The Cliche Gone Wrong

Chapter Four

I can't just let her leave the cafeteria. I can feel all of the eyes again, but this time the feeling is different. It's daunting, doubting, demoralizing as I imagine the whispers echoing around the silent cafeteria.

"Wow, I can't believe Jude got turned down like that." "And by Killer, no less." "It sucks to be him." "He may have a lot of money but he's pretty much worthless."

I jump up from the table, easily drawing a cocky smile to my face as I amble after her nodding to a couple random people sitting at one of the tables by the doors. Once the door to the cafeteria swing closed the anxiety in my chest grows as I watch her walk down the hallway.

"Hey wait up!" I call out as I jog to catch up. She just walks faster; her kinky hair tossing from side to side as she practically starts running.

I finally catch up, my hand wrapping around my arm as I pull her to a stop but I'm not expecting her reaction. Her eyes are on fire as she spins into me, her hands digging into my shoulder as she jerks her knee up and into my bits and glory.

"Son of a snack eating bitch," I groan out, fighting with all of my strength not to fall to the ground. I slump against the lockers on my right, my eyesight going in and out as loud whirling echoes through my ears.

"You just can't take no for an answer, can you Shills?" She hisses, her fists balling up at her sides.

I can barely focus on her words. I shake my head roughly from side to side as I try to shake the residual pain from my mind. "Okay, I deserved that."

"You deserve a lot more than that," she says, her fist flexing in and out. "I asked you nicely to stay away, so anything that happens to you now is your own fault."

"Look, I'm sorry about all of that in there," I shrug my shoulders as I finally straighten up, unable to look her in the eyes. "I swear, I'm not normally like that but there's someth—"

"Do you think I'm fucking stupid?" She laughs in my face as she interrupts me, although there is no joy in the sound. "I've known about you for years, Shills. You're like that every second of the entire goddamn day. Don't try and put up a front for me."

"How would you know?" I ask her, my eyes finally rising to meet hers.

She goes quiet, unable to give me an answer.

"Yeah, it's because you don't." I shake my head. "How can you get all pissy about people judging you without knowing you when you do the same exact thing to others?"

She refuses to respond, looking anywhere but at me.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. So how about this, I'll give you the chance to get to know me, and if you still hate me after that, I can't fault you for it."

"No," she says bluntly and without hesitation.

"You don't even have to think of it as a date!" I explain, holding my hands up in surrender. "I'll take you to dinner at the place of your choosing, so even if you hate the time we spend together, at least you get a free meal out of it. It's kind of a win-win situation, if you think about it."

And she honestly does. A few seconds go by as she just stares at me, her dark brown eyes concealing more secrets and emotions than I can even imagine. But those seconds pass, and she shakes her head and takes a few more steps back.

"I don't have time for you. Do us both a favor and just stay away from me." She turns and walks away.

This time I watch her go, an unrecognizable feeling churning in my stomach as stand alone in the middle of the hallway. No one has ever said no to me twice. She disappears around a corner, finally out of sight. But the feeling in my stomach only grows, spreading to my heart. I force it away, hoping I got all of it.

This girl is definitely going to make me work for it.

A/N That's right! Y'all get two posts in a day, mostly because they're short though! I woke up early today to finish it, so I hope you enjoy! As you can see things are starting to be set in motion, although it may not be perfectly clear what yet.

I guess we'll just have to see what happens in future chapters!

Much Love,

Naomi