Rock, Paper, Scissors

18: Too Good to Be True

The next day I had to plot another way to find what Nick was hiding. I tried to be sneaky, but I had been distracted by Tyler. I recalled the afternoon I met Nick outside of the clinic, how he had talked to me back then. Maybe I should try and be direct. 'Thankfully' we had to work on our history project today.

I met my workgroup in the library after the classes ended. Nick was nowhere to be seen. Great. He's really pushing it, trying to let us do all the work, but it wouldn't work, we distributed tasks. We divided our work into four parts, one for each one of us. If he didn't do his part then it was his problem.

I told Anne and Rachel that I was almost done with my part. It took me longer than I had wanted since I couldn't concentrate or felt like working for a while after the Manson situation. Rachel said she was just refining some points and Anne said she would probably be done by next week. I hope she did because the deadline was in less than two weeks.

I jerked my head when I heard the doors of the library open. Sure enough, Nick strode in, hands in the pockets of his dark jeans, his backpack over his shoulder, no expression on his face. The girls at the table let out a sigh at the view while I found myself holding my breath. Anne waved her hand, a big white grin on her face. Her blonde curls bounced in excitement. Nick saw her and joined in without a word.

"Hi. Has the cat got your tongue?" I said to the girl's horror. But Nick and I had already passed the eggshells phase. I couldn't care less if he got upset. First, he's late and then he doesn't even apologize. He looked at me as if he wanted to share silent words, or maybe threats, with me. I smiled, there was something entertaining about pushing his buttons.

"Hi," he mumbled, taking a folder out of his bag. He slid it to the center of the table. "That's my part. Just let me know if there's anything that needs to be changed." My lips parted and I gulped, embarrassed and feeling guilty. All this time I've been criticizing his lack of interest and dedication to this work, and yet he was the first one to finish his part. I felt like a fool, it would take me a couple of days more to finish mine. I grabbed the folder and started reading. Sure, enough it would be poorly written and incomplete. But I was wrong, so, so wrong. I swear I had never seen detailed and exhaustive research in a high-school work. He put the work I've had done to shame.

"This is... perfect," I admitted full of surprise, passing the folder to Anne. Nick's lips twitched; he knew it already. He looked at me, his eyes full of challenge. I thought he didn't hear me when I warned him about doing his part. I thought that I was right, that he didn't care about school at all -- and I let that control my perception of him. He knew it and this was his payback, his 'I told you so' moment. Except he never told me anything, he never denied it either.

I guess you really can't judge a book by its cover, words meant nothing, only Nick's actions could describe him. And the only way I have to get to know him and his secrets were to see it by myself instead of trusting rumors.

The weather has been more clement and we decided to have lunch outside. I hadn't been able to stalk Tyler and Nick to find out their secret and had thus to wait until the next opportunity.

I was laying on the grass with my arm over my eyes, letting the rays of sun warm my skin and distract me. I could hear Noah rambling about something to Tyler and Nick, but I would rather focus on the birds.

"Here you go." I felt a small object hi my stomach. I looked down to see a chocolate bar resting there.

"Thanks! This is why you're my best friend," I said, raising up to unwrap the precious and delicious brown and crunchy sweet.

"Hey! How come she gets one and I don't?!" Tyler called Micah.

"It's that time of the month," Noah replied instead, and I started to feel uncomfortable. Why would he say that, to them? Sure, I was warming up to them, but we were nowhere near the stage where I felt comfortable talking about my period.