Heartbreak Girl

Chapter Five: A New Friend

 Jeriah collected his lunch tray away from the register and glanced around the crowded cafeteria. Finding his target, he walked over to her bench. She had a paperback novel in one hand and a fork in the other. She wasn't moving the fork but she sometimes stabbed her food with it and shoved it in her mouth then to turn the page.

Jeriah slid out the chair across from her. The metal legs scraping against the white tile floor. She looked up at him, startled. "Mind if I sit?"

Tabitha shook her head and gestured toward the seat he was leaning against. He sat down and laid his lunch tray on the table. "You're Tabitha, right?"

She nodded, setting her novel aside. Upon further investigation, he saw she was reading a Jane Austin work. "And you're Matthew."

Curse his father for naming him after a dead ancestor. "Call me Jeriah. All my friends do."

"So, we're friends now?"

He froze. She was quick, he'll give her that. Letting out a nervous chuckle, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, yeah. I mean, I would like to be friends."

After a moment of pause, and a spiking of his nerves, Tabitha slowly put down her fork. "Oh?"

He took in a small breath, defeat sinking in. Shaye tried, they both did. At least he tried to help, that was more than some people would do. "If yo don't want to we can-"

"No, no! I want to, you just took me by surprise," she reassured with a nervous voice.

Hunching over his meal, he realized his technique of approaching her wasn't flawless. "I get it, you had some stranger come up and ask you to be your friend. I would be creeped out too," he admitted. Grabbing his plastic fork, he shoveled overly-cooked green beans into his mouth. They tasted like it came out of a metal can.

Tbaitha chuckled. "I guess... But hy me?"

He shrugged. He couldn't very well tell her the reason. As far as he knew, he was supposed to just be a friend. Not divulge information that might change, hopefully. "You're always giving me a run for my money as valedictorian. So why not work together rather than against tone another? Plus," he leaned forward. He wasn't so much of a douche that he wanted the whole school to know their conversation. "You look like you could use a friend."

She leaned back in her seat and shoved her things in her messenger bag. Great, he ticked her off. "I've done just fine without friends."

Quickly and instinctively, Jeriah laid a hand on her arm. She froze. "Of course. That's what not what I meant. "I meant that everyone could use a friend and that I would like to be yours."

She narrowed her eyes, "what's in it for you?"

"Answers to the next quiz," he played with a grin. When she pursed her lips and gave him a scornful look, he knew that wasn't the right thing to say. He gave her a tentative smile. "Nothing. I ask nothing of you but your company. Can I at least have that?"

With a moment's pause, she replied, "maybe. But just so you know that this isn't going to get you laid."

He choked on his spit as his eyes bulged out of his head. "That's not what I"m after!"

One corner of her lips upturned into a smile. "Just making sure you knew. And who knew it was so easy to make you blush?"

He laid his hands over his flaming cheeks to feel how warm they were. Feeling how hot they were, made him blush harder as he grinned. "If I knew you were like this, I would have approached you sooner. You're fun to talk to."

Grinning with her arms across her chest. "That's good to hear. I've got to keep you on your toes or I'm not doing my job right, am I?"

"Touche," he stated as the bell went off for the next class. "Can I walk you to your next class?"

She shrugged her shoulders as she grabbed her bag, slinging it over one shoulder. Shoving her book in the messenger bag, "I suppose. But isn't your class across the school?"

He stood and followed her toward the exit of the cafeteria. "No, it's just down the hall." They tossed their lunches into the trash before he said, "Why? Do I seem suspicious?"

She let out a sigh as he held the door open for her. "No. Just dealing with some suspicious people lately."

Dreading the feeling in his stomach already, he asked, "anything i can help with?"

She shook her head. "No-well... maybe. I don't' know."

They stopped at her class and he turned to face her. He remembered the paper. "Well, if you do need anything," he began, handing her a slip of paper torn from his notebook. It paid to be prepared for the best. "Call me. Night or day, okay?"

Nodding, she gently took the paper and held it gingerly in her hand. "Thanks."

Giving her a smile, he tapped her shoulder for reassurance before saying, "no problem. What are friends for?" Then he speedily walked the other way. Maybe he was suspicious, he thought to himself as he walked toward the next hallway and slipped into the classroom and into his seat just as the bell rang for class to begin.