Through His Eyes

Through His Eyes [4]

{{Dedicated to @stereoactive because her comments made my day}}                        

CHAPTER FOUR

           

The downside of knowing something earth-shattering is about to happen to you is that it leaves you restless and looking over your shoulder.

It would be the understatement of the year to say that Rhea was restless, though.

As soon as she'd exited Willa's car and set foot into the school, the nerves that had subsided during the car ride had come flooding back to her.

The fifteen minutes she had before the first period, all she got was familiar faces and greetings from people she didn't particularly care for.  Rhea barely managed to force a smile and a couple of words through her teeth.

It wasn't that it was their fault –Rhea knew they were merely trying to be nice.  But it's like whenever you're waiting for a very important phone call, every other call you get becomes offensive by default; well the same went for her morning.  She was waiting for a new, albeit very important face, so all those familiar faces were all of a sudden her biggest enemies.  But no matter how eagerly waited, her soulmate didn't show his face in those fifteen minutes.

Throughout her entire morning classes she sat at the edge of her chair, her eyes darting towards the door every ten seconds as if her soulmate would burst through the doors to sweep her up bridal style or do something just as absurd.  By the time lunch was about to roll in, she was drumming her fingers against the edge of her desk, shifting in her seat.  So much so, that Johanna, who sat in the seat in front of her and who was the class valedictorian turned around a couple of times to stare daggers at her for apparently interrupting her ultimate focus on the lesson –which was funny because it was the first day back from summer holidays and Mr. Waters was asking people about their vacation. 

When the bell rang, she darted out of the class to find Willa, all the while cursing silently that she didn't have any classes together with her in the morning.

She found her by their lockers, which were side by side, and approached her with quick steps.

When Willa heard her approaching steps she turned around quickly, anticipation clear in her eyes.  But when she saw the fed up and frustrated expression of her best friend, her grin turned into a frown.

"Nothing?" she asked.

"Nothing." Rhea confirmed.

Willa opened her arms to offer her a hug, which Rhea took without a moment's hesitation.

"Wanna head to lunch?" Rhea asked, from where her face was buried in Willa's hair.

"You go ahead," Willa said quickly, disentangling herself from Rhea, "I'll find Wade and we'll catch up to you."

Rhea tried not to dwell on what "finding Wade" entailed; she'd witnessed it too many times to know exactly what, and she intended to keep her appetite for a while longer –except her stomach was already alight with nerves from all the soulmate drama, so who was she kidding?

She didn't place her backpack in her locker in case Willa and Wade didn't make it to lunch –it had happened before– and she'd need something to keep herself busy with.  With quick steps, she entered the cafeteria and got in line to get the sorry excuse of a meal they presented the students with and called lunch.  Today was the first day of school, which traditionally meant pizza –or as Rhea liked to call it: a piece of cardboard dabbed in tomato sauce.

As much as she despised the taste of it, she got herself a slice anyway and made her way to their usual table right in the center of the cafeteria.  She set her tray and her backpack down and sat; she had a great view of everyone inside the cafeteria from where she sat.