U-Turn

~•Amara•~

"Here you go, my lady." I heard the voice with which I was starting to become familiar. A tray which was filled with the food of my liking was slided before me.

My eyes lingered over the contents, and I exhaled out a relaxed sigh after seeing that everything was in place. I would have given him a good scolding if he would have missed a single thing from the list.

"Thank you." I muttered out a thanks to show my gratitude to him for acting like a gentleman.

I was about to get in line after grabbing a tray when he had stopped me in my tracks and offered his services. Before I could refute, the tray was snatched away from my hands. When I came out of my shocked state, he was no longer before me.

I had to jog my way to where he was standing then in the line and tell him what I wanted to eat. It was a good thing that there were not many people around, so it was mostly empty. It barely took me a couple of seconds to find an empty table for us.

"Don't even mention it." He mumbled in response as he took the seat across me after sliding another tray on the table.

It was much more loaded with food as compared to mine. My eyes trailed to french fries which were merely dangling off the edge of the tray, and I couldn't help but shake my head.

"I am an athlete. It's obvious that I will eat more than you." He added giving me a disheartened look.

"It's not about how much you eat. You could have made another trip to the counter." I mumbled under my breath before pointing my index finger on the poor french fries which was now resting on the table.

He shifted his eyes to the side of his tray where my index finger was pointing at with a quizzical frown marring his forehead. After realizing what I was referring to, he pursed his thin lips together and gave me a shrug.

"There is no way I am making another round to the counter." He looked at me as if he was hearing the most absurd thing in the world when it was actually him who was spouting nonsense.

"Whatever!" Shaking my head helplessly, I decided to focus on my food before it got cold.

There was always something better which one could do rather than arguing with someone else. And for me it was enjoying my burger at the moment. So, instead of paying the man any attention, I decided to to turn it to something delicious, my lunch.

I had barely taken a bite of it when I felt some movement behind me. Whatever or whoever it was, the movement was enough to get his attention even though he was too lost in shoving french fries in his mouth.

I couldn't help but turn around to have a look as to who it might be. I didn't know what to say or feel when my eyes landed on a group of boys. I wasn't familiar with them, but the same couldn't be said about their faces. I remember seeing them in the morning with Aden.

"Are those seats free?"

I heard one of them speak as he pointed his chin towards the empty chairs around the table. There were four more empty seats and there were five of them. I didn't know what else to do then offering them my seat too. Moreover, I wasn't comfortable with sitting with them either.

It was my first day with Aden as friends, and I didn't want to come off like the kind of girl who would try to force herself to be the part of the group when she clearly wasn't.

"Yeah, sure." I spoke up as I turned my attention back to the man who was sitting across me. He was still busy enjoying his lunch as he looked at me expectantly.

Why was he so quiet? Weren't they his friends?

'He wants you to make the decision.'

I heard a voice at the back of my mind as it became crisp and clear. My subconscious was done with its long beauty sleep and was back to its nagging job.

"Are you okay with that?"

I heard a voice coming from behind me which made me turn my attention back to the group.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed as I passed them a forced smile.

Just as they made their way around the table, I pushed my chair back using my feet so that I could stand easily. My actions were loud enough to get the attention from everyone.

"I will take my leave then." I spoke up meekly while reaching for my tray.

A couple of looks were thrown around the table before all the eyes ended up resting on Aden who was intently staring up at me.

"Where do you think you are going?" He spoke up as he moved his free hand to grab the other end of my tray.

"I will let you guys talk and… eat." I replied to him. I wondered why he was even bothering to question me about it. Wasn't it obvious that I just wanted to give them some space?

"Come here." He dragged my tray next to his own and pointed his chin next to the empty chair next to him.

My eyes trailed off to the guy who was standing behind him. I was about to turn Aden's offer down when I realized who he was. Wasn't he the guy who seemed to hate me for some reason?

"It's fine, Aden. I will ta-"

"I insist."

I was interrupted the very moment I was about to decline Aden. What shocked me more was it wasn't Aden who interrupted me. It was his friend.

"Umm… thanks." I muttered softly as I made my way around the table and settled down next to Aden. I really wanted to leave them on their own. Especially after realizing that I was the one who disturbed them in the morning as well. But under their penetrating gazes, I decided to just go with the flow.

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[Half an hour later]

I was on my way to the next class when my steps came to halt next to a trash can. Since I was on my own at the moment, I decided to get rid of Dana's note.

After we were done with our lunch, Aden's friends had dragged him away for some practice. As he was the quarterback of the team, he was given a little leeway when it came to attending classes.

I pulled out the note from my jeans' pocket and stepped closer to the bin such that the folded piece of paper was dangling above the trash can's mouth. I was about to let go of it when I noticed something.

The note was neatly folded into multiple halves as it was meant to be kept instead of getting discarded. Knowing myself, I wouldn't have done this to a note which was meant to be thrown away.

To be sure, I retracted my hand and unfolded the piece of paper. True to my doubts, it wasn't Dana's note but rather Aden's. It could only mean one thing.

The note which I gave back to Aden wasn't his own.

"F@*#!" I cursed under my breath before taking a u-turn.