Beautiful Storms

chapter ten | jude

"The best relationships started off as friendships."

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beautiful storms | chapter ten

Jude pushes past all the other students. Someone kicks out their feet and he fumbles to the ground, his palms rest on the floor and he breathes out as he pushes himself up from the floor. His hand slams on the locker door and groans.

"Shit."

He sees a tear in his jeans and he leans against the locker. He examines his knee and there are scratches with light droplets of blood, filling the light pink skin around it.

"Are you okay?"

He turns his head and sees a girl, her light green eyes are the first thing that catches his eye. Her ginger hair, pushing past her shoulders. She is all around a pretty girl. But Cara is beautiful. He shakes his head and then he nods.

"I'm fine, I just scraped my knee."

He looks back at the students that continued to walk past them. He gulps and he clears his throat.

"Excuse me."

"Uh, wait. I'm Haley by the way."

"Jude."

He smiles down at her before limps to the nurse's office.

Cara frowns as she stares down at her tray. Lunch was pretty silent for both Jude and Cara. Sadie needed to stay after class for a bit. She played with her food moving it around with her spork.

"Are you-"

"Hey, Jude."

The girl from earlier jumps into the seat next to him, causing him to scoot over. Cara stares up and glares at her. Her jaw sets.

"Cara!-Erin and I haven't talked to you in so long and then we found out you're spending a lot with this hottie over here."

Her hair flies into Jude's mouth and he violently spits it out. The girl apologizes before she brings her attention to Cara.

"Erin...is," she scans the lunchroom before waving her hand around. "There, Erin!"

Jude winches at her loud voice and scoots away from her. He stares at Cara. He reaches over and taps her hand. She turns her head but she doesn't move her hand.

"Are you okay?"

She blinks a few times and her eyebrows furrow. She looks down at her tray.

"I'll be fine." She says, yawning.

Jude's lips turn into a thin line. He taps her hand again, she looks up again. "Yeah?"

He smiles over at her and that brings a smile to her lips but it doesn't reach her eyes. I wish you would smile. Haley watches the exchange with an absent expression and she pulls her eyes away when Erin comes to the table, sitting next Cara.

"Hey, Erin." Cara greets him but she doesn't meet his eyes.

"So...Jude, where are you from?" Haley asks, interests dripping from her voice.

"Portland." He forces himself to let the words fall from his lips and he glances at her and she smiles.

She turns so her whole body is facing him and she lays her head on her hand, giving him her full attention. He glances at her eyes when she talks and sees a spark of annoyance before it fades away.

"Have you made any friends here?"

"Cara."

"Well, I could be your friend too."

She nods, humming to herself, she pushes her hair to the side. He looks back at Cara and Erin, they were exchanging whispers. Erin whispers in her ear. Sadness burning in her eyes and she nods. She catches Jude looking at her and she throws him a side smile.

"So, he won't be coming for another few days," Erin says to Cara.

"Okay."

Biology had been quiet for Jude like he liked so he could actually listen to the teacher until a loudmouth girl decided to sit next to him. He taps his pen against his textbook, they were still on Human anatomy which bored Jude but he still tried to listen.

"Pss...Jude."

He ignores her and he states at the board and he flips to the next page and writes down the notes. She taps his arm and he rolls his eyes but he doesn't stop writing.

"Do your work, Haley."

She huffs before turning in her seat and she crosses her arms over her chest, she presses them hard so he could see her breasts poke out more. Leave me alone. He hears her whisper to herself and he rolls his eyes again.

"I graded you guys' tests this morning."

Jude glances up from his notes and he sees the stack of papers in his hands. He studied for days for this test and didn't have much sleep. He was still trying to fix his sleeping schedule. The teacher called their names in alphabetical order and Jude was first to stand up.

"Good job, Jude."

Jude stared down at his test and a 90 written in red sharpie caught his eyes. He sends the teacher a boyish smile before going back to his seat. Fucking up my sleep paid off. He glances over to Haley's test when she sits down and he frowns. 52% Haley sighs as she stares down at the slip of paper.

When all of the papers are passed out, the teacher tells them when their next test is and the class groans in unison, bringing a smile to the teacher's face.

"Learning is pain, Children." He laughs but no one else laughs at his joke.

Jude taps his fingers on his desk and he rolls his eyes before tapping on her shoulder. She stares at him with a confused look.

"Do you need help studying?"

She smiles at him before nodding.

The bell rings and students start to leave the class. Jude packs up his bag and he folds his test before putting in his bag. He swings his bag over his shoulder.

"Are you busy after school?" Haley asks.

"No."

"There's a cafe, we can go study there." She hands him a slip of paper with her number on it and he puts it in his pocket as he nods.

"Text me and I'll send you the address."

He says okay before leaving and he walks into the hallway, heading to his locker. Sadie stands in front of it waiting for him. He pushes her out of the way so he can get to his locker and she scoffs, rolling her eyes.

"Hey to you too."

"I'm not gonna be out studying so I won't be home again."

Sadie doesn't say a word and she stares down at her shoes. She kicks them against the floor, creating them more than they already were. Jude notices the slight change in her attitude but he doesn't say anything. Maybe she's just not feeling well.

"When will you be home?" She whispers softly and she couldn't bring herself to look at him because she didn't want him to see her tear up.

"After five."

"Ok, I'll see you on the bus."

She walks away from him and Jude shuts his locker and he lets out a sigh. He follows behind her.