Golden (Seth Clearwater)- Sunflower Sequel

Chapter 7

By lunchtime on Monday, I was already over the school day.

Jesse had made it his personal mission to tell everyone about me leaving the party, spinning the story into me leaving him high and dry. According to him, I had promised him that after one more drink we could go up and have a little personal fun, only to then accuse him of drugging me and storm out. Since I had arrived with Dani, I had been stared up, people whispering about the party.

Considering who my family was, I was used to the stares occasionally. But the whispers and giggles, combined with the occasional unknowing sophomores loudly calling me a prude had me seriously annoyed and more conscious than usual.

I slammed my lunch tray onto mine and Dani's usual table, rolling my eyes when Jesse walked by with a junior girl, blatantly flirting with her while staring at me. "I knew I shouldn't have gone to that damn party."

Dani looked at me apologetically, sliding me her fries as an offering. "I'm sorry, Rina, truly. I didn't know Jesse was that type of guy, I wouldn't have forced you otherwise."

Taking a fry, I glared at some girls burning holes into the side of my head. "It's not completely your fault, I flirted back knowing that Jesse wasn't exactly the perfect guy."

"I still shouldn't have forced you into that party." Dani looked around and cleared her throat, raising her voice slightly. "I was also the one that forced you into being alone with Jesse, knowing that you weren't that into him to begin with."

I smiled slightly as the eyes watching us turned to Jesse instead, the man in question having stopped mid conversation and turned to us in shock. "Not that into me?" He echoed to his friends, looking around angrily. "Who wouldn't be into me?"

"Okay, you can stop. I'm not mad at you, Dani, truly." I said, sliding her fries back to her.

She grinned. "Oh I know. But I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to humble a man."

I didn't reply, instead focusing on eating and finishing my homework assignment for statistics that among the weekend chaos, I had forgotten about. Mid way through, I remembered that I had left my calculator in my locker and groaned, standing up from the table.

Dani raised an eyebrow, looking up from her own homework. "You're leaving?"

"My stupid calculator is in my locker. Save my seat?"

"Hurry back, you only have 20 minutes of lunch left." She muttered, going back to messily annotating her book.

I all but ran out of the cafeteria, praying to God that my calculator was actually in my locker and not at home. I made it to my locker quickly, since the hallway was practically empty. Those who didn't have first lunch were in class and those that skipped class left campus. The only ones left were those searching their lockers as well, or people 'needing' the bathroom.

I opened my locker and smiled victoriously when I saw my calculator right on the top. I grabbed it and slammed the door shut, jumping when I saw Jesse standing next to me. 

"Hey, Call." He spoke smoothly, his arms crossed against his chest. "We need to talk."

I scoffed, leaning against my locker. "You've talked enough for the both of us. Just leave me alone, Jesse, you already have a new girl to sleep with."

"I didn't say anything that wasn't true. You led me on at the party and then exploded on me for no reason."

"You spiked my drink!"

"So I gave you something different to drink, big deal. I thought you wanted to loosen up." He argued. I didn't even bother answering, walking away instead. Jesse grabbed my arm, pulling me back.

"If you weren't interested like Lyles said, you shouldn't have been all over me that night." He continued.

"I wasn't over you, you were all over me." I pulled my arm from his grip and shoved him away from me. By now, the few students in the hallway were staring at us, some even filming.

"I was just trying to get into your pants, don't be so flattered."

"Trust me, I wasn't. Are we done here yet?"

"Oh, yes, you are." We both turned, my eyebrows raising at the sight of Seth. He looked beyond pissed off, his arms crossed and his stance making him seem taller than he already was. He had no reason to be here, yet I felt nothing but relief at the fact that he was here.

"She made herself clear, Jesse." Seth spat, his tone so unlike his usual self that my eyes widened. "She isn't interested. Leave. Her. Alone."

"This doesn't even concern you! She doesn't need her whatever you are fighting for her." Seth looked at me with an incredulous look. I immediately heard his thoughts because of her bond, his thought explicitly meant for me.

'You liked this guy? Really?'

I shrugged slightly at him before turning back to Jesse. "Dude, I'm not into you, get over it. You're making yourself look pathetic."

"She's right." Seth agreed, Jesse only rolling his eyes.

"Whatever. This is why everybody shit talks your family." He grumbled before leaving finally, a sigh of relief escaping me. I almost forgot about Seth, the man whistling lowly.

"Wow, you sure know how to pick them."

"Well, to be fair, the one the universe picked for me isn't the one so I really am on my own looking for the one." I snapped slightly, flinching when I realized what I had said. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"S'okay. I deserved that." He walked to my side, handing me a small bag. "Here, I saw this and thought you could use it."

I took it cautiously, shaking it lightly before opening it. I let out a laugh when I pulled out the bedazzled object, inspecting the outside. "Pepper spray? Really?"

"If I hadn't been here, it would've come in handy right now and you know it."

"So you came all the way here to drop it off during school hours?" I double checked, putting the spray back in its bag. "Seriously?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Ri. I felt your anger throughout the day and then I got scared put of nowhere so I came to check on you. I'm glad I did, too." Seth put his hands in his pockets. "Do you wanna go right now or-"

"No, I have to stay." I shook my head quickly. "Actually, I should go back to the cafeteria. Thanks for being here, Seth, and I'll definitely use your gift."

"No problem, Ri." He let me walk away without another word, my legs shaky after the whole interaction.

He was wrong, of course, there was a problem. He was engaged and somehow kept making me fall harder and harder for him.