Why Me?

Chapter Eight

Why Me?

I stared at Wyatt as he lectured, my attention for his words fading in and out. It was hard to concentrate when the tiny voice of Delilah kept ringing in the back of my mind, all the things she'd said ringing through my mind like a music lacking record. I bit at my pen, narrowing my eyes and wrinkling my brow in thought, my gaze still following him as he moved around the room, gesturing his hands and smiling.

His eyes landed on me and that smile grew slightly. He nodded his head. I looked down at my notebook.

"So, I'm going to pass around these packets. Each of you take one, and you can team up with a partner," he announced to the class, the sound of crackling paper, bending and unbending, traveling towards me as he spoke. Then a thick stack slapped itself in front of me.

I slid one packet from the stack and slid my fingers around the rest of it, turning and passing it on to the next person behind me with a smile.

The boy with dark eyes accepted it, smiling down at me with a crooked grin, his eyes grazing my skin flirtatiously. I nodded at him and turned back to my desk, my eyes beginning to skim down the first page of the project outline, hyper-aware that Wyatt was still standing there. It took him a minute to take his hands from his pockets and lean down on my desk, his elbows pressing into the wood and his hands locked. I didn't dare look up at him.

"Ms. Guascato, are you feeling okay? You were unusually quiet this afternoon," he said, leaning down some more in an attempt to catch my gaze.

My eyes fixated on his chin.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, monotone, turning back to the paper and continuing to read. Wyatt shifted, antsy.

"Hey, Noelle, you want to team up?" Delilah asked, jumping down in the seat next to me. I looked at her. She was giving me a wide smile. I shrugged, feeling a little more than uncomfortable.

"Well... I usually work by myself... but I haven't gotten the chance to read-"

"Okay, just keep me updated. Can we help you, Mr. MacNeill?" Delilah asked, blinking at him in sarcastic bitterness. I finally looked at him, eyes slightly wide. He looked taken aback, looking at Delilah with confused surprise. He blinked, glancing at me, clearing his throat, averting his eyes, and leaning away. He awkwardly rubbed at his neck.

"No, no, just checking in," he said, moving on to the next group. I glanced behind me. Dark eyes were gone.

"We need to do something about this?" Delilah said. I blinked, wrinkling my brow and looking at her.

"Do something about..." I trailed off, giving her a confused look. She gave me a narrow-eyed, snarled lip, tilted head, look right back. I blinked, leaning away a little.

"MacNeill is only getting stronger with his inappropriate behavior. You need to tell someone before it gets out of hand," she said, trying to sound soothing although her voice had a bite in it. I wrinkled my nose at her.

"How many times do I have to tell you that nothing has ever happened between us, and never will because we have a strictly professional relationship?" I pressed, giving her an angry, tight-jawed, glare. She raised her brows at me, turning her body to face me.

"l think that you're naive. Any idiot could see that he has a thing for you," she snapped, her tone coming off as condescending now. I pulled a face. She seemed so nice. I gave off an exasperated laugh.

"Did you just call me an idiot because I refuse to give into your delusional, evidence-less, imagination conjured story?" I asked, my voice a little high strung. She scoffed, leaning toward me.