Mystique {On Hold}

Chapter 7

“You just love falling down, don’t you?”

“What are you doing here? I mean, this is my school!"

My eyes widened as another thought popped in, “Wait, are you following me?”

“Firstly, I’m no stalker. Secondly, this isn’t your school alone,” he rolled his eyes, “Lastly, you better stop looking like you’re handing out an invitation to a fly to reside in your mouth. You’ve embarrassed yourself enough.”

I closed my gaping mouth shut. He was right. I had embarrassed myself a lot already. But what was he doing here of all the places?

Realizing that I was still seated on the floor, I picked myself up and brushed the dirt off my clothes lightly with my hand. Disappointment washed over me as I saw my lunch sprawled over the floor, making a huge mess.

By now, half the cafeteria was looking at me and, in simple words, it was terrible. Many were looking pretty shocked by the sudden mishap right in the middle of the cafeteria while others were not ashamed to laugh their ass off. And of course the shameless ones included Christina and Rick.

A sudden surge of anger shot inside me as I laid my eyes on Rick-freaking-Trooper. I wanted to thrust my fingers into his sockets and scoop his eyes out which were busy producing tears of laughter. Maybe that sounded gross, but it was exactly what I wanted to do right now.

My hands twisted itself into a fist and I took a small step forward when I felt a grip on my wrist.

“Whoa, cool down!” Ken whisper-screamed into my ear, “you look like you could explode any minute.”

“Because that’s exactly what is going to happen to me. And in the process of my explosion, Rick will have to face the wrath.”

I caught hold of Ken’s hand and flung it off mine. I saw Rick, who was doubling over with his howl of laughter, and pictured myself disfiguring his face. I took another furious step towards him and this time, Ken caught my waist firmly and pulled me back.

“You need to calm the hell down,” he ordered with suppressed frustration, “There is no way I’m going to let you create a scene right in the middle of a gawking cafeteria. Especially after—’’

“--You don’t tell me what to do mister!” I cut him off, “Wait, what were you saying? Especially after…?”

“Especially after you made a fool out of yourself two minutes ago,” he finished, this time speaking each word cautiously.

“Fool out of myself? Rick pushed me! It wasn’t my fault at all. It was his and he needs to get a bruise the size of a baboon’s ass for that.”

Ken looked at me blankly for a second and then surprised me with a chuckle.

“Baboon’s ass? Seriously?”

I just huffed indignantly.

“How about we go ahead and eat something? I’m pretty sure we both are starving. Food will give you some energy to serve him a bruise the size of a baboon’s ass,” he said in a reasonable tone, “and let me take the liberty to say that I will myself help you with it.”

He released his hold of me and looked at me questioningly. I was about to deny him the pleasure when my stomach growled indicating that it had other plans.

Ken looked at me with the corners of his mouth pulled up slightly.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Relaxing my shoulders and letting them drop, I gave in. I guess food sounded quite good. He took my hand and I let him lead me forward to an empty table.