The Tumultuous Dana Clarke

chapter 15 • “will you do something for me?”

Dana placed her head on her palm, her elbow on the handrail of the outdoor bench. She pulled out her sandwich, reluctantly taking a bite of it.

On a normal day, the aroma alone was enough to give her an appetite but today, the sandwich tasted mushy in her mouth, bordering on nauseating.

Her fears had come true.

They had to have gone out, maybe to Levi's. I'm not interesting enough to be invited a second time. Last time, all she’d done was sit quietly, being a bore.

Dana had gone to lunch and had sat at their table for almost twenty minutes before she'd morosely accepted that they weren't coming.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

Dana looked up from her sandwich and into Archie's blue eyes. How had he even found her? People hardly passed by the school yard during lunch, talk less of paying any attention to the old metal bench.

"Nothing important," Dana finally said, giving him a small smile despite the butterflies in her stomach from his presence.

His eyebrows dipped but he didn't say anything else, only bringing himself to sit down next to her.

For the next few minutes, he kept his gaze on her while she'd meet his eyes and look away every few seconds.

The next time she looked at him, a smile was playing on his lips, his eyes bright. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"No," Dana lied, looking at the cafeteria in the distance.

A small laugh left his lips. "Okay. Look at me."

Dana, her chin in the air defiantly, fixed her gaze on his face.

He grinned, satisfied. "Why are you eating here?"

"It feels lonely inside," Dana found herself admitting.

"Isn't it worse here?"

Dana's heart caved in just the slightest. She picked at the loose ends of her jeans skirt. "Yeah, actually."

"Do you miss your friends a lot? I mean, from back home."

Dana snorted before she could even think. "Sorry."

"You don't need to say sorry."

"I don't miss them much. Things didn't end well before I left."

"How come?"

Dana adjusted her body to face his. "Let's just say I had no friends and don't ask why." Some memories were just better unrelived.

He chuckled. "Do you like it here though? At least a bit better?"

Dana paused to think. Last week, she could say for sure she had friends but she wasn't so sure anymore.

Avi hadn't even called her since the day after he'd dropped her at home post their hangout. One which eluded her memory, she thought with a frown. They’d probably just fell asleep together after smoking.

Dana still couldn't believe she'd actually done it. Her cheeks flushed at the memory. Oh! She hadn't even replied Archie yet.

"Sorry-"

"For?" Dana's stomach curled as she met his eyes. He'd been watching her all through her internal monologue.

Why was he always smiling at her like that? It was a small smile that let her know he was thinking something about her but she couldn't for the life of her say what it was.

Dana blushed. "Sorry for keeping you waiting."

"Dana, I'll wait for however long you want me to. No pressure."

A smile spread across her face and she let her body relax even though he was sitting opposite her. "Okay. I like it better here."

Her dad was hardly home and she didn't have to see her old friends in the hallway everyday; the feeling of being small was one she didn't have to endure as often.

"Have you gotten a chance to go to the city centre yet? It's like you're in a whole new world."

Dana sat up. "No, but I'd like to go." So far all she'd seen were parks and shopping malls plus the one beach in Davenport.

He grinned. "And I'd like to take you."

Dana willed herself not to blush.

"Does school suck more here or in Maine?"

"Both." Archie snorted causing her to chortle.

"What do you want to do after?"

"I'm taking a gap year. I have different interests and I want to keep working on them before having to go to college. What do you want to do?"

"College." I hope.

The ringing of the bell cut off whatever Archie was going to say. Dana groaned internally. Why couldn't lunch go on for another hour? This was the best lunch period she'd had for as long as she could remember.

Archie tugged at his dark blond hair, letting out a groan. A silly grin spread across Dana's face. Even if they had to stop talking now, he didn't want to stop either. That was enough for her.

He fixed his eyes on hers. "Will you do something for me?"

"What?" Dana asked mindlessly, letting herself get swept away by his ocean-blue eyes.

"Could I get your number?"

Dana giggled before holding out her hand for his phone.

After putting in her number, she handed it to him. "I have to get to English in the next three minutes."

"I'll hit you up."

Dana gathered her things reluctantly.

"Later," he said once she stood up.

"Yeah," Dana said with a smile.

She made her way to the school entrance and at the door, she looked back at the tree that hid the bench.

Her eyes instantly met those of the blue-eyed boy. He winked at her before stuffing his hands in his jeans' pockets and walking to the school’s left wing. Dana swooned internally, turning to rush to her English class.