifted over. He sat down to my right, our arms bumping, but there was no sensation, just a cold brush against my already cool skin.

They got into a debate, and I fell into silence, getting my fix of caffeine. Every time Jake moved his skin brushed mine, and on the other side of me, Jace’s arm was pressed against mine lightly. Added to the sugar rush, it was enough of a distraction that I did not notice how much Jake and Jace were arguing. There opinions and views were completely different, and they yelled over each other to be heard.

Amy reached around Jake and poked my arm, dragging me back into reality.

“That’s stupid!” Jace was exclaiming.

“What are you talking about; it’s a closed minded, bigoted idea…” Jake probably would have gone on forever if I had not clapped my hand over his and Jace’s mouth.

Jace pulled back and got to his feet. Turning around, he stormed off to a table filled with his fellow jocks and girls in the trendy preppy pink clothes. Sadly, my eyes fallowed him all the way across the grass. Each of his long strides took a piece of my heart and crushed it once his sneakers hit the grass. There was nothing that could pull my longing gaze away.

My hand was pulled down, wrapped in coldness from someone’s skin. Blinking rapidly I put on a smile and turned to Jake, letting his image consume me to the very core. His black hair was pushed back, giving full sight to his chocolate eyes and creamy skin. Light lips turned up in a small smile and his fingers curled around mine.

I let that image carry me through the rest of the day. Mask still in place, I skipped through the door to my last class. Jake had gone ahead of me, and I spotted him with his nose in a thick book. He was getting an even amount of stares as I was, but his were from smiling girls just waiting for him to look up so they might bat their mascara eyelashes and turn away shyly with rosy blushes tinting the powdered cheeks.

Taking my seat beside him I pulled out my note book and a new pen. I found my last page and took to writing, but before my pen could even touch the page, a neon pink paper with scrawled purple ink flew onto my desk. At first it seemed harmless; it merely read Are you dating Jake? Then I looked around to see who it came from, and I saw Jena snickering over a binder filled with the same neon paper, a purple pen balanced between two manicured fingers.