Call Me Crazy

“So you go by Niki now,” Mike stated. It wasn’t much of a question. I looked over at John; he looked confused. I sent him a look that said, ‘I’ll tell you about this later’ and I motioned for him to leave. John took the queue and left.

“Yeah,” I replied quietly, “I really am sorry. For everything. I understand if you hate me,” I studied his face. It appeared blank, but I could tell he was hiding something, some emotion behind his emerald eyes.

“I don’t hate you Niki,” he said, and then he changed the subject, “So where’s your next class?” I handed him my schedule.

“Here,” he said, handing it back, “We have third period together and we have the same lunch period, if you want to eat with me that is. It seems you’ve already made friends,”

“Oh, um, yeah,” I got out, “I have to go to history, but I’ll see you around” I said quickly before running off. I couldn’t stand talking to him without feeling low. He was just trying to be friendly, but I could tell I had hurt him. The guilt was getting to me.

I found the history room quickly and as I entered, once again, all heads turned to me. I quickly made my way to the back where Alexis was sitting. I sat down next to her and gave her a forced smile. I don’t think she noticed my discomfort.

“Ah, Miss Nichole, we meet again,” I heard a loud voice say. I looked up to see Mr. Stewart.

“Um, yeah, hi,” I said, hoping he would drop it.

“Would you like to tell us anything about yourself, Nichole?” he forced out, but only I could detect it.

“I like to be called Niki,” I said properly, hoping he would leave me alone. Apparently it worked, for he huffed and walked back to his desk to start the class.

All through the class, I felt some eyes on me. I would look up, but not see anyone looking at me. One time I looked up in time to see a tall boy with messy chocolate hair swiftly turn back around to the front. Before I looked away from him, I saw him look out of the corner of his eyes at me.

He seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I gave up on him and tried to focus on the teacher for the rest of the period.

When the bell rang, Alexis and I walked out of the room and I headed towards chemistry. I waved goodbye to her and promised to see her at lunch.

I entered the chemistry room and instantly ran into a hard object. I looked up, half expecting it to be a wall or something obvious like that, but it was someone’s back. The guy turned around to reveal the guy who was watching me during history class.

“Sorry,” I said, ducking my head and walking to find an empty seat. I spotted Mike, but noticed the seat next to him was already taken. He didn’t even acknowledge me. I found a seat, sat down and sighed. This day was going great: note the sarcasm.

I felt a presence next to me and looked up. This guy just kept turning up everywhere.

“I’m Adam,” He said with a charming smile, “You didn’t have to apologize for running into me, I shouldn’t have been standing there. It was my fault,” I gawked at his politeness.

“I’m Niki,” I finally said

“I know. I remember you from freshman year. You’ve really changed,” he said, looking over at me. His hair was flopping into his sapphire eyes, and that along with his lopsided grin made him adorable and ever so hard to resist.

I smiled, a genuine smile, for it was hard to keep a blank face around him. His mood was contagious.

I felt a glare rest upon me and looked up to meet Mackenzie’s icy stare. Her eyes flickered to Adam and then back to me. She drew her had up to her throat and made a slicing motion. I got the picture. Adam was her property and I was to stay away from him. But I wasn’t going to back down.

Oh it’s on, Mackenzie, it’s on.