Haven's Knight (Sample of Published Book)

Chapter 2 - Part 1

Haven

I quickly averted my gaze, and for the entire lesson I refused to allow my eyes to drift in his direction. It was hard to concentrate on what the teacher was droning on about when I could feel him staring at me.

You can do this! I told myself.

I didn't have time for pointless crushes. I had enough on my plate. I was in survival mode, and that didn't include complicated things like boys. There was no way I could form any kind of relationship with anyone, because if I did they would notice things like my skittish behavior and the bruises. I couldn't risk that, not now-I was so close to being free.

After what felt like an eternity, the bell finally rang, signaling the end of the class. I gathered my stuff and shoved it into my schoolbag before I made a quick exit. I hoped that he was not in any of my other classes. The less I saw of him the better.

The rest of the morning went by quickly. I kept my gaze down and never made eye contact with anyone. I even managed to keep the friendliest and wanting-to-make-a-friend type students at bay with my clear body language that told them to stay away.

At lunchtime, I stayed clear of the cafeteria. I decided to go outside and sit by the athletic field. It was fairly quiet, and there were only a few students sitting on the grass eating their lunch. I found a spot far from the others and lay down on the grass and looked up into the sky. It was quiet outside except for the low murmur of voices around me.

I gazed up and started to watch the clouds pass me by. I loved to watch the clouds, and decide what shapes they made. It gave me the escape I desperately needed, even if it was just for a few minutes. The first cloud I spotted reminded me of a castle from the fairy tales my father used to tell me when I was a little girl. He would tell me about the knight in shining armor who would save the beautiful princess from evil, and then they would live happily ever after. When I was a little girl I'd believed in those fairy tales, but now I knew better. There were no happy endings, there was only survival.

I was looking at an unusually puffy cloud, trying to decide if it had a face or not, when I blinked. When I looked up I saw the face of a boy. He had straight, dark-blond hair that reached past his ears, and expressive green eyes.

"Hi," he greeted with an infectious smile. "I've been looking all over for you."

Startled, I sat up and backed away. I stood up and reached for my schoolbag. I was about to turn and walk away when he grabbed my wrist to stop me. He was tall, like Grant, but he was smaller in build. I immediately cowered away from him. He let go of my wrist immediately and raised his hands in surrender and said, "I'm not going to hurt you."

I stood rooted to the spot with my big eyes fixed on the stranger in front of me. He looked at me with a confused expression at my reaction.

"I know you're new and you just really look like you need a friend," he said in a gentle tone. His expression softened and he gave me a tentative smile. I continued to stare at him silently. I didn't return his smile while I clutched my schoolbag strap tighter, contemplating whether I should just make a run for it.

He sat down on the grass next to me. "You don't have to talk. I can talk enough for the both of us," he said as he looked at me expectantly. I'd had lots of people try to befriend me over the years, but no one had ever been this direct. His bright and friendly eyes watched me as I wrestled with the decision to sit with him, or turn my back and walk away.

"I'm going to get a pain in my neck if you stand while I talk," he said while he rubbed the back of his neck to emphasize his point. Normally, I would have bolted by now, but this boy made me do something that stunned even me. I let my bag drop to the ground, and I sat down.

"My name is Chris," he introduced himself. I gave him a brief nod.

"I know your name is Haven," he revealed. He settled his packet of lunch between us.

I didn't respond to him. I wasn't ready to interact with him, but just sitting in his company felt like warm sunshine in the middle of a cold rainstorm. He offered me half of his sandwich. My stomach grumbled at the sight, reminding me that I was hungry. I'd only had two slices of bread today, and there was no guarantee that I would get supper tonight, so I accepted his offer and began to nibble at it.

"Are you really going to make me hold this entire conversation?" he said, as he tilted his head to the side to study me.

He received no response from me while I held his gaze.

"All right," he conceded. "My mom didn't name me Chatterbox Chris for nothing."

I couldn't help but smile. In the space of five minutes of meeting him, he'd made me smile. I couldn't remember the last time I'd smiled before this. It had always been easier to just be a loner. However, Chris' attitude was so infectious that I couldn't seem to help myself. For the time being, he happily chatted away about nothing and everything. It made me smile.

Soon, I finished the food he had given to me. The grumbling from my stomach finally stopped. He gave me a rundown of who was who in my new school while we watched people walk past. It didn't matter to me. I didn't care who they were. I wasn't interested in getting to know anyone. I wasn't even sure I was going to continue whatever this was that I was doing with Chris. Surviving to graduation was my only goal.

"Ah, here comes the pretty boy," Chris said.

I turned in the direction he was looking and looked straight into the blue eyes belonging to the boy I'd bumped into early that morning. The very boy I was trying to avoid. My stomach did a flip while his gaze held mine. He was surrounded by a couple of girls.

Suddenly, Chris' voice was in my ear again, "How do you know Damien Knight?"

It pulled me out of the connection with the pretty boy, and I quickly dropped my gaze back to the ground. I turned to look at Chris and gave him a shrug. I didn't know Damien Knight, so there was nothing to talk about. If I had my way, I would not be getting to know him either.

Immediately, Chris' eyes moved to something over my shoulder.

"He's still staring," he revealed when his eyes moved back to mine.

"As pretty as he is, he really isn't someone you want to get involved with," he warned me. The infectious smile was gone and there was a serious tone to his voice. "There are players, and then there's Damien Knight. He has a flavor of the week. He doesn't do dates or anything like that. I don't think he even knows how to spell commitment. For him it's just a fuck for the week and nothing else. Sometimes they don't even last a week. He holds the record for closing the deal the quickest: the rumor is that it took him less than five minutes!"

I just shrugged my shoulders. He didn't need to warn me, because it was never going to happen. I had enough to deal with, and I didn't have time for trivial stuff.

"There's a fragileness about you. Stay away from him, otherwise he'll break you," he warned. He didn't know that Damien couldn't break me, because I was already broken.