Impossibly His

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Well that's an absurd thing to say," I laughed a little. "I don't plan on going anywhere."

"Good," he breathed out, pulling away from me. "I'm sorry I lost my temper, baby."

"It's okay."

"Let's go to class. This day needs to be over soon so I can open my present." He winked at me, and just like that he was back to his normal self.

I was suspicious. Jules had been acting weird around us for the past few weeks, but Reth going off on him peaked my interest even more. Something was going on and I was going to find out what.

Fourth period came quickly; dual credit English Literature, my only shared class with Jules. I was determined to get answers, and he was going to give them to me one way or another.

He usually sat in the back of the classroom, alone, and I sat with Maya. I made a point of sitting next to him. He looked over at me surprised.

"Mind if I sit here today?" I asked him.

"Uh..." he trailed off, looking around nervously. "Sure?"

Instructed to read silently, I got out my novel and began to flip through it, nonchalantly observing Jules' behavior. Fifteen minutes passed and he didn't flip his page once. The tension coming from him was unmistakable. I wondered if I had done something wrong. Was there a rumor going around about me? When was there not rumors about Reth and I? I had barely spoken to him in weeks. His behavior was out of line and unlike him entirely.

"Jules?" I whispered over to him.

He gave me a sideways glance. "Yeah?"

"I'm really sorry about Reth this morning," I murmured.

"It's fine, it wasn't your fault," he noticeably pursed his lips.

"What happened between you two?" I insinuated, knowingly going into unmarked territory.

"I can't really talk about this right now." He frowned, trying to focus on his book.

"Why won't either of you tell me what's going on?" I persisted.

"I can't-"

"Clare and Jules!" Our teacher, Mrs. Daphne, snapped out. "I think you missed the word silently in read silently."

"We will talk after class," I mumbled at him.

When the bell rang for lunch he waited uneasily for everyone to leave the room, looking at me strangely.

"Spill," I insisted. "Did I do something wrong? Why have you been looking at me like you hate me?"

"It's nothing like that," he said quickly. "It's not you, it's him."

"What did he do? I'll set him straight if he's been giving you problems."

"I really can't talk about this with you," he said, looking panicked. "I should leave."

"Wait!" I exclaimed, catching his arm as he turned away. He froze. "Jules, please. If there's something I don't know about you need to tell me."

"I don't want to fuck up your relationship," he said, exasperated. "And they'll kick my ass!"

"What is so bad it would fuck up my relationship?" I asked him. "You're scaring me."

"Listen, Clare; I like you, I think you're a good person, and I think that you make Reth a better person, but he's been keeping something from you. Something bad. I've confronted him about it but he refuses to tell you. I can't stand seeing him the way he is around you after everything he is doing when you're not around. You deserve better than that."