Sydney
A sigh escaped me, and I practised my breathing before turning the handle.
I walked in and the chuckles stopped immediately, my eyes landing on the trio at the far left of the room.
Dean and two other girls I recognized from class.
And if my guess was right, he’d probably been tickling them even in their lab coats and goggles.
But as I walked in, his expression changed.
He moved away from the girls but still sat where he was beside them.
I could feel their gaze follow me as I walked to the other end of the room.
And then some whispering.
“You’re late.” Dean’s voice bounced off the walls.
I took off my bagpack and set it on a counter.
“I’m surprised you even showed up at all.” I muttered.
“What was that fat ass?”
I nearly jumped, turning around to see him behind me.
God, he’s so annoying.
He folded his arms across his chest, towering over me.
“What was that, fatty?” He repeated.
My stomach twisted, but I tried to hide it.
“Nothing.”
The girls snickered.
He turned to them for a second, then back at me again, one brow lifting.
And for a second, I thought he’d fire something back.
Instead, he just perched on a stool.
“Well,” he nodded towards the lab equipment.
“You’re the nerd.
What are we doing?”
I unzipped my backpack and pulled out my notes.
This was time for chemistry, and this was a Saturday.
I wasn’t going to waste time on anything.
“Reaction assignment,” I said, sliding the note towards him.
“We need to explain the bonding process and present the results.”
Dean stared at the page like it was Dutch.
“You’re kidding.”
”No.”
He dragged a hand down his face.
“God, I hate school.”
I rolled my eyes before I could stop myself.
“Well, unless you’d like to fail, we should start.”
“I know you can do this on your own.
But you nerds just have a way of teaming up with teachers to make cool kids’ lives miserable.”
I nearly smiled at that.
Instead, I pulled my hair into a messy bun and slipped into a lab coat, even though it was totally unnecessary.
The two girls kept whispering something as they worked.
But eventually they went quiet.
For a few minutes the room fell quiet, except for the faint scratching of pens and the clink of glassware somewhere down the counter.
And even though I almost flinched at every slight move Dean made, the confused look on his face as I worked was priceless.
Then, right in the middle, he leaned over the book.
“Okay, wait..
Why is this arrow here?” he asked, pointing.
“That’s the electron movement.” I replied.
“And this?”
”The bond forming.”
”And this one?”
I blinked at him in disbelief.
“That’s literally the same thing.”
He frowned harder as he took up the book.
And I swear I tried to hold it in.
But a small chuckle slipped out.
He turned to me slowly.
“Did you just laugh?
At me, fatty?”
I tried to focus on the stopwatch, forcing my smile back.
“No.”
He leaned back, watching me.
“But you did.”
”You’re staring at it like it’s some foreign language.”
”Well, yeah.” He folded his arms in frustration.
“All I see are Cs and Hs and words I don’t even know the meaning of.”
I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh again.
“You think I’m dumb.” He said, after a beat of silence.
I paused, searching for a safer way to say, “Hell yeah, you dumb ass bully.”
Instead, I said.
“No.
You just need to take your classes seriously.”
”Wow,” he dragged, watching me for a while.
Then he leaned towards the table once more.
“Well, if I’m going to get roasted, might as well finish this up.”
And as I rode home in the back seat of the car later that afternoon, I realized something strange.
Dean hadn’t actually insulted me much during the project.
At least not like he used to.
The weekend came and passed in just two minutes, and the next thing I knew, I was pulling the blanket off my mirror to take a peek at my hair, while getting ready for school.
Yay.
The talk with Mom had done something different in my chest.
But like always, that feeling stopped right outside the main doors of Lakeview High.
The moment I walked in, the stares followed like they were never tired of wondering how many pounds I weighed.
Or when next something bad would happen to me.
Or the next thing Tyler Sinclair would say about me, because I could already feel something in my guts.
But today I planned to stay out of everyone’s way and ignore the excitement buzzing through the school about Brooklyn’s birthday.
The same birthday she’d said I probably wouldn’t want to attend.
And honestly, she was right.
I’d already decided to stay in my room.
Because pretending I didn’t care that people were watching me was easier than showing up somewhere I clearly wasn’t wanted.
“Bro, this week’s practice is going to be brutal.” I heard Micheal’s voice over the chattering in the hallway.
“Yeah, I heard some recruiters would be at the game.”
”I’m not even bothered about recruiters, dude.” I caught Dean’s voice.
“I got a clip of Redwood’s practice, man.
Those guys have gone rabid.”
Oh, yeah, that is also happening next week.
One of the biggest matches of the session, which apparently we were all going to be forced to watch.
I’d only heard a few things about Redwood, but the way the guys talked about them made it sound like they were serious competition.
“We’ll crush them.” Tyler cut in smoothly, his voice too relaxed compared to his teammates.
I turned before I could stop myself.
Because somehow, Tyler’s voice had made a shiver run down my spine.
He was leaning against the wall, one hand in his pocket, and the other spinning a basketball on his finger, his eyes focused on the ball like it was telling him the future.
“You seem a little too confident, cap.” Dean grinned.
The ball dropped neatly into Tyler’s palm, and he raised his eyes.
“When have we ever lost a game?”