Off to Neverland

“Don’t be nervous,” Eli sighed as I looked up at our gigantic, prestigious school. “You don’t even have to see him.”

“Not true,” I muttered, shaking my head and starting inside with him. “I have him in my biology class. We’re partners.”

Eli made a face. “Oh. Okay, never mind what I said.”

I gulped, not knowing what I was supposed to do. I only had one class with Jack, but I had a bunch with Simon. I had been freaking out about Jack so much over the weekend that I didn’t even think about what I was going to do about Simon.

The bell had already rung, so pretty much everyone was already in their classes. Eli was only in my second period, but Simon and Courtney were in my first period. I was just lucky that Chloe was in every class with me…

“Are you going to be okay?” Eli asked me when we were about to split up.

I nodded, forcing a smile onto my face. “I’ll be fine,” I lied.

I honestly didn’t want to separate from him. He had been comforting me all weekend, and now I had to be separated from him, in a place where Jack was. I didn’t want to be alone when I had to see Jack.

I almost started hyperventilating as I got closer and closer to my first period. Simon was always there before me, and I didn’t know how he was going to act toward me. I didn’t even know if he remembered what happened between us at all.

I was glad that Courtney came into class after me, because I didn’t want to have to deal with her glares as I walked inside. I was going to have to deal her glares while she came inside, but at least all I had to do was sit there and take it.

Simon smiled when he saw me, so I assumed that he forgot everything that had happened since he had been drunk. I looked away from him, not expecting this reaction from him. I thought that maybe he would have ignored me too, but obviously life just wasn’t going to cut me any slack.

I could see his confused out of the corner of my eye as Chloe and I sat down. I was glad that she had the seat right next to him, even though I had to sit behind Courtney and her two friends. I’d actually rather deal with them then Simon at that moment.

When Courtney saw me, the first thing she looked at was my neck. When she saw that the necklace was there again, her eyebrows furrowed in complete and total anger.

“How did you get that back?” she demanded as she sat in her seat in front of me.

I shrugged. “I had some help.”

Her nostrils flared in anger. “By who?”

“By your boyfriend,” I informed her now, biting the inside of my lip to stop myself from smirking at her. When she gave me a confused look, I rolled my eyes. “Eli.”

This angered her even more. I was sure she knew that Eli lived at my house, but I knew that he was the last person she thought would ever help me. For the first time in what felt like a long time, I smiled.

Ignoring Simon through the classes that I had with him were difficult, but I did it anyway. Simon really was the least of my worries right then. He wasn’t the last person I wanted to see at that moment. Jack was.

So when biology rolled around, I didn’t want to go inside. I just stared at the door, thinking about what I would say to him once I finally saw him. It had only been two days, and yet it felt like an entire eternity.

I let out a breath, pushing the door open and forcing myself inside. I looked over at my lab table to see that Jack was already there, like he always was, and I quickly turned away from him and toward our teacher.

“Mrs. Lavaliere,” I started, glancing over at Jack for only a second before turning toward my teacher. “Is there any way that you could remove me from being Jack’s partner? Like… could you switch me with someone else? Preferably Chloe?”

Mrs. Lavaliere’s eyebrows furrowed. “I thought you were dating Jack, Ivy. Why would you not want to be his partner anymore?”

I didn’t want to tell her what had really happened, because I didn’t know if she would understand or not. I just wanted to get out of talking with Jack until I knew what I was going to say to him, and I had nothing to say yet.

Obviously seeing an uncomfortable look on my face, Mrs. Lavaliere understood. She shuffled through papers on her desk, pulling out a pass before scribbling something down on it.

“Go to Mr. Bell, the biology teacher across the hall,” she informed me, handing me the pass before smiling at me sadly. “You can help out with his class today. I hope everything works out for you and Jack.”