Meant To Be #Wattys2015

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“You alright, babe?” Lis asked as we made our way towards English.

“Yeah, fine.” I replied absentmindedly. Her face fell at my vague answer. Instantly I felt guilty. “I’m sorry Lis. It’s just I was out late last night and didn’t get much sleep.” No need to tell her I was up half the night thinking about Mark, I thought. It had been a week since that fateful night and I still can’t get him out of my mind. Pathetic. Heck, I had sat on the bed for an hour worrying about whether he had seen me with Hayden or not. But I had rationalized that if he had then he would’ve said something, done something instead of being the innocent bystander. Something tells me he’s not the one to stay quiet, I had reasoned and went to sleep. A troubled one, but a sleep none-the-less.

“Oh, well, that’s alright.” She replied, satisfied. “Hey, did you hear about the new guy?” she continued excitedly.

“What new guy?” I asked, trying to take my mind of Mark.

“Some Mark Ashton.” I whipped my head around so fast I was surprised that it didn’t fall off.

“Mark Ashton?” I asked. Then I realized that it’s Ashton, not Ashford. I sighed in relief.

“Yeah, why?” she asked in confusion.

“Oh, nothing really.” I waved off her concerns. “Anyways, how do you know about him? I haven’t seen any new guy today?” I asked as she opened her locker to take out her books.

“Well, Sandy's mom works in the administration department. She finalized the papers for transfer this morning.” She replied enthusiastically.

“Oh, well, good for her.” I said with considerably less enthusiasm, but that didn’t deter her.

“Yeah, and you know what?” she didn’t wait for my answer “She said he’s so cute!”

“How does she know?”

“She saw his picture on the file when she was waiting for her mother.” She waved a hand as if dismissing it.

“I don’t think that’s allowed.” I murmured but Lissy was too far in her la-la land to hear me, so I just let her speak and listened whatever she was saying with half a mind.

“Oh my god! That’s him!” suddenly Lis squealed loudly in my ear, making me half deaf.

“Lissy!” I hissed as I rubbed my ear, trying to get rid of the numb sensation.

“Oh, sorry Anya.” She said as she pulled at my arm. “But look, that’s him!” she said, almost pulling my arm out of its socket. I pried her fingers off my arm and looked in the direction she was pointing. My eyes widened. Mark? I thought, confused. No, that can’t be him. My conscience argued. But he looks like him. I shook my head. His hairs were dark brown, not glossy blonde and from a distance I could make out that his eyes were brown not sea blue. No, that’s can’t be him or it would’ve become national news by now.

“Yeah, he’s great.” I said, looking for some kind of indication telling me that’s Mark. Like he felt my stare, his eyes snapped to mine. They widened in recognition. No, no, no, no, no… I chanted in my mind but when he continued to gasp at me it finally sunk in. “Oh god!” I gasped in horror. It is him. I just knew.

“Anya? What…?” Lis asked, confused at my horrified expression.

“Lis, I’m not feeling well. I gotta go.” I said hurriedly as I turned around and sprinted towards the exit before she even had the chance to recover. Outside, I turned towards the under constructed school building for some privacy. Then I pulled out my phone, dropped my bag on the ground and dialed Hayden’s number.