A little while later, it was time for lunch. Tristen body language was back to normal but, the look he gave me worried me. There was something going on. When we walked out of the room he was right by my side. His hand effortlessly found mine and that simple act made me forget all about what happened in the room.
Turning toward him, I ask, "What was that back in the room?' He answers with a "What?' but, his face says he knows exactly what I am talking about. Tilting my head to the side with a look my mom uses with me often I tug on his hand to get my point across. "Let's just say I was letting my over active mind get my emotions crossed with what could have been in your past. And can we leave it at that?" He replies.
Now I am stumped. My past before coming here, how is that anything to him? Could that bother him? Does that mean he cares about me? Left to my own thoughts Tristen walks me down the hall.
We make it to the lunchroom; the line was crazy as always. Amber and Kat was standing to the corner waiting for us. As we walk up Kat was beaming, "So, what's new with you guys?" she asked. "Nothing, you ready to eat?" I ask hoping to change the subject from whatever she was trying to get to. "Looks like someone was ready to eat your face earlier today," Kat says as she takes an elbow from Amber who was trying very hard not to laugh. I could feel my cheeks get hot, I turn from everyone and start down the line. Tristen let's go of my hand when we take our trays.
"You are so stunning," he whispered so close to my ear. I jumped just a little. Glancing over my shoulder I could see the smirk on his face. He loved my embarrassment. If it meant that he would look at me with that smile I would get embarrassed every day. Walking through line we all get through and make our way to the table they normally sit at. Most of it is already full of the rest of the crew. As I sat there looking over at everyone at the table, how they were with one another made my heart so full. These kids were like a family for one another. The laughing, joking, smart cracks on one another, it was amazing.
The day turned out to be one of the best for me in a long time. Waiting for the buses to leave at the end of the day, Kat and Amber make their way to me. It was so nice to have a normal chat with girls. Out of the corner of my eye I catch a light, I turn toward it. All I see is Eric, Sasha and Marcus crowded together. The way they bowed their heads in hush whispers told me they were up to something. Eric eyes kept darting toward the way of me. He even grinned at me when he caught me looking. Which made me cold all the way through to my bones.
In that moment of being caught, I saw the spark again. It was in Eric's left hand, as if he was holding a ball that was on fire. The only difference is it wasn't red it was white and blue. And more of a spark than a fire, almost like lightening. I was so shocked at what I saw that I did not notice when Tristen came up behind me.
Feeling his body just inches from mine, my whole back to my feet could feel his body like it was pressed against mine. Glancing over my shoulder at him I could see that he was looking at Eric and the rest of them. Turning the rest of the way to face Tristen I watched his jaw get stiff and his hands fold up into and out of fist. Something was going on and it had really upset him. I placed my hand on the side of his face, Tristen molded his face to my palm. Closing his eyes and inhaling deep, you could see the change in his stance.
Placing his hand over mine he turns his mouth into my palm and leaves a kiss. When he pulled it away there was the smile that melted my heart every time. "thank you," he whispered just enough for me to hear. Tristen turns to his friends, "Brayden you come with me, I'll see the rest of you later." At that he looks me in my eyes, winks at me then turns and goes toward Marcus.
Something is so not right here. And I am going to find out what it is. I start to follow them when, Amber and Kat are standing in my way. "Hold your horses now little lady, where do you think you are going?" Kat ask me with her hands crossed over her chest. "What? You think I am going to just stand by and watch them kill each other. I don't think so." I say with more excitement then I wanted to show. "Get out of my way." Trying to move past those two was a lot harder than I thought.
"You need to let him handle things himself. He is not going to get hurt, trust me", Amber says to me holding my arms while Kat was behind me with her arms around my waist. These two girls are a lot stronger than I thought. The look in Amber eyes gave me the feeling that she was right. Everything was going to be ok, I am not sure how I know this but, I knew. Taking a peak around Amber I see Tristen make his way to Marcus, something is said and Tristen turns to face off campus. Everyone else started walking in that direction, you could tell that Marcus was not happy about what ever went down between them. His shoulders were rigid while his fist was at his sides, his head turn suddenly our way and his eyes grew bright red then the color was gone.
Within that moment I lean back against Kat to try to get further away from him. Even though I was not anywhere close. My mind was going crazy trying to figure out what the heck I just saw. "Let's just get her out of here." Amber says to Kat. The girls turn me away and we start walking toward the cars.
The girls took me to eat after school, every time I tried to bring up what I saw the girls would shut it down as nothing. Or that they did not see anything, that I just thought I saw things happen. As frustrating as it was to be told I was almost crazy, it did make sense that my mind was just stressed and fooled me.