Free Mr. Rush: An Island Rush Bonus Chapter by Marien Dore Page B

recognizable, and it was clear I was the one that caused it.
    I groaned heavily.  I truly wasn’t in the mood to be stopped for whatever reason.  Ironically enough, the same second I groaned in annoyance, my gaze caught her. My eyes found a pair of beautiful brown eyes that were already imprinted on my mind. She was waiting with the rest of the juniors, but sitting on her own.
    I spun back around at the alarm I somehow triggered, just wanting to get this over with. Two men from security approached me and saw what caused the alarm before I could even speculate. “Sir, would you mind handing us your bag?” one of the men asked, unsympathetically nodding towards my shoulder. My eyes were on Janice that I totally forgot the camera was still on me.
    “Sure,” I nodded, maneuvering it from my shoulder.  His slick eyes followed it as I gave him the bag.  When he unzipped the top, looked through the bag, and then took the camera out, I realized with fear why the alarm went off.
    I only had a split second to decide what to do as I tried to keep my expression calm.  This wasn’t my camera or camera bag. I must have grabbed Jill’s before leaving the house. I might have confused mine with hers since both bags looked almost the same. Since I got hers instead… I knew instantly what triggered the alarm.
    Something meaningful to Jill was hidden in a little pouch at the bottom of the bag – a knife. It once belonged to Jill’s grandfather who always had it on him, including in the Vietnam War.  It’s very special to her and something she always likes to have.  If I were to allow security to take this, it would devastate her. My choice now was to take a risk for Jill or surrender the item to the security. I ultimately decided to keep my mouth shut. I just hoped they would think the camera caused the alarm.
    Luckily, they did.  “Sorry, sir,” the one holding Jill’s camera said.  He started putting it back into the bag as the other man explained how this was a common mistake occurring in the past few days with their machines. Gladly, they thought today was just one of those days.
    Handing me back the bag, they had me move along so I was free to sit and wait until boarding began.  Naturally, my eyes found the person I wanted to think about the least.  I didn’t want to worry, but I couldn’t help it. All I could do, therefore, was try to ease my concerns. However, I felt persistent. I felt the need to move towards the girl who, for the past hour, had been mindlessly sitting alone.
    Taking her in as I neared her, it was always hard to ignore how pretty she was. I could see her wavy brown hair flow down her left shoulder.  It contrasted wonderfully with the peach shirt she wore and her soft pale skin.  Before I could scold myself like I usually do every time I see her, I reached her and took the seat beside her.  
    The moment I sat next to her, she looked at me with those insanely intense brown eyes.  Only for a moment though before she looked away quickly and sighed.  I asked the first thing I’ve been inexorably wondering. “Are you okay?”
    Janice is nice but can be feisty and defensive.  I shouldn’t have been too shocked about her answer. “Mr. Rush, I am very fine. I am going on a vacation from my life, so I would not like to be reminded of it,” she said, pausing for only a split second.  “I have no idea why you care.  You never seemed to care about anything other than your precious hair and your job.  So no offense… but please cut the act and leave me alone.”             
    She was admirable, but that didn’t mean she didn’t get to me with her poor attitude. In fact, sometimes I couldn’t stand her with how she would speak to me. As a teacher, I took professional offense when she would speak to me that way.  That’s why I never hesitated to send her to detention before. Personally, it made me more intrigued. 
    Scowling and internally scolding myself for trying to help