“Nothing.” My lips twitched, and I rushed past him, up the stairs, and into my room.
I had some song searching to do.
9
ELENA
Iwoke up the next day with a heavy heart. Today was the thirteenth, the day before Valentine’s Day. I couldn’t wait because after today, all the hearts and love in the air would disappear. Making this feeling inside of me twenty thousand times more depressing. I still wondered why Blake didn’t follow me. He was so adamant, but after our time in the woods, he’d just disappeared. I didn’t even see him for the rest of the day.
I hated my father’s reasoning. That my crush on the hottest guy at school was something childish. He wouldn’t even grant me that much.
It was inevitable, but I still couldn’t stop thinking about Blake.
The drive to school was silent. I was glad that I didn’t have to take the bus today, and a part of me couldn’t wait to see Blake either. Even if it would lead nowhere.
He would always make my day.
Dad parked a few minutes before the school bell rang in the parking lot. I grabbed my bags, kissed him on the cheek, and climbed out.
I knew yesterday with the jocks yelling my name, grated on him. It put him on edge and I hoped telling him it was nothing would be enough for him to not go digging up their past because of his paranoia.
“See you later.”
I nodded with a smile and rushed to the entrance of the school.
I just hoped that Chloë didn’t booby-trap my locker or anything else again. I didn’t see Blake anywhere in the hallway, either.
A student pushed a pamphlet into my hands. The school-play again. Try-outs were going on during lunch and after school at two. Another song played and the four idiots serenaded another girl.
I reached my locker as their love song grated against my nerves. I opened it slowly, but didn’t duck. There was nothing inside. I still wondered how my locker and books turned paint free. It freaked me out.
I took the first few classes books and closed my locker.
I walked past the guys serenading to the girl with people holding their phones out, smiling like dorks, who got hit with a love spell.
I kept searching for Blake in secret, but there wasn’t any trace of him.
Was he even at school today?
I didn’t like the new feeling that brewed inside of me, not one bit, and regretted what I’d said to him yesterday in the woods.
Still, everything happens for a reason, right?I hoped so.
I triedto look for Blake, but he was nowhere to be seen.
I drew the building that was on the board in art and finished the outline. I even got to paint in the shadows, which I never used black for. I mixed brown and yellow to get that funny poopy-brown and dipped it on the canvas.
The bell rang, and I hoped I might see Blake during lunch. I passed the double swing doors that led to the cafeteria. Bright fluorescent lights lit up the food area. Smells of garlic and creamy sauces filled my nostrils. Students already sat around the rows of long tables with plastic chairs. My gaze scanned the last table where I usually sat. It was empty. He really wasn’t here today.
My gaze scrolled through the menu board, listing items and prices. Today was pasta with the usual corn dogs, fries, hamburgers and other greasy items.
The line with jostling teens moved forward as they carried colored plastic trays to open tables.
I waited in line and reached the trays and picked one up.
Scratched-up sneeze guards covering most of the food selections, as I set my heart on the creamy pasta that they had on the board.
The grumpy lunch lady barked at the boy in front of the few girls before me to make his choice. She scared me with her deep voice.
