I tapped my fingers on my desk, trying to work out what name is given to the junction between the connecting neurone and the neurone carrying the impulse to the brain.
Biology wasn't exactly my favourite class. I was always pretty good at it and people would come to me for help, but I found it boring and tedious. It din't interest me in the slightest.
The lesson only had five minutes left, so I considered pretending to do the work but not actually doing it since I wouldn't be able to finish in the last couple of minutes anyway.
I decided to go with my idea and just stared down at my work as though I was thinking about the question. However, my mind was elsewhere.
What color is a mirror?
If you enjoy wasting time, is it really wasted?
If anything is possible, is it possible for anything to be impossible?
Why is a boxing ring square?
Technically the day we were born is our first birthday.
If there's an exception for every rule, then is the rule there's an exception for every rule not a rule because there's not an exception for it?
Why-
My thoughts were cut off by my Biology teacher. "Ok, class. For your assignment on the structure of plant and animal cells and how they work differently, I'm going to give you partners," she said.
I suppressed a groan. I could be paired with anyone. My only friends in this class were Sophie and Noah.
"Ashley and Conner," our teacher said, beginning to list off the names. "Jacob and Louis, Emma and Max, Noah and Lucy, Finn and Sophie, Megan and Josh, Owen and Lila." Our teacher carried on telling everyone their partners, but I just zoned out.
Of course. What else did I expect? This was my messed up life, after all.
I would have to be spending time with the most annoying person I knew. So why wasn't I as upset about it as I should have been?
I turned to look at Noah who was already looking at me with wide eyes.
We made eye contact and he gave me a tight lipped smile although I could tell he was quite annoyed.
Next I turned my attention to Sophie who was smiling and talking to the girl next to her. She must have felt me staring at her because she turned around to look at me and excitement covered her face as her eyes flitted between me and Owen.
I couldn't help but laugh slightly at her fangirl reaction, as a small smile that crept onto my face.
I followed her gaze over to where Owen was sat on the other side of the classroom.
He was already shamelessly staring at me and my cheeks flushed slightly at the thought of him checking me out.
Stop that cheeks! Don't act so happy about it! For some reason my cheeks didn't listen and I just continued to blush.
His eyes met mine and a smirk made its way onto his face as we stared at each other.
At least someone was happy about this project arrangement.
The bell rang and I turned away from him, shoving my notebooks and stationary in my bag and walking out of9l the door.
LILA
I sat down at my lunch table where all my friends were already sat, talking.
As soon as Sophie noticed my presence, a grin broke across my face. I instantly knew she was going to tell the others about my partner in Biology being Owen.
"Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys!" she exclaimed, practically jumping up and down in her seat.
Everyone at our table stopped talking and turned to face Sophie, causing me to lower my head so that when she said the news, I wouldn't have to see their reactions.
"My Lowen ship has sailed!" she grinned.
All of my friends already knew what the 'Lowen ship was' because of the amount of times Sophie had mentioned it since Owen came up to our table at lunch on the first day we met.
Apparently, it was a combination of mine and Owen's name and it was our official 'ship name'. People were acting as though Owen and I were a couple.
I could instantly feel everyone's gaze on me even without looking up. "Are you dating?" Jin asked skeptically.
He didn't sound jealous, but more disbelieving since I had made my dislike for Owen extremely obvious.
"Nope but they've been paired together for a project! And that's a lot like studying! You don't get much work done," Sophie smirked and instantly my eyes widened at her suggestive tone.
Fuck you. A quick reminder I'd never even had a boyfriend before.
"You go, girl!" Kaya exclaimed and I felt my cheeks heat up even more.
"Nice! You're finally getting some action!" Maddie smiled.
I groaned and banged my head on the table, hoping that I would get amnesia and forget the past few hours of my life.
This was the most embarrassing conversation I'd ever had. Well, for me at least. The girl's seemed to be enjoying my pain.
"Just tell us if he does anything," Lucas said firmly, causing me to look up with furrowed brows.
"He's broken plenty of girl's hearts and we want a reason to beat him up," Jin explained before Lucas could finish.
"But seriously. Good luck," Melody giggled and I rolled my eyes at how, along with everyone else, she was acting as though I was about to make a baby instead of doing boring Biology homework.
"When are you going to meet?" Kaya asked.
I considered this for a moment, realizing that I hadn't even thought about it.
"I don't know," I said honestly.
"Well maybe you could text him," Lucas suggested.
"I don't have his-" I began, before stopping. Wait... I did have Owen's number. I may have blocked him but his text will be saved into my message history and I could access that and contact his number.
I pulled out my phone and put in my passcode, opening up the right app.
I ignored the looks of confusion my friends were giving each other and instead found Owen's number and saved it into my contacts.
I then typed in my message and pressed send.
Lila: when do u want to meet up four the proj?
Owen: so ur talking to me now stuart?
Lila: sadly
Owen: damnnnnn I feel special
Lila: you rly shouldn't
Owen: too late
Owen: sorry :D
Lila: i give up
Owen: awwww minions don't give upppp
Lila: well this minion does
Owen: i've just realised
Owen: you're mini like a minion
Lila: just answer the damn question 🙄
Owen: which one?
Lila: when do u want to meet up for the proj?
Owen: friday after school?
Lila: ur house or mine?
Owen: ur's
Lila: k
I turned off my phone and slipped it back into my pocket before looking back up at my friends.
"Friday after school," I sighed.
"Nice. We'll prepare you for what to do," Maddie winked and I'm pretty sure my face turned as bright red as a tomato.
"Nothing's going to happen," I groaned.
"You're damn right nothing's going to happen," a voice said sternly from behind me.
I whipped around to see Cole standing there with his arms folded.
I closed my eyes for a second and let out a long breath. "Don't worry, Cole. I don't like him. Besides, it'll be at our house so you can constantly check up on us if you're worried," I suggested.
Cole seemed to scrutinize me for a second while I just stared back at him slightly uncomfortably.
After a moment he gave a small nod.
Unfortunately for me, he decided to slip into the seat beside me at the end of the table. Great. Just great.
"I'm assuming Noah told you," I said, looking over at Cole.
"Yep. And Liam and Jayden," he replied, causing my eyes to widen.
I remembered how pissed they were when they found out from Devon that Owen had talked to me at lunch.
But then suddenly a thought occurred to me. Were they being protective? Were they acting like those overprotective brothers you might read about? Did that mean they cared about me?
My heart swelled at the thought.
I hid my excitement and happiness and kept my gaze locked on Cole. "What did they say?" I asked, a small amount of hope creeping into my voice.
"They said that as long as your door is open the entire time and Liam is in his bedroom because his is right next to yours, then he can come," he said.
"I can live with that," I shrugged, hiding the smile threatening to make an appearance.
"That's all. See you later," Cole said, standing up.
He walked back over to my stepbrothers table and I watched as he sat down opposite Jayden, beginning to talk to them.
He would occasionally look over in my direction and I realized that he must have been telling them about our conversation.
I turned back around to face my friends with a small smile on my face. However, my expression changed to a mock glare when I saw the girl's staring at Noah, Cole, Liam and Jayden.
"Stop crushing on my stepbrothers!"
1574 words
I've changed some of the cast in the characters chapter so you can go check those out if you want :)
Thanks for reading! 💖
-Elin