Primrose [On Hold]

Chapter 2: Send Help, He Smirks

I keep noticing all these things about him that irritate me.

For one, he doesn't walk. He swaggers. He literally walked into the classroom with an annoyingly confident swagger. I didn't even know it was physically possible for a human to swagger until now. Or maybe he just has a really confident stride. Who cares. Same thing.

I am also alarmed to notice that his hair contains a significant amount of gel. Under the harsh classroom lights, it shines like an angel's well-polished halo.

Finally, his lips are curved in a slight smile. A smirk. Of course. This boy, Cameron Tsai, is definitely the prankster or the troublemaker type.

Mr. Berger crouches down behind his desk and pulls out our math textbook and workbook. It looks crisp and new, the spine not even bent yet. He stands up, holding the books, and hands them to Cameron. "The green one is the textbook, and the blue is the workbook. Now let's see, where can you sit...?"

I look around. My eyes land on the desk next to me. It's empty, but Amy Porter of the shiny blond Rapunzel-esque hair sits there and is out sick today. There's also an empty desk in the corner of the classroom, next to Hunter Quinn of the Drama Club. No one sits there, so its main purpose is to gather dust.

Please, God, Lord, whatever name you go by, if you exist, please don't make Cameron Tsai sit next to me. I repeat this a few times in my mind. Please, God, Lord...

"Ah!" Mr. Berger cries, at about the same intensity that Archimedes probably shouted "Eureka!" "Cameron, you may sit there."

All eyes follow the path of his pointing finger...straight to the desk next to me. God damn it.

I raise my hand, and Mr. Berger looks up. "Yes, Miss Wang?"

"Amy sits there," I say. "Where will she sit tomorrow?"

"Ah, yes. I'd been meaning to move her to that desk over there–" he makes a vague gesture towards the empty desk in the back "–since Miss Porter seems to enjoy chatting it up with Miss Kemp right behind her." Ellie Kemp, co-captain of the cheer squad, turns red for a split second, then regains her composure. He turns back to me. "Does that answer your question?"

"Yes, sir," I answer, seething inside.

Mr. Berger walks back to his desk, and I continue working on the quiz. Soon, I'm done, and I notice that I'm the first student to finish. I check my answers twice, then get up to put the quiz in the turn-in basket.

I turn over the quiz to hide my name, then put it in the turn-in basket. I turn around to walk back to my desk, then nearly crash into who else but Cameron Tsai.

The corners of his mouth turn up. A smirk? I can't tell, but I assume it's a smirk. "Watch out. You might fall and hurt yourself."

Thanks, Captain Obvious. "Sorry," I say, not really feeling sorry after that little remark.

"You're good." He proceeds to do something very strange– he stares at me. Not for very long, but he still stares at me.

"What?" I snap, my irritation gradually rising. A small part of me feels the need to apologize for snapping at him, but I push it down.

Cameron looks at me, one eyebrow tipped upward. "You should really learn to be less uptight."

Luckily, everyone's eyes are on their test– or at least each others' tests, so they don't pay attention when I say, "Well, you should learn to be polite!"

I storm back to my desk. I can practically feel Cameron's smirk searing through my skull like one of those space guns from a kiddie cartoon. I pick up my backpack, pull out my carefully handled, mint condition, and most loved copy of Jane Eyre and pick up where I left off.