Page 12 of Voices

What?

“Sticks?”

“Ya, Sticks. You know, because you play hockey,” she says like I’m a dumbass.

“You know who I am?”

She rolls her eyes and starts walking again.

Well, this just got a little more interesting.

As we get closer to the guy I’ve been thinking about since yesterday afternoon, I watch as his eyes get huge. We stop in front of him.

“Charlie, I believe this hunk of a man has something of yours.”

Charlie. I finally have his name.

I smile at him and get lost in his eyes for a minute.

He’s looking back at me, but I don’t think he’s breathing. I have no idea how long we stay like this but when a sharp jab hits my hip, I snap out of it.

Looking down at the feisty girl, I’ve forgotten what she said. She nudges the book in my hand and not so subtly tilts her head to Charlie, whose eyes have gone comically wide.

“Oh yeah. This is yours. You dropped it when we crashed into each other yesterday.”

I smile as I hand it to him and watch as he slowly takes it, almost like he’s scared I poisoned it or something.

He looks down and gives it a quick hug, then puts it in his bag. He peeks up at me through his hair as his cheeks turn an adorable shade of pink.

“Thanks,” he softly mumbles.

“You’re welcome. I’m Shane by the way. I was actually on my way to turn it in when I was snatched by this one,” I thumb to the girl next to me.

“Lily, what have I told you about walking up to people and just pulling them along somewhere without explaining yourself first?” Says a guy I didn’t even notice. He looks like he just rolled in from the beach. He gives off strong surfer dude vibes with his shoulder-length blonde wavy hair, tanned skin, and white seashell necklace.

“That it’s rude.” Lily all but pouts.

“Exactly.”

He looks up at me and assesses me from head to toe with his head tilted. “Let me guess, she came at you like a hurricane talking a mile a minute, and you had no idea what was going on?”

“Yup. Pretty much. But I had Charlie’s sketchbook, and I can see that it’s really important to him, so her reaction kind of makes sense.” I wink down at her as she takes a seat next to surfer guy.

Not wanting to tower over them, I sit next to Charlie. As I sit down, my arm brushes the sleeve of his hoodie. He flinches slightly and scoots to the opposite edge of his chair. I furrow my brows not understanding his reaction. I look over at him to see what that was about but he’s staring a hole into the table.

“I’m Noah, the sane one of this group.” Surfer guy says with a smile.

I look over to him and nod, returning his smile.

Looking back at Charlie, I notice his shoulders are now up by his ears and his hood is up.

O-kay. I guess that’s the end of this little meet and greet.

Getting up, I look at Noah. “It was nice meeting you.” I turn to Lily. “I’m not sure how I feel about you yet, but I do like your loyalty to your friend.” She smiles at me, proud of herself. I turn to Charlie, expecting him to be looking up at me, but he’s still hunched forward, looking at the table.

“I’m glad you have your book back, Charlie. I hope we meet again.”

I waved bye to them and headed over to where I saw Ryder and Matt sitting on the other side of the cafeteria.

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