We're Still Nerds

8~ Hello and other unfriendly greetings

                  When the bell rang, I collected my stuff and stood up. "It's okay, I know where my next class is," I said to Bruce, and he shrugged before saying "See you at lunch then," and walking off. I picked up my books and walked casually out of the room when I realized that Alex was behind me, talking to the girl. "Aw, c'mon, Tins. Just a coffee; I know a place." The girl groaned in frustration before saying "No! And don't call me Tins, it's Tinsley!" Alex chuckled in what he must've thought was a charming way before saying, "Aw, you know you like my nickname for you. And it's just one coffee! It won't hurt anything." 

            "It'll hurt my ego, and my IQ," she replied, and I heard her storm off in the other direction. Alex sighed in defeat, and I resisted the urge to laugh as I walked towards my next class. I heard Alex's pace quicken and soon he was right next to me, his smile charming. "And where have you been all my life?" he said huskily. I stared at him blankly for a moment. Then, I burst into a fit of laughter. Alex stared at me in bewilderment, and then the laughter stopped. "Sorry, that was really cheesy," I said, slightly breathless from my laughing fit. "You mean for the past four years? Avoiding you." Alex shook his head, glaring playfully. "There's another one who's playing hard to get? And what do you mean, four years?" 

         I shook my head, my face mocking disappointment. "You really didn't recognize me? The girl who you constantly teased to make yourself feel better, even though I never really took anything you said to heart, much to your displeasure? The girl who had enough teasing in her life, the girl who you thought needed more? The one girl who never really liked you, never fell for your charms? I'm disappointed, Alex. I thought that you, of all people, would recognize Cassie Grey when they saw her." Alex's lips parted in surprise, his eyes widened. Then, he started laughing. 

          I glared at him until he finished. "Wait, you're Cassie Grey? What happened to the geeky girl with the comic books and the frizzy hair?" I touched my hair protectively for a moment while saying, "Yeah, it's me. Well, sort of."  Alex raised his eyebrows, smirking. "Wow. Hello, Cassie Grey." I rolled my eyes, turning away from him. "You just made 'hello' sound like the world's most unfriendly greeting," I said, rolling my eyes at him. Alex continued to smirk, looking me up and down. "Well, you sure have changed." 

            I shot Alex one last glare- which he returned playfully- and walked into Chemistry. Trent was already there, his headphones in his ears. The chord was tucked into the neck of his hoodie, and I noticed that he had his ipod barely visible in the pocket of his jeans. Trent didn't look up when I sat down, staring off in the distance as he listened to his music. I smirked and said loudly, "Hey, Trent!" The boy in question didn't seem to hear me. I sighed loudly before reaching and taking out one of his earphones. Trent made a noise of protest, sending me a glare as I held the earbud to my ear. "Lost in You by Three Days Grace," I decided after a moment before handing the earbud back to its owner. 

             "You listen to Three Days Grace?" said Trent, his voice laced with surprise. I nodded slowly, frowning. "You sound surprised." Trent gave me a blunt look as he said, "That's because I am. Girls don't listen to rock, they listen to Justin Bieber and One Direction." I glared playfully at him. "Don't generalize. I don't like pop music, I'm more of a rock fan," I decided. Trent sighed and put the earbud back in his ear, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes. "You know we have to get started on that project," I said, but Trent ignored me. I sighed. "Oh, so invisible now, am I? That's cool," I said, nodding. "I've always wanted a superpower." 

               Trent made a choking sound in the back of his throat, and I realized he was forcing back a laugh, since his lips continued to twitch. He twisted them down into a scowl that was pretty easy to see through; He couldn't hide the amusement that lit up his eyes. I blinked at this reaction in confusion- who knew someone would work so hard to prevent themselves from laughing? The bell rang, blasting me out of my thoughts as I winced at how loud it'd gotten. "Sorry about that," the teacher said, walking into the classroom.  "The new bell was just put in, and... well, we haven't gotten the hang of it yet." 

               A few students chuckled, but most just opened their binders and shuffled through their papers. "Alright, we're going to get started on the new project. If you need a rubric, please let me know. This is one of the only days that you will get to work on the project in class, so I suggest you use this time wisely." With that, the class broke into chatter as people began to 'work', though most were just gossiping. I pulled out the rubric and two blank sheets of paper before turning back to Trent. He still had one headphone in, and had begun to draw a pretty decent looking dragon- though I wouldn't tell him it was good. "What do you think you're doing?" I said incredulously. 

                   "Procrastinating," replied Trent smoothly. I glared at him, letting out a huff of annoyance before turning to my paper. "Alright," I began, focusing on the paper. "We are supposed to choose two from this list of experiments, and do a bunch of research before we actually make the procedure and perform it in front of the class. I think that we should do the candy chromatography and the hydrogen penny project. Those seem like they'd be easier," I decided, and then glanced over at my very bored partner. "What do you think?" Trent rolled his eyes and answered with an "I don't care." I blew out the air in my cheeks before circling the two from the list of experiments. 

                        "I'm not doing this project on my own, you know. I'm forcing you to help," I warned Trent, and his charcoal eyes lit with something I couldn't place. "I can try, but I'm not very good at Chemistry. It seems I make things worse," said Trent finally, his voice coated with humor. One of my eyebrows lifted but I turned away. "This is going to be a fun project," I said sarcastically.