Page 2 of Loyalty, Lust, Love
She shrugged and continued eating. Even though she acted like she didn’t care, Lynx noticed the sadness in her eyes.
“Let’s be friends,” he offered.
Her head popped up, and she smiled. “Really?”
“Sure.”
She extended her hand to him, which he thought was weird, but he shook it anyway. They continued chatting while finishing their food. He stole glances at her when he didn’t think she was looking, but she felt his gaze on her every time. Lynx wasn’t sure if he thought she was pretty, but he liked looking at her.
“I don’t mean this in a mean way, but you kinda look like a bunny rabbit,” Lynx said after observing Fateema as they conversed.
“That’s funny. My dad nicknamed me Bunny when I was a baby. He said it was because my eyes were so big. I think my head grew into them, but the name stuck.”
“They’re still kinda big, so it still fits.” They laughed.
“I know. So, when is your birthday?” she asked.
“May thirtieth.”
She slapped her hand over her mouth for a second, then said, “For real?”
“Why are you so surprised?”
“Because that’s my birthday, too.”
This time, Lynx was surprised, but he didn’t show it. He stared at Fateema for a minute, and nothing about her stood out. She looked like a typical eleven-year-old girl, but he felt she’d be a good friend.
Fateema was excited that he wanted to be her friend. She’d tried making friends with everyone else in sixth grade, but no one seemed interested. The school was very small, with about seventy students for each grade, and everyone knew each other.
“If we’re still friends, maybe we can celebrate our birthday together,” he suggested.
“Why wouldn’t we be friends? Are you wishy-washy?”
“No.” He frowned. “It’s January, and anything can happen by then. You might get mad at me for something stupid.”
“If I get mad at you, it’ll be for a good reason.”
“Whatever. You’ve been in all of my classes so far today. Are you in all honors classes?”
“Yep,” she said proudly. “Are you?”
“Yeah.”
She was happy to know they’d be together all day because all the honors students followed the same schedule. After lunch, they walked to class, and the rest of the day went by quickly. Fateema enjoyed having a friend in class, especially when they did partner activities. Usually, the person she was paired with only did it because there was no one else to choose from or the teacher told them to.
At the end of the day, they were headed to their lockers, and one of the bullies, Mitchell, bumped Lynx with his shoulder hard enough for Lynx to drop his books. Lynx took a deep breath and kneeled to pick them up. When Fateema kneeled to help him, Mitchell pushed her over.
Unlike everyone else, Fateema didn’t let Mitchell push her around. Without a second thought, she jumped to her feet and got in his face. Before she could speak, she felt a hand on her shoulder and was gently pushed to the side. Lynx took her place in front of Mitchell.
“What kind of punk goes around pushing girls?” Lynx asked.
“Ha! You call that a girl. It looks more like a boy than I do,” Mitchell replied.
“Keep your hands off her.”
“Or what?” Mitchell challenged.
“You don’t want to find out.”
