I stared at the sign posted on the door of the biology classroom. Lab Day. For a second I panicked, looking around for Lance. Finally my eyes landed on him as he came around the corner of the science wing. My eyes shifted to the right, where Lexi was literally clinging to Lance. Her arms were wrapped around one of Lance’s. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at them as they grew closer.
“Hey Holly!” Lexi chirped, sending me a radiant smile. “How are you today?”
“Good,” I responded slowly. “So… You two dating now or something?”
Lance laughed loudly, scratching the back of his head with a free hand. “Of course not!”
“We’re just friends,” Lexi informed me. “For now,” she added with a wink.
Lance flushed while I did my best to smile at the girl beside him. Was she joking, or was she telling the truth? They pushed past me, into the classroom. I stayed where I was, frowning at the floor. It would be good for Lance to get a girlfriend…
“Hey, Holly.”
My eyes snapped up from the ground, landing on the familiar unusual color of Aaron’s orbs. As an automatic reaction, I stepped away from him. He smirked. “Something wrong?”
“No,” I responded calmly, narrowing my eyes. “I’m just thinking about going to get a drink…”
He cocked his head to the side. “Don’t you want to see your favorite person ever? I’m sure he’s waiting.”
My heart skipped a beat and I did my best to keep my face composed. “I’m sure Lance can wait…”
“Lance?” Aaron reiterated with a laugh. “I think we both know that’s not who I was talking about.”
Setting my jaw, I tried to push my way past him, but he quickly grabbed my shoulder, forcing me back against the hall wall. I stared at him with wide eyes as he held me in place, giving me a stern look.
“Let me go,” I demanded.
“I’m warning you now, Holly. It’s not going to work out.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Yes, you do!” he growled. “Don’t act dumb!”
“I’m not acting!”
“Yes you are!”
“I’m not—”
He cut me off, pressing my shoulder harder into the wall. “Holly, I’m just trying to help—”
“Is something wrong here?”
Both Aaron’s and my attention turned towards the classroom doorway, where Chris was standing, his jaw clenched. Aaron promptly dropped his arm, sending Chris a polite smile. “Nothing wrong here, Sir.”
Chris narrowed his eyes. “You’re going to be late. You better head inside the classroom.”
Aaron saluted him. “Of course, Sir.” He turned to me, dropping his polite expression. “I’ll talk to you later, Holly.”
I swallowed nervously, watching his back as he disappeared into the classroom just as the bell rang overhead. Chris let out a deep breath, as if he had been holding onto it for a long time. I gazed at him, suddenly feeling embarrassed. “Sorry about that,” I murmured, sending my eyes downcast. “You caught us in an awkward situation…”
His feet appeared in my vision, but I didn’t look up. “Did he hurt you?”
I shook my head vehemently. “No he was just…” I trailed off. There was no way I could tell Chris what Aaron knew. Chris had said we’d have to break up if anyone found out! And besides, I wasn’t positive what he new. Maybe I was just jumping to conclusions. “He just wanted to copy my homework and I told him no.”
“Holly?”
“Yeah?”
“Look at me.”
I hesitated a moment, but Chris forced my head up with his hand. His eyes pierced into mine. “Don’t forget I can tell if you’re lying.”
My cheeks heated up. “I’m sorry, but—”
“I won’t pry, but promise me you’ll tell me if he threatens you,” he implored, giving me a beseeching look. “I don’t trust that kid. Especially after the other day.”
Taking aback by his frankness, it took me a moment to respond. “O-of course,” I finally promised him, a warm feeling spreading through me. He was really cute when he was being protective.
“Good,” he said, letting go of my face now. “I’m going to go back in now. You come in after a few moments, okay?”
I nodded. “Sure.”
Obeying Chris’s command, I decided to go to the bathroom before reentering the classroom. People were already seated at the lab tables, and Chris was in the middle of passing out the labs. I searched for Lance and found him, seated at our usual lab table… with Lexi. My heart dropped into my gut. Lance hadn’t even to ask me if it was okay to switch partners? He was always my partner!
My mouth went dry when I realized there was only one other person in this class I could be paired up with since it was an even number before the twins came. If Lexi was with Lance, that meant Aaron would be… My eyes went to the far corner of the classroom, near the supply room where they landed on Aaron. He smirked, waving me over. I eventually obliged, knowing there were no other open partners.
He leaned over the desk towards me. “So, how’d your meeting with your secret lover go?”
I glowered back at him. “I don’t have a secret lover!”
He scoffed. “Please. I saw you.”
“Saw me when?”
“When do you think?” he asked sarcastically. “When is the only other time where you’ve seen me?”
I shook my head at him. “That’s it though. I’ve never seen you before!”
His expression became blank. “What?”
“The first time I saw you was on the first day you transferred here,” I informed him. “Never before then.”
“You must be stupid then.”
“Excuse me?”
“Excuse me?” he mimicked in a high-pitched voice.
Trying to control my anger, I clenched my fists. “You’re really pissing me off!”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so the innocent little girl in front of me uses such vulgar words?”
“You…”
“I bet your boyfriend doesn’t like that.”
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” I hissed at him, looking over my shoulder for a split second. Chris was safely on the other side of the classroom,
Aaron sighed deeply. “Holly, I’m just trying to tell you it won’t work out. I have nothing against you personally. I just know what will happen.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I responded, doing my best to keep my “playing dumb” façade up.
He pursed his lips at me. “I’m serious, Holly.”
“So am I.”
“Lab?”
I jumped violently as Chris appeared at my side, handing Aaron a packet of papers. I sent him a small smile as he handed me my lab. A smile was normal right? Aaron wouldn’t find anything suspicious about it… Or would he? I quickly dropped it, turning to look at my lab. It was better to be safe than sorry.
“What is this? Dragon Baby Lab?” Aaron read out loud, furrowing his eyebrows. “What kind of lab is this?”
Chris chuckled. “A lab we’re doing by popular demand.”
“Huh,” Aaron commented skeptically. “This is about genes… We’re making babies today. Did you hear that, Holly? What should we name our kid? Shawn?”
Chris sucked in a quick breath of air from beside me as my eyes nearly popped out of my sockets. He must have composed himself quickly because Aaron didn’t give him a second look, but he stared at me like I was crazy.
“What?” Aaron demanded.
“I-I… Nothing,” I said quietly, turning my head away.
Chris’s face was expressionless as he stared at Aaron. Aaron gave him a curious look, leaning back on his stool.
“Do I have something on my face?”
Chris shook his head. “No. Shawn’s just the name of my… pet dog that died the other week.”
“Oh. Sorry dude.”
I couldn’t pull my gaze away from Aaron. Did he know something? Or was that a coincidence? Could he know Shawn? Was that how he knew about Chris and I? That made sense but…
Chris disappeared from my side as someone called his name from across the room. Aaron gave me a questioning look. “Why do you keep staring at me like that?”
“Do you know Shawn?” I demanded frankly. “Tell me the truth.”
He furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t know anyone named Shawn. Why? Is he an ex-boyfriend?”
I almost laughed. So it was a coincidence. It was too weird though. “Something like that,” I responded to Aaron’s question. “Only a bit more to that.”
“He was abusive?”
“Um, sure.”
Aaron frowned. “Is that why you feel the need to date more mature?”
I scowled at him. Couldn’t he let it drop? “I’m not dating anyone, Aaron.”
“So do you want to date me?”
“No.”
He made a face. “Oh, shot down…”
“Let’s just make our dragon babies,” I said with a sigh. “What do we need?”
“It says we need Mr. Heywood to come give us our female traits and our male traits,” Aaron read from the lab. He looked past me, making an annoyed look. “Looks like we’ll have to wait awhile. Lexi has her flirt face on.”
Without realizing what I was doing, I turned in her direction. She was giggling at something, lightly slapping Chris on the arm. I narrowed my eyes at her. Lance caught my look and sent me a guilty one. I shrugged at him. It was his fault Lexi flirted with everything that had two legs.
“She’s such a slut.”
My head whipped back to Aaron. “What?” Why would he say that about his sister?
Aaron snorted. “Don’t tell me you don’t think so.”
“I don’t—”
“Even though she flirted with your boyfriend and your best friend?”
For some reason, I felt offended. “You shouldn’t call your sister such a horrible name.”
“It’s true though.”
“It’s fine if girls flirt with guys! Guys flirt with multiple girls all the time!”
“Yeah, well she also dated her teacher while she was dating my best friend,” Aaron snapped. “It’s a good thing they got caught, otherwise she’d still be leading my friend on.”
I winced at his harsh tone. “But she’s still your sister…”
“She should have learned her lesson.”
“Aaron!”
He sent me a sour expression. “Whatever. But don’t come crying to me when she starts dating your boyfriend and best friend at the same time.”
“My boyfriend wouldn’t cheat on me!”
A smirk spread across his face. “I thought you said you didn’t have a boyfriend?”
“I…” I blanked, feeling my face heat up.
Aaron snickered. “Nice one.”
I glowered at him. “I meant if I had a boyfriend he wouldn’t cheat on me.”
“Sure you did.”
“I did!”
“Just like you were at Holly’s wedding alone?”
My heart stopped. Aaron gave me a smug look, resting his chin in his hand. I kept eye contact with him, my mind racing for an excuse. He saw me at Holly’s wedding? I would have recognized him if he’d been there! Was he trying to fool me? But he knew Holly… That’s why he looked shocked when he saw me for the first time! Same with Lexi! My hands suddenly felt freezing and I gripped the edge of the lab table, trying to control their shaking.
“You saw me…?”
“I saw you, your boyfriend, your friend Casey, and her friend,” Aaron clarified for me. “We made eye contact. Don’t you remember?”
I stared at him for a moment, searching my memories. Where could I have seen him…?
Guests were turning in their seats, looking all around them. My gaze met a pair of sharp looking eyes from a young man in the row in front of us. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and I quickly adverted my gaze, turning to Mr. Heywood.
Aaron raised an eyebrow when my eyes widened. He was the sharp-eyed boy? Panic flared up in me. That meant he actually knew about Chris and I! He knew our secret.
“I take it you remember?”
“You can’t tell anyone.”
He chortled. “I don’t think you have the right to be telling me what I can or can’t do, Holly. You’re not the one who knows my secret.”
I clenched my jaw, swallowing nervously. This was not good.
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Hey guys! Kind of a short chapter, but I spent most of the day with Jake today. He's pretty awesome. Anyway..... Here's the next chapter :D
Today's song... Still Around by 3oh!3
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