The Dating Game

SEVENTEEN

Thursday, January 11th

After the events of the empty algebra classroom post-classes yesterday, the rest of the day went by fairly typically. Chase walked me home as always, I met Naomi in the kitchen for her dinner as always, and I greeted my mom when she arrived home. Nothing too out of the ordinary to mess up my day.

Today, though, there's a disturbance. Today, Im starting to miss Dad.

It feels horrible to say—to admit that I'm beginning to feel the effects of his absence when I shouldn't let it impact me at all. He did this to himself, after all. He ruined his own family because of his own addiction; nobody else should have to take the blame for him. And nobody sure as hell should have to forgive him after what he did.

But that doesn't erase the fond memories we all have of him from before he showed signs of being an abusive asshole. I mean, he used to be fun. Reliable. He used to be a good dad.

Why did things have to change?

"Honey, are you almost ready to leave for school?" I hear my mom's voice through the bedroom door. "You're gonna be late."

Late? It's only half past seven, isn't it?

Nope. A quarter past eight. Why do I always do this?

I rush to throw on some clothes and brush my teeth in the ten minutes that I have to get ready. I don't even have time to flat iron my hair today, which means this is going to be the first time in months that I'm leaving my hair natural for school. It shouldn't be too bad, though; I've done it before. For the exact same reason too.

As soon as I'm about to leave the house, I realize my backpack isn't on my back, so I run back to my room to grab it and then I'm off.

The walk to school is more like a jog as I watch the time tick by on my phone. When I arrive, the first thing I notice is the absence of Chase at the entrance, along with the lack of any other students, which means I must be fairly late already. But the first class bell hasn't rung yet; I have two minutes until it does, so I have to make this fast.

I run to my locker and then to the classroom, making sure to slow down completely as soon as I reach the door. The rest of the class doesn't need to see me rushing desperately to English class. Though as soon as I walk inside, the rest of the class is seated and most eyes are on me anyway. So much for not attracting everyone's attention.

But it's not a big deal, so I just take a seat in the back as always and start taking out my supplies for class. It's then, and only then, that I notice a few whispers in the opposite direction of the room, coming from the Anna Price corner.

I glance over at them, feeling each one's gaze glued to me as they continue to whisper and snicker behind my back. But they're not worth my time, so I ignore them with an eye-roll and get back to work.

But maybe I should've not cared even more, because it might have driven Anna away from me, rather than drawing her closer as she makes her way over here.

She stands at the side of my desk and stares down at me. I wish this was a whole 'if I can't see them, they can't see me' kind of thing, but unfortunately life doesn't seem to work out in my favor recently. So I look over at her and greet her begrudgingly.

"Hi?"

"Oh, don't 'hi' me, Michelle." She automatically lunges down to my level, making her face uncomfortably close to mine. Like, Chase close.

"Chase is mine," she says, making it sound like a command.

"What?" I ask. I am so confused right now.

"Is your big ass afro affecting your hearing?" She utters, attracting attention from the rest of the class. I'm sure she could have teased me about anything else, but my hair? Clearly, she's never looked at a hair type chart because my 3b hair is not even close to an afro, but I guess someone who is so blatantly racist wouldn't care much about that, would they?

"I said he's mine," she continues. "Back off."

Suddenly, everything clicks. Anna likes Chase and is 'claiming' him like some bitchy antagonist of a cheesy high school romance film.

Yeah, I think not. I am not about to lose this game because of an interference.

"Well," I start to say. "Take him from me then."

Her eyebrows draw closer together and her mouth falls open. "Excuse me?"

"Chase and I are dating, Anna. You can't claim already-sold property."

"Property? Is that what you think he is?" she asks me, seemingly offended by something that doesn't even include her. "You don't deserve him."

"Oh my God, it's a metaphor, Anna. Are you sure you belong in Honors English?"

Her face turns a bright shade of pink but she doesn't speak. So I do.

"Besides, you were the one saying he's 'yours'. You can't own a person." Although, given her comment about my hair, I'm sure she thinks differently about that.

"You know what I meant, dumbass."

"Well, like I said: try to take him from me. We'll see who he chooses."

I look away from her, hear her struggle to shoot back, and then listen to her descending footsteps. And now, I am satisfied.

Besides, even if she decides that she wants to actually try to take him from me, I'm well aware of who the winner is. Any other month, it'd definitely be her. She's more conventionally attractive, taller, much more popular. Anyone would choose her over me, even though her personality trumps all of those features. But not this time, Anna. He's basically obligated to pick me, at least for the month of January.

///

For lunch, I decide to make my way to the same empty algebra classroom from yesterday. It's quiet and calming and I can keep reading about astronomy all by myself, with no one to distract me—it's perfect.

Except when I arrive, I notice Chase already sitting in the exact same spot from yesterday with the exact same book in his hands. The book I was reading about astronomy.

I walk over to him quietly, placing myself close behind him. With my voice low, almost a whisper, I ask, "Do you like the book?"

Apparently, my words startle him enough for him to jump as soon as I speak. I try not to chuckle at his soul leaving his body—a difficult task to accomplish—and he just sighs with his eyes pressed shut before answering my question with another one.

"Why did you have to scare me like that?"

"I scared you?" I ask. "You scared me. I didn't know the great Chase Matthews reads books."

"Very funny." His voice comes out flat as he focuses his eyes back on the book. "I read. I read a lot, actually. Just not really in public."

"Then why are you in a classroom at a public school?"

"Because. Who would come into the Algebra room during lunch?"

I shake my head and take a seat next to him. Looking over his shoulder, I see that the book's open on the page I was reading yesterday. Milky Way. That's funny. He told me yesterday that he's 'not big on astronomy'.

Huh.

I don't know how I did it, but apparently I've managed to spark Chase's interest in the pretty constellations.