Caught In The Boys Locker Room

Chapter Seven: Scardy-Pants

You could cut the tension with a knife.

Anthony had instructed me and Chase to go through and feed all the lizards, frogs, fish and spiders. I was worried he was going to ask us to also feed the ominous snake, but when he saw me crumble at the mere thought of feeding that thing, he simply laughed and said he would take care of it.

Chase didn't seem to find it funny.

I couldn't understand what it was that was going on between the two of them. Chase was pissed off just by Anthony's presence, and honestly, I couldn't find a single reason as to why. From what I could tell, Anthony was an extremely sweet, charming, and dare I say handsome guy.

While he guided me on how to feed each of the animals, I was able to learn a little about him. He attended the local college as a freshmen, and aspired to become a veterinarian one day. Also, I found out that he knew Clara because she was a family friend, and said she was kind enough to offer him a job at her pet shop.

This led me to believe that Chase and Anthony had to be family friends as well. So what had gone on between the two of them that made the tension so unbearably high? Chase's constant scowling was honestly getting exhausting to be around.

The door chimed, signaling that there was a customer, and Anthony excused himself from us and strode away. As soon as he was out of sight, I glanced over at Chase.

"So what's going on between you too?" I asked curiously, trying to keep my voice casual as I sorted through all the different containers full of food on a metal cart. Which one was for the lizards again?

Chase raised an eyebrow, "Someone's nosy."

I stopped examining the different foods so I could fully face Chase and narrowed my eyes, "Well it's pretty obvious that something's up."

Chase leaned back against the shelves across from me and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "I have no idea what you mean."

I groaned in irritation. Fine. If he didn't want to talk about it, I wasn't going to pester him. I turned back to the task at hand and read off the labels on each container. One read 'worms'. Was that what Anthony had said to give the lizards? I shuddered at the thought of opening the lid.

"You need to lighten up, sugar lips," Chase commanded coolly, suddenly returning to his normal arrogant demeanor, "Why so stiff all the time?"

I paused for a moment, and then looked at him in disbelief. Me lighten up? After he'd been acting like such a child the whole time we've been here? "Take your own advice," I shot back.

Chase ignored the comment, "Here, I'll be your teacher." His green eyes brightened mischievously as a smug grin grew across his face. I felt my stomach clench and turned back around to examine all of the frogs hopping around in their peaceful home. Next to their small, square glass box where they lived were rows of toy insects. I couldn't help but noticed how eerily similar the spiders looked to being real.

I shook my head at Chase's annoying offer, "I'll gladly pass, thank you very much."

"Lesson number one," he easily dismissed my refusal, "Learn to relax."

This made me groan irritably, "I'm plenty relaxed!" I snapped, and immediately felt my face grow hot from my sudden outburst. Why did Chase make me so... so frustrated all the time?

This only made Chase chuckle, "Lesson number two—"

I shot him a glare over my shoulder, "I didn't ask for you stupid lessons!"

"—Learn to be spontaneous and have fun. Again, you're just way to uptight."

I growled in frustration. What was his problem? I definitely wasn't uptight. I had no idea what he was talking about. "I told you no. Now, aren't you going to help?" I gestured to all the food containers.