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viii. newton's laws of emotion

"Looks like you found my hiding place during this time of day," Alexander muttered as he set down his notebook on the wooden, tan table. He popped his earbuds out of his ears to correctly hear the girl out, despite wanting to run away from it all. "What brings you here, Inez?"

"I originally came here to check out a book for Physics since I have to write a whole paper on Newton's Laws. But I saw you here, and I've been needing to talk to you, so I'm sparing my time to do that now," Inez explained briefly as she gestured to her book

"My notebook wasn't a good enough barrier for you to not even notice me here?" Alexander said, an eyebrow cocked.

"Alexander, it literally has your name across the front and back cover in big letters. Chiseled permanent marker, too," Inez reasoned before the boy frowned at her statement. Her lips formed into a grimace before pointing to the boy's cozy black and blue hoodie. "Plus, I saw your sleeves — you've worn that hoodie a lot lately."

Alexander frowned again. "You sound like a stalker right now."

"No, I don't," Inez retorted defensively as her arms folded against her chest. "Anyway, that's not what I'm here for. I want to talk about yesterday . . ." The girl's voice trailed off. "I fucked up. When I was talking to you, I could've said something different. Something that wouldn't trigger this — whatever this is. So, I'm taking full accountability for it now."

"Well, I guess I should come clean as well," Alexander murmured as his head sank down. "Since it happened, I've just been ignoring what's really going on, so thanks for reaching out. It makes me feel better, but I'm sorry too," he continued. "I should've been more open to the conversation. Because I wasn't, it's why we are where we are now. I can't just let you take all of the accountability without taking some of it myself."

"Well, okay. It's good to hear your side of this," Inez acknowledged before picking up her book. She stood up from her chair before pushing it back under the table. "Look, I have to check this out to get back to class."

"Bye, then," Alexander muttered as he popped his earbuds back in. On his cell phone, he browsed through his Spotify playlist and played the remaining two seconds of his song. As it transitioned to the next, it played an advertisement. He let out an exaggerated groan as he flipped the page of his Economics textbook. Instead of taking his notebook to take notes, he rested his right elbow on the table to lean his head down.

What the fuck just happened; the boy questioned in his mind.

It was a simple question with a simple answer. Really, Inez and he resolved the feud they had from the day prior. But instead of feeling any better on the inside, Alexander felt numb. He didn't feel happy, mad, sad, or anything, for that matter. All he felt was emptiness. The same emptiness someone would feel if pizza was ordered, but by the time someone got to the box, there were no slices left. That's exactly how Alexander felt on the inside, but maybe a tad bit emptier than that.

Is there even an emotion for this? He questioned internally.

That's when he started thinking about how Inez checked out a Physics book for Newton's Laws of Motion. He wondered if there was a chance that the school library had the exact same copy of the book, but for emotions. His current situation was way too confusing for him to figure out all on his own. It was like he was having a brain fart, except this one lasted for a longer period of time.

To him, a book of Newton's Laws of Emotion sounded ideal at the moment.