Unexpected | ✔️

33- Dates x2

^Reece <3

~

"Hi Bell," Reece greeted me as soon as I took a seat next to him. I scrunched my face at the nickname. "What?"

"No one really calls me Bell," I pointed out. It was weird and made me feel like a whole other person.

He lightly chuckled as he pulled out a textbook. "Well, guess I'm the first then." I internally sighed, wishing he'd just call me Bella like everyone else. What was it with him and testing my limits?

Here's the deal. Each name gave me a different persona.

Bella was the most common. It was the girl who was pretty chill, nothing extraordinary. It was a little bit girly though. I liked it. Bella was fun and slightly quirky.

Ary, which was strictly family and Jasmine, felt wilder. Nothing crazy, obviously. But, I was the most comfortable with the people who called me that. Dylan was included, but he loved calling me Bella so I never complained.

Arabella sounded too posh in my opinion. It made me feel stuck up and snobby, so I didn't really like using it. My family only used it if I was in deep trouble, so I had bad memories associated with it anyway.

Bell just sounded pathetic to me. It sounded like a helpless girl who needed to depend on someone her entire life. She'd never be independent. She was the exact opposite of who I was trying to be.

"Shall we?" he asked, gesturing to the notebook. A frown fell upon his gorgeous face and he looked at me with worry. "What happened to your hand?"

I awkwardly placed it in my lap but he grabbed my wrist, pulling the wound to eye-level. I was surprised he even noticed considering none of my other friends did.

"Oh, I tried to cut vegetables but I severely miscalculated," I lied. He gave me a look as if he knew I wasn't being honest but didn't push it. "So, more derivatives?" I asked as a desperate change in topic.

He smiled, gently releasing my arm. "Ah, yes. Looks like you guys are finally learning about the rules. I promise it gets so much better than plugging it into that equation over and over again."

I let out a relieved laugh and watched him explain the first rule we learned in class. I was super thankful because I hardly paid attention.

Truth be told, I was too distracted thinking about Dean and Taylor. I know I swore off boys and I told him it's totally okay to move on, I hadn't expected him to do it so fast. Maybe it was because one night he was confessing his feelings for me, and the next we weren't even talking.

For someone who claimed to like me a lot, he sure moved on fast.

A pair of fingers snapped in front of my face. "Hey, pay attention. We aren't meeting tomorrow, so this is all the help you'll have for the weekend."

Tomorrow? Right! Friday. We didn't meet on Fridays.

Tomorrow was also the day Dean and I were getting our imaginary baby.

He was so confusing today. First, he didn't speak at lunch, then acted rude, then was super nonchalant during Home Ec.

He needed to make up his mind.

I went through another homework problem.

"Any chance you wanna get coffee after this?" Reece asked while checking my work. When I didn't immediately respond, he looked at me over the paper. "Just one cup. I promise if I'm that intolerable, you're free to leave. I won't take it personally."

There was no way I could say no with the breathtaking smile he was giving me. Plus I felt guilty for brushing him off so much.

"Sure," I answered, faking enthusiasm.