I Hate You . . . I Think

Love and Hate

“See me after class Mr. Ryker.”

Shit.

I sigh and sit back in my chair. A piece of paper slides to me across the desk and sits in between Low and I. I look up at her, but she is facing the front acting like she is paying attention. Carefully, so that Mrs. E does not see, I reach across the table and grab the note. My fingers unfold it and I look at the writing across the lines.

What the hell is wrong with you? Pretzels, that is the best that you can come up with? The great Seth Ryker has all of these comebacks when it comes to making my life hell and the one thing that you can come up with is pretzels? That is pathetic.

Oh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention. I did the best that I could after being fed to the wolves. Comebacks don’t automatically appear in my mind. They just come easily when I am making fun of you.

I hate you so much.

The feeling is mutual babe.

Don’t call me babe.

You got it sexy.

Her face gets red and I swear that she is going to have an aneurism. The bell rings and Low swings her backpack onto her shoulder before stalking out of the room. I can’t help but chuckle at her. She makes it too easy to annoy her. The rest of the class clears out and I plop down into the desk right in front of Mrs. E’s. She raises her eyebrows and tilts her glasses down her nose.

“Mr. Ryker, can you do me a favor?”

Okay, so that was not how I was expecting this to go. She’s supposed to get angry, I’m supposed to say something stupid, and then I’m supposed to get detention. There is a process to this and she is breaking it.

“Um . . . sure I guess.”

“Please gawk at Miss Riley outside of class, or please ask her out on a date.”

I’m pretty sure that my jaw is on the floor.

“W-what?” I stutter.

“Miss Riley? I hope that you do remember her. After all you were staring at her like a baboon during class. Do something because if you don’t you are going to fail home ec. and that is really sad. No one fails this class Mr. Ryker. All you have to do is show up.” She says and rolls her eyes. “Okay, you’re dismissed.” 

I stare at the lady in front of me. She turns back to the papers that she was grading and pretends like nothing just happened. I slowly get up from my desk and head toward the door. 

“Oh, and Mr. Ryker, if I ever see you passing notes in class again I will read them out loud to the entire class. Is that understood?”

Normally I would say something sarcastic in return, but I am still to shocked about what the conversation that I Mrs. E and I just had. I swear that woman has eyes like a hawk. I had not idea that she could see me. I have nothing to say, so I just nod and head to my next class.

At lunch I am sitting at my table laughing about something that Tuckett said when I see Low walk into the cafeteria. She has on a red top that fits her perfectly around her chest before is flares out slightly at her hips and white shorts that highlight her gorgeous pale legs that lead down to her chucks. Her hips sway back and forth and I can’t help but stare at the hypnotizing movement.

“Do you see her hips?” one of my friends asks from somewhere around the table. I turn my head around to see all the guys at the table staring at her ass just like me. I look around and see that several other guys around the cafeteria are looking at her too. How did I not know that so many guys look at her like that! I mean does anyone not see how I saw- I mean see her?

I scan around the room looking for someone who was not looking at her. I think that there is some guy in the corner of the cafeteria, and I am pretty sure that he is gay. Wait, nope his eyes just flicked down to her ass. Are you kidding me?

“Damn, I wanna tap that,” Micah groans from my left. 

I see red. I want to string the guy up by his thumbs and make him hurt as much as possible for talking about Low that way. And he’s one of my best friends! I punch him hard in his arm and he clutches it with pain across his face. I hide the smile that is on the inside and turn back to my lunch like nothing just happened.

“What the fuck man? That hurt like hell!”

I shrug my shoulders and Tuckett laughs in amusement. 

“Dude, don’t step on another guy’s territory.”

“What territory?” Micah asks.

Will, Parker, and Jackson all turn their heads away from the girls that they are currently flirting with and look at Tuckett and then at me. They all lean forward and focus their attention on us. I swear the guys gossip like old ladies at their bingo night. Tuckett swings his arm around my neck and leans across the table more.

“Our boy has a little crush,” he says while fluttering his eyes and makes kissing noises. I throw his arm from around my shoulder and chuck my apple at his head, but he ducks seconds before it hits him in the face.

“Stop being such an ass. I don’t have crushes. I’m not in third grade.”

“Really? Then why did you look like you were about to chop Micah’s head off when he was talking about how hot Low’s ass is?” He smiles at me and raises his eyebrows. 

When he mentions Low’s ass, the red haze returns and try to shoot a punch at his arm. He laughs and jumps out of his chair before running around the table. I get up and race around the table. He sprints to the other side of the cafeteria with me on his heels.

“Sure Seth. You don’t have the hots for Low at all,” he says and rolls his eyes. I run a little faster and chase him out of the cafeteria. I can hear my friends laughing as we leave them behind. I round the corner and do not see Tuckett anywhere. What just happened crashes into me as I lean over and try to catch me breath.

Is he right? Do I have a crush on Low?

I shake my head and try to erase all of those thoughts as I make my way back into the cafeteria.