What's Mine | ✓

17 - always a moment

I never thought I'd have this kind of feeling for something—a person, to be more specific.

But what I felt was new, and a little bit scary.

Every time I thought about it, I was thrown back into a endless pit of murderous rage.

The fact that Lina has been dealing with all this shit behind the scenes is bad enough, but not wanting me to do anything about it? It was hard.

All I wanted to do was run that prick over with my car. Each day that passed, the anger kept bubbling within me.

That night, I didn't want to let her go. I didn't want to let her go back to that hell she was dealing with on her own. But she didn't give me a choice, the stubborn ass. And each day that's passed, she didn't give a single hint as to her struggles.

Every day at school, she'd smile, laugh. I'd see her walking with Avrey, giggling and acting as if she hadn't been attacked days before. And in English, she'd completely ignore Collin completely, working on her own project, or just reading a book.

Like she is right now.

We're in the library, kids scattered around doing research or whispering amongst themselves about who knows what. Collin is leaning back in his chair, texting away on his phone—dumb prick—and Lina is reading a new book. She's barely made a dent, and I glance at the cover, reading Whatever Happens.

Over the years, I've seen Lina disappear into her own fictional place and binge read different books. It was random, sporadic. And thinking on it now, I wonder if she does this every time she's trying to escape her own world into a different one.

I wouldn't blame her.

I take in her appearance today: a light blue long sleeved shirt and black jeans that were ripped at the knees. Her hair was pulled up high, but small hairs that fell framed her delicate face as her blue eyes zoomed through each page.

A snort from beside us made me glare. Collin wasn't doing anything productive, probably trying to phone fuck some other innocent girl. I roll my eyes at him. I see him lean back in his chair again and didn't even stop myself from kicking out my leg and giving the legs of his chair a gentle push.

Collin, letting out a surprised noise, fell backwards. That caught everyone's attention, then they laughed. Collin stands up, face red.

"Fuck off," he mutters, storming out of the library, leaving his chair on the floor.

I try to hide my smile as he leaves, but I can't. That was priceless. When I turn to Lina, she also has a sly grin on her face.

Something about knowing I made her smile made me feel weirdly accomplished.

After about ten more minutes, the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. Students gathered up their stuff, hurrying out of the building.

Lina goes slow, though. So I do, too.