36- Anchored-1

Danny slung his arm over my shoulders as he maneuvered me through the throngs of people heading to class. "I'll see you at lunch okay?" He smiled warmly at me before leaving me in front of my Chemistry class. I waved goodbye as he walked away, tension settling over my muscles as I faced the door. It had been about a month since I started school but no amount of time could make me used to the watching eyes or the curious whispers, rumours and gossip. It was hard being new and even harder to act like a normal person around these people, not that I'd been remotely successful at either. Since the day I'd arrived I had kept to myself, talking only to my aunt and uncle and Danny and even that was when they were really persistent; other than that, I spent the time I wasn't in school in my room. "Hey there partner." I resisted the urge to groan as my lab partner Carter greeted me with a wide smile, showing off his pearly whites. I must've given him some sort of response since his face lit up like the fireworks on the fourth of July. "You smiled at me..." he said in a slightly awed voice, his face coloured with disbelief. I shrugged and settled on the seat next to him. The desks in the room had been joined in sets of two as we had to work on our semester projects but sometimes I wished they'd just shove me into a corner and let me work on my own. I'd probably never graduate if that happened. "So does this mean we're friends?" He raised an eyebrow, studying my profile carefully. When I ignored his question, he started tapping his pencil on the desk impatiently, making me grit my teeth in annoyance. "Riana I asked you a question," he whined like a misbehaving child. I will not punch him, I will not punch him, I chanted in my head as he started to stare at me; I could feel his eyes burning a hole in the side of my head. "Stop it!" I whisper yelled, keeping a lookout for Mr. Hans, our teacher who was busy checking papers. "But you never told me if we were friends or not, Riana..." He pouted but I could see how amusing all this teasing was for him. Stupid, moronic, annoying jerk of a jock! "My name is Arianna, you either call me that or better yet don't talk to me at all and no, I am not your friend! Are you happy now?" I hissed but his face still had a stupid smirk on it, one I wanted to smack right off his face. "So will you go out with me then?" I let out an exasperated sigh, wishing I could strangle him there and then. "What part of no do you not understand, Carter? Are you really that stupid or do you act this way just to test my patience?" "You said no to being my friend, you never said no to dating so I asked you out," he said, grinning from ear to ear and I felt something snap in my hands, realizing that a poor number two pencil had just been massacred by me. "When I said no, it meant I don't want to do anything with you, leave me alone please," I begged and turned my head away from him, scribbling random things in my notebook. I could finish the project on my own, all I had to do was borrow some notes from the smart kids and probably spend a lot of time in the library but I was willing to do it. If I had to spend one minute with Carter Kendrick I would stab myself in the eye with a pencil. "So Mr. Hans said no didn't he?" Carter leant against the locker next to mine as I hurriedly shoved in the books I didn't need anymore and grabbed my English textbooks. So far the strategy to ignore him wasn't really working since he was following me around like a lost puppy, gloating over the fact that I was stuck with him for a partner. "What do you want from me, Carter?" I asked in a genuinely tired voice and surprise flitted over his face at the lack of insults in my response. He looked down sheepishly at his green Converse and rubbed the back of his neck. "I like you Arianna..." he muttered and I had to strain my ears to catch his words and when I did hear them, dread began to fill up inside me. "Why? You hardly know me..." I was confused because I had truly done nothing to give him that sort of impression. I was the weird girl who wore baggy clothes and kept to herself, ate her lunch alone and never spoke. How could he like me? "That's it okay? You're...you're different than any girl I've ever met. You don't talk like you're high on helium or something, you don't wear clothes that make you look like a hooker and you're smart, like actually smart. So what if you come off as a loner, you're still a great girl, Arianna." Panic began to settle in, what was he saying? Did he like, like me? Oh god, no this was not happening. It'd barely been a month since I left New York, less than two months since I lost my baby, my everything, and this guy was telling me he liked me? My palms began to sweat and I could feel the colour drain from my face. My knees were trembling as I looked at Carter who was looking at me, his expression becoming increasingly worried. "I-I have to go." I pushed him aside and ran to the girls' bathroom which was thankfully empty. I let myself in one of the stalls and waited for the wave of nausea to pass. Eventually when it was easier to breathe and stand up straight I let myself out and headed over to the row of sinks, splashing plenty of water on my face. As I wiped my face dry using one of the paper towels, I looked at the girl in the mirror and cringed inwardly at what I saw. Pale, almost paper white skin with no tinge of colour in it; running my fingers over the bruise-like shadows under my eyes, I was reminded of the row of sleepless nights that I had had. My lips were chapped and dry with no redness in them but the worst thing was looking into my eyes and seeing what they contained...nothing. My eyes were now a dull mossy green with no spark in them; they looked empty and haunted, like I'd seen something which had burned me to the core. Sighing, I pushed stray strands of hair away from my face and tucked them back into my ponytail. Slowly I opened the bathroom door, hoping that Carter had left; I didn't have it in me to answer the questions he would probably have. No such luck, he stood a few feet away from me, my books in his hands and a concerned expression on his face. When he saw me he looked slightly relieved but the pained look didn't leave him.