Burning Willow

III

-Edited-

"Did you hear the news?" I stuttered.

Maya looked at my wet eyes, then down at her phone.

"Yeah." She said. "C'mon." Without another word, she linked her arm with mine and dragged me out of school. The back-door of the gym was still open, and it led outside, to the bleachers of the football field.

"Honey, what happened?" She asked after

"I..."

I found myself not being able to say anything.

"Okay." She said, neatly tucking her hair behind her ears. "Did you call your step-dad?"

I pursed my lips.

Stop crying. I told myself. It has nothing to do with you.

"I told him not to do it." I whispered.

Maya bumped her shoulders with mine. "Maybe he thought he was making the right choice."

Above, the sky had turned a dull blue, clouds covering the sun and splaying gray all over the field. 

A couple of girls passed by in the far corner, carrying books in their hands and giggling. 

"Stripping more than fifty people of their homes?" I said. "That's the right choice?"

I leaned forward and covered my face with my hands.

"Things are bad enough as it is." I continued. "That shooting last month killed two. That's two families destroyed. Two mothers who won't--"

Maya called out my name, a little louder than she should have. "Calm down, darling." She said, placing her hand on my arm. "It's not your fault."

"I should have convinced him. I should have tried harder."

"You did what you could." I looked at her and she passed me a small smile. Then she added in a low voice, "Don't look now, but there are two boys heading this way."

I covered my face again and groaned. Not now.

Wiping away the remnants of my tears, I straightened up again.

"Hey, girls." Came a voice I had never heard before. "This a bad time?"

Maya looked up and squinted. "Do you want something?"

It was the two boys from earlier - the one I had bumped into and his friend.

Before they could turn their attention to me, I turned my gaze sideways.

"No," I could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "We just like to randomly approach girls and try to talk to them."

Without invitation, the guy from the morning took a seat. "I'm Chase, by the way." He said. "This is Daniel."

Daniel took a seat besides Chase, one step below Maya and me.

"Maya." She said her name. "She's..." Maya looked at me awkwardly.

"The girl with the attitude?" asked Chase.

I looked up and glared at him. Only, my eyes must have still been red, because he recoiled immediately.

"Damn, if I knew I had hurt you so much, I wouldn't--"

"I'm not upset because of you." I snapped.

Maya and Daniel looked at each other awkwardly.

"Are you always this touchy?"

"Hardly." I said dryly. "I'm just having a bad day."

"Aren't we all?" Said Daniel.

They were both dressed in similar tattered jeans, although Chase was wearing a hoodie and Daniel was all plaid.

Huh, why was he allowed to wear that and not me?

My mind had to barely register my thoughts for me to know I was being irreasonable again.

"You look familiar." Said Chase, tilting his head. 

I pursed my lips.  "You threw your hot beverage on me this morning. Of course I--"

"No I mean... wait, aren't you that chick from the magazine?"

My grip on my bookbag tightened. Any moment now, I would trod off dramatically.

But then I would trip and fall and probably ruin the little arrogance I had.

"And how would you know that?" I asked. "Didn't peg you as a guy who read about fashion." I shrugged. "Unless you're gay. In which case, it's perfectly fine."

"I'm not gay!" He yelled.

Daniel held back a snicker. "She's messing with you, dude."

When nobody was looking, I thought I saw him pass me a wink.

With a soft smile, Daniel turned to Maya whilst Chase still had his gaze on me.

"I heard you're new in town." I said in a weak attempt at conversation. 

"Yeah. Just moved here."

"From where?"

The corner of his mouth tilted upwards. "Been all over the states."

The polite thing to do would have been to ask what his parents did, but neither was I polite, nor did I care. 

A moment later, the faint sound of a bell rang through my ears. 

I picked up my bookbag and got up.

"What do you have now?" Asked Chase.

"Algebra II."

"Great." He said. "Lead the way."

"You take algebra?" I asked.

"Yeah." He said. He got up too and followed me down. I turned back to call for Maya, but she was busy talking to Daniel.

Why would a guy like him take math? The class wasn't even compulsory.

"So what's it like being a celebrity?" He asked when we were walking in between the empty gym.

"I'm hardly a celebrity." I snorted.

Chase narrowed his eyes. "What did you say your last name was again?"

How the hell did he even...?

"I don't even remember giving you my first one."

The door to the gym led to the crowded student hallways, and our echoey, empty voices were now lost through the others. 

"I gave you mine." He said. "It's only fair you give me yours."

Don't talk to me about fair right now. Seriously. I just read through a crappy news report about how my father's company literally destroyed more than fifty people. 

But I nod my head towards a classroom marked 502.

"There's your algebra class." I said.

The second bell rang, and students started filing in almost immediately.

He frowned. "Don't you take...?"

"Nope." I said, smacking my lips at the syllable. 

His mouth changed into a smirk just as I turned around, my backpack swinging behind me.

"Have fun, Chase." I said, just before stalking off.

The look on his face confirmed what I already knew - he didn't take Algebra.