8 Chapter 8 - Gunner Part 2

Gunner.

A crowd of nosy kids started to gather to laugh at the poor guy, so I held out my arms and pulled them back from him. I watched as his head slowly lifted from my feet up my torso and to my face. Was this dude checking me out? I tilted my head to try and see his face. Holy shit. It's not a boy, she's a girl. I took in her appearance, her small frame cowered on the ground against the wall. Her long and messy raven hair covered most of her face, but I got a quick glimpse at her striking golden eyes. She immediately reminded me of the little wolf from my dream. I was about to help her back up but just like that, she flew off the ground and ran into the crowd of people to my left, she was tiny and able to zip through them with ease. There was something about her, something I couldn't let go. I needed to know more.

"What's going on?" asked Cole as he stepped up behind me.

"There was a girl" I said still looking down the hall after her,

"Woooo" sung Smith,

"Shut up" I growled,

"It wasn't like that, there was something about her"

"Okay, and what? What do you want us to do?" asked Cole with his serious Beta voice coming through his question,

"I want to find her" I answered him bluntly.

"The bell man, we gotta go to class" said Smith. I flashed them an image of her sitting against the wall with her hair over her face.

**Find her**

They both nodded and walked off to their class and I headed down the hall to my locker to drop off my bag. When I got to my first class, I entered the room and dropped my registration form on the teachers' desk. Everyone was staring as I made my way to the back of the room. I had just sat down when Cole flashed me.

**Gunner, she's here**

**She's where?**

**She's in class with Smith and me**

**Ask her to sit with us at lunch, I want to talk to her**

**Got it**

The first class went by quickly thankfully. After the first bell I walked over to my next lesson. I scanned the hallway for the mystery girl, but she was nowhere to be seen. I went in and sat down again towards the back of the room. As the class dragged on, I was unconsciously bouncing my knee and tapping my desk, each minute felt like an hour. I don't know what has come over me. I don't even know this girl, why am I so desperate to see her again. I was feeling anxious and nervous, like I had butterflies in my stomach. I racked my brain trying to recall the last time I was nervous enough to get butterflies. It was not since I knew I was about to go through my first change. The lunch bell rang, and I was out the door before it had stopped. I met Cole and Smith at the cafeteria. Noticing that they were alone, a swift wave of anger flew over me.

"Well?" I demanded gruffly,

"Where is she?"

"I asked her man, but she said no" Cole answered with a shrug of his shoulders. I growled and turned away walking into the cafeteria. I grabbed a tray and some food and sat at the table closest to the door. I'll be able to see her come in from here. I waited impatiently, sitting up a little as each person walked through the door.

"What's wrong with you Gunner?" whispered Cole,

"I can smell your anxiety"

"I don't know" I snapped,

"Why isn't she here yet?" I hissed.

"There she is" whispered Smith.

We all turned and watched her walk. She was so small, but her feet moved fast. She never lifted her head and her hair never moved from in front of her face. It's like she was hiding or trying to hide. You can't hide from me, little one. She sat alone in the corner of the cafeteria, by the rubbish bins. Why does she sit alone, where are her friends? I watched her curiously play with the apple in her hand. It was hard to see her features from under her hood and through her dark hair, I wanted desperately to move the hair from her face and gaze into her eyes. Oh Goddess, what am I even thinking. Since when do I get this way about random girls. But still, something about her was pulling at me.

**What is it with this one, Gunner?**

**I'm not sure, I feel drawn to her**

**I dunno mate, she seems, damaged**

I jerked up straight when she suddenly threw her hands up, I noticed her drink had tipped down the front of her.

"Did you see her face?" a blond girl giggled from across the cafeteria as she flicked her hair behind her shoulder. Everyone in the room began to laugh at her, the blonde girl that threw her food and the guys she was sitting with mocked and teased the girl.

"What happened Snow White, did someone have an accident?" the bigger guy was jumping around his friends pointing at the girl and laughing. A growl worked its way up and was bubbling out of my gritted teeth, a deep hatred burned through my chest. I wanted nothing more than to rip that idiot's arms from his body.

**Don't Gunner, let it go**

Cole flashed me. My anger was affecting Cole and Smith, I could smell it on them. They were both glaring at the table of asshole kids. I looked back at the girl, and a heavy sadness fell over me. I wanted to make her feel better, I wanted to protect her. She got up from her seat and walked quickly towards the door. I watched her as she went, drenched in juice.

**I'm gonna go check on her**

I stood up abruptly and left the cafeteria. I caught sight of her turning at the end of the hallway and I hightailed it after her. I rounded the corner and there she was, standing in front of a locker. She looks so small and frail. I felt like I needed to hold her, to tell her everything was going to be okay. What is going on with me! I walked over to her as she was reaching in her locker.

"Are you okay?" I asked her softly. She didn't reply.

I took a deep breath through my nose and I nearly moaned out loud. Fresh citrus and cherry-blossoms, this girl smells heavenly. Without fully realizing what I was doing, I reached out for her, I needed to hold her. I put my hand over her hand that was holding the locker door. Whoa! Sparks again. Little tingles danced across my fingers where our skin was touching. She pulled her hand away so quickly. I stepped back from her, giving her a little extra space and to try and clear my own thoughts. The poor girl must think I'm a total creep.

"Sorry, sorry I didn't mean to scare you" I rushed out.

I'm such a weirdo. The girl grabbed the hand that I touched and held it to her face. Maybe she felt the sparks and tingles too. Then I smelt it, blood. Nope, she didn't feel it, she just cut herself. A drop of blood fell from her hand to the floor. Fuck, I scared this girl so much that she sliced her damn hand open. I immediately began to worry and felt a deep need to fix it, to fix her. The overwhelming feeling of protectiveness washed over me and I stepped up to her, I grabbed both her hands and gasped at the sparks tickling my skin.

"Oh shit, your hand" I exclaimed.

I looked at her hand closely, it wasn't a bad cut but there was a lot of blood, probably more than what is normal. I need to wrap it up for her. The scent of terror suddenly filled my nose. Is it coming from her? I looked at her face, it was the clearest that I'd been able to see her. She wore a lot of makeup, not that she needed to, I could tell she was beautiful. She was petrified of me. Her whole body was frozen, the fear coming off her was intense. I very slowly released her hands and lifted mine up to show her I wasn't going to hurt her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you" I felt defeated. Had I really scared her this much, just by standing near her?

"Will you let me help you?" I asked her softly.

She didn't say a word, why wouldn't she speak to me. She was just staring at me through her hair. Very slowly, she nodded, so I held out my hand to walk her to my locker. She pulled away, turning her whole body away from me. This can't all be about me, there is something else going on here. I looked at her face trying to figure out what is going on in her head.

"It's okay, follow me".

I didn't take her hand or get too close to her, I want her to trust me. So, I started to walk off towards my locker. I stopped a few steps away and turned to see if she was following. She wasn't, she was just watching me. I smiled at her, the biggest, friendliest smile I could muster. She nodded her head, closed her locker and started walking towards me. I got her to follow me all the way to my locker and I smiled at her again. I opened it up and pulled my old bandanna out of the front pocket of my bag. This will do to wrap her hand up. I turned around and showed her the bandanna, still smiling, trying to keep her from running away. She nodded again and held out her hand. She doesn't say much this one. I began to tie the bandanna around her hand, being as gentle as I possibly could.