A Witch As A Mate

Chapter 4

                Lylah was nervous, because just being around Nick made her that way. She even got ready earlier than she usually did so that he didn’t have to wait on her. She still didn’t like that he was going to pick her up and drop her off from school. There really was no need, nonetheless she wasn’t going to tell Isaac and her mother no. Though they had plotted out quite a lot more than was desired, especially because she knew why they had so many classes together now.

                A knock sounded on the door which caused her to look towards the door. Would he really come to the door? Her mother had invited him to enter indefinitely since he would be keeping a watch over her. “Hold on.” Grabbing her bracelet from the kitchen table, she placed it on while rushing over to place on her black flats. Finally, she grabbed her backpack from the floor and opened the front door.

                 He stood there leaning against the porch looking out to the forest until she came out and he looked over towards her. “Well good morning.” His dazzling smile was contagious. Closing the door behind her she watched as Nick moved towards the steps down, heading to his black Jeep Cherokee. It seemed he had kept it running. What surprised her some was he opened the door for her to get in. “Don’t give me that look. My mom and sisters have taught be enough to open the door for a lady.”

                Not able to contain her smile she moved her backpack to place on the floor in got in as he closed the door behind her. Buckling her seat belt, she watched as he maneuvered around the car to get in. He also buckled up and pulled onto the street. Looking out the window she tried to void eye contact feeling anxious all over again. “What are your plans for tonight?” Directing her gaze to him, she wondered why he would ask. Did he hope to do something and wanted to ensure that she wasn’t going to need him? He was popular, maybe he had a date. For some reason that bothered her more than it should. It didn’t matter, they couldn’t get together anyway. She wouldn’t allow it. Not with them still out there.

                Shaking her head, she looked out the window again. “I’m just going to work on school work tonight and this weekend.” Not like she didn’t have homework to catch up on.

                “Well during this time would you like to maybe take a break and hang out with me?” That wasn’t what she was expecting. Maybe he was just trying to be overly nice. Still, it would be rude to tell him no. She would just have to make sure to keep her guard up on him, which was hard to do. Somehow, he always managed to surprise her and skip past her defenses.

                “I suppose if you’d like you’re welcome to. Though you will find out I’m not very exciting.” At least not these days anyway.

                “I highly doubt that.” The sly look and smile he gave her caused her heart to skip a beat. Yup, this would be difficult. Just a look from him got under her skin, and not in a bad way.

Thankfully the drive wasn’t long, and he was pulling in the parking lot to the left of the school’s building. Unbuckling the seat belt, she rushed opening the car door and grabbing her backpack. “Thank you for the ride.” She aimed to try and get some distance between them.

                That didn’t seem to help though as he had turned the vehicle off and was already walking around the car to get beside her again. “You’re welcome for the ride. Since we have the same class is it okay if I walk with you?”

                Why would he want to walk with a plain girl she would never know, but she nodded her head. “Sure, if that’s what you would like. Though I will probably head right to class until the bell rings.”           

                “That’s fine. I don’t mind waiting for class to start.” Nothing seemed to faze him one bit. Silence followed them as the walked into the school and Lylah could feel the eyes on her, well more like Nick. He radiated attention from girls and boys. The girls probably loved the way he looked and the confidence he emitted. While the boys probably envied him and wanted to be like him. Keeping her eyes ahead she looked for the classroom and walked in. Of course, since Nick had come so had his band of followers, which was fine. It gave her the opportunity to get space between them as she moved all the way to her desk. Dropping her backpack on the floor, she moved to sit down and take out her items she needed for class.

                Which reminded her she needed to grab a book from the teacher to complete her math book. Then she should try to figure out where her locker was to place some of her books into it sometime today. She hadn’t realized all the books that would come with some of the classes until they were all staked in there. Last evening would have probably been the best time to investigate, but she had decided to just go straight home instead, especially with that sensation that had come over her.

                A ping chimed, and she realized she had forgotten to turn off the sound on her phone. Grabbing it from her jeans pocket she immediately turned the sound off and then looked to see the message. It was from a phone number she didn’t know.

                Sorry about my friends.

                Who is this? A dark feeling had come over her. Could it be him?

                Look behind you and slightly to the side.

                From the message she turned her head to look over and saw Nick with his friends. A small smirk was displayed on his face and her mystery was solved which caused a wave of calmness to settle over her.

                Sorry. I got your number from my dad who got it from your mom.

                He wanted me to give you mine today. Now if you can get a hold of me when you need to.

                That makes sense and you don’t have to apologize for your friends.

                You should have sat back here with me.

                The bell rang forcing Lylah to place her phone in her sweaters pocket and her attention to the board and teacher, allowing for her to ignore the message he had sent. Nick had three of the perfect popular girls sitting to the side of him, why need her? Plus, with him on the other side of the room it was far easier to focus on the teacher. She already disliked the idea of next period and having to sit in front of him. Crap, he would probably want to walk with her to their next period too. Maybe she would message him to tell him to go on without her as she had to stay after to get a book? It seemed like a valid excuse to her.

                Slipping the phone slightly out and under the desk, she waited for the teacher to proceed writing items on the desk with his back turned to her. Hey, you should go on without me to our next class. I have to stay after for a few to ask about something from the teacher.

                His response was quicker than she had expected. I don’t mind waiting.

                That wasn’t the response she wanted from him. Maybe his friends might convince him not to wait and he will leave with them? That’s what she hoped for. Sadly though, as the bell rang, and lecture ended, everyone started to get up to leave. All except for Nick who stood waiting at the door for her while she placed her backpack on and moved to the teacher. “Mr. Michaels. May I bother you for a moment?”

                Mr. Michaels turned from the board he was erasing to look to her. “Of course, what can I do for you Lylah?”

                “I was wondering if I could get a book to complete some of the assignments?” He had provided her with the worksheets for the assignments up until next week. Then they would be working specifically from the book.

                “You may get a book. My apologies that I forgot to do that for you yesterday.” Walking over to his desk, there was a bookshelf that was in the corner that had the extra copies of books shelved. Taking one, he handed it over to her. “Here you are. I’ll fill out a sheet for you to show you signed it out. Just make sure to keep it in decent shape.”

                With a nod from her she took the book. “Thank you and I will. Have a nice day.”  Turning from the teacher she moved to the door where Nick still stood waiting for her. “You know you don’t have to do this. It’s not necessary to be with me constantly. I’m sure your friends are annoyed that you aren’t spending time with them and instead hanging around me.” She didn’t want to be a bother, but she also didn’t want to allow herself to get close to him. She knew she was being a little unkind, but it was better this way.

                “I don’t mind doing this and my friends are fine about it. To be honest I don’t really care what they would think either way. I like hanging out with you.” How could that be possible? They barely knew anything about one another. Something must have showed on her face. “I really do like hanging out with you and getting to know you. Now how about you hand me your backpack?  It looks pretty heavy. I’ll help you find your locker after our next class if you’d like.”

                His hand was out waiting for her bag and she shook her head. “I appreciate that you want to help me, but I can get it to the class.” The look he gave her made her feel like he was going to snatch it right off of her regardless of what she said so she held on the straps. “But I will take your offer up on helping me find my locker.”

                “I guess I can handle that, but I will be taking that bag after next class to your locker.” There were no ifs, ands, or buts about that. It was a statement and she had a felling that she wasn’t going to win against him.

                All through the hall to the stairway, she felt eyes on them as they walked. Once in the stairwell it was a bit better until they exited to the next hallway where the staring started up again. Nick didn’t seem to notice it, or he chose to ignore them. Eventually, they got to the classroom and she moved to the seat she had sat at the previous day while Nick took the one behind her. His friends still sat in their seats and talked to Nick but didn’t try to be a bother to her today.

                She was thankful though that Nick decided to give her some space. As if her just being near him was plenty enough for him. It was a strange thought to have, but that’s what it seemed to her as the bell rang and class started.

                Listening to the lecture she realized she really enjoyed the class. Even with Nick behind her she felt calm and relaxed for once. Even her magic seemed to be stable and not overwhelming at all. Before she even knew it, the bell rang ending class which saddened her some. She placed her items in her bag and went to lift it up when it was yanked from her grasp. Looking up to Nick she watched as he placed it over his shoulder over top of his bag. “I’ll be taking that. Now do you know your locker number?”

                “Well, I can’t get to it since the folder is in my bag.” The dubious look he gave her made it hard not to smile. “It’s true, but I do recall the number, however I will need the folder to get the combination. I have locker 168. I’m assuming that is on the first floor?”

                “You are correct my lady.” He gave a wink and smile to her as he led the way back to the stairway downstairs. “This will be the quickest path from this class. Though depending on what your next class is you might have to take a different route from there. Eight minutes between classes doesn’t give much time to get to your locker. What is your next class?” Walking down the stairwell they moved back to the hallways of the first floor.

                “I have an art class.” She glanced over to him to see what he would say to that.

                “That should be fun. The teacher is pretty great and really nice. She also told me very nicely I have no artistic talent in such a class.” She couldn’t help the laugh that came from her and she covered her mouth trying to stop it. “It was pretty funny. You would have been one of the many that did just that. I’m just not an artist.” She couldn’t stop herself from smiling at his silly comments. Walking past the office they moved down the hall and then he stopped in front of the locker with the number she specified. “Here we are.” Taking her backpack off his shoulder he placed it in front of him, so she could access it, but not take it from him.

                Not bothering to fight him on it she hurried to open her bag so that she could grab the folder. Sliding it out of her bag she flipped it open and proceeded to the dial to enter the numbers in. When all the numbers were dialed in she tried to lift the handle to open it, but it remained locked. Trying again she again it remained locked. “Here let me try.”

                “Okay.” Stepping to the side she let him give it a shot. To no avail, it still remained locked. “At least I know it’s not just me.”

                “No, I guess not. You might want to let Mrs. Richardson know in the office. She will get this figured out. “

                “Well, I guess I will get to my next class and take care of that around lunch. I can take my bag back now.” She reached out for it only to be denied her bag. “I never agreed to you keeping my bag and you can’t walk all the way to my class and then to yours before the bell rings.”

                “This bag is really to heavy. How about this. My locker is close by and I’ll let you use it until yours works properly. Plus, it’s on the way to your art class. My class is just down the hall a little from yours. Or I will just take your bag with me to my class and let you take the things you need for yours. Either way, you are not getting your bag back when it’s this heavy” Glaring at him only made him glare back at her. Exasperated, she just gave in not wanting him to carry all her items along with his and didn’t want either of them to be late.

                “Fine. I’ll store some of my items in your locker, but I will get this sorted out at lunch to place my items in my own locker.” The last thing she wanted was for people thinking they were together because they were sharing a locker. It was one thing with him walking with her, a whole new thing if someone saw her placing her things in there. “If possible, could I just give you the items to place in there? I don’t want people to get the wrong idea with us.”

                An emotion she couldn’t identify crossed over his face quickly, but a smile came to light. “Yeah, that’s fine. Plus, that way we can both get to class on time.”

He finally allowed her to grab her bag from him and she took out her prior class books to give to him. “I might need the rest, but these classes are done for today.” A nod from him made her thankful they didn’t have to dispute this any longer. Zipping up her bag she placed it on her back and turned to walk to her class. However, she stopped and turned back to notice he was just standing there watching her. “Thank you for helping me. Sorry I didn’t say that sooner. I guess I will see you in fourth period?”

“You’re welcome and yeah. I’ll see you in fourth period.”