James insisted on eating with me during lunch break, I don't know where his persistence is coming from but he never used to pay attention to me, and when he did, it was to make me feel humiliated.
Karen sat on the table munching on her sandwich as she waited. I don't have many friends and it seemed Karen had been the only friend I had ever since starting high school.
She gave me a scandalous look and a raise of an eyebrow when James sat down beside me.
I glared at her, whatever she was thinking, there's no truth to it. I don't know why he was paying too much attention to me suddenly. If he ever felt some sort of romantic infatuation, he never showed it..or...is this the way he showed his affection?
Maybe now that he felt threatened by someone else, he felt the need to guard what he thought belongs to him.
"Don't you always eat lunch with your friends?" I asked James after we settled on the long bench in the cafeteria.
"Sometimes," he took a massive bite of his meatball sandwich. "Besides, I need to take a break from my friends. I can only hang with loud and rowdy people for too long before I feel exhausted."
Oh, so there's a calmer James I never knew existed.
I was taking a bite of my cheeseburger when I felt the same tingling sensation shuddered all over me. I knew that feeling, Augustine was the only one who ever gave it to me. I whipped my head around, looking for him when sure enough, he was strutting towards us, piercing brown eyes buried deep in mine, making me flare up with heat.
Heads turned as he walked by. Women giggled while men raised their eyebrows. He seemed oblivious to all the attention he's getting, but I'm sure he noticed them. All those female eyes chasing him as he walked by and I for one was one of them.
My head dropped at the intensity of his stare. I could only make steady eye contact before I got overwhelmed.
Just when I thought he was going to join us, the girl he was with earlier came to meet him. They both have that same aura around them, that same intense energy that I couldn't explain. She drew the eyes of men while he drew the eyes of women. They seemed like a perfect couple.
I cleared my throat feeling a pang of pain in my chest, crushed. What the hell am I thinking? Of course, he would prefer a girl like her. Her long sleek black hair, her dark skin, her long lashes and full lips. She looked more beautiful than those girls I see in magazines.
"Damn," Karen said as she bit on the straw of her juice pouch. "Where'd he come from?" Her eyes glued to Augustine just like everyone else.
"Heaven?" I answered with humor, although I honestly think he might be a real angel.
"No kidding! He's hot as hell."
James exhaled beside me. "Men like him are the ones you need to look out for. They treat women like rags just because they know they're good looking. He's a fuck boy, Karen. You're better off."
Karen grimaced. "Coming from the lord of fuck boys himself."
James glared at her.
"You know we're all aware of the girls you dated, you go through them every other week like you're in a rush to date every girl in this high school before you graduate."
"Hardly," answered James grinning, he somehow took the insult for a compliment. "I dated two girls the entire time. Where are you getting all these ideas of me?"
"I only know what I see."
"Well, don't judge the book by its cover. I'm better than that."