His Saving Grace

Chapter Fourteen

"Excuse me," I muttered, squeezing my way through the thick crowd that had formed in the hallway. Everyone was walking rather slower than usual; talking and laughing while blocking the passageways. I held back the urge to just shove past them. Everywhere I want it was noisy and at least three people were blocking any possible way to get to my locker. It was like I was the only one who was extremely pissed while everyone else was happy. Sweat was trickling down my neck. It was so humid in school I felt like I could drown the whole town if I collected every single particle of water in the air.

As I continued squeezing my way through the crowd, deep in thought about the Keith incident and momentarily thinking about John, I felt a book dig into my back. 

"Owww," I grumbled, whipping 180 degress around. My eyes widened at the sight of a brunette girl who was arranging her stack of books. "Arianna?"

She looked up, studied my face for a second, and then grinned. "Katie! I didn't know you went to school here," Arianna said gleefully. I sort of live here and this is the only high school in town, smart ass, I wanted to say.

"Haha," I mocked a laugh, slinging my bag back on over my shoulder. "I've been here for as long as I can remember. So what brings you here?" 

She flipped her hair. "Nothing, really. School in Phoenix is getting really boring."

"Hmm," I nodded, trying to ignore tha fact that everyone was whispering and looking at Arianna and I. Not surprising, since the girl was six feet one inch---taller than most of the girls and some of the boys in my school. She stuck out like a pretty sore thumb. "Why should I believe you though?"

Arianna stopped in her tracks, giving me a skeptical look.

"You came here to see John, didn't you?" I asked, watching her expression shift. Arianna started looking uneasy. She scratched nervously at one of the books in her hands, avoiding my gaze.

"Well..."

"He misses you a lot," I said, trying to pull on a smile. "He'd appreciate your visit. I'm pretty sure." 

Arianna's eyes brightened with delight, and a huge smile spread across her mouth. "Really?" she quipped, her voice getting an octave higher. I nodded in agreement, feigning the sadness that was starting to take over me.

~~

"Katie Katie Katie!" 

I sighed in frustration, but pulled on a smile before turning around. Arianna was running towards me, her long brown hair bouncing behind her. She was still struggling with the books she had to carry and I was pretty sure her heels weren't doing any good, but somehow she managed to run without tripping.

"Hi."

"Hi! So where are you heading?" she asked. "Are you going home already? Do you have homework to do?"

I gritted my teeth. Lying was never my thing, so I didn't attempt to. "Actually, I was going over to John and the boys'," I said, smiling at her. "You wanna come?"

"I'd love to!" Arianna said, grabbing me by the arm.  

For the twenty minutes that Arianna and I walked towards the boys' house, Arianna wouldn't shut up. Some parts she's be really really happy about the fact that she'd see John again, and in the other parts she'd be sulking about how much she missed him. I didn't know whether the girl was bipolar or something, but she sure was one hell of a talker.

Arianna was a fast, fast talker. She was perfect for someone who holds an auction. I gave up trying to comprehend what she was saying after the first five miuntes of the conversation, and my mind started drifting.