Girl Crush

Chapter 7

 Dani braced herself before walking into English, wondering if Eddie would be sitting there or not. She hoped he'd decided to avoid her again because she didn't know how to act normal around him but no luck. There he sat in his usual seat in the back of the room. He was tapping his pencils against the desk like he was playing the drums, his foot moving to the same beat on the floor. Dani quickly moved to the other side of the room, avoiding eye contact, taking an empty seat with people on either side of her. She needed a barrier to protect her because she did not want to deal with him right now.

"Hey, move somewhere else. I need this seat."

Dani sighed, rolling her eyes as the kid next to her slunk away to another seat and Eddie plopped down next to her. The poor kid was in her math class too. He was quiet and shy and he was probably terrified of the metalhead that sat in the back of the room and made faces at everyone and jumped on tables barking like a dog at lunch.

"Dani, why did you sit over here?" he asked, spreading his leg out and leaning back in his seat. He always took up as much room as humanly possible. That was Eddie, larger than life at all times. "We always sit back there."

"I wanted a change of scenery," she replied, unzipping her backpack and pulling out her things, doing anything she could that didn't require her to look at him.

Eddie frowned, his brows knitting together, "What does that mean? You wanted to see the breathtaking view of the parking lot as opposed to the lackluster one of the hallway?"

"Maybe it means that I wanted to try sitting next to someone who isn't you. Broaden my horizons a bit," Dani hissed, opening her notebook.

"Dani, what the hell?" he exclaimed. "Are you still mad at me for not picking you up or taking you home? I said I was sorry about that."

"I don't give a shit what you do Munson," she snapped. Mrs. Perry walked in the door and headed up to the front.

"Princess..."

Dani shot her head toward him, her eyes hard with anger. "I told you not to call me that! And shut up for once in your life. One of us actually comes to school to learn."

Dani tried her best to ignore the chocolate eyes that were drilling into the side of her head. She could feel his stare and it was making her uncomfortable. Sliding her legs around, she turned to the side, hoping to send him the message that she didn't want to talk.

Shit, she hated fighting with him. Her and Eddie had so rarely fought since that fateful day in eighth grade. She desperately wanted to spill everything, fall into the comfort of his arms, and cry about how heartbroken she was. That was what she had always done in the past when her world crashed down around her. But how could she when he was the reason she felt that way? No, she couldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing how much it bothered her that he had chosen Chrissy Cunningham over her. He would rather have the peppy, beautiful cheerleader than the girl who had loved him for years. And he didn't even respect her enough to be honest with her and tell her what was going on.

She felt something jabbing her in the arm and turned to find Eddie poking her with a pencil. She swatted his hand away, shooting him daggers with her eyes and went back to her notebook. She was trying hard to register the information Mrs. Perry was sharing; information she said was going to be on their test next week.

"Dani..." Eddie whispered and she closed her eyes, sighing, ignoring him. His foot began kicking her chair repetitively. She scooted her desk a little bit away and heard his desk scoot across the floor as he slid it closer.

"Jesus Christ, will you leave me alone?" she whispered, turning her head quickly to look at him.

"No," he stated. "I will not leave you alone until you talk to me."