Today was day A so I had social studies with Liam and Chris. Over the course of the past few days, I found myself liking their presence, especially during lunch. When I entered the classroom the boys were already seated which surprised me considering they were always late. I took my new seat in between the two of them and sighed. "Do either of you have a piece of paper I could borrow?" I asked them exasperatedly. Liam smirked.
"You wanna borrow a piece? Well sure, when are you going to give it back?" he asked teasingly. I frowned for a moment, confused. Oh, I asked to borrow a paper, not have one. Normally, I would have laughed along with him or gone along with the joke but that required at least eight hours of sleep.
"Sorry, can I have one?" I repeated politely, staring at Liam. His eyebrows creased confusedly but nonetheless, he reached into his bag and handed me a piece of paper. "Thank you," I said as I placed the paper on my desk and waited for class to start. I could sense Liam staring at me, or perhaps making eye contact with Chris behind me, but neither of them said anything. As class started, I felt my eyes drooping. I leaned my head against my hand and felt my imagination zooming off into all different directions. Suddenly, a wave of delirium hit me.
I came home to find my mother there, only this time she wasn't here to take me away. Instead, Valerie was back and my father was sitting on the couch with them. "Hi Casey, how was school?" my mother asked, smiling over at me. I was confused for a moment, but suddenly everything seemed normal.
"It was alright. I mean, as far as social conformity goes it was pretty good," I replied jokingly as I went to my room to put down my bag. As I entered, I smiled at the decoration. I didn't always like sharing a room with my sister, but somehow the bright purple paint and tiny bunk bed filled me with immeasurable joy. I placed my bag on the floor and returned to the living room to join my family. We didn't have many channels, but we had the game show channel where we watched Jeopardy and Family Feud on occasion. I took a seat beside them and snuggled into my mother's side while Val was beside dad. It was a perfect day.
Suddenly, I felt a jab in my side. My eyes jolted open and I looked around frantically only to find Liam staring at me concernedly. I quickly looked to the front of the class to see if the teacher had noticed, but thankfully they hadn't. "Casey, are you okay? I let you sleep for most of the class, but I think you should be paying attention," Liam said caringly. He was right, I should be paying attention. School is something I have to succeed in no matter what-- for my father's sake.
"Thank you, I appreciate it," I said, trying to listen to whatever the teacher was talking about. Oh, great, the basis of liberalism. My favourite.
"Hey, uh, do you want to hang out after school today?" he inquired, his posture getting a little stiff. I thought about it for a moment. I have nothing to do on Thursdays, right?
"Sure," I replied with a light smile. I felt a little more awake thanks to my recent power nap but it didn't feel like enough to get me through P.E. Even though I was still tired, I noticed Liam visibly relaxed at my acceptance. I smiled to myself. Cute.
---------------
"Fitness testing today!" Mme Drinnan yelled across the gym. There were audible groans throughout the gym and I would have been one of them if I had the energy right now. The rejuvenation I had felt from that nap had quickly faded the moment I stepped into the gym. In fact, I felt slightly loopy due to sleep deprivation. I zoned out of the teacher's little speech when I noticed James standing beside me.
"Hi," I whispered with a little giggle. Oh no. Sleep deprivation, stage two. The giggly phase. I had already passed the dead stage and this was not good.
"Hi," he whispered back with a little laugh of his own.
"Are you excited for the," I paused, lowering my voice even further, "fitness test?" I gasped at the end to make it sound more dramatic and James let out a small laugh.
He was about to reply when Mme Drinnan cut in, "is something funny, James Porter?" James' eyes shot towards the teacher.
"Uh, no madame," he replied awkwardly. I blushed a bit, feeling bad for getting him in trouble. Mme Drinnan stared for a moment longer before continuing her lengthy explanation, along with a side story about how she always aced her fitness tests in high school.
"Sorry," I whispered to James though he just smiled.
"It's fine, Case," he replied, giving me a nickname. Hmm. Do I like it? Does it sound too much like basket case? Or suitcase? Or any type of case? Or is it just a nickname and I'm overthinking it? Definitely overthinking it.
James tugged on the corner of my shirt to alert me that we were all moving to the other wall to start the testing. I silently thanked him. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Tiffany glaring at me but I was too tired to address it. We started with suicides, then we spread across the gym to do jumping jacks, followed by plank. Mme Drinnan started removing people from the group as they started to get too tired to complete the tasks.
"Push-ups!" the teacher yelled. Everyone dropped to the floor, but push-ups were my weakness. My biceps were about as strong as Tiffany's morals. Non-existent. I stood there for a moment before making eye-contact with the teacher. As if communicating with me through telepathy, I nodded and went off to the side to join the other non-athletic kids. I was just about ready to take a seat on the floor when Tiffany approached me.
"I see you've dug your claws into James too," she accused, pointing to the black-haired boy who was currently doing burpees. I frowned.
"Actually, it's called making friends. Something I'm sure you know nothing about. Oh, and I don't mean the kind with benefits," I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest in an attempt to look intimidating. She glared at me.
"Friends? You think they're your friends? They're just talking to you to win a bet. Don't go around here thinking you're special or something," she retorted, walking away from me with a sway to her hips. My frown deepened. This is like the third time I've heard of a bet involving me and I'm starting to get a little suspicious. Is it true? Are they really only talking to me because of some bet they made? I refused to believe it. Jeremy would probably do it but not Liam or James. They were nice. Plus, she probably just said it to get under my skin so I won't let it bother me. I watched as the students were removed from the group one by one until only Liam and Jeremy were left. I had noticed Jeremy's muscles the most when we were sleeping on the floor of the shed, especially when the weight of his arm seemed to be more than that of my entire upper body, but I had yet to notice Liam's muscles. They seemed to be almost matched in size and strength as they continued their one arm push-ups. Whether it was the exercise or the sleep deprivation, I found myself attracted to Liam.
However, as time went on and we moved to the bleachers, they seemed to be competing with each other. They kept going like that--only the two of them--until there was only fifteen minutes left in class and Mme Drinnan grew tired of watching them. "Alright, it's a tie. Congratulations to Jeremy Storm and Liam Rothwell for being the local gym's most frequent visitors." She sounded almost spiteful as she announced it. Jeremy glared at Liam while Liam smiled brightly, offering to give him a handshake. Jeremy ignored it and took a seat on the bleachers beside Tiffany who was more than happy to compliment him and build up his ego. Before Liam sat down, his eyes searched the bleachers until they landed on me. A huge smile lit up his face and he climbed the bleachers towards me. Once he was seated beside me, he started tapping his fingers on his knees.
"You did really good," I complimented, smiling at him loopily. Almost instantly, he burst.
"I know, right! I mean, Jeremy is the quarterback, I tied with the quarterback! That's so cool! I know he can be an ass hat most of the time, but that dude is ripped! I'm so proud of myself right now," he admitted with a grin so big it almost split his face. I bit my lip in an attempt to hide a smile. Liam's eyes followed the movement but he didn't say anything, he just kept smiling.
"I'm proud of you too," I said with a laugh, watching as the expression in his eyes shifted from excitement to something more intense. I wondered what he was thinking about.
---1557 words---
It migt take me a while to get back into character for Casey, but it helps that she's sleep deprived so I have a bit more creative freedom lol
Question of the chapter: how are you spending your quarantine? I've just been doing schoolwork and writing.