A Surreptitious Relationship

:A Surreptitious Relationship: Chapter Two

He grinned back at me. “I’m not your homeroom teacher, so that’s okay.”

“Chris…”

He held up his hands defensively. “What? I just want to make sure your hand is alright.”

“Oh,” I responded lamely, blinking at him. “Yeah, it’s fine. Thanks.”

He ruffled my hair with his hand. “Don’t thank me. I was just worried.”

I pushed his hand away. “Don’t do that.”

“Holly, you’re so cute.”

“D-don’t say that!”

“Say what? Holly? You’re? So? Cute?”

Chris smirked as I glowered at him, my face hot. “I’m going inside now,” I informed him, pushing open the next set of doors. “See you later.”

He quickly caught up to me, grabbing my backpack again. “Five, four, three—”

“What are you doing?”

A loud ring sounded from overhead. “One,” Chris finished with a grin.

“Mr. Heywood!” I cried angrily, twirling around to glare at him.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Hm?”

“Erg, Chris! Now I have detention!”

 Chris started laughing again as I fumed at him. The hall we were in was completely empty, so the sound echoed off the walls. Irritated, I stomped down the hallway away from him. He easily caught up, but this time didn’t pull me to a stop.

“Holly, I have to stay after school today to correct Wednesday’s test,” he started, falling into step beside me. “Do you want to stay after with me?”

My heart began to beat faster by just hearing him ask that. It was almost comical how easily Chris could set my heart racing. “I want to.”

“Then after do you want to come to my house? Jeremy insisted on coming over today for some reason, so he’ll be there too. But I was planning to invite you over first.”

“Really?”

Chris rolled his eyes. “See? You are trying to make that your catch phrase.”

Flushing, I shook my head. “No I’m not!”

“Okay, Holly.”

“Chris!”

“You should probably get to homeroom now,” he suggested, giving me a gentle push on my backpack. “I’ll see you later.”

Frowning again, I turned my head to look at him. “Fine.”

He smiled. “And by the way, since it’s a new semester, your tardy count gets reset.”

Without another word he began walking in the opposite direction. I stared after him for a moment, my mouth hanging. Today was the new semester— I forgot. But that meant that on the first day I already got a tardy. Making a face, I started off for my homeroom. Chris was definitely going to get it later.

The first part of the day passed by slowly. The only good thing that happened was that instead of having health second period, it had switched to a study hall with the new semester. When lunch came by, I sauntered into the cafeteria, glad that I could see Lance and Casey. My happiness was cut short when I realized someone was sitting in my usual seat at our table— and not just any someone. It was Lexi. Next to her, in Casey’s usual seat, was Aaron. Casey and Lance were sitting on the other side of them, so I went to that side and took a seat next to Lance. He grinned at me in greeting before returning his attention to Lexi.