"I don't know, but... I get this ticklish feeling in my stomach every time I see him. I mean, what is that?"
"Those are called butterflies, you silly goon," she said fondly. Skye was talking to me. I mean a full conversation. ‘Did she just call me goon?’
"Okay, then why do these butterflies make me feel so agitated?" I questioned her doubtfully.
"Oh my god! You like him."
"What? I... I... I don't like him." I protested while stammering. She smacked my head lightly. I yelped and rubbed on the spot where she just hit me. She put her hand on her hip and gave me the 'Really' look.
"I've to study." I took two small mandarins from the fruit basket and went to my bedroom. I laid in bed slowly since the pain in my gut was still hurting.
I closed my eyes and thoughts rushed into my mind. This was the first time Skye has ever spoken with me. I like this change. ‘Is it because of Leo? Was he bringing all this change with him?’
We just met, and I don't know why I cared for what Leo would think of me. It shouldn't matter, but it did. It enormously affected me.
Thinking kind of hurts my brain, it gave me a headache. I was tired and exhausted—I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to nap.
I woke up in pain and famished. I looked at the mandarins that I brought earlier but didn't feel like eating that. So I asked Skye if we could order pizza for dinner today. She agreed and promised that she wouldn't tell my aunt about it. In a way, my aunt cared for me, but she was very strict about my diet. I love ice cream, but she won't let me eat that kind of stuff.
~*~
Sighing, I stood in front of a bathroom mirror and stared at my reflection.
'A guy like Leo would never like me, right?' I scrunched up my nose in disgust. 'Nope. Never.'
I slipped out of my clothes. A dark bruise had appeared on my skin under my rib cage. Hmm... I should skip rehearsal today, per Leo's advice too.
After shower, I cleaned up the piled dirty dishes left for me by my aunt and made dinner. I studied for a little bit then went to sleep.
But I couldn't sleep, kept tossing and turning in my bed. The thought of me trying to jump out of a moving car today was keeping me up. ‘Was I really thinking of killing myself in a blind panic?’
The more I thought about it; the more panic came over me. The fear I felt hiding from Leo—yeah sure, I was hiding it from everyone, but hiding from Leo was pure horror. I don't care if the world finds out about me, but I don't want Leo to feel humiliated because of me. I don't ever want him to find out that I was a cabaret dancer, or he may think of me as a stripper.
The word 'stripper' was rattling in my head. "But I'm not a stripper. I don't strip out of my clothes for people." I said to myself.
~*~
Wednesday morning, I woke up with a spoiled mood and pain in my stomach. I was hoping that my thoughts would be cleared by morning, but I was still a wreck.
I entered the school building and headed to attend my Biology class. Walking in the crowded hallway, I subconsciously looked to my right side, and my eyes met Leo's. He was leaning against his locker, talking to a girl. He caught me looking at him, and he quickly excused himself from the girl he was talking and strode toward me. I immediately turned around.
"Aries," he called. I refused to look his way. "Really, Aries?" He said.
"I know you can hear me," he continued, but I just kept walking and ignored him. He did not follow me, and I was relieved and thankful.
For a long time, I strove to maintain distance from everyone in school and was successful in not getting any attention toward me—both good and bad. However, yesterday's stupid incident enticed Leo to me. I was worried about how it would unfold for me.
Throughout the day, I was playing hide and seek with Leo. Every time I saw him, I changed my direction and now chose to go to the girl's bathroom. Where I ran into Vivian. She always managed to look her best and beautiful, her green eyes filled with remorse, staring at me from the mirror, with varying degrees of contempt, made me uncomfortable.
I wondered if Leo mentioned her about me? It was just two of us in the bathroom. She said nothing, and neither did I. She looked away and then exited the bathroom. I let out a long sigh of despair and went on for my next class.
~*~
I took my usual seat in the math class, but something unusual happened while the course was in full progress.
Leo had got out of his seat and slid in the seat next to me when Mr. Walter's back was facing us.
"Hi!" He whispered. Annoyed with him sitting next to me, I didn't return his greeting. Because of him, now, my exit plan was in trouble. His thigh touched mine, and Leo let out a low moan. There was barely any space left to shift, and I couldn't move.
"Why the hell are you ignoring me?" He asked.
'What are you doing?' I wrote in my notebook instead of talking, avoiding not to get caught by Mr. Walter and not to get kicked out for distributing his class.
'Trying to talk... or write, I guess.' He wrote and added a smiley face to show me the joke amused him. I fumbled with the pen in my hand, thinking about how I could dodge this... him.
'You're in my way? I'll have to push you through, to get out of the class. Don't say I never warned you.' I wrote angrily.
I felt that everybody's eyes were on me the entire time Leo was sitting next
