The Bad Boy Theory (Radish)

1. Saying No

Alexandra

CHAPTER 1

Saying No

For the love of God, will you stop sneezing?

I can't concentrate on the lecture!

A note. Lucian Nyx, pouter extraordinaire, had written me a note to say that my sneezing bothered him. He had just messed with the wrong sick person. 

For your information,                        
Sneeze, tissue, sniff.

I have a cold.

Sneeze, tissue, sniff.

People sneeze when they have a cold.

Sneeze, tissue, sniff.   

If you find it annoying, how about you, I don't know . . . stop rushing to sit next to me in every single class we have in common?

Disregarding Mrs. Brown's question about something that had to do with the Colonial Era or the Depression Era or some era, I passed my reply to Mr. Your-sneezes-are-a-disgrace-to-society-you-inferior-germy-peasant. He read it, frowning as per usual. His hand came up to his nape, rubbing it. I looked at his fingers against his skin and the straight posture of his body. I felt his leg bounce under our shared desk once, and for once, after so many days of sitting near me, he wasn't aloof and calm.

He was tense, radiating barely contained vigor that felt like an entity of its own. It reached out, grabbed and pulled me closer to him. It made me gulp as he shifted in his seat and delivered his line.

No

He pushed the note toward me and stared, as if daring me to seek an answer to the obvious: the reason why he wouldn't stop sitting next to me. I wasn't going to ask that though. I wouldn't do what he wanted, because this didn't only look like a dare. This was him, leading me on. He was still playing his little game.

I could only categorize what he'd been doing as a game, and there had been a month of it—of him situating himself next to me yet barely acknowledging I existed. I said hi and smiled at him? He gave me a nod and a glance. I commented on something one of our teachers or classmates said? He didn't blink an eye. I asked about his classes, his interests, his weekend plans? He only replied with yeah, no, whatever, or gave me an indifferent, vague shrug.

Naturally, my ego had not enjoyed the fact that Lucian hadn't returned or even appreciated my friendliness/flirtatiousness/fear-not-I-shall-not-molest-you-I'm-only-thinking-about-it behavior. So, just to keep some of my pride, I had changed my tactic this last week. I had stopped talking to him and had refused to make him feel important by demanding an explanation about his attitude. I hadn't changed my seat to avoid him though. Despite everything, I didn't want to stop being near him. I was annoyed yet still intrigued by him and his conspicuous lack of talking.

And smiling.

I had never seen him smile at anyone.

He was always serious, distant, turning heads and turning down girls and occasionally boys too. He lived out of St. Anna's boarding school campus, so nobody knew what he did when he wasn't here ignoring us. I thought it was either fighting crime or committing crime, though I was currently leaning more toward option number two. Someone who showed irritation instead of sympathy when it came to the woes of a sneezy person had to possess a personality that was very dark and fit for the underworld.

Oh well.

Okay then. You won't stop sitting next to me and I won't change the places I usually sit to avoid you. I can't wait till you catch what I have. We'll make a sneezing duet during class then. Does "The Wheezies" sound like a good band name to you?