Page 11 of Autumn Secrets
“Why wouldn’t I be?” My reply came out harsher than I’d intended it to. I tried to avoid his stare and walk past him. He caught my elbow and a wave of heat raged through my body.
“I don’t know. You tell me, Aurora.” I felt that connection again, the overwhelming feeling I didn’t understand.
“I’m fine. I’m just hungry,” I replied and looked at his hand on my elbow. He moved his hand away, caressing my skin as he did. My skin seemed to burn under this seemingly innocent touch. He tilted his head to one side and looked at me, like he was trying to figure me out. I quickly looked away.
“Is there anything you want to talk about?”
I shook my head. “No. Like I said, I’m just hungry.”
He nodded and let go of my arm.
“I’ll see you later, then.”
On shaky legs, I left the room and went to find the cafeteria. After everything that had happened this morning, I just wanted to find Lexi and try to forget about Adrian. I mean, he had a girlfriend. Abeautifulgirlfriend. Another pang of jealousy hit and I wrapped my arms tightly around myself again. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. But what had I expected? Of course, someone like him would have a girlfriend.
Chapter 5
The cafeteria was full of hungry students, and I had to search several times before I found Lexi and her friends. I grabbed myself some food and made my way to their table.
“There you are!” Lexi yelled excitedly. “Okay, guys, this is Aurora. She’s new here. That’s Mia,” she said and pointed to the cute redhead sitting across the table. “And this is Jasmine.” She pointed to another blonde, pretty girl sitting next to her.
“Hi.” I waved to everyone, as I managed to put a forced smile on my lips. Not that I didn’t want to meet them or anything, but I was still trying to shake this stupid jealousy thing. I pulled out a chair and sat down next to Lexi.
“How’s your first day going?” Jasmine asked.
“Well, it’s been…good so far.”
“And what do you think about Angel Falls?” she continued.
“It’s very different from where I used to live. But it’s okay, I can’t complain.”
“Aurora used to live in Paris,” Lexi added.
“Oh my God, really?! I’ve never been to Paris. What’s it like?” the girl with the red hair asked. I closed my eyes briefly to try and remember her name. Mia, that’s it; it was Mia.
“Well, where do I start?” I smiled and popped a piece of my sandwich into my mouth.
I spent the next half an hour talking about Paris. The girls wanted to know every single detail of my life, prior to coming here. It made me so happy that they cared enough to ask. After a while, I turned to Lexi. “Sorry, Lexi. I feel like I’ve repeated our weekend’s conversation all over again.”
“No, don’t be silly. I love to hear about Paris.” She laughed.
“So, what did you like the most about Paris?” Jasmine asked.
“I don’t know, I just love the fact that it’s a really great place for culture and the arts. Paris has a special vibe. I love the history too. It’s like an historic city of new beginnings, you know…”
“Isn’t Paris the city of love?” Mia sighed with a dreamy look in her eye.
“Well, I think Paris is the city ofeverything.” Lexi chuckled. They all laughed, and I couldn’t help but join them. I felt myself relax and all the tension that I’d experienced earlier gradually released from my shoulders.
“Speaking of the city of love, I saw you sharing books with Julian this morning. Not a bad introduction to the gorgeous guys we have around here,” Mia said.
“Yes, I did have to share with him this morning. And I would have to agree, there are a lot of good-looking guys in this town.” I laughed.
“And this morning she had Adrian Hunter escort her across the school grounds,” Lexi filled in and wiggled her eyebrows. Unwanted butterflies awakened in my stomach when she mentioned his name.
“Oh my, you’ve almost met every one of them then.” Mia smiled.
I turned to Mia. “There’s more of them?!”