Page 6 of Feels Like Coming Home

Walking towards me, smiling, her cinnamon-colored hair fell just past her shoulders. She had on a short denim skirt and was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt, with the top few buttons undone. I could see her bra strap slipping out on her shoulder because her backpack had pushed the sleeve of her shirt down. I tried not to stare at it too long.

Had she always looked like a glowing light was shining from behind her? No, right? That’s just happening right now?

I blinked a few times and tried to ignore the tingling feeling in my gut and remembered that she had said something and was probably waiting for me to reply.

“Got it. Everything is good though?” was all I could string together, trying to play it cool.

“Yes, Cam, everything is fine. You don’t need to worry,” she said with a sweet, understanding smile because she knew that I would worry. She always knew what I was thinking or how I was feeling.

“Yo! Camden!” I heard someone say from down the hall and I turned to see it was one of the guys from the team waving at me. I turned back to look at Haley, trying to prevent her from noticing how I wasreallylooking at her.

“I should probably go make sure everything’s okay,” I said with a shrug.

“That’s alright, I’ll see ya later, Johnson,” Haley said, a sly smirk spreading across her face and a wink that almost made me choke on my tongue again.

“Yeah, I’ll see you later, Jones,” I replied before walking toward the guys who just shouted my name. As I went, I tried to shake the tingling feeling that was still lingering in my gut after seeing Haley in this new way for the first time.

“Yo,did you see Haley today? She looked…different,” one of my teammates said at lunch that same day. Our coach always told us that we played like a team and lived like a team and that meant eating lunch together as a team too.

“Different, how?” I asked, trying to play it cool and not think about how I swore I saw a glowing light following behind her as she walked towards me earlier that morning.

“Differenthot,” another guy at the table said without even skipping a beat.

I looked at him with a mix of disbelief, disgust, and protection. Clearly, he got the message.

“Sorry, dude. I know she’s your friend and all, but that skirt.” He brought his hands to his chest as if he was praying and kissed his fingertips.

I took a breath before saying anything and shrugged. “She looked the same to me,” I lied.

“Well, she looked different enough for Sean to notice. He was talking about her in Chem. Something about how he would like to see what she looked like without the skirt.”

I had to put my fork down and take a deep breath for fear that I would take my fork and shove it into Sean’s hand. Sean Hampton was the oldest guy in our class and also the biggest douche. The way he talked about girls would lead you to believe he was sleeping with the entire cheer squad, which he wasn’t. Normally, I would let the comments slide, but the thought of him talking about Haley like that made me want to do something that would get me in trouble.

“Sean is a dick and should really stop talking like he’s getting something he isn’t,” I sneered through gritted teeth. It came out a little angrier than I intended.

“Woah there, Camden, no need to get all mad about it. I know you guys are tight, but Sean’s an idiot, everyone knows that. He was just talking about how he’d seen her in the hallway talking to you and then commented on her skirt. I don’t think he meant anything more than that.”

He better fucking not have.

I continued to eat my food and let the conversation move on to something else. Obviously, I hadn’t been the only one who noticed Haley and her skirt, but I couldn’t believe what Sean said about her. If he was talking, I’m sure other people were talking too and I hated to think that they were.

After Haley’s dad left, I always felt the need to protect her. Not that she needed my help—the girl could handle things all on her own and she would tell you as such.

I smiled thinking about how in fourth grade Carson Pax called her small and grabbed her headband off her head and held it above his, just out of her reach. I started to try and take it from him, but before I could do anything she kicked him in the shin, which made him double over in pain, and snatched it from his hand. She then promptly affixed it to its rightful place on her head, grabbed my hand, and led us away, leaving poor Carson on the floor.

Lunch was just about over and my tray was almost clean when I felt my phone buzz in my backpack. I leaned down to grab it and once I read the screen, the tingling feeling from earlier was back in my gut.

I swiped to unlock my phone and read the message.

Hey there Johnson, how’s lunch?

It’s good Jones, how’s your lunch?

I replied, looking around the cafeteria to see if I could find her.

It was fine until I looked over at your table and you looked like you wanted to hit something. Somethin’ happen?

No, we were just talking and someone said something stupid.

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