Chapter 8

Picnic at Lunch

Nikki is right where she told me would be.

She has a blanket spread out on the grass and I can't help but love how careless she is about it. She's basically having her own little picnic during lunch and she looks good doing it.

"Hey," I wave as I walk toward her.

She lifts her head, her bright smile spreading across her face. "Hey! How are you?"

"I'm good."

"Come, sit." She makes room for me, crossing her legs as she takes a bit from her sandwich. "I was wondering if you were going to come find me today."

The blanket is soft underneath my legs. "Ugh, I did not want to spend my lunch being harassed by Zaid. Being with you is one hell of an upgrade.”

Her eyes widen. "Did he spend lunch with you?”

I look away, wondering if I should tell her about what happened with him

yesterday. About the scars he has and how much guilt he hoards in his eyes. I choose to go for a lighter retelling of events.

I nod, running my hands down my face. "Unfortunately, and then it took me the rest of the day to get rid of him."

She pretends to shudder. "Zaid scares me."

I frown. "Scares you? He's a annoying and a bit intense, but I don't know if I would say he's scary."

Nikki swallows the bite in her mouth. "I don't know. He was in juvie last year, he's

a super senior and there's enough rumors about him being spread around the school that I wonder if all of them have some part of truth in them."

"Is one of them that he slept with Mr. Admas' wife?"

coughs, choking on

"Sorry," I mutter.

entire school was buzzing about that. Who told you?" She

"Zaid."

"He told you himself?"

"Yeah."

shrugs, lifting an eyebrow

"Why?"

anyone. He's honestly kind of quiet. He usually sulks in a corner and

reminds me of me and I clear my throat, my voice breaking as I ask, "Do you

"He's kind of always been like that, but I guess you could say things got worse when

catastrophic consequences

to make anyone go crazy. "Maybe

twitching

keep the entire world at arms length," I try to smile at the end of my sentence, but all I feel is the pull of the tears that build up

I'm so sorry. I didn't meant that he—It's just, I've known him a long time and I never -

trembles as I turn to her, "It's okay. It's better that you don't know what it feels like to lose a

I didn't mean to sound insensitive," She chews

to reassure her and smile, "It's okay, truly. I

She snorts at that.

maybe don't talk about death like it couldn't rip someone's life

a cross on her heart

you have any plans this weekend?" She

one.

bite and shake my head. "No, I'll probably

Saturday. You should

have never been the party

girl.

having a good time, we can leave early and you can stay over at my

sounds better than having to dodge my

"Fine."

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