It was rare for me to see Seth sleeping, even after years of us being friends. He was usually more active than this—too active, some might even say—but I guess playing all night in some trendy venue in LA would take a lot out of anyone.
I would have sat elsewhere and let him sleep but he chose that moment to sit up and stretch his arms over his head. He saw me standing a couple of steps from the doorway—half-frozen and staring at where he was—and stopped mid-yawn. I would have died of embarrassment right then, but he just smiled and waved me over.
The Chemistry lab had long tiled worktables for group use, instead of individual desks and chairs. I headed over to the very last row, where he had the table by the window all to himself. I found it strange that no one had sat beside him before me but was glad for it. I placed my stuff on the table and pulled up a stool so I could sit.
"Hey," he whispered, smiling. It was just a normal greeting, but I shivered a little when I heard it. I never thought I'd be even a little starstruck by some boy who lived on my street but here we were. Why else would I be acting this way?
"What the hell are you doing in Honors Chem?" I blurted out and immediately winced.
Seth shrugged. "You know I like Science."
"Fiction," I clarified, head tilted. "You like Science Fiction—like Star Wars and other shit that has nothing to do with this class."
Seth, looking amused, waved this off and I made a face. Like it was that simple. Sure, he could be somewhat of a dork at times, but I mean, I liked music and that never got me anywhere.
"Good thing you're here then, right?"
That made me scoff; I did slightly better in class than Seth, in general, but I didn't belong here any more than he did. My grades were just okay, but I was often pressured into taking more advanced classes that were out of my league because of who my sister was.
Nothing that had to do with Summer didn't make my life a little bit harder.
"Why? So I can do all the work while you catch up on your beauty rest?" I asked. Seth gave me a funny look, and then brightened.
"Great idea," he said, making me widen my eyes and sputter.
"I wasn't offering!"
"Come on, Adrian. You're always telling me not to hurt my hands. Now, you can actually do something about it." He held up his hands in front of my face and wiggled his fingers, for effect. "I have a lot riding on these, you know."
I scowled and batted them away, but he flashed a goofy grin and I smiled, too, in spite of myself. "Do you think Ethan and Tristan are being whiny giant babies in their classes, too?" I fake-wondered aloud. "Or maybe they can play with their feet."
Seth looked about to respond, but something at my side of the table caught his eye. He reached over, and in one swift, smooth movement, got my printout off the top of my stack of things before I could do anything about it. I quickly got on my feet but so did Seth and he held the sheet of paper high above my head before I could swipe it back.
"Let's see which of my other classes just got easier for me," he said, laughing, as he started to read. I made another grab for the piece of paper but he turned to block me with his shoulder and I ended up clawing at the air.
Still huffing, I backed off and cast him a dirty look behind his back.
"Let me see yours."
He handed me an identical piece of paper without so much as a glance in my direction. Looking at it, I chuckled to myself. He must have gotten his printout only minutes before he came into class and it was already wrinkled and full of scribbles.
I wasn't getting my hopes up or anything but it still kind of sucked when I saw that we didn't have any classes together other than this one. Not even Gym or Homeroom. The only other time I could hope to see him during school hours was fourth period lunch.
"I should just ask to be placed in all your classes." Seth's brows were knitted when he spoke again. I scoffed at this idea.
"If you're in all the Honors track classes and I'm your only lifeline, then we're both pretty much screwed."
"Not my only lifeline." Seth smirked. "It's full of girls, right?"
Unwanted thoughts about his appalling dating history came to mind, making me snort and shake my head.
"Not your kind of girls, Seth," I said. "They're all too smart for you."
"We'll see," he replied. My eyes widened, but I tried to hide my surprise.
"You can do that in any class," I said, taking care not to sound affected in any way. Because I wasn't. "Make some other girl do all the dirty work. There's really no point in transferring."
"Yes there is. I really want to take—" He trailed off and glanced at my schedule. His nose was wrinkled when he looked back at me. "Home Ec. Baking?"
"Baking is fun," I said, shrugging. My elective was the one compromise that made my junior year curriculum mine instead of a carbon copy of my sister's. Plus, I really did love it. "And it relaxes me."
"That's perfect," he said, his tone enthusiastic. I wasn't convinced.
"But then you'll miss out on..." I checked his schedule for his elective, mimicking his earlier actions. I had a similar reaction as well. I looked up, confused. "Intro to Business?"
I was expecting something music-related or something else equally artsy. Who the hell advised him on what classes to take this year? His selections were almost as messed up as mine.
"Baking sounds so much better." Seth nodded. "Don't forget—I'm practically the one running the kitchen at home when Mom's working."
I rolled my eyes. Running the kitchen actually meant heating his mom's pre-cooked stuff that she kept in the freezer. In a microwave. And he still sometimes needed help (mine) with that.
On the other hand, the boy composed a sonata when he was twelve. He could totally bake a pastry—with some adult supervision. I almost gave in but then I remembered the chocolate incident earlier and my friends' comments and decided that I didn't want to be around both Seth and chocolate anytime soon.
"I thought you weren't allowed near fire and pointy objects?" I asked, only half-joking. It was a similar concern when I first saw him in the lab.
"That's where you come in." Seth laughed harder when I scowled. "That way, no one gets hurt."
"Unless you piss me off, because I'll be the one with all the pointy objects."
Seth stopped laughing, but the light in his eyes remained. "So violent," he murmured.
"Only around you."
The chemistry teacher, Mrs. Mallory, arrived, then. She was a tall thin, somber-looking woman in her late forties with grey hair and wore a white lab coat. There was a large box in her hands, which she laid on top of her table.
"Alright, class, let's go over some ground rules," she announced.
The rules were mostly on safety precautions and cleaning up after ourselves at the end of each class and they were posted in greater detail all around the laboratory where everyone could see them.
Some of them were:
1. Always wear your lab coat and protective eyewear during experiments.
2. Wear proper footwear. No open shoes or flip-flops.
3. Keep lab coats clean
4. Wash your hands before and after.
5. Don't taste or sniff the chemicals.
6. Dispose of mixtures properly. Don't dump them down the sink.
7. Always take down data.
I couldn't understand why we had to discuss these. They were pretty self-explanatory and more a matter of common sense. It was a little insulting, to be honest. Especially since this class was supposed to be full of smart kids—who seemed to be taking down notes, anyway.
Okay then, I rolled my eyes and did the same. Maybe it was going to appear on a test or something.
"Those are just basics. You'll learn about my rules as we go. Take one and pass it on." Mrs. Mallory handed the large box she brought in to the student at the very front, who did as she had instructed. The box contained lab coats and goggles. "Don't lose those, you only get one set for the term and you can't take part in experiments without them."
As soon as everyone had a set, we were asked to put them away as we weren't going to use them. Instead, we were to spend the rest of the class learning about the equipment and taking down notes on the first lesson.
As I was writing, a piece of paper made its way to my open notebook. I opened it up and recognized Seth's handwriting.
It read: how's your summer?
I stole a glance in his direction. He didn't even look back and appeared to be busy copying what Ms. Mallory was writing on the whiteboard. What a pro. I wrote underneath his message and passed it back.
My message: not as great as yours
I heard Seth sigh as if to say, Of course not. Duh, and knew without looking that it came with the signature eye-roll he gave when exasperated. But what else could I say? There was nothing to tell that wouldn't make me sound pathetic.
tell me anyway, he wrote.
I didn't want to talk about my summer; I wanted to talk about his, and another topic that would make me sound just as pathetic. The grip I had on my pen tightened.
I will if you tell me about cassidy albert.
He wrote back: who?
Suck it, Cassidy, I thought, smugly, to myself. That one-word response made me extremely happy, and maybe a bigger person would have left it at that, but the pen in my hand had a life of its own.
Skunk hair. Fake tan. Face of pure evil.
Whoa. I stared at what I had written with my mouth slightly agape. I had never pretended to be a nice person, but this seemed a bit much, even for me. It painted a horrible picture, and not necessarily of Cassidy.
This was a slippery slope that I did not want to go down. I folded the piece of paper and quickly tucked it away between some pages of my notebook, making a mental note to destroy it later on.
I got a new note right away: what did you write?
Damn his eagle eyes, I thought, and promptly ignored him. We really shouldn't be passing notes, anyway. We should be paying attention and getting the most out of our education.
Seth started tapping me on the shoulder with his pen when I wouldn't return his message. As soon as the teacher turned to the board, I felt a tap. Every freaking time. After a while, it felt like he was tapping my shoulder even when the teacher was facing forward, the sneak. It started to get on my nerves.
"Quit it," I whispered fiercely as soon as I felt it safe to talk.
"Tell me what you wrote," he whispered back.
"Just—nothing" I told him.
"A lot going on with your face for just nothing."
"My face—" I heard my own voice getting louder and quickly went silent. Seth smirked, presumably at his success in getting a rise out of me. I glared and made a conscious effort to keep my voice down. "Is none of your business."
This would have gone on longer, but minutes before class ended, Mrs. Mallory made us stand up for one final task.
"Class, for the experiments, you're going to have to work in pairs, so partner up," Mrs. Mallory announced to the class. "If there's an odd number of you, one group can have three members. Choose wisely because I don't want to have to do this for every lesson."
I gave the room a quick scan and came up with an even number of students. I smiled to myself; this was a no-brainer. Seth and I usually paired up in our classes, unless our other friends were with us. We turned to each other at the same time, about to make it official, but the most incredible thing happened.
"Seth! Wanna be partners?"
"Hey Seth!"
"Seth over here!"
A bunch of girls called out to him, almost in perfect unison, like they'd rehearsed beforehand. I tried to see whom among them had spoken but the voices seemed to be coming from all directions. Maybe they all wanted to be his lab partner.
I stole a glance at Seth out of the corner of my eye. He had one eyebrow lifted and there was a look of surprised amusement on his face as he watched the events unfolding before him.
I too, was surprised and yet, not. This was somewhat normal; Seth had become quite popular with the girls these past few years. And that was before he was world-famous. I was just a little confused at the sudden change in these girls' behavior.
Seth's earlier remark started to make sense. I thought that these girls were leaving him alone earlier because they couldn't care less that he was here. I should have realized that these were smart girls and weren't just going to charge blindly ahead and let their emotions get the best of them.
They were just waiting for the right opportunity, a legitimate reason to approach him, which Mrs. Mallory had provided with this task.
All of a sudden, two girls, both hot, came running out of nowhere, and stopped short of slamming into me. I jumped back, surprised. Not because I was almost trampled to death, but because I knew who these girls were. Everyone did.
The curvy redhead was Simone Carver and the athletic Asian girl was Wendy Hsiao. They were two of the top students in the eleventh grade class, were best friends, and also notorious rivals; they competed over everything. Even shiny new boytoys, apparently.
I sensed an opportunity here and got stupidly excited. If Seth chose one of them as his lab partner, then he had a real shot at doing well in this class. Maybe all his classes.
Plus, that left the other brainiac conveniently without a partner—just like me. And maybe that girl would be extra helpful if I offered to put in a good word with Seth.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have Seth in all my classes after all. I definitely could see its advantages now. It was a win-win situation for everyone.
"Sorry, she asked me first." I heard Seth say and I turned to see who the lucky girl was.
As it turned out, it was neither Simone nor Wendy's lucky day and it certainly wasn't mine, either. While I was busy zoning out, Seth had shifted in a way that I was blocking those girls' path to him. His hands were on my shoulders, and Seth had broken the bad news to those girls from behind me, like a child peering from his hiding place.
I guess being rejected by a celebrity wasn't as devastating as being rejected by someone you had genuine feelings for because Simone and Wendy were good sports about it—eventually. First, they gave Seth, and then me, and then each other, a disbelieving look, but after that, they went back to their table with their arms linked.
There go our easy A's, I thought, watching the two of them leave with a heavy heart.
Once everyone was all partnered-up, Mrs. Mallory made us go back to our tables and handed out modules on the experiment that we were going to do on our next class. I slumped back in my seat dramatically and gave Seth a dirty look.
"You did not just use me as a human shield back there."
"No I pulled you out of their way." Seth grinned, looking pretty pleased with himself. A likely story.
"Dumb, Seth. Real dumb," I whispered, and his smile wavered. "You know I'd be okay with you working with one of them instead of me, right?"
"I know," he said, shrugging. "But you live so much closer. Easier to do homework."
"Pfft. Homework." I rolled my eyes and discreetly pointed in Wendy and Simone's. "Those two were dying to do your homework for you—and not just in Chemistry, I bet."
Nothing seemed to register with him, which made me slap my forehead in exasperation. "Ugh. Look, just pick the girl you want to work with and I'll ask to switch with her after class."
"I already did," he said, starting to sound annoyed and looking at me like I was the one being difficult. "Can we drop this and get to work?"
"Do I have to spell this out for you?" My brows furrowed. "You know who those girls are, don't you?"
"Simone and Wendy," Seth replied in a flat tone. I widened my eyes at him, wordlessly pressing him for more information. A knowing look crossed his face. "The A-Team. Very driven..."
"You do know them." I said, puzzled.
"Of course, but it's just like you said, Adrian." Seth paused to move his chair closer to me, glanced up and quirked his mouth before speaking once more. "Not my kind of girl."
My breathing hitched and I felt my face grow warm. So typical of Seth to use my own words against me. Obviously, I didn't know what I was talking about earlier and never should have underestimated him like that.
"Shut up," I told him, snorting to hide my smile, and moved the module closer to him so we could both read comfortably.