Say Something 【boyxboy】√Completed

Chapter 23

I gather my stuff up at my locker at the end of the day. It has been a long but wonderful week. Everything with Ross has been going well.

No more notes from Jacob either. I guess he realized that I'm not even reading them.

Things are peaceful, finally.

But then as I'm closing my locker and starting to walk away, someone shoves me hard from behind into the lockers. Face first.

Maybe I spoke too soon. How could things ever remain peaceful?

Disoriented, I straighten myself up and look around. I see a brown-haired guy walking quickly away. I shudder. Definitely Jacob.

My nose and cheek are kind of numb but it doesn't feel like anything's bleeding. He could've done a lot worse. This was probably just a warning.

Shaken up, I walk faster until I see Ross heading in my direction. I hurry towards him.

"Ready?" he asks, smiling. Before I can answer, his expression changes and he leans towards me with narrowing eyes. "What happened?"

I feel my face. I thought I was fine.

Ross touches my cheek. "You have a scratch here."

"Oh, it was just from my locker door," I say quickly.

He gives me a puzzled look. "How-"

"Don't ask." I force myself to smile and pull him gently by the arm so we can head outside.

I let go when we pass other people. It kind of sucks. I wish I could always be close to him, holding his hand or having his arm around me.

Ross is still looking at me weird when we get to his car but I try my best to smile and act normal. I don't know if he can tell that I'd been shaking right before I found him.

"Want to come over?" I ask.

Ross smiles. "Sure."

I let myself into the apartment but stop short when I see my dad on the couch watching TV.

"Oh."

He looks over at us curiously.

"You're home?" I ask, setting my backpack on the floor and taking off my coat. Usually he works long hours.

"Yeah, we got everything done early today," he says. I'm about to introduce them when he says, "Ross, right? Nice to see you again."

"You too," says Ross, hanging his coat next to mine.

"Wait, you've met?" I ask, looking at them in confusion.

Ross smiles. "Briefly, on Christmas. You were asleep."

I grab my backpack again and walk casually through the living room. "We're gonna work on homework..."

"You should use the table," says my dad. "I'll turn off the TV if it's distracting."

I glance at Ross. "Okay."

We spend some time quietly working on our homework but Ross is honestly kind of distracting. So is Jacob, but not in a good way at all. He's going to do something to me, I just know it.

My dad eventually turns off the TV and stands up. "I'm gonna run some errands and then pick up some dinner. What are you in the mood for?"

I shrug. "Ross? You're staying right?"

"Oh, uh... Anything's fine," he says politely. "Thanks."

"Pizza?" I suggest. He smiles.

Once my dad is gone, I close up my notebooks. "I'm done." He won't be back for at least an hour, so I'd rather just hang out and not do homework.