The Dare

Chapter Eighteen • Rivalry

EIGHTEEN • RIVALRY

"I'm sorry about Chloe," Cas said to me as we walked down the hall. It had become routine for us to walk together and far from uncommon. So much for Ryder's ideal of staying away.

"It's no big deal. Everything got sorted out in the end." He nodded. Today, Cas was sporting an even crazier, messier, and quite attractive hairstyle with a plaid shirt. A lot of girls would stare as we walked together, but I had to control myself. I couldn't focus on that; I needed to gain his trust.

"So have you heard about Winter Formal coming up...?" Cas suddenly asked.

"Reietto has dances?"

"Yes; we're not completely devoid of fun," he laughed, holding the door open for me as we entered the classroom.

"Well, how am I supposed to know? I haven't been here for years. And, you would think that a place that focuses on academic excellence would try to actually focus specifically on academic excellence. Not leisure, high school entertainment," I explained, taking my seat with Cas right next to me.

"So you're not going?" he inquired, looking at me curiously with big eyes. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks. He really was...something else.

"Um, didn't say I wasn't, but...we'll see," I stammered, trying to focus. Was he indirectly asking me to the dance? I mentally shook my head. I shouldn't make assumptions, but perhaps this would work in my favor. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy: trust. I could give it a shot.

"It's your call. Anyway, how'd you do on last night's math?" Ah. The dreaded question of academic status-checking. After a weekend of furrowed brows, being locked in my room, and deep, malicious thoughts, I had been confined to nothing but sleeping and thinking. It wasn't how I had planned to spend my weekend, but I didn't think I would've understood my work anyway. More plainly, college was hard.

"Er...didn't finish. But I think I get it," I lied, looking away. Mr. Jensen walked in slowly at the perfect time so I could turn my head and pretend to be distracted by his entrance.

"You were stumped." I whirled back around.

"No..."

"I can see you're lying," he countered. I raised a brow, setting my head in my hands, but my elbows slipped off the desk and landed embarrassingly in my lap instead. He laughed. "If you need me, I'm here." I raised the other brow. He blinked and then caught himself. "For t-tutoring. Of course."

"Everyone shut it," Mr. Jensen cut in, slamming his briefcase on the desk. "Today we're learning about motherboards and creating systems. So like I said, shut it." Hello Mr. Jensen. I rolled my eyes at Cas, recieved a smile in return, and turned back to, well, learn about motherboards and creating systems.

I had started sitting with Daniel again at lunch, but I spent the majority of my time with Cas. Believe it or not, this war pandemonium was beginning to slowly interest me. Two school quotem quote gangs ready to tear each other apart? Noteworthy...

"So with everything that's been happening, how do you like Reietto? I'm sure it was a tough transition," Cas said, popping a fry into his mouth.

"I don't know if I would say tough, but it's certainly been...different. We didn't exactly have the divisions at my old high school and all I had to worry about was winning this end-of-the-year, climactic scholarship. All my problems would've been solved." I turned my head to watch the breeze weeve through the stray trees in the distance from the monstrous window.

"Well I can't completely empathize, considering the fact that I chose to come here, but I know how you feel in a sense. It's this random castle on a hill in the middle of nowhere that provides for the loners. That wasn't quite what I was used to. In fact, I was homeschooled. Being in a school with bustling students and multiple teachers was a very big change," he divulged.