The Relationship Status

NEGLECTED

CHAPTER 2

NEGLECTED

My phone buzzed in my pocket as the bell rang signalling the end of my Biology class and the start of my 1 hour long break. I smiled as I saw a text from Aaron.

Basketball court now.

I started typing a reply while heading downstairs in a hurry. As I was about to take the last step, someone going up the stairs bumped into me and dropped their sunglasses right in front of my feet. If I hadn't glanced at the last step, the poor guy's glasses would have been reduced to pieces.

"Didn't I tell you to watch where you're going?" he said picking up his glasses.

I felt my cheeks grow hot in embarrassment as I recalled our previous encounter.

"Well you get in my way everytime, maybe you should be the one to watch where you're going" It came out more harshly than I had intended and I quickly averted my gaze.

"Fiesty, I like it" he replied grinning.

I shot him a dirty look and he raised his hands up in mock surrender.

"Hey ok I think we started off on the wrong side, I'm Sam" he extended his hand towards me.

"Aiva" I said shaking it, giving him a small smile.

"So you're new here right?"

I nodded in response.

"Why don't we grab something to eat from the cafeteria and get to know eachother better too?" he suggested raising up an eyebrow.

"I have to meet this friend outside, he's waiting for me" I said shifting my body weight from one foot to the other nervously.

"It's alright, tell your friend that it'll take you some time. 15 minutes at most since I have class too."

I bit my lip contemplating. I don't know what it was that made me hesistant in giving him a negative answer. Maybe it was the way he looked at me expectantly or maybe it was the thought of getting to know someone like him better but I agreed to his offer. I quickly sent a text to Aaron telling him I would be 15 minutes late as I had some work to do. I don't know what made me lie to him but something at the back of my mind told me that Aaron wouldn't appreciate Sam's presence. That was the just the start of keeping secrets of my own.

We grabbed turkey sandwiches from the cafetaria and sat down on one of the empty tables. I started peeling off the saran wrap and took a bite. The sandwich was delicious and an involuntary moan escaped my lips.

He looked at me smirking and I blushed. I blushed quite alot around him, it was so annoying that he had that effect on me.

"Well I'm glad someone enjoys their food"

"Sorry for a moment I forgot you were there" I said sheepishly

"No worries, I don't mind listening to you moan"

I rolled my eyes at his innuendo. He laughed in response and started munching on his sandwich while asking me random questions in between bites. We talked for quite a bit and I lost track of time. I glanced at my watch and gasped.

"What's wrong?"

"I had to meet up with my friend! You had class and it's way over 15 minutes!" I half yelled.

"Oh damn! Guess I'll have to skip class again" he replied calmly and I looked up at him wide eyed.

"Aaron is going to kill me and I can't believe you're so calm about skipping classes" I said rising up from my seat and adjusting my bag on my shoulders. He mimicked my moves.

"It was a pleasure having lunch with you and I would like to do this again sometime. Apologize to your friend for me." With that he walked off disappearing through the cafeteria doors.

I ran towards the basketball court only to find it empty. I texted Aaron asking him about his whereabouts but I got no reply. Guess he was pretty pissed at me for standing him up or maybe he didn't care that I wasn't there. After all we had met only a day before. I stopped myself before I could over analyze the situation any further and walked towards the library to spend the rest 20 minutes of my break.

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I sat myself on one of the chairs at the far end of the room and took out a novel I was reading from my backpack. The sound of someone pulling out a chair opposite mine snapped me out of my world of imagination and my eyes met a pair of blue ones.

A girl with short, brown hair was seated in the opposite chair. She had a book in her hand but was typing furiously on her phone. When she was done typing she looked up at me and gave me a small smile.

"Hi I'm Aiva" I whispered.

She was hesistant at first but she responded nonetheless. "Eve" she spoke in a small voice.

"Are you new here too?"

"Yes, yesterday was my first day"

"Mine too!" I spoke rather loudly earning glares from a few other readers. I instinctively dipped my head down in embarrassment and she looked at me with an amused expression.

"Let me see your schedule" I started again.

She rummaged through her bag and pushed a neatly folded paper towards me.

My eyes widened with excitement. "You have three classes with me!"

She just smiled at me in response. I could tell she wasn't much of a talker unlike me, I was a huge chatterbox. I loved to socialize with people and could easily engage anyone in small talk.

The bell rang signalling the end of lunch and I internally smiled at the fact I had made another new friend in just two days. Eve and I walked together to our next class which was Chemistry. I checked my phone for the umpteenth time to see if Aaron had gotten back to me but much to my dismay there were no new messages. I made a mental note to talk to him whenever I saw him next.

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The only problem was I never got to see him. For three consecutive days he had been absent and worry was building inside me. All sorts of thoughts went through my mind and my fingers itched to call him but I refrained from doing so. He would think I'm so weird.

Thinking about Aaron's presence was not the only thing on my mind. I had gotten to know Eve and Sam pretty well and it had become a daily routine of sorts to have lunch together, walk to class together, play games together and do anything together that you could think of. I had started to like this little group of ours. Even Eve and Sam hit it off right away considering Eve was more of an introvert.

Sam had this energy, this aura around him that seemed to gravitate people towards him. It was the way his smile reached up to his eyes, the way his eyes always held a mischievous glint and the way his infectious laugh would cheer up anyone in no time. This was pure bliss and I was soaking it in as much as I could before it all went away. I knew it would all go away. Good things never last long and I couldn't have been more right.

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