All's Fair in Love and HoCo (ONC 2022)

Chapter Thirteen: Hypothetical

A plastic puke basin was conveniently located atop my side of the desk when I arrived to A&P. I was starving, but the scent of formaldehyde wafting throughout the room stopped my stomach mid-growl. Tim was standing by his desk which also had a basin atop it. He nodded a greeting at me, but his smile straightened as I sat down. Surely, he was worried today would be a repeat of Tuesday. I stifled a heave and decided I would make it through class without getting sick. Or at least I hoped so.

Riley walked into class, a weird noise sounding with every step. As he approached the desk, my gaze fell to his shoes. A cellophane boot covered his shoes and pants up to his knees.

My laugh was impossible to stop, and I almost hyperventilated trying to regain my composure. Finally, side hurting, I said, "The Trace team called. Seems they're missing part of a hazmat suit." I burst into laughter again.

His eyes twinkling, Riley shrugged. "Good. When you call them back, you can ask for the rest of the suit. Never know what'll happen with you as a partner, so it's better safe than sorry." Haha. The metal chair grated against the floor as he pulled it out. After sitting, he took scissors from his supply bag, bent down, and carefully cut through the plastic. "I'm glad you have a sense of humor, but please don't make me regret taking these off." He wadded the plastic then chucked it into the trash bin near Mrs. Burke's desk.

When the bell rang, Mrs. Burke instructed us to collect our cat from a container beside the closet along with a scalpel set and plastic bin. While Riley gathered everything, I waited patiently in my seat, casually glancing around the room. Tim's eyes met mine and he cocked his head before mouthing, "Are you okay?"

I gave him the thumbs up sign, but before I could actually answer him, Mrs. Burke said, "You'll notice I have a stack of plastic basins located on my desk. If you think you might be prone to vomiting, please don't hesitate to take one now." She held up a jar of Wick vapor rub and I stifled a snicker.

The Wick logo looked exactly like the Vicks logo seen in America. The problem was that "Vick" meant "penetration" (yep, that kind) in German. My mom looked it up one day when we saw a billboard while driving to Koln. I'd never seen Mom blush so much.

"Also, if you find the scent to be unbearable, you may rub some of this on your philtrum, that crease between your nose and upper lip which you will know by the end of this school year, lest you have to repeat this class."

When I looked up, her attention was on me, so I decided to play it even safer, even though I had nothing in my stomach. Mrs. Burke dabbed a cotton swab into the jar and handed it to me. The menthol overwhelmed the other scents in the room as I applied it under my nose, er...along my philtrum. A couple of girls and a boy also opted for the Wick, but Tim did not. It wasn't like he needed it. He just needed for everyone else to have a strong stomach.

Riley set the bin on our desk and Mrs. Burke came over to help open the cat, with Riley doing the honors. As he slid the scalpel along the cat's abdomen, I let out a huff of air and glanced around the room. His face a little greenish, Tim was studying the black cat in front of him. Barfmageddon may have been a trigger reaction, but I was certain the cat was getting the better of him today.

"Are you okay?" Riley asked. The scalpel made a plink noise as it was dropped into the bin.

"I think so. The smell isn't getting to me anyway."

I found the major organs while Riley held open the flaps of skin and muscle. When Mrs. Burke returned to our table, we pointed them out to her. Soon, we completed the lab portion, so we moved on to the worksheets and finished a few minutes before the bell. As I was checking over my English assignment, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Riley.

"Has anyone asked you to Homecoming yet?"

"Dalton did. You were there when I rejected him, so I probably won't go with anyone." I tried keeping the annoyance at bay. "Since you seem to think you need to know my deets, what about you? Who are you going with?"

He sank further into his chair. "No one yet. The girl I'd like to go with seems like she's interested in someone else. I had her best friend do a little recon, but it looks like a rejection, so there's that."

Riley Jones didn't have a date! "Are you serious? A girl rejected you?" He nodded. "How does that even happen? Every girl in this school wants to date you."

He sighed. "Not every girl."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, so Tiffani Morales won't, but that's only because she's dating Logan and Logan is one of your best friends. Any other girl in Edelweiss would probably break up with her boyfriend to go with you."

Riley remained silent for a couple long seconds. "Would you go with me?"

Was he asking me to Homecoming?

"Hypothetically, I mean."

So, he wasn't. I swallowed back my disappointment. The bell rang and, unable to answer this hypothetical question out of fear of breaking into tears, I made a mad dash for the door and avoided talking to anyone until Bri sat beside me in English class.

She looked at me from head to toe, her smile downturning to concern, and said, "I'll take it A & P didn't go well. Did you get sick again?"

I shook my head. "I'm just in a bad mood. I'll be okay."

"Having Riley as a partner would do that to me too." She laughed. "Did I tell you Caleb's been texting me?"

She had. About four times today, but if she wanted me to hear another eight times, she'd see that I would. "So, what's he saying?"

Her smile reached her eyes. "He asked if he could walk me to my house tonight after practice and I told him yes."

Wow. My face probably reflected the surprise. "And your parents are going to be cool with that?"

She shrugged. "It's just a friend walking me home now that it's starting to get dark earlier. They don't need to know the friend is a boy."

She was so going to get into trouble if her parents found out. Maybe she'd be able to talk her way out of it, but her parents were the definition of strict.

During class, I couldn't get my mind off Riley's hypothetical question. Was he trying to be a pick me? Was he thirsting for compliments? Riley had never come off as desperate, so I doubted either of them. More than likely, he really liked this girl who liked someone else, and he trusted me enough to ask that question. I hadn't blasted across the school that he was my crush after all.

After the dismissal bell rang, I gathered up my courage to test my hypothesis about Riley as Bri walked with me to my locker. "This is purely a hypothetical question, but if Riley Jones asked you to Homecoming, would you go with him?"

Bri's eyes widened. "Does he want to go with me?"

"It's purely hypothetical, Bri. He doesn't have a date yet and I told him that pretty much any girl in the school would go with him. So, what's your answer to that question?"

"I'd go in a heartbeat. We'd get to be Homecoming Queen and King together."

And that answer told me so many things about my friend.