His Nepenthe | complete

14. Odd

O D D D A Y S

*

"Hey."

I turned at the sound of the familiar quiet voice, looking at to Brandy who was sat next to me and raising an eyebrow.

"Hey?"

She narrowed her eyes at me playfully with a smile daring to break on her lips as she fiddled with the pen in between her fingertips, "Don't 'hey?' me, I know we're secretly friends."

"If we were secretly friends, you wouldn't be very good at hiding it," I mumbled, looking back up to the board, writing down a few more words the teacher put up.

I saw her tap the side of her nose in my peripheral vision, as if we were playing a game of charades and I'd gotten a word right, "Good thing we're not then."

"Why are you talking to me?" I asked, giving her my full attention.

"We might not secretly be friends, but we're still definitely acquaintances."

I clicked my tongue in hidden irritation, "Is that really a position where you decide to talk to me?"

She nodded, a small laugh resonating from her lips, "Yes, absolutely."

I shook my head, turning back to my page, "You confuse me."

"Good."

The statement amused me, my neck craning to meet her eyes again with a ghost of a smile attempting to form on my face. She looked ahead, her lips forming that 'i have something to add' expression. There was an air of distress around her, but I knew better than to ask for her to spill her problems on me. That wouldn't help anyone.

"I can tell you want to say something," I mumbled to her.

She furrowed her eyebrows, tilting her head to look at me curiously, "How?"

"You purse your lips with a small curve to them and furrow your eyebrows slightly" I explained, gesturing to her mouth with my pen. Her lips were parted slightly as she stared at me curiously.

"You're really observant, aren't you?"

I shrugged, "Got nothing better to do."

"You can always talk to people and make friends," She teased, nudging my ankle with her foot.

"If you haven't figured it out yet, I don't really want friends," I grumbled in return.

"Why not?" The brunette bit her lip, not meeting my eyes as she asked the question she knew the answer to. She seemed as if she was waiting for a different one - like my life meant much more than it should to her.

I rolled my eyes, tapping my pen on my book, refusing to meet her cautious gaze, "You know why."

"I..." She trailed off just as the bell rang, signalling the end of class.