Inferno

~172~ Falling For Him

Emma's POV

Owen and I have been dating for about a month now. He's amazing. He's thankfully stayed out of trouble so we have been able to spend a lot of time together. My parents really like him, which is a relief.

We're in History and Mr. West is lecturing when Ms. Hollister knocks on the door. West looks up and smiles at her.

"Sorry to interrupt, Mr. West. Can I borrow Owen for a few minutes?" She asks.

"Sure" West says, smiling at Owen.

Owen gets up and they both leave. He's gone for quite a while. A lot longer than I expected. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes.

When he comes back his face is wrong. He looks like he's been crying. Mason notices too, but acts like he doesn't. I notice he sits down slowly, instead of plopping in his seat like he normally does. That's weird.

Mr. West finishes his lecture and then gives us the last fifteen minutes to do our homework. I turn around and look at him. He's really upset.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

He just shakes his head and gives me a small smirk.

"Tell me" I say as I squeeze his hand gently.

"Uh, I'm grounded. I have to cancel on you tonight" he says, upset.

"I'm sorry you're in trouble. What did you do?" I whisper. I don't want him to be embarrassed.

He rolls his eyes and sniffs. He had definitely been crying earlier.

"Mills told her I skipped class this morning" he says quietly.

"Which class?" I ask.

"Speech. I didn't get my speech done for today so I skipped like an idiot" he says, upset.

"That sucks. How long are you grounded for?" I ask

"Just a week. Can we reschedule for next week?" He asks, squeezing my hand

"Of course we can. You sure you're ok? You seem really upset for only being grounded a week" I say.

He nods. "I'm good. Mom is just really mad at me. After this class is over I have to stay in her classroom the rest of the day. I get to write sentences all day and then give them to Mills and Mrs. Roe at the end of the day"

I nod. "Well, I'll see you in sixth hour then" I smile.

He nods and looks embarrassed. "Yup" he says sadly.

Once the bell rings he gets up and we walk together for a few minutes. He's walking slower than normal. What is going on with him? He gets to where his mom's class is and kisses me softly. "Have a good day" he smiles.

"Have fun writing" I say, kissing him once more.

He snorts and nods, going into her class.

When I get to Biology, I see Owen sitting at Ms. Hollister's desk. He sees me and winks, but goes back to writing. It's obvious he doesn't want to be in trouble. Ms. Hollister isn't in the room yet, but I'm not about to be the reason he gets in more trouble.

Suddenly one of the guys on the basketball team with him comes up to him. "Owen, my man! Whatcha' doing?" He asks, giving him a high-five.

"Being babysat by my mom" he grumbles darkly.

Scott chuckles.

"Damn. How many of these do you have to write?" He asks, looking at all the sentences.

"500 for Mills, 500 for Roe" he says darkly.

"That really sucks, dude" Scott says sympathetically.