Meeting His Friends

A mixture of excitement and anxiety overwhelms me as I step onto school property. For the first time in days it's finally not completely freezing outside, but it is still extremely cold. It's especially a painful contrast compared to the ride here in Keita's car. In fact Keita was close to making Knox walk to school but his mom told him to give him a ride or else he won't be allowed to use his car for a week. So instead it was just a sort of tense ride to school.

"Do you think Daniel would still be outside or already be in class?" Knox asks me, already entirely shaking as he attempts to keep up with me.

"Or maybe he's the type to show up at the last minute or even a little late," Keita adds, walking on the other side of me. I like walking between the two of them, it always feels like they are my bodyguards or something, it makes me feel unbeatable and even more intimidating than usual. Especially since they're both over six feet and I'm only five-foot, ten. They're both also bigger than me size wise, well, Knox doesn't necessarily have muscles larger than my own but his brother certainly does.

"I doubt that, especially since he's in AP classes," I retort, searching through the small groups of people wrapped up in coats and some covering their faces with masks to protect them from the cold.

Keita shrugs, "You never know, maybe he actually doesn't really care about school." Both Knox and I eye him judgmentally for his stupidity. He chuckles softly to himself, "Right, I forgot that you're in AP English. What AP class is he taking? Did you ever find out?"

I shake my head slightly, "I don't entirely remember but I think AP English as well."

"Are you two in the same class?" Knox asks, rubbing his hands together in front of him as we stop outside of a large set of doors and I continue to search for Daniel's face within the crowds.

I shrug, "I'm sure that if we were then I would've recognized him the moment Adelle and I stepped into that Cafe."

Then, a smirk forms on Keita's face and Keita eyes both me and whoever just walked up behind me. It could be Zack coming to start a fight, but since Keita is smirking I sincerely doubt it. Turning around, I nearly squeak at how close he's standing to me. The first thing I see is his black coat taking up my entire vision, only to lead up to his breathtaking appearance as my gaze lifts.

"H-hi," I mutter, gulping and taking a step back so then I have room to breathe.

He chuckles, "Goodmorning, Alina, why do you look so exhausted?"

Keita steps up beside me, his posture straight with pride, "She snuck out for the first time ever last night."

"Oh really?" He raises his eyebrows, almost like he's actually impressed. "Did you have fun?"

There's a slight bit of shock within me by the fact that he isn't disappointed in me for doing such a thing. I'm especially surprised that he's even talking to me or that he actually started the conversation. "I- uh- yeah, I had a lot of fun," I smile, gesturing to Keita and Knox. "At one point, these two idiots, their sister, and I ended up having a snowball fight."

Daniel breaks into laughter and I join in with him, Keita smiles softly, and Knox maintains a neutral expression. "That sounds amazing, I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself." He looks down to my hands for a moment like he's contemplating taking them but ultimately decides against it. "Perhaps we can both sneak out some night and see what we can get into."

"Preferably in warmer weather," I laugh, thinking of how cold it was last night.

He nods, smiling widely, "Of course, it must've been freezing. Did you stay out the entire time?"

I shake my head, "No, there was one point when we went shopping at a loblaws and got some chips."

"Oh that's good," He grins. Then a group of guys comes walking up to us, one of them slings his arm around Daniel and starts eyeing the three of us. He has large round, green eyes, long blond hair that is clearly not properly maintained, and lightly tanned skin.

"Is this the girl you told us about?" His voice is not nearly as deep as Daniels but sounds familiar, like the voice of a celebrity of sorts.

Daniel nods, his smile unwavering. There's a wave of anxiety at his response, was he making fun of me to his friends? Possibly telling them about how he's just going to use me then cheat on me.

No. Shut up, this isn't Zack, this is Daniel. You can trust him. Don't shut him down so quickly just because of the past.

"Yeah," Daniel answers and throws his arm over his friend's shoulder. The rest of the group stand silently in the background, two having a completely different conversation.

"Damn, you weren't lying when you said she's pretty," His friend smirks and there is a slight sound of a knuckle cracking. Either Knox or Keita, possibly both. He then nods at me and asks, "Are you as smart as I've been told?"

I blink silently, did Daniel tell his friends about me, and in a positive light too? "Um, well I am in AP English," I respond, not really sure if that is a good enough reason to be called smart.

"Ooh," His friends respond with impressed expressions.

The bell blares loudly, echoing into the sky. Freshmen run to their classes and everyone else walks casually. His friends say goodbye to Daniel and myself, leaving the four of us back to being alone.

"Want to hangout after school?" Daniel asks me with a genuine smile on his face.

It's difficult for me to stop my lips from reaching my eyes but I just manage to stop them about halfway, "Of course, I'd love to."

"See you after school then," He grins and awkwardly taps my shoulder as he walks by, giving Keita a fist bump and nodding at Knox as he leaves.

Spinning around to face Ketia and Knox, my mouth still remains in a large smile. Keita is the first to speak, "That was nice but so fucking awkward."

I shrug, "That's to be expected."

"It's especially nice that he already told his friends about you, and it seems that he only said positive things too," Keita adds, watching as Daniel enters the school, soon followed by crowds of other students. "Though it seems that he's still unaware about how evil and abusive you are."

Keita smirks and I punch him in the shoulder, laughing cheerfully. Then we both turn our attention to Knox who silently watches us. "What's up?" I ask with a concerned expression.

"I don't like the way his friends were checking you out," He mentions and I think of the look his blonde friend gave me. "It wasn't just the blonde guy either, a few of his other friends also checked you out." Before either of us could say anything, Knox continues. "What if he mainly talked about your body?"

"Then we'll kick his ass just like how we kicked Zack's ass," Keita answers with a nonchalant shrug.

"I don't know, I just don't trust him yet," Knox mutters, keeping his head down and checking the time on his phone.

"That's understandable," I smile softly and tap Knox on the shoulder, briefly checking the time as well. "We have to get to class, I'll see you guys at lunch."

"See ya," Keita waves me and Knox goodbye, heading for a different entrance of the school.

"Please be careful though," Knox adds in a whisper as we head for our classes.

"I will, don't worry, okay?" I whisper in response, basking in the warmth of the school.

Knox is silent for a few seconds as we continue walking, then finally mumbles, "Okay."