Too Young for This ~ The School

Chapter 8

Jacob

I walk down the stairs and stand in line to get a sandwich from the cafe. Once I get my food, I see Lacy waving me down, sitting in a booth by herself in the corner. I walk over to her and sit across from her.

"Hey, Jake. How's the day been so far?" she asks, taking a bite of her pizza.

"Horrible. I've had all of my classes with Treyton." I say bitterly.

"I really don't see what's so bad about him. You don't even know him" she shrugs and I stare at her.

"And you haven't met him yet." I say bluntly and she shrugs again.

"Do you know where Marie is?" she asks, changing the subject.

This time I shrug. "I haven't seen her all morning."

Neither Lacy nor I say anything until something strange happens. The entire dining hall goes silent. I look around the room and see most people staring at something behind me. Most of the guys were eating their food quietly. Meanwhile, the girls were glaring daggers at the thing behind me. I turn around. The first thing I see? Treyton. Great. That guy's back. Then something else catches my eye. He isn't walking alone. He's walking with the girl he talked to earlier. They're deep in conversation yet again as they slowly make their way toward us. When the girl angles her body towards us so I can finally see her face my jaw drops and my body goes numb. Treyton is right. She is gorgeous. And her eyes are beautiful. They're storm cloud gray. Marie is walking with Treyton. This cannot be happening. There's no way. I don't want him talking to her. I don't want him near her. I want him to go far, far away.

Marie sees me staring and waves at me, leading Treyton over to us.

"Hey, guys! How's it going?" she asks, sliding in next to me.

"Great! It's been an awesome morning." Lacy smiles. "Hi!"

"Hey! You must be Lacy. I'm Treyton." he smiles at her then turns to me. "Hey, Jake!"

"Hello." I clench my fists and grit my teeth.

"I didn't know you guys knew each other!" Treyton laughs, looking at Marie and me.

"Yeah. Jake and I have been friends for a while now, right?"

I nod.

"Small world!" Treyton laughs.

"Not really. We go to school together and there are more than two billion people on this planet, so it's not a small word at all-" I start, but Marie rests a hand on my arm signaling I need to stop.

"What do you guys have next?" Lacy asks, breaking the tension.

"Swimming," Marie says and Lacy high-fives her, declaring she has the same thing.

"I have swimming too!" Treyton exclaims.

I pull out my schedule and pray that I have swimming with them. I do. Thank god.

"Same," I say.

"Sweet! Three classes in a row together!" He reaches over to high-five me and I glare at him. He revokes his hand quickly. "Anyway...so a few friends and I are hosting a dorm party tomorrow night. Do you guys want to come?"

"Sure!" Lacy says excitedly.

Marie looks hesitant. "I don't know. It's a school night..."

"Oh, come on, Marie. It'll be fun!" Treyton says.

"Fine." she smiles.

"I'll go too," I interject.

The three of them turn and look at me.