Chapter Thirteen Part 3/3:

When the bell rang to indicate that Bio class is over, I quickly packed up my binder, and my books before rushing out of the classroom. It's safe to say that I didn't want to get near James, knowing that he would continuously annoy me and try to get my number.

He tried a few times during our lesson, but I ignored him. He tried again when we were dissecting a pig, but I threatened to cut him with the scalpel, which made me lose points for pointing hazardous material at him. Then, he tried again by sending me a note, but he got caught and had to read the note out loud infront of the class.

"Maverick, my number is

306-980-****. If you won't give me yours, at least you have mine. You should call me sometime." He had said this infront of everyone confidently. I kid you not, he attempted to wink at me but he end up blinking both eyes instead.

Just remembering it made me want to jump off a cliff.

As I walk down the hallway, I was hugging my Bio textbook close to my chest, like was a barrier for me to protect myself from any odd monstrosities. Ahem. People like James. Ahem. But mostly, people in general.

Then, I felt my phone vibrate in my jean pocket, so I pulled it out, and saw the notification saying,

James Furber added you on Facebook.

I cursed so loud, that students who happened to pass me by, gave me looks. But I didn't care about them. I cared about myself, and I'm very concerned about the possibility of having my own stalker. I might be over exaggerating, but why can't he just leave me alone?

Natasha walked by, holding her binder in one hand, and a granola bar in the other. A confused look was on her face when I looked back at her.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Did someone ask you out, or what?" Then she laughed at her own joke, but I wasn't laughing along with her because ironically, the joke happened to be true. As she guffawed and giggle, she deadpanned when I started nodding my head.

"No way!" She exclaimed, her jaw hanging open. I sighed and took her granola bar and started to eat it without her permission. "About time!"

"Nat, no!" I said, shaking my head, and looking horrified. "He won't leave me alone!"

"Awe, that's so sweet."

"What the fuck!" I whispered harshly at her. "Why does everyone keep on saying that? It's so creepy!"

Then I started to walk, and Nat followed suit. She tried to take the granola bar back, but I swatted her hands with my book.

"Thief!" She accused. I felt bad and shared, but she end up taking it all. "Who is it?" She asked curiously.

"That toad, James Furber."

"The football player?" Natasha asked, her eyes twinkling with delight. I stared at her blankly, somewhat feeling annoyed because she looked excited about the terrible news.

"I don't freakin' know." I told her. "I don't know people."

"Oh my god, he's so cute! You should totally go for it!"

"Are you hearing yourself right now? That sounds completely stupid! And no!" As we walk, and as I listen to Natasha's pointless persuasion attempts, my mind went on a flashback from last week when Dani and I were pushing our way through football players and-

"He touched my ass." I said in disgust. I stopped walking to face Nat, while remembering the rude boy. "He was the one that touched my ass!" I explained further, as if this was proof that he will never be worthy of my attention, at all. James is a disgusting piece of shit.

"Okay..." Nat said, nodding her head and looking at me awkwardly. "What are you talking about?"

"Nevermind." I waved it off, and Nat just shrugged her shoulders.

"Where do you want to go for lunch? We should go to Safeway." Nat said, as she pulled out her phone, looked at it, and sighed. "Thomas bailed on me, and he won't answer his phone. I saw Dennis earlier, and I asked him too, but he said he was busy. So it's just you and me." She continued, and still eating her granola bar while leaning on the wall beside her next class' door. "You should text Dani, and ask her if she wants to go to Safeway with us."

"Uh, yeah sure." I replied, nodding my head and staring at her carefully.

"I'm so hungry!" She complained out loud while devouring the last bit of her bar. "Can I come over after school and eat your tub of ice cream?"

I can't help but laugh at her, and suddenly I felt so guilty that she doesn't know anything. She doesn't have a clue about what happened between Tom and Dennis, and I was so tempted to tell her right now, because she deserved better.

"Maverick? Hello?" Nat called out, while tapping my cheek.

"I'm sorry." I told her softly, not sure if I was saying sorry about spacing out or just sorry that I can't do anything about her situation. "But I have basketball tryouts after school."

Natasha groaned in complaint.

"We can go get ice cream in Safeway later." I suggested.

"Yes, please." Nat nodded her head eagerly.

Then the warning bell rang, and I hugged Nat before I went to class.

Dani was there already when I entered our Chemistry class, and she looked worried. I slowed down my walk towards my desk, which was beside hers, and felt that something was seriously wrong.

I sat down, and just stared at her, trying to figure out why she's giving off this negative vibe.

"Dennis talked to me during class earlier." She said lowly, so only I could hear.

"What happened? Is Thomas okay?"

"Thomas is fine. Dennis said he skipped first period to drive him home." Dani said, frowning at me. "He doesn't trust me, Mave. He thinks that I'll tell everyone."

I sighed, and shook my head.

"He's just being paranoid."

"I get it though." Dani continued. She was doodling on her loose-leaf and I stared at it, realizing that she drew a bunch of floral patterns. "You guys just met me, and I guess it's just normal that he treated me that way... But I told him that I know how he feels, I know what it feels like to be g-"

Then Dani stopped mid-sentence. She just took a deep breath and exhaled softly. Then, she gave me a small smile, but I could tell it was pained.

"I wanted to let him know that he could trust me. But he didn't even listen to me, Mave." She said, now looking at me like she let me down.

"Hey..." I called out softly. "Don't worry about it, okay?" Sighing, I rubbed her back to comfort her in some way.

Dani could only nod and we listened as our teacher, Mrs. Thurber started our lesson. Then, we spent some time on nomenclature, converting, and balancing formulas. Dani raised her hand for help on one question, but Mrs. Thurber was too busy helping another student.

"I can help you, if you want." I said as I move my desk closer to Dani's and scanned her sheet. Dani chuckled and looked at me in amusement.

"If I want. But yet, you're leaving me with no choice at all."

I rolled my eyes and leaned closer so I could see her assignment sheet clearly. Me being this close to her was intoxicating because of the scent of her shampoo.

"You smell really good." I said. "I really like it."

"Oh?" Dani said, a smile spreading across her face.

"Yeah." I nodded. "You smell like sweet strawberries." Grinning, I watched her raise an eyebrow, and she quickly looked away from me. Then, she pointed at her sheet saying,

"I can't get the answer r-right."

I followed at where she pointed at, and saw her mistake.

"You forgot about the diatomic elements, Dani." I explained, taking her pencil from her hand and jotting the formula down. Dani flinched at my action, and I started to laugh at her. "Relax, you're so jumpy. Trust me, I'm not going to kill you."

Then Gina, the girl that sat behind me in Bio, scoffed and blurted out,

"She tried to kill James last class." Gina snickered annoyingly. "With a scalpel."

I stared at Gina, and said,

"Die."

Gina gasped.

"Oh no, I've been cursed!" She sarcastically said.

Dani burst out laughing to the point that she couldn't control her laughter that well. Mrs. Thurber told us to be quiet, but then Gina laughed. She had this weird laugh where she snorts really loud... And then, I lost it.

The three of us were crying from laughter, and I couldn't take it anymore to the point where I leaned back on Dani, and kind of hugged her to hide my face.

Finally, we calmed down, and Mrs. Thurber told us to continue our work.

"Gina, your laugh is really messed up." I said, chuckling and moving so I can give Dani her personal space back.

Gina just scoffed again, and she continued to work on her sheet.

On the other hand, I explained to Dani again that she forgot the diatomic elements.

"Remember? They need to have a subscript of two when they're in their elemental state." I explained, using her pencil to point on her paper. Dani didn't say anything so I looked up, and saw her staring at me. I was a bit taken aback of how close we were because her nose was almost touching mine.

Her caramel coloured eyes squinted, then she quickly looked away and stared at the paper.

"Elemental shape?" She asked, confused.

"Um, when they're by themselves." I answered, clearing my throat and feeling warmth forming on my face. "Like this one... Bromine is a diatomic. No wonder you're getting your molar masses wrong."

Then Dani said, oh in realization. And another oh, and then,

"That's it? Oh my god, I feel dumb!"

I chuckled and nodded.

"You're dumb."

"You weren't supposed to agree with me." Dani said, smiling a lop-sided smile.

We spent the whole hour working together, even though we technically didn't have to.

A/N:

One time, I lost my right contact lense at school, and I had to attend class half-blinded the whole day. It gave me a headache, and my friends thought that I was being a bitch because I didn't wiggle/wave my fingers at them back (our way of saying hi) when we pass each other in the hallway. But really, I just couldn't tell that it was them. Yes, I'm that blind.

xoxo - Jean

Unedited.