True Story [Complete]

Chapter 8

I spit the out the fry (thank gawd the lunch lady didn't see me) and glare at the tree. He munches on the fries as he watches me. Waiting.

Seeing that this is going no where, I grab a paper bowl and fill it with strawberries and make my way out, but something stops me. I turn my attention back to the still-munching-I'm-waiting-for-you-to-tell-me-what's-wrong-Finn and walk up to him. I stare him down and he blinks. I swipe the fries from his hands and make an attempt to leave (again).

"Rennie..."

I keep walking.

"Hey."

Still walking.

groan.

I'm out the door and the shuffling of feet follow me. I walk faster. The footsteps get louder. I start jogging and his feet give a fast-paced rhythm. I'm halfway there. I eye my table and they eye me back. Gradually, their eyes shift from me to the beast behind me and they scatter. Dammit.

And so I give up. The footsteps stop moving a few moments after I had, and he walks slowly. As if I were a bird and he, the hunter (that sounds weird). Fearing I would fly away, he quickens his walks until we're face-to-face.

"I just wanna..." Finn looks down at his feet with his thinking face on. He ruffles his hair and looks up (well in my unfortunate case, down) at my face. "I wanna catchup," he says with certainty and a smile. Damn that smile.

I turn my body and take in his words like a pill. I glance up at him and tip my head towards the lunch bench where the nosy cats were sitting at earlier. We sit across from each other, comforting the silence with the strawberries and the fries.

Finally, "Mason said you got a tattoo from Victor." My head jerks up to focus on him. "C-can I see it?" Finn fidgets in his seat.

Reluctantly, I roll up my sleeve. My arm twitches to Finns touch, as he wraps his rough, basketball hands around my wrist. He touches the ink with a biting lip and smiling eyes.

"What?"

He laughs. He laughed. At me.

Immediately, I take my arm away from him and roll down my sleeves. I look around the lunch area to find any witnesses. No one seems to notice. Finn's still laughing. "I'm sorry, sorry..." the laugh degraded into a smile.

I tug on my right sleeve just enough to reveal my tattoo and I study it. What's wrong with it? In black broad, cursive letters, the word unexpected is written across my wrist.

"I mean, if your going to get a tattoo, at least make it cool. All you got there is a word. Unexpected? That's the word you would use after you learn that Renee Rodriguez got a tattoo."

My cheeks burn, and I cover the ink again. I eat the rest of the strawberries and push the bowl of fries toward him to shut him up.

"It's also the word you would use to to describe what happened that Saturday morning," Finn whispers this and I get up from my place. "Rennie..."

I walk towards the bathrooms. "You can't hide everything you know!" He says this louder, and chases after me. So, like the dork I am, I sprint to the open doors.

"Rennie," Finn says outside. "What happened? Come on. It hurts when you hide things from me." He pauses. "...I care about you Rennie."

My heart pounds.

"You know that right?"

I put my head on the entrance wall, listening to his breaths. He doesn't say anything after that and I hear him shift. Fearing that he would walk away (yes I was scared) I step out the entrance.
Immediately, an arm wraps around my waist and hoists me up onto a hard, blocky, surface. I close my eyes and come up with an oof; while finding myself to have wrapped my arms around a pole for support. I stay like that for a while feeling the pole warm up underneath my touch. And now it's moving with me on it.

Then I open my eyes. And he's carrying me (are short people really that light?). The "pole" reddens even more as if Finn can sense me looking at him. And we're close again. His cheek, tempting (I know weird) but I want to kiss it so badly and proclaim my feelings to him. Right here, right now.

**

He finally lets me down (and I'll admit, I'm a bit disappointed) on a bench on the blacktop. He leaves me there for a bit, entering the gym, and comes back with a basketball. "If I win, you gotta tell me what happened that Saturday."

"And what about me?" I ask with uncertainty. There's no way I can win. I may have been in the basketball team three years ago, but Finn has been in track, baseball, and of course, basketball ever since he was old enough to play in some type of league. Basically, I'm screwed.

"If you win..." He thinks for a bit, "I'll never bring up the topic ever again."

I swing my legs on the bench and give him a teasing smile. "Ever?" I raise one eyebrow.

"Ever." He nods.

The offer is tempting but impossible. As if he had read my mind, Finn brings up thing, "Knowing that gives you more of a fighting spirit. Amirite?"

I cross my arms and debate on the issue. If I lose, Finn will know everything. If I win, he'll never know. Either way, I'll get a weight off my chest.

Finally, I hold up a finger and lean down to tighten my red converse's laces. Then I sweep my hair up into a clean pony. "Yeah..." I get up, "you're right."

*Okay, I personally LOVE basketball (WAAAAAAARRRRRRIIIIIOOOOOOOORRRRRRRSSSSSS), sometimes football (rip 9ers and mourning for the Raiders), and the only times I watch baseball is when the Giants are slaying. And no I don't watch hockey (sorry Sharks).*

PS. eat potatoes they're good!

P.P.S. So sorry if this chapter is long