Eric's Mess 6

My companion nodded as we turned down a different hall than we had traveled on our way down. Our school was two stories shaped like two connected circles with a few larger extensions that consisted of our gymnasium, cafeteria, and theater. The map may look confusing, but after one day in the halls, it's impossible to get lost.

“So, I still have a seat with you at lunch right?” Eric asked. I was surprised by his serious air.

I nodded. “I said you did didn't I?”

He smiled down at his feet. The walk was amazingly quiet for our school and I was stunned by how few people there were in the halls. I was glad though. People were just acting too weird since I started hanging out with Eric. Yeah, he was gorgeous, and he was new. Did that really give people all that much to talk about?

I looked at Eric hoping to find the answer. He looked back down at me and I stared right back. And for some reason we stopped right where we stood. Just looking at each other. Eric was probably between six-seven inches talker than me, so I really didn't have to look that far up.

I looked down at my shoes and found a second pair slightly closer than they should be. Looking back up to Eric's face I could tell that we were much closer than I had thought. When did we get this close? He was so close now that I wondered how I didn't bump my head against him as I brought it up to meet his deep gaze once more.

Ring!

The warning bell sounded, telling us that there was five minutes until first period ended. Without hesitation I began moving again in the direction of the cafeteria. I didn't turn to make sure he was following me.

“Hey man.” I sat back down next to Drake. Leslee wasn't back. I figured I wouldn't see her again until fourth block- history.

“Where's your friend?” Drake didn't look at me. Instead he looked as if he was proof reading what he had written earlier.

I made one of those incoherent annoyed noises that sounded something like a grunt. “He's not your friend too?” I glanced around the cafeteria to make sure we weren't talking about him where anyone could hear us.

“I don't really know the guy.”

“Well, your not giving him much of a chance.” I retorted. I didn't know why I was becoming so defensive and Drake seemed to notice my unusual behavior.

He turned to face me, with bright green eyes melting my justifications. “Maybe he has enough friends without me Delanie.” I knew he wasn't actually jealous of Eric, but I was supposing that Drake was making reference to the fact that the whole school seemed to be revolving around our newest member.

I relaxed a little trying to compose myself. “I'm just saying give him a chance. All the commotion will die down and you'll see he's just a regular guy.”

“I'm sure he'll love that day.” Drake gave me a sort of apologetic look after that knowing that he was only making things worse. He had to remember who he was made at.

I gave a coy smile. “So, you are free this weekend right?”

“I'll see what I can do.”

Ring!

Drake was the first to leave, as always, and then I jumped up with my stuff in hand. Leslee's notebook and purse were still on the table, but I figured she'd be back, so I left it there. As I made my way through the halls, I was lost in thought once more. What would really happen this weekend?

“Uph!” I had walked straight into someone. “Sorry.” I called, but I found myself stopping to follow the unknown person with my eyes.

He was about my height with spiky brown hair that glowed with bronze highlights. His eyes were such a deep gold. It was as I was admiring this that he turned to meet my eyes. His look was so intense I almost lost my balance.

Well, the other bodies crashing into me while I blocked the hall might have had something to do with that too. I was knocked a little too hard by the next passerby and looked away from the stranger to catch my balance. He was completely out of sight by the time I looked back up.

Eventually, I made it to my second period gym class. Though I liked sports, it didn't seem that I was extraordinarily good at any of them. I played for the fun of it. Today we changed up for floor hockey, one of my favorites. It was a tight game 4-6, my team the winners. Though in school I know 'there are no losers.' But we still won.

I headed into the locker room after high fives and grabbed my bag out of my locker to take a shower. Not a lot of the students, especially boys, took a shower after gym, but two other girls in my class and I almost always did. The school had to let you and I took advantage of that right.

When I was done I went to the mirror to fix my hair and over heard some more talk about Eric. Finding it in my best interest to not be caught in the conversation, I hurried and went on my way. In a couple day this will all die down. I knew if we had more new students it wouldn't be like this. Small schools just didn't have enough excitement for this to be any lesser news.

My third block was ecology. A very relaxed and fun class. One of my favorite teacher taught this class but today she just couldn't keep my attention. The time flew by in here as usual as I doodled a pair of deep eyes on my hand out. And then erased them. The bell rang, calling me to third lunch and waking me from my dream state.

I scrambled down to the cafeteria hoping I could beat Eric so that he wouldn't be lost. What was I thinking? He managed without me yesterday didn't he? But when I got there he was already sitting right next to the spot where I usually sat.

I walked up to him and just kind of stood there for a moment. He smiled up at me. “You hungry?”

“Yeah, I guess.” We got in line and patiently taking each step forward, one at a time. “How did you know where to sit?” I finally asked. The question was burning a hole within me.

“Your school is pretty small.” He gave me a matter of fact look. “I saw you sitting there yesterday.”

Well, that made sense. I let it go and we both made it back to our seats in the end. My other three table mates made it while we were in line. Amy and Zach had a packed lunch and Micheal didn't like eating at school.

“Hey guys! This is-”

Zach interrupted me. “We know; Eric.”

Eric just smiled. “Sorry, I beat you to it this time.” He motioned for me to sit first. What a gentleman.

We sat down and prodded at our food, not saying much. I picked at my roll while Eric read his milk box. The other three were all engaged in a conversation and Eric seemed very content on what he was learning from the tiny script, so naturally I fell victim to my desire to stare at Eric once again.

“Am I distracting you from your food?” Eric caught my attention.

I jumped catching everyone else's. “Sorry, I guess I didn't sleep too well last night. Weird dream.”

“Tell me.” Eric commanded as he pushed his tray away and rested down on his arm all in one swift motion.

I opened my mouth to explain, but then recalled the actual dream. “Can't remember it anymore.”

Eric took over a look of defeat. “You should try writing your dreams down when you first wake up.” He sat up again to give me that same draining half-smile. “That way you can always go back and read them.”

“Yeah.” I nodded and then stood with my tray. “Maybe I'll try that.” I disposed of the uneaten food and placed the colorful plastic sheet in a pile. Turning to make my way back and I locked eyes with Eric again. He was speaking, I supposed to my friends, but kept following my eyes on the way back to the table. It was the same strange look that he possessed when he walked me to first block. Concentrated and conflicted. There was something that I was supposed to see in that look. But I didn't want to, so I looked away.