Royal Affection

CHAPTER NINE - 'A'

                                        C H A P T E R - N I N E

I sat there, biting my pen and blankly gazing in no particular direction. My mind was elsewhere, the image of the masked man imprinted on my retina’s, flashing up in my mind in the most unexpected times. I waited impatiently for the bell to ring to signal lunch time but sadly time was making fools out of us. I kept going over in my head, the man pointing the gun at me, Lucas getting in the way and me saving his ass. Also if I should tell Joe or Maria, they’d completely freak and Maria would kick off at Joe for leaving me there. I had no idea if Joe was outside at the opposite side of the road but I wish he was. I even had Lucas come up to me, threatening me and asking why I’d done what I did. Jake kindly stepped in, trying to tame Lucas but he was a cold bastard inside and out.

“Ava?” a whisper invaded my thoughts and I stared at Jake beside me on my right. He smiled sweetly and I returned it, dropping my chewed pen onto the desk. We had Creative Writing and April was all ears, listening to what the teacher had to say. Jake on the other hand sat back, taking a few notes and nudging me. I wasn’t in the mood but this seemed harsh on Jake, so I sat up and paid attention.

“You’re not bothered about what Lucas said are you? He can be an idiot most of the time but don’t think it personally.” His voice wavered slightly. I laughed softly and shook my head, tucking my fringe behind my ear. “I’m not, honestly, I’m getting used to threats. Lucas hates me but it doesn’t bother me.”

Lucas smiles and turns his head to his sheet of notes with only about seven sentences compared to April’s full sheet of notes. Who am I to judge the lack of work Jake’s done when my piece of paper was completely blank. I saw him scribble on his paper, dark and thick lines. Then he absentmindedly drew another line and another until there was a capital ‘A’. I was taken aback and bit my lip, staring down at the letter and realised Jake hadn’t noticed me watching.

I tore my gaze away and tried copying some of April’s notes. Why would he write an ‘A’ on his sheet? His name starts with a J. Is there anyone else who has a name with  A? April! That’s it. Could be for April. I mean they’d make a cute couple.

***

“I love cupcakes, they’re so yummy and I sometimes wish I could live in one.” April rattles on and I chuckles at her little comment. Living in cupcakes? It wouldn’t be so bad I guess. I took a large bite of my apple and happily munched on it when to my surprise, a large shadow cast over our table.

And the monster looked down on us. “Paige,” I chime just to annoy her. “What brings you here? I thought this table wasn’t classy enough for you.”

I looked over at April and saw her shake her head, but I just smile and turned to look at Jade and Paige, both scowling at me. Next thing I knew, she slammed her hand down on my open drink carton, sending the juice shooting everywhere, but mostly on me since it was closer and the straw pointed towards my direction. I gasped, throwing my apple down and standing up to look this b*tch in the eye.

“Food fight? Again? Please do grow up.” I spat at her but my ears and eyes looking over he shoulders to see Lucas laughing his head of at me and Jake sending a sorry look. I decided to ignore them both and stay focused on the problem at hand. Miss Cruella De Ville.