How Things Changed Forever.. PART - II

CH 5: Think of the Devil, and the Devil arrives?

Luckily, Drew, Luke, Aarushi and Ahana's were in the same class as her. They kept chatting whenever there wasn't a teacher in class. It felt nice to already be a part of a group when everyone around her were still figuring out first time awkward conversations. And being free of monitoring the class was an added bonus. 

That didn't mean she didn't talk to others. There was this girl named Ovia, who struggled with her physics, but was too shy to ask. She had explained it to her carefully, making sure not to make her feel dumb. And when an open discussion struck up about what their impression of the school was until then, she had actively participated.

For lunch, she headed to the cafeteria with them. Ahanaa had been narrating an incident in which Aarushi embarrassed herself by spilling tea on her date on her very first date. Not her best first impression. Hillary had been so engrossed in listening and laughing that  she was caught completely off-guard when she met his chocolate brown ones.

 Tyson was sitting with the other blade breakers, but his eyes were trained on her, gods knew for how long. But their eye contact lasted only a moment, for Tyson quickly turned away. Yet, it that moment, she saw multitude of emotions in his eyes, anger, frustration, hurt and guilt. Hillary's smile slightly wavered.  Tyson may have normally worn his mind on his sleeve, but his deepest emotions were expressed in his eyes, and only those who were really close to him could have seen it. 

She tried concentrating back on the conversation at hand or on her food, but she couldn't just shake the feeling of guilt that arose in her, which was kind of stupid, as it was the Bladebreakers who had unanimously decided to cut all connections with her for her own 'safety'. It didn't help matters when Tyson left soon after, looking quite moody.

 She was shaken from her thoughts when Aarushi and Ahanaa started talking about the club's they planned to choose, they had the sports club every Monday and tuesday. Aubrey and Hillary were obviously choosing swimming for the sports club, Hillary didn't plan on letting go of any opportunity that took her to a swimming pool. Ahanaa also planned on joining swimming while Aarushi and Noah were planning to take up table tennis. Drew would be taking basketball and Luke, soccer. 

Hillary quickly completed her lunch They still had twenty minutes to spare. "I just remembered that I had to get my receipt for AP chemistry and Biology." She lied. "You guys carry on. I'll meet you at class after lunch." She said, getting up to leave, or more like, to seach for Tyson and smack him in the head. 

All right, they answered distractedly, too engrossed in their talk. Noah was trying to convince Luke of how wonderful it would be to learn animation when she left. Good for him, Luke didn't look much convinced. 

******

Finding a quite spot for himself was quite an easy task for Tyson. His legs subconsciously led him up and up the stairs, for so long that he could no longer hear the loud chatters taking place in the cafeteria. He opened the door to the terrace, cringing when it made a loud creaking sound.

The wind was crisp, already showing signs of the upcoming winter. He was having a wonderful day, and then, he saw her and it all went down the drain. How could she just forget everything, when the guilt of getting her mixed up in their mess still ate him up? How could she just make new friends and act as though she knew them since ages? How could she just move on when he still couldn't keep his mind off her? 

"Mind if I join you here? I don't mean to intrude" Asked a girl standing near the entrance. "Yeah, sure." said Tyson shrugging. It always helped to have strangers around if you quickly wanted to pull yourself together.

"You're in our class, aren't you?" He asked, glancing at the girl. She did look slightly surprised, but recovered easily. She gave him a wide smile. "Yep. It's nice to know you noticed." She could very well be kidding. With her tall curvy frame, porcelain skin, black mischievous eyes and long glossy black hair falling in soft curls, she could very well be the prettiest girl in their year. Maybe excluding Hillary, his mind added, but that was beside the point. "I'm Tyson and you're..." His mind tried to place her name with her face, but she helped him to it. "Cassandra Jones, but you can call me Cassy." She introduced herself, striking a casual conversation with him. And Tyson didn't mind though, it kept him busy from thinking too much about his ruby eyed friend, until she herself stood in front of him.