Strings Attached

Chapter Two

I smiled. At least there was something that Theodore could not take away from me.

Maybe I had completely underestimated Theodore. He was not an airhead. In fact, he was pretty smart. Whenever Mrs. Coleman asked a question, he would not hesitate to answer, and his answers were always right. It was pretty surprising to finally meet someone else who understood math. Maybe Theodore was not so bad, after all.

"Excellent!" replied Mrs. Coleman as Theodore gave her another answer. "Miss Walker, I think someone is stealing your spot," she joked.

Normally, I was the one who replied all the questions and who got all the praise from the teacher, but Theodore had totally beaten me every time the teacher asked something. I had been about to raise my hand every time, but Theodore was already giving the answer, so I had pretended to brush my hair with my hands afterwards. I also pretended to be stretching. That always worked.

I simply shrugged, and Theodore turned to see me. His eyes instantly widened, and he grinned. "Oh, hey, Chris! I didn't know you were here!" he exclaimed.

"Christina," I corrected.

Theodore simply smiled and turned around. At least he did not make a big deal about the fact that he was clearly smarter than me. Honestly, it would have not mattered that much to me, but sharing a class with him and all that, I did not know if I could really bear with it. My competitive nature always kept me from being able to move on when someone else was better at something than me. I had to give Theodore a fight. I could not simply give up.

Mrs. Coleman kept talking about functions, but I simply could not focus. Could it be possible that Theodore was actually a geek?

I knew I was a geek. I always did because it was very evident. My glasses were a little bit bigger than others; my hair was puffy and out of place; I always carried big books. I was basically a walking nerd-stereotype. Think of all of the features that define a nerd. Whatever you thought of I had it.

Theodore, though, did not look like a nerd at all. The only give-away would be his glasses, but the rest of him simply did not make him look like a geek. His green hair, black leather jacket, and I-don't-care look all pointed to either a rocker or a "bad boy."

Perhaps I was being stereotypical, but this boy was full of contradictions. His leather jacket contradicted his glasses, and his I-don't-care look contradicted his kind attitude. There were too many contradictions in him, but it somehow made him even more different from the rest.

If every boy were as full of contradictions as Theodore was, then life would definitely be more interesting.

I was so busy thinking about contradictions that I did not even notice when the bell rang. The class was over, and I had not even realized it. Everyone but Theodore and Mrs. Coleman had already left.

I stood up from my seat and gathered all my belongings, wondering why on Earth I was so distracted in this particular day.

I did not wait for Theodore to finish talking with Mrs. Coleman. I simply left the classroom and sighed. I hated being late to lunch. Most seats would be taken, and I would be forced to sit alone. At least that was what I thought. But fate clearly had other plans for me.

"Chris!" I turned around to see Theodore smiling and waving his hand at me. "Wait up!"

"Christina," I said, growing tired of having to correct him every time. "Sorry, Theodore, but I have to go to lunch."

Theodore did not even mention the fact that I had called him "Theodore," even though he had asked me not to. He simply smirked.

Was this boy so oblivious, or did he focus so hard on being nice that he ignored other people's negative comments or actions?