Steal my Heart.

5

I knocked on the door of the recreation room.
"Come in." Mrs. Jerome's flowery voice called out. I entered the room nervously and looked around. There was a long table with ten seats on either side. Mrs. Jerome stood at the centre. All the seats were occupied except for two, the first one on the left side and the last one on the right side.

"Excuse me." A deep, husky voice breathes near my ear and jump. Of course, Alastair Kerr had to be here. He gives me one amused glance and walks off to sit on the left side.
"Gracie you can sit down darling." Mrs. Jerome says and I nod, all flustered.

I occupy the last seat and sit down.
"So." Mrs. Jerome starts. We have five days of different themes, that include Sports, Art, Music, Drama and Dance. Now this student body will be known as the Fest Council. You guys will be divided into five groups of four. I am your teacher in charge and I will decide the groups. So basically, the first group will handle the logistics, public relations and hospitality. The second group will take charge of the event management. The third group will handle photography and security. The fourth group has under them the creative department along with productions. The fifth group will take care of technicals, the help desk and finance." Mrs. Jerome says and claps her hands together.

Everyone is staring straight at her, nodding and taking notes. I'm distracted by a mop of blondish, brown hair. I want to reach out and curl the hair between my fingers. How would it feel to straighten out those few curls with my fingertips? I'm looking at Alastair when he turns around and our eyes lock. The blood rushes to my face as he stares right back at me. I hold his gaze, it is so commanding, I cannot look away. His expression is unreadable and then he looks back at Mrs. Jerome. I control my frantic heart.

"Now about the groups." She starts ranting out the names and the people huddle into their respective groups.
"The fifth group will comprise of Alastair Kerr, John Taggert, Cassandra Peale and Gracie Hyde." Mrs. Jerome says and I immediately groan. Great, I'll have to work for a month with people I don't know nor do I want to know.

I sullenly walk over to my three groupies and sit down on one of the chairs. I know John Taggert quite well. Unlike the 'computer nerd' most people call him, I'd rather describe him as someone who's really smart and always up for help. He smiles goofily at me and I softly smile back. I turn to Alastair who is looking at me. I scowl at him and amusement clouds his deep eyes again before he looks away.

Cassandra Peale, or better known as Sassy is the queen bitch of our school. No, she wasn't the typical dumb head cheerleader or the one who slept with everyone. Sassy was really choosy of which people she associated with and was really smart. Not the academic kind, more like she knew what she wanted and always went out to get it. She played mind games and even though I've never been on the recieving end of her tricks, I knew I had to stay away from her.

"So, where should we start?" I bite my lip unsurely and Alastair looks at me again. There's something about his gaze, it feels like he's reading me and he's very glad with whatever he has understood. It pierces through me and reaches every part of my body, spreading goosebumps.

"Let's divide the work we have under us." John states and we agree.
"What's there to divide? You nerds can take care of the financial matters and technicals while I and Allie will be at the help desk and backstage. Won't we?" She flirtily places her hand on Alastair's thigh and he says nothing, instead he looks at me as if he's trying to gauge my reaction. What does he expect? I'll feel bad? Okay maybe a bit strange, but not sad.

I turn my gaze away and Alastair chooses that moment to speak. "I'm sure I can take care of the finance issues. Let's work this out properly."
"Aww okay. But wait, what's your name?" Sassy looks pointedly at me and I mutter. "Gracie."

"Wow. Nice name for someone who completely lacks any sort of grace." She says haughtily and I ignore her. Instead, my eyes meet Alastair's and his jaw ticks as he holds the staring contest. What the hell is he doing? He keeps looking at me in intervals and gives me strange looks which make me blush and hide my face. Not that I'm not liking it, but is this some sort of game? Because let's face it, Alastair Kerr will never give me any form of attention. Unless he wants a favour from me or if he is trying to while away my time.

"Can we please behave ourselves and concentrate on the task at hand?" John says in his geeky, no-nonsense way which is quite endearing and funny.
"Let's do this." Alastair said, leaning forward on the table as his biceps flex and I watch his body. No, Gracie, don't look at him. It's a trap.

For the next hour, we divided our duties amongst ourselves. In the end, finance was handed over to Alastair, John took under him technicals, I was supposed to sit at the help desk and Sassy got a little bit of all the three duties. In fact, John and I discussed everything with occasional inputs from Alastair and nothing from Sassy. All she did was flirt with Alastair and touch him in all the places. He wasn't exactly enjoying but he didn't mind as well. He just kept giving me glances and looking at me from time to time.

"Okay students, now I think you all should go for your break and attend classes after that. I'll see you guys later." Mrs. Jerome announces with a smile and everyone cheers.

As we get up, I'm about to suggest that maybe all of us can sit together in the cafe when Sassy puts her arms around Alastair's neck and he holds her waist. They aren't dating, are they? That's even more wierd. Getting all hoity-toity when you aren't even in love. Or maybe I'm just old-fashioned. They leave the room without even a single goodbye or glance and I'm left staring at their backs again.

"Coming for lunch Grace?" John says from beside me and I nod with a smile.
"Sure." I say and we follow suit. I was very hungry anyways.