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"Crystal Ann Marie Rose, that's my full name, you can call me whichever one you would like. I'm a little tired of crystal now…."
She said reaching out her hand to shake his,
"And since you didn't actually introduce yourself, mister, handsome, what's your name?"
"O-oh yeah, I'm Tangerine Moore. If you want, you don't have to by any means, you can call me Tana." She smiled, looking up at Jared then back down to the table, now without her tray.
Jared nodded, and shook Crystal's hand. "I know you know who I am." He replied dryly. "But I'm Jared McKay. Nice to meet you, Crystal Ann Marie, and Tana." He pulled his hand back, absently wondering if Crystal Ann had felt the scar along his palm. He set his hands on the table for a moment with a soft sigh. He gave them both a tiny smile. "Maybe you could show me the ropes of public high school? I haven't been to one in…a year and a half, so I'm…a little rusty." He was supposed to be a freshman in college right now. But the whole kidnapping thing had set him back a year.
Tangerine sent a small smile back. "Nice to meet you as well, Jared. I would be very happy to help. Um is there anything right now that you might need help with?"
He shook his head. "Not now…after lunch, during classes…maybe. I don't know, how many, if any, classes we have together…" He trailed off as a taller boy came sauntering over. It was Damian Gray, one of the other more well off kids in the school, and pretty well known as a bully.
"Hey Jared. Heard you broke down at school and that's why they kicked you out. 'sat true?" Damian asked, looking down at Jared.
Jared's gaze flicked down to the table for a moment. "Go away." He growled.
"Answer the question. They said you curled up in a ball and wouldn't move for an hour 'cuz of some dumb video in history class. Said loud noises scared you." Damian smirked.
Jared clenched his hands into fists hard enough the knuckles turned white, and he stood, facing Damian. "I said go away." He said in a low voice.
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Standing up, stepping over to the guy, she smiles at him, not sweetly, more like looking like a threatening smile.
"Hey, why don't you go do something better with your life, you insect"
She says, seeming as confident as ever. Which she was. She knew how to fight, his to stand up for herself, and others.
Tangerine, on the other hand, was terrified of Damian. She was cowering in her chair afraid that he would pick on her next.
Damian sneered at Crystal Ann. "Oh? And who do you think you are?" He asked. He looked back at Jared. "And what are you going to do if I don't?"
Jared gritted his teeth. "Just get out of here." He hissed.
Damian smirked. "For now. Can't avoid me forever." He turned on his heel and left, walking back to his table.
Jared sat down, placing his hands on his legs to hide how badly they were shaking.
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Immediately picking up her tray, she throws it like a football, hitting him in the back if his head.
"Come back again and ill rip your scalp off! And trust me! It hurts!"
She says crossing her arms. If he wasn't walking away, she would be judo flipped him.
Damian whirled around and stalked over to her, looming over her. "What do you think you just did?" He demanded, looking down at her.
Jared stood. "Get out of here, Damian. Or I'll tell your parents that you're threatening girls."
"Oh no, I'm so scared. You'll tell my mommy!" Damian said sarcastically.
"You should be. They'll cut off your account and you know it." Jared said coldly, hands behind his back. They were shaking.
Damian sneered. "Fine. But tell your new little friend that she shouldn't mess with a Gray. You McKay's might be pushovers, but Gray's aren't." He stalked away again, sitting down in his seat.
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Turning over to him, she scoffed,
"Why do you let him treat you like that? Best the crap out if him!"
She said rather angrily. She looked cute when she was mad, even if she wasn't short. But when she wanted to, she could look like death itself.
(Haha i just thought of her looking like Troy)
Jared's eyes flicked to her. "Look, I…" He shook his head. "You wouldn't understand, Crystal Ann." He said, sitting down and setting his hands on his lap to hide their shaking. "So just leave it be." He told her softly.
(Hahaha XD)
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"Welp, it's decided, I'm your bodyguard now. Any bullies and I'll beat the crap out of them, and give them an English lesson, he had bad grammar."
She said crossing her arms and sitting down.
Jared shook his head. "Just leave it be, Crystal Ann. His father is my father's friend, and I don't intend to spend my days being lectured about how you're beating up his son. Besides, Damian used to be one of my friends." Back before I changed. Before everything changed. He shook his head slightly.
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"To bad, and I've decided you should call me Rose."
She said to him with a smile, it was the only one he didn't call her, and that bothered her. She was defiantly one to take the initiative, not caring what other people thought.
confident, witty, with a little bit of sass and a big heart.
"Fine, Rose." He said with a shrug. He turned back to his tray, and pushed it away slightly. His phone chimed with a message, and he checked it. 'Did you eat plenty of lunch?' from his mother. He sighed. 'Yes. I ate.' he replied. He had eaten five bites, but…she hadn't asked if he had eaten it all, so technically he wasn't lying.
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"hey, you should eat that….. its such a waste of food if you don't"
She said looking out of the wide window on the side of the lunch room.
"I'm not hungry." He replied softly, putting his phone away. "If you want it, you can have it, but I'm not going to eat it." He couldn't stomach it. For months now, every bit of food he ate tasted like ash in his mouth. He didn't know why. He just knew he was never hungry, and when he did it, the food never tasted right.
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"Okay…. I'm not eating it though. Youll just have to deal with the guilt of wasting food."
She says to the boy, noticing he was a little shaky.
"Well, so are you planning on skipping class be shown around? or what? Although we do have quite a bit of time right now"
She says turning her head back at him, her green and brown eyes glancing over at him.
"I don't feel guilt over it." Jared replied. He hesitated. "I can't skip class. I have…far too much riding on my grades this year. Because while friends and family might forgive screwing up because of…of trauma, colleges do not." Trauma. What a nice, easy way to put it. He thought sarcastically. Not "kidnapping", not "torture", not "hell", but "trauma". That's what the therapist calls it. "So, tell me about your recent trauma." No thanks. He sighed softly.
During that whole ordeal, Tangerine had been sitting still and looking down, trying to stay out of Damian's fire. She didn't have the best history with him. "I can show you around after school. I don't really have to be home by a specific time… if you want of course…"
He looked over at her. "That would be great, thanks. I can drive you home afterwards, too. If you need." Well technically he wouldn't be doing the driving, the chauffeur would, because, well…he wasn't allowed to drive until he was pronounced mentally stable by the psychiatrist and therapist, and since he didn't actually tell either of them anything and just kind of…sat in silence for the entire appointments…he wasn't getting his license back anytime soon.
She looked to him, making eye contact for a short moment before looking down again, unable to hold eye contact. "Sounds like a plan!"
He smiled very slightly, and nodded. "Alright." He said. His phone rang, and he answered it. "Hello?" He paused. "Hi Mom." Another pause. "Yes, I ate something." He glanced at his still mostly full plate. "No, i won't be hungry for the rest of the school day." He stopped for a moment. "A picture? Of what…the tray?" He sighed. "Sure. Whatever. Give me a minute." He hung up, staring at the plate blankly. "Well crap." He muttered, dragging a hand over his face.
"Um… you could maybe dump it in the trash then send a picture of the empty tray?" She tried to be helpful, hoping this might help him.
He looked at her, and nodded. "Yeah…thanks." he scraped out the food, careful to make it look like he'd eaten, then took a picture of it and sent it. He sighed softly. "If you ever meet her for what ever bizarre reason, and for whatever bizarre reason she asks about my eating habits…please just tell her I eat enough." He rubbed his face with his hands. "But if lying makes you uncomfortable, just tell her the truth."
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"oh okay, so that's what's happening."
She says after she just quietly watched the whole conversation.
She didn't care about anything, and honestly…. she wanted to go to bed.
Jared looked at her. "Hmm? Yeah." He nodded, then looked down at the table for a moment. He had grown far too comfortable with lying. To everyone. His parents, what was left of his friends, his family, teachers. Oh well. It would have to continue like this for…he didn't even know how long.
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"Don't starve yourself dude"
She says with a sigh, then standing up. Looking down on both of them, she gives him a paper, her phone number on it, and with that, she walks away.
"I'm… not." He said, taking the paper. He put it in his pocket, watching her go for a moment, then looked down at the table again. He wasn't purposefully starving himself. Not really. His body had just become so used to too little food that now it was hard to force it down.
