Trinity High (Book 1 of the Trinity Series)

Chapter 12

"Is this table taken?" I heard. I glanced up to see Lance standing, his back-pack slung over one shoulder.

"Yes, by me," I replied curtly. He smirked at me and set his stuff down. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"I never said you could sit here," I told him.

"That's all right," he said, a mischievious glint in his eye. I sighed. Trey had let Abbey off earlier. Now it was my turn to do the same to Lance.

"Lance..." I began, looking at him. He glanced up at me as he pulled his books out of his bag.

"Yes?" he asked, his hazel eyes bright. He looked like an innocent puppy. I frowned. I was stumped. I had no idea how to tell him I wasn't interested in him. I decided to go with the first words that came to my mind.

"Lance, just because I let you take me to homecoming doesn't mean I want to be in a relationship with you," I said to him. His face dropped. I winced. My words sounded a lot harsher than I had meant them to sound. I cursed myself silently. Trey had let Abbey off so smoothly. I had only said one sentence to Lance and I had already made a mess.

"What makes you think I want to be in a relationship with you?" he asked me. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. So now he was playing the I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about card.

"The fact that you follow me around everywhere. The fact that you make those flirty eyes at me whenever you talk to me. Also, you're so insistent on talking to and hanging out with me--" I started. He sighed loudly.

"All right! All right! Maybe I do like you," he muttered. I cocked my head to the side.

"I'm really sorry, Lance. I just...can't be with you..." I mumbled weakly.

"It's because of Trey, isn't it?" he asked. I raised my eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I see the way you two look at each other. You can pretend to hate him, but your face whenever he's around says something else," he told me. I let out a long breath.

"We have no idea what's going on between us, but whatever it is, it's really strong and it's too difficult to ignore," I explained half-heartedly. He shook his head.

"It's all right," he said.

"I really am sorry," I said again.

"You don't have to apologize for what you're feeling," Lance told me, his eyes sad now.

"I'm not apologizing for what I'm feeling. I'm apologizing for how I'm make you feel," I clarified. "I didn't mean to lead you on. I thought I made it clear from the beginning that I wasn't interested," I told him. He shrugged.

"I guess I liked the chase," he said.

"Sometimes you get tired of running, though. And if not now, then later," I said. He contemplated this for a moment and then nodded. Then he smiled at me.

"I guess you're right. I would have lost interest eventually," he said. I gave him a crooked smile.

"Are we all right now?" I asked him. He nodded.

"We're cool," he said. I let out a sigh, relieved.

"Good. Now do you can sit here and be quiet and do homework, because that's what I'm about to do. But if you're planning on talking, you can scoot yourself over to a different table and do that," I said. He laughed.

"I think I'll sit here and study," he said. I smiled at him.

"Good," I said. We leaned forward, our books open, our pencils balanced on our notebooks, focusing our minds now on our studying.