Stay with me

Lying on the bed once again, I pulled my cap over my face in an attempt to bring their a

By the time my eyes opened again, the clock read fifty minutes past five. Crap. I’d fallen asleep, and now I was twenty minutes late. With no time to change, I scurried out the door and wandered through the empty corridor, trying to remember Stanley’s directions to the mess hall. I should have listened.

Then, there it was, the distant sounds of chatter growing louder and louder with each step I took forward.

A sea of white shirts and black pants flocked the mess hall. I kept my eyes in front of me as I walked through middle between tables toward the non-existent food line toward the back. The chatter calmed as a stillness replaced the madness. Whispers and questions about my presence danced in the air as I passed each table, but I still didn’t bother to look at them.

An older lady in a hair net and sauce-splashed shirt approached the door to the buffet the same time as I did when she said, “Sorry, kitchen’s closed. Maybe next time you’ll be more conscious of your time.” I opened my mouth to speak, but she interrupted me. “Oh, and … I would go back to your dorm to change if I were you.”

And she closed the door in my face.

“Are you kidding me?” I shouted, hoping she could hear me on the other side of the door. The large mess hall fell silent, and when I turned back around, a hundred eyes were on me. “What?” I called out with my palms in the air.

Silence.

My eyes went wide for a reaction, but no one seemed to have a pair.

Everyone went back to their usual conversations, and I found an empty table beside the glass windows overlooking the front of the campus. Other than the gray day transforming to night, there wasn’t much to look at. A man in a jumpsuit drove a golf-cart-looking vehicle over the lawn, picking up litter. On the other side of me was my new fellow student body. Placed randomly throughout the mess hall were round tables, and students grouped together at each table as smiles, chuckles, and a few sneers crossed over their faces. It was high school all over again.

I noticed Alicia and Jake glaring at me from across the room as they talked in each other’s ears. There were four of them total at their table, and they didn’t bother concealing the topic of their discussion. A guy sat on top of the table with his long legs propped over the seat of a chair as a girl with a toothpick frame, pale skin, and pixie black hair laid her head over the table beside him.

I could tell he was tall by the way his knees were bent as his elbows rested over them. A white shirt hung loose around his neck, black and white tattoos painted over each of his arms, and I could hardly make out the heavy rise and fall of his chest as he took in deep breaths. But I did notice. My attention made the journey to his face when our eyes met. A gray beanie covered his head, but dark strands poked out from underneath. His brows pressed together and then he—barely—nodded in my direction. When I didn’t return his advance, he held his head up in his hands and brought his fingers to his mouth. Rings decorated each finger and a dimple appeared beside his hidden smile.

Breaking our co

Tattoo Guy hopped off the table and ran over to the boy. “What is wrong with you, Liam? You have a death wish?” His voice was loud yet controlled as he spoke to the group of laughing hyenas with his arms in the air.

Tattoo Guy crouched before the screaming kid. “Breathe, Zeke,” he insisted, gripping the boy’s arms. The young boy looked up at him. His face was turning from a deep red to a purple in a matter of seconds. “Deep breaths.” Tattoo Guy showed him how by drawing in a deep breath of his own. He counted to three with his fingers in the air before exhaling, and the young boy watched him with the same amazement in his eyes like mine.

The young boy’s screams dissolved and he was able to breathe again. Tattoo Guy glanced over at me, and I quickly turned away. “Let’s get out of here, yeah?” He helped him up off the floor, and Zeke clung to his side as they walked out of the mess hall.

“America, did you think about our offer?” Jake asked as his posse surrounded my table.

I exhaled and retook my seat as Tattoo Guy and Zeke turned the corner out of sight and then answered, “I told you. Not interested.”

“In case you change your mind, it starts at midnight,” Alicia said.

These kids couldn’t take a hint even if it punched them in the face.

The pixie-haired girl smacked Alicia over the head. “You can’t be giving out these details to anyone, Alicia. You have to ask the group first. Have you even talked to Ollie?”

“She’s cool. Trust me.” Alicia continued, “If you’re looking at your window, it’s the fourth block to your left.”

“And how do you suppose I get there?” I had no interest in going, but if there was a way out of my dorm without using my door, I had to know.

Alicia discretely pointed up to the vent in the ceiling before the three of them turned and walked away.