Social Experiment

11 | We're Ninjas

I glance to the left as I pass the library, looking through the glass wall at the rows of books beside the sitting area. I slowly stop when I see, sitting at a round table across the library, Sasha and Bailey eating lunch together. A pang hit my heart hard as I stare at the two as they discuss something together and I realize this is the reason why they haven't been in the cafeteria.

They were eating lunch without me instead. After a long moment, I shake my head to myself and force myself to keep moving forward, tearing my gaze off of the window. I feel myself deflate as I walk over to the row of lockers and lean against one. My eyes shut for a brief moment as I wonder what I was doing. Not right now, but in the grand scheme of things.

I was letting my friendship with Bailey and Sasha crumble before my eyes. I had chosen some social experiment, a mere project for Stephanie's sociology class, a way for me to get my own personal revenge over an asshole of an ex-boyfriend, over my two friends. But there was something about my change that excited me. The prospect of standing up for myself, of people taking me seriously. After all, Bailey and Sasha were two of my biggest critics.

"Collins?" A deep voice cut through my thoughts.

I opened my eyes to see Nathan standing in front of me with black joggers and a grey long sleeve. He looked effortlessly attractive, even with the faint smell of cigarette smoke stuck on the cotton of his shirt.

"Hey," I push off the locker and stand on my own to flash him a fake smile. "I was looking for you."

"I know," Nathan answers coolly.

"I wanted to-" I stop and frown at him. "Wait, what do you mean you know? I was literally just on my way."

A smirk slid onto his lips and I had a feeling I didn't want to know, but he said anyway, "Asher texted me to practice safe sex, so I had a feeling you were coming to get me."

My cheeks warmed at Asher's insinuation for the second time in ten minutes and I immediately broke eye contact with Nathan. I sighed, shook my head, and looked at him again with false confidence. "Well that's lovely," I mutter. "Why didn't you just wait out there?"

"The guys that hang around back there aren't good guys. I thought I'd save you the trouble." Nathan explains curtly before he eyes me. "Besides, it looks like you weren't very happy when I found you."

The image of Bailey and Sasha sitting in the library flashes to the forefront of my mind before I narrow my eyes at Nathan. "It's nothing." I excuse quickly. "I was coming to ask you about when you were going to race next."

Nathan frowns at me and looks around to check if anyone is nearby that could hear us. I guess I should've done that before I spoke, but we both knew that my curiosity pushed me into making some thoughtless decisions. When Nathan meets my eager gaze again, he doesn't look happy. But then again, does Nathan ever look happy?

"Why does it matter?" Nathan's voice held the same authority it always did when he was talking down to someone. "You're not going back to the tracks."

I held my ground under his observant stare. "I wanted to talk to you about that. I think that we should go together. That way you can keep your eye on me and I can prove to you that I don't need to be babysat. Besides, I want to see you race again."

His frown sets deeper into his face until there's a deep crease line in his forehead that shows me he's stressed by what I said. His lips were sort of in a pout, and for a second I got lost in how attractive he looked. I quickly compose myself and force myself to seem calm and nonchalant on the outside while, on the inside, I was nervous for his answer.