Smarter Than You Think

Chapter 3

After the rest of our classes we go to dinner.
"You need to come to our dorm tonight." Alexandra says to me.
"Sorry, I have plans." I tell her.
"With who?" she asks.
"Confidential information." I say.
"Is it with Gannon?" she asks suddenly eager.
"No telling." I say.
"You are so doing something with Gannon. The guys said he wasn't in their dorm last night either. That means both of you were somewhere else and I predict you two were with each other." she says.
"Coincidence." I say.
"Yeah right. Call it what you want, but we all know you were with him." she says. "And you're probably going on some sort of date with him tonight." she adds.
I blush and don't say anything.
She smiles though. "Don't worry. I won't say anything. I think it's cute, and don't worry I won't interfere. Have fun." she tells me.
"Thanks." I say sighing with relief.
We finish eating, and everyone else goes to their dorms. Gannon and I walk to the spot where we sat last night.
"So you're pretty good at running." he says.
"Yeah I guess. It just clears my head." I say.
"Same." he pauses. "You're pretty." he says.
I blush. "Thanks. You too. I mean handsome! I mean you are, um, you're handsome. Sorry." I say.
He laughs. "Thanks. By the way I think it's cool how you can speak your mind so openly. Not many people can do that." he says.
"I guess. Also did you by any chance hear Ms. Rose and Mr. Hine talking earlier?" I ask him.
"Not really. Why?" he asks.
"Well, Mr. Hine said that he wished they could use some cameras as evidence, and Ms. Rose said that would make everything fall apart. He also said there was something off about me when he talked to me earlier." I say.
"I don't know what he could possibly mean by all of that." he says.
"Me either. It's kind of worrying." I say a shiver running down my back.
"I can tell it's worrying you. Don't think about it right now." he says.
"Thanks." I say
"No problem." he says smiling.
He puts his arm around me drawing me closer to him. His body is warm.
"Don't you feel like something's wrong with this place?" I ask.
"Yeah. Something's definitely weird about it. I just can't quite put my finger on it." he agrees.
We're both quiet after that, just comforted by each other's presence. After a little while of talking some more Gannon walks me back to my dorm. I walk inside and I must be smiling a lot because I get strange looks from everyone I walk by. I go to sit on my bed and I lean my cheek on the palm of my hand. Alexandra sits down next to me shortly.
"Do you mind if I ask how it went?" she asks.
"We sat and talked, he put his arm around me, it was nice." I say.
She smiles at me. "You really like him." she says.
I nod my head.
"I knew it." she says.
I laugh. "I guess you were right." I say.
"As always. So is your status still single?" she asks.
I roll my eyes. "As far as I'm concerned I never considered myself to have a "status" in the first place. Anyways it's not like anyone else is interested, nor would I care if they were." I say.
"That's rich." she mutters to herself.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"I mean come on. A lot of people would gladly take up the offer to go on a date with you." she says.
"Whatever." I say.
"You refuse what facts you want to." she says.
We finish talking and get ready for bed. I fall asleep faster than usual.
Page Break
Alexandra shakes me awake at my usual late time the next morning. I prepare myself for the day. We walk to breakfast and meet the guys at our regular table. Gannon sits next to me. He grabs my hand underneath the table. I give him a warm smile and he returns it.
"You look good today." he tells me.
"Ooohhhh. Looks like we have something going on between Stevie and Gannon." Matt says smirking.
"I knew it. They both came back to dorms later than usual two nights in a row." Cole says.
"Are you official yet?" Anush asks.
"Anush, don't be rude about it!" Kayla scolds.
"You guys are weird." I tell them.
"We know." Bailey says.
"Nice going man. No one gets to touch Stevie without walking away with a bruised face." Joshua says.
"Wanna be next?" I ask him only half playfully, holding up a fist.
"It's about time Stevie was nice to someone." Matt says.
"I'm nice!" I say.
They laugh.
"Not sure how this'll turn out with the idiots in control around here." Gannon says.
"That's the truth. It's not like they can get rid of you guys for liking each other though." Alexandra says.
"Yeah but they'll constantly remind you of how you there's no PDA here." Cole says.
"If I had a dollar for every time someone disobeyed that rule I'd have enough money to buy our way out of this place. You should be fine." Kayla says.
"Speaking of annoying human beings Mr. Hine at twelve o'clock." Kyle says.
"You think he has any right at all to be mad at Stevie?" Alexandra asks.
"Nope." Gannon says.
He leans over and kisses me on the cheek. I blush. Mr. Hine walks over to us immediately after seeing this.
"What did I tell you about messing up this one?" Mr. Hine says sounding exasperated.
"Sorry for having feelings." I say sarcastically.
"Why do get so mad about everything anyways?" Gannon asks him.
"Mr. Fase, do you really like this girl?" Mr. Hine asks.
"Mr. Hine, do you really not like this girl?" Gannon mocks him.
"I don't appreciate your attitude, Mr. Fase." Mr. Hine says.
"I don't appreciate your presence. Go away." I tell him.
"Miss Crossfire, one more comment like that will land you eating lunch with me for the next two weeks." he says.
"Geez, sorry." I say.
Mr. Hine leaves after that. Gannon wraps an arm around me.
"He should not be on this planet." he says.
"You can say that again." I tell him.
We finish lunch and Gannon and I decide to skip class since they never take attendance anyways. I might've tried to wait until tomorrow since we don't have school on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, but I'm just done with this week. We go to our usual spot.
"Do you ever think about leaving?" I ask him.
"Sometimes. Have anyone ever tried?" he asks.
"You're looking at the only person who's ever attempted it." I say.
"Really?" he says shocked.
"Really. No one else ever saw the point in it because half of everyone thinks it was impossible to leave and the other half thinks there's nothing outside of here even if it is possible." I explain.
"Why would they care? Anything's better than this." he says incredulously.
"That's what I think." I agree.
"You seem to get super determined when you set your mind to something. I like that about you. Some people say they're going to do something and they don't really commit to it. You do. That's something special, so don't ever forget it." he tells me.
"Thanks." I say smiling.
He wraps his arm around me. I look up at him.
"You want help leaving?" he asks after a while.
"You really believe we can leave?" I ask him.
"I really believe YOU can do anything." he says.
"Why do you like me so much?" I ask him.
"I like your determination. I like your cleverness. I like your kindness. I think your pretty also, but that's not the point. Most of all I like the personality that's there. You're not some bland person who wants to do something. You're someone with a real heart and thoughts who wants to do something to help herself in life, and maybe help out a few other people." he says.
"I'm not all that." I say.
"You're a lot, but you don't pay attention to any of it and you keep on being you. That's what makes it special." he says.
"Thanks I guess." I say blushing.
He leans in and kisses me softly. My head starts spinning in some different direction and I can't think straight. Warmth spreads throughout my body. I feel a tingling feeling in my stomach. I feel strange, but I like it. We pull away and I lean my head on his shoulder and we just sit there for a long time in comforting silence. He walks me to my dorm after a little more time has passed. I walk in and most of the girls are getting ready for bed. I go to sit on my bed and lean my head on my thighs so no one can see my face. I close my eyes and rewind the last hour in my mind. Alexandra comes to sit next me.
"Hey lover girl, how was tonight?" she asks.
"Oh I don't know." I say trying to hide my smile.
"Mmhhhmmm. I don't believe that for a second. You like him a lot, and I can tell. I'd be blind if I couldn't." she says.
I don't respond.
"Stevie, how stupid do you think I really am? I see the way you look at him. I see that smile you're trying to cover up. Well guess what? Don't cover it up! It's cool that someone you really care about can make you smile and be really happy! You don't have to be so secretive or quiet about it. He's a cutie, you gotta make it known that he's yours or he'll be gone in a flash." she scolds.
I laugh at the last part, and break out in a grin afterwards.
"Oh alright. I guess your right." I tell her.
"What's new?" she says flipping her dark curls over a shoulder.
I laugh at her and she walks away. I go to get ready in the bathroom. Afterwards I lay down and embarrassingly enough think about Gannon as I fall asleep.
Page Break
Alexandra wakes me up as she has been lately. It's the time Ms. Rose used to wake me up but she threatened to give me detention for a week if she had to wake me up one more time. I get ready quickly and walk to the lunchroom with Alexandra, Bailey, Ansuh, and Kayla. Lately I've been a lot closer to Alexandra than I used to be. I used to not be able to make up mind if someone asked who my best friend was. Now I could pretty safely say Alexandra. We sit down Alexandra on my right, and Gannon on my left.
"How'd you sleep?" Gannon asks me.
"Pretty well as usual." I say.
"Another fact about Stevie; She will murder you if she gets less than eight hours of sleep. If she's not in too much of a bad mood she slept okay." Kayla comments.
"Yeah, yeah. I get a bad wrap for sleeping in. It's not terrible though. I get to sleep in and never suffer consequences because I can get ready on time unlike some other people." I say turning to Alexandra.
"I'm not that bad!" she says defensively.
"You wake up two hours before everyone else, Alexandra. That's not normal." I tell her.
Everyone else laughs at her.
"So you two been having fun?" Cole teases Gannon and I.
"More than you can have." I say smirking.
"I'm just too intimidating for all the girls to talk to me." Cole says.
"Sure. Just keep telling yourself that." I say to him.
"Come one, Stevie. You know you're just jealous because you can't wake up like this." he responds.
"Oh that's right. You woke up like that. Sorry, I forgot because I'm so used to the unsatisfying view." I tell him.
He looks away sheepishly.
"Gannon, don't let her scare you. She's not the nicest person on the planet." Anush says.
"Okay first, I don't appreciate you talking to him like a kindergartener on a tour of the school at the beginning of the year. Second, at least I admit I'm not the nicest person in the universe. You on the other hand think you're little miss perfect." I say.
"Sheesh! Calm down. Just sayin'. Anyways are you always this quiet, Gannon?" Anush asks.
I roll my eyes at her.
"Uh, not really. I'm just getting used to the place and people." Gannon tells her.
"He's obviously gotten used to Stevie." Bailey says.
"Why is it such a big deal! People, I'm a person! Can I not have a boyfriend or something?" I huff.
"Stevie, are you okay?" Gannon asks.
"She's just upset because she thinks she's being too much of a girly-girl." Alexandra says rolling her eyes at me.
"Stevie's typically more of a tomboy. She doesn't like it when we get too touchy on things like this." Kayla adds.
I breath heavily and get up to put my plate away. It's not that big of a deal. I'm not too much of a girl. I refuse to be too much of a girl. If I leave maybe I can show people that. Obviously it's tough to leave. I walk back after taking some deep breaths.
No one says anything about it as I sit down.
"At least it's Thursday so we don't have classes." Matt offers.
"Yeah, I'm kind of done with classes right now." I say.
"No kidding." Joshua mutters.
We're sitting down having a nice conversation when one of my least favorite people comes up to our table. Kelsey Wood. The most annoying little princess in the universe.
"Well, if it isn't Mr. Steven." Kelsey says with a fake sweet smile.
I grit my teeth.
"Well, if it isn't Miss Diva in training." I say mocking the expression on her face.
"Whatever you do don't break her arm again." Alexandra whispers to me.
"Shut up, Alexandra." I mutter.
Kelsey turns her attention to Gannon.
"Ohhhh. What's a handsome guy like you doing with her?" Kelsey says glaring at me.
I make a face at her.
"Uh....." Gannon trails off.
"I don't believe I've seen you before." Kelsey says looking at him.
"Lucky him." I mutter.
"I didn't ask you." she tells me.
I roll my eyes.
"Um, yeah. I'm a new student here." Gannon tells her.
"Interesting. I'll tell you what. Why don't you come hang out with me and my normal friends and we'll, I mean I'll show you around." she says in a condescending tone.
"Sorry, Kelsey. I don't believe I introduced you to each other. Kelsey, my boyfriend. Boyfriend, Kelsey." I say.
"Steven, why don't you tell me his name?" she says to me.
"Because he's taken. Goodbye, Kelsey." I say.
"I don't remember the last time I took orders form you." she says raising her voice.
"I don't remember the last time you asked for a broken arm, but it happened anyways didn't it?" I tell her.
She grumbles something inaudible and walks away.
"Who was that?" Gannon asks.
"Kelsey, the most annoying little princess you'll ever meet." I say.
Everyone else goes to put away their dishes. Gannon pulls me to the side.
"Why do people call you Steven sometimes?" he asks nervously.
"Because they hate me. My real name is Stevie, it's not a nickname, but they think it's hilarious to call me Steven, and I hate it." I explain.
"That's awful." he says.
"Not much I can do." I say.
He shrugs reluctantly. We walk over to the rest of the group.

A/N: So, I realize that the chapters are kind of long so from now on I'll try to make them smaller and more manageable. I also decided to really put more time into this and I put aside some time to really edit this chapter and make sure that all of the punctuation, capitalization etc. errors were fixed. As usual, thanks for reading and if you do enjoy this please follow, vote, and comment to give me some feedback on how to make things better! Stay awesome!