Bright Eyes

10.1. I Don't Think I Know You Anymore

"Damien!"

Lyn squeezed herself through the crowd, her eyes set on the stocky, brown-skinned boy walking hand in hand with a pretty blonde girl, his friends beside them.

She needed to get to him. She needed to talk to him. They didn't have much time left.

Damien and his friends stepped into the cafeteria, headed straight to the queue. An inadvertent push from behind, and the raven-haired girl stumbled in; a few steps and a couple more pushes around, then she collided into the pretty blonde girl.

"Ugh, get off of me," said Cheryl, pushing Lyn away.

But Damien had seen her, and stopped in his tracks, and spun around in time to reach an arm out, steadying his childhood friend.

"You okay, Lyn?" he asked.

His girlfriend stared at him in disbelief. "She bumped me."

"It's probably an accident," he assured Cheryl. Then he held her hand again, and squeezed it affectionately. "You're not hurt, are you?"

His girlfriend smiled, and shook her head, giving his hand a good squeeze back.

"I'm fine," said Lyn, gesturing that Damien remove his hand from her shoulder, which he did. "But I've got to talk to you about something."

Cheryl pouted, and looked up at Damien. "But, my love, I'm starving."

"I'll be quick," Lyn promised.

His girlfriend gave her a threatening glare, and warned, "You better."

"So what is it?" asked Damien. His friends had also halted in their tracks, and now they stared at Damien and Lyn, listening.

"You agreed we were going to meet after class on Wednesday," said Lyn. She caught Cheryl's eyes widen, then. "I have no plans to steal your boyfriend, if that's what you're thinking," she said, turning to her. She shifted her attention back to Damien, and said, "I asked you again yesterday, and you said you'll make up for it, but you didn't show up either." She paused. "What are we going to do about the English presentation?"

"Oh, right," said Damien, remembering. "Sorry. Been stuck in detention after class since Monday. Forgot to tell you about that. When's the presentation again?"

"Monday."

"We have plenty of time."

"Damien, it's Friday today," said Lyn, "and we haven't discussed anything."

"My love," whined Cheryl, "I'm hungry."

"Just a minute," said Damien, his thumb stroking the hand he held. "I'll meet you after detention."

Lyn asked, "When does your detention end?"

"Six."

"So we can meet up at seven?"

"Eight."

"Where?"

Cheryl sighed. "My love, please."

"The Raven's Nest," rushed Damien.

Lyn nodded in agreement. And with that, Cheryl dragged her boyfriend straight to the queue, his friends following suit.

Lyn stood there, watching her childhood friend walk farther away till he disappeared into the crowd. He wasn't the academically driven boy she knew back when they were kids. They used to compete against each other, their grade point averages only a decimal's difference. Now he didn't seem to care about any of that. All that was left was a shadow of a goofy smile, a shell of the funny math whiz he once was before his parents' divorce.