12

                                    

                                          
The weather was warm today as we – Anika, Evie, and I – stepped out of our dorms and walked toward the dining hall. Evie was excited, her arm looped into mine as we walked. I was starting at the book club today. I was told there were a lot of applicants for the only open position in the club – you know the position that got opened because of some boy leaving the country to study abroad – and Evie had to pull all her strings, influence a lot of people for me to get the spot. 
I still didn't know how I felt about that. I wasn't ecstatic though, nor was I proud that I had a friend influence an entire club to get me the spot.
As we walked towards the dining hall, we crossed Roman and Dallas who were walking in the opposite direction, back towards their dorm building. A part of me was curious as to where they were going, but I suppressed it. I already have not reeled back from my run-in with Roman two days ago, I wasn't ready for another. 
Dallas grinned when his eyes landed on me. "Hey, Addie!"
I forced my lips to pull up into a smile as I gave him a small nod of acknowledgment, "Dallas."
"Do you think today is some other time?" he came to stand right in front of me and I stopped too, forcing the girls to stop too. Gulping, I kept my eyes only on Dallas, trying hard to not look at the handsome boy next to him. Which was the hardest thing I had to do since I came here to Newman Academy.
"Huh?"
Evie and Anika looked between us confused, a little scared even as they stepped away from me to go stand a few feet to the side. Distant enough for them to not hear anything we were speaking, but close enough to run to my rescue if something bad were to happen. They looked genuinely nervous. It took me a moment to remember Dallas was part of the group that everyone here fondly referred to as the Rebels. They were dangerous, Anika's voice kept repeating in my head. But looking at Dallas, I didn't see it. I couldn't understand why someone would be scared of Dallas Pearson. He was as scary as a small stuffed bear.
"The dinner," he said, cocking his head to the side, an adorable smile on his face, "You said maybe next time we'll all have dinner together – is today your some other time?"
My mouth formed an O and as hard as I tried, my eyes flickered to Roman who was now scowling at poor Dallas as if he wanted to shoot lasers out of his head and seriously hurt him. My mouth wavered to pull up into a smile. Feeling eyes on him, he turned to look at me, his scowl deepening. And this time my lips did pull into an amused smile. In response, his eyes narrowed, now the laser beams were directed at me. 
I turned back to Dallas, "How about the next time you guys decided to go out for dinner?"
"You say this every time," he whined a little, "Is that your get out of the situation line?"
"No, not really," I shook my head, "Okay, how about this? The next time, I'll ask Dawn and if she says she doesn't mind me joining you guys for dinner, I'll go with."
"What? Dawn doesn't mind," he frowned and my smile widened. 
"She so does. She's not saying anything because it's you, Dallas," reaching out I placed my hand over his arm, squeezing it, "I may not be as welcome as you think I am."
"No, Addie. That's not-" he paused, confused. He didn't know what to say. Because he didn't know what was the truth. Were my friends doing things they didn't like because of me? For me? I could see the questions swirling through his mind. It was loud, practically a scream. 
"I'll see you later."
"Hey, wait," he said, reaching out to catch my hand, the same hand that I had used to squeeze his arm, his eyes wild and confused, "If you think you're not welcome for dinner with them, then go with me."