Reasons

Chapter 2

Okay, it has been 30 seconds approximately, since the moment I walked in.

The silent, cold stares of my classmates continues.

What the hell, enough with the awkwardness.

I just directly go to my seat, after that long and dreaded 30 seconds of awkwardness courtesy of my classmates. I don't really call them friends, up to this point, because I sometimes don't consider them as my friends, and I strongly doubt they do too.

Once I got to my seat, I just immediately looked down, and pretend to grab something from my bag.

One thing I did notice is Flynn totally ignored me. I guess it would be kind of normal since the whole class pretty much ignored me, possibly all the time. By now, I shouldn't mind. The principle of "Mind Your Own Business" is very commonly used. Kinda harsh right?

Anyways, he must have a lot of stuff on his mind since he has many friends or should I say a gang of boys, to deal with. He's actually really popular. He's captain of the leading sports team. And no, not football, basketball. Yes, he's like a clone of Troy Bolton from High School Musical. He's so dreamy... Except, Flynn isn't in High School, nor does he sing. But other than that, they're pretty much the same.

I think I stared at him for too long, so when I came back to my senses, the teacher was already in front, blabbing on and on about whatever. Hell yeah, I wasn't listening, and neither was everyone else. That's until she introduced the boy that I met in front of the class earlier today. And by earlier, I mean 5 minutes ago.

My, oh, my...

He is gorgeous.

And dreamy.

And I think my dear Flynn might have a competition.

Everyone wants to know all about him. But honestly, and sadly, nobody really listened to what he's saying. We all just notice his "complexions".

Once I did pay attention, I noticed that he was nervous, and it gets me thinking, Cat got your tongue?

But eh, for now, all I care about is pretty much his looks.

Oh god. That makes me sound like a total bichette. If you watch Glee, you'll totally know what I'm referring to.

Well, back to the point.

We all know that looking not interested, makes you seem interesting, and maybe a tiny bit approachable. So, that's the strategy I went for.

Unfortunately, I got a little caught up with that strategy, and might have given it a little more than it needed. I'll get to that.

I wanted to seem as attractive as possible.

Sure, there are other ways to make yourself look interesting. Like, flirt. Or paying attention to everything he's saying. Or, just commenting (positively of course) on everything he's saying.

But, I crossed out the flirt cause that's just not my area of expertise.

I also crossed out the pay attention one cause, I mean, how hard would that be, right?

Come on. Let's face it. It is.

And commenting? Well, there's just too many alternative outcomes of that. Like, what if I come off too strong? Or I get so off topic that I seem weird? Or what if he shuts out my opinion?

You see my dilemma?

That is why I went with the seemingly ignoring strategy.

And this is how it pretty much went down;

I pull out the first interesting thing I come across in my bag. Which in this case was Insurgent.

I consider that book interesting cause it's addicting. Although it's not actually relatable, since we don't have factions (YET), it's so awesome. It gets you on the edge of your seat. I mean, come on, don't tell me that Tris is not awesome. She's feisty.

I actually hope that the new guy LOVES Divergent and Insurgent cause that would make me seem more approachable since we have something in common. Hopefully.

And now, here comes the part where I get too caught up with my strategy.

When I read a book, I read it with all my heart. Hyperbole? Not really.

I focus. I concentrate. Nothing will get to me.

And because I read it with all my heart, my emotions come along. I would most likely cry over a book, and sob when I read it.

There are no distractions for me when I read a book. Unless someone takes my book. Which I would go ballistic about, btw.

That's why, when I started reading my Insurgent book, I literally hear nothing. I wasn't even looking at the new guy's face. Which, I have been "observing" very closely before.

I know right. Nerd alert.

Suddenly, the teacher asks me,

"Kaityln, can you please tell the whole class what's our new friend's name?"

Crap.

"I'm sure you were paying very close attention, just like your friends."

Oh, now you're just being mean.

The new guy stared at me, expecting an answer. A correct answer. And so was everybody else.

But, what would you expect? I wasn't listening to what he was saying, obviously. I guess I should've seen this coming. I guess Insurgent can wait.

But still, the teacher, Ms. Hannon, was just being mean.

Because I did have to give and answer, I thought, lucky guess?

"Um...Liam?"

Come on, please be right.

"Nope", Ms. Hannon said.

Some chuckles followed. Courtesy of my friends.

Burn. Ouch.

"Zayn?"

"So far off", Ms. Hannon said again.

Damn. Whatever happened to lucky guess?

"Should I know his name?", I asked, stupidly.

"Yes, you should, because he's going to be sitting next to you for rest of the school year", she explained.

Well, I guess I still have luck with me all along. Or my strategy worked!

"WHAT?!!!"

Did I screws it up? Cause I pretty much just lost my cool here.

And btw, that was an excited, ecstatic, and very, very contented squeal. So, nothing negative.

"I hope that was a scream of joy, we would like our new friend to feel welcomed, wouldn't we?" she said.

"It would help if you tell me his name", I murmured.

"Well, you should've listened. Just settle down and TRY to get to know him better", Ms. Hannon said.

Geez, lady.

Eventually, we all settled down and her class started.

The new guy sat next to me.

I didn't really wanna make the first move. Although I did thought of apologizing for not listening to a word he was saying. So I just waited. Just waited for him to introduce himself (again) or something.

Thank God it wasn't a long wait. Approximately 20 seconds after he sat down next to me. I don't think you could even consider that as waiting actually. But, I'm glad it happened.

"Hi, I'm Cory. Cory McLaine."

"Hi."