Chapter 8: Lunch?

- - - - - - TYLER POV - - - - - - - -

What the hell was she thinking? And who would spread a rumor like that? It was all too much and I was extremely irritated and the day had only just begun. My mind whizzed around the thoughts that were filling my head quicker than a tornado. One thought in particular, seeing her face saddened by the words of Kelly. It bugged me that she would get in the way of it. I loosened up as I approached the team, hanging around in our usual spot.
“Ty, my main man, come here!” Jake shouted, motioning me to come over. I laughed and walked over.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Got a date for spring fling yet?” he asked, as the others gathered around to chit-chat.
“Nah, not yet. I’m still thinking if I even want to go,” I murmured.
“What?!” the team bellowed, some crossing their arms, some nudging my shoulder.
“The teams being honored at the dance, you gotta go,” Jake whined.
“Alright, alright, I’ll go,” I budged.
We then got back into our routine day, talking about championships, playoffs, girls, cars, all that stuff. I looked over at Jake to see him move his gaze to something, looking disarrayed.
“Look,” he said, lifeless but with disappointment in him at the same time.
I turned my head to see Shane whispering quietly to Kelly, waving his arms around, with a serious look on his face.
“What about it?” I asked Jake.
“It just looks kinda fishy,” he said. “He’s been really different to the team as of late.”
I thought about what he said and it was somewhat true. I barely spent time with him anymore; it was as if he had isolated himself from me.
“I’ll be right back,” Jake added, moving closer to them, going unnoticed. He acted casual and laughed, but it was obvious he was listening in on their conversation.  After a few seconds, his smile turned into a complete stop. We all waited, getting tense. He came over and looked shocked.
“What happened? What were they saying?” Jason asked, “Spill!”
“They uh, were talking about, um,” he stuttered.
“Talking about what?” I asked, getting anxious.
“Uh, uh, dates for spring fling,” he finally blurted out. We all looked confused. I knew from the look on Jake’s face when he was spying, that it was much more than just average talk about dates. There was something more going on, I had a feeling. I looked over at the two, and Kelly glared back at me. She started walking over slowly. Oh great, just what I need at a moment like this. The guys all got quiet as she finally approached us.
“It’s okay babe, I’ll still give you another chance,” she said after a long silence.
I stared at her blankly, confused as hell. What was she talking about? What chance?
“Excuse me?” I asked, standing up off the locker I was leaning on.
“You made a mistake, I can forgive you for it, just don’t do it again,” she demanded.
“I made the mistake?” I asked, sarcastically. The guys had started laughing quietly at this point. I didn’t want a chance with her, we never even had a chance at all.
“I didn’t ask for ‘another chance’,” I stated with air quotes, “and I didn’t make the mistake, you did. There are no chances, we never had any chances.”
She started getting angry and threw her books to the ground, “I’m offering you another chance, what more do you want?” she shouted.
“Woah, chill out,” Jake mentioned, “No need to yell.”
“Shut up,” she yelled back.
“You need to relax. And I don’t want anything from you and I decline your offer,” I mumbled. I thought for a second, “Wait, actually I do. I want you to go and apologize to JC for what you pulled this morning.”
“OHH!” the guys roared together. I motioned them to quiet down.
“Are you insane? I don’t need to apologize to that s**t. Maybe if she wasn’t whoring around this school, she wouldn’t get the s**t that’s coming to her. And believe me, she’s got a lot coming,” she hissed.  She gave the entire team evil glares and stormed off.
The rage pulsed through my veins and I felt I couldn’t keep control of myself. I wanted to punch something, throw a basketball at someone’s face.
Jake sensed it and pulled me back, “Relax. She isn’t anyone, she isn’t worth it.”
“I can’t deal with her anymore,” I said, trying not to yell.
“F**k it, man,” Jason said and pulled on his backpack, “she’s crazy.”
I eased up and pulled my backpack onto my shoulder, “Ha, you’re right. Let’s jet before we’re late.”

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“Tyler, what’s the answer to #4? Tyler? Hello?” the teacher asked, irritation in her voice.
I wasn’t paying attention to the questions, the numbers, or even what class I was in at the moment.
“Uh, square root of 112?” I guessed.
The teacher had a grim look on her face and shook her head, “It’s beneficial you pay attention, Mr. Giamatti.”
I hated it when she called me that; she only called me by my last name, “Whatever,” I mumbled to myself.  She went on teaching and I continued thinking. Thinking of how I’d deal with the problem at hand. How I could just get Kelly out of the picture without being a jerk. I tried coming up with ideas, but my mind always went back to the same place: JC. It wasn’t good thoughts today either, this unknown pang of sadness hit me, hearing she thought it was her fault. For her to think that me and Kelly were going at it and she ruined it. It almost disgusted me putting my name next to Kelly’s with the word “together.” I’m not a jerk, I didn’t hate her and I didn’t want to hurt her but she was getting on my nerves and it was the hardest thing for me to do, to not yell or fight back. The bell interrupted my thoughts as everyone rushed out. I quickly got up and rushed out of class. Knowing where I was headed to, lightened me up a little. I walked happily to Edwards’ class, with just a little bit of doubt in me. What if she wasn’t there? What if something happened before the class and she skipped it to avoid Kelly? Or even worse, to avoid me? I walked through the door with closed eyes, not knowing what to expect. I opened my eyes to see her, in the same spot, in the same seat. I smiled a smile of relief and walked back to my seat, next to her. She was focused on her work; it looked like she was ahead because the work didn’t look like last night homework at all.
“Hey,” I smiled, “what are you up to? That doesn‘t look like the homework I was doing last night.”
She stopped and looked back at me, “It‘s tonight‘s homework, I wanted to finish so I don‘t have to do it later.”
“You over-achiever,” I added with a laugh, nudging her with my arm, “You should rub some of that off on me, I need to catch up.”
She looked at me, thinking hard, “Are you getting behind?”
“In a way,” I replied. Before I could say another word to her, she looked down immediately and concentrated on her work without saying anything. I looked up to see Kelly and Shane entering the class, glaring back at me. I watched them make it to their seats, getting angry again. I looked back at JC and frowned.
“Are you okay?” I asked, worried, as the bell rang.
She nodded and continued writing. I felt the vibes and they didn’t feel good. I had to get her to talk, somehow. I had an idea. I moved my chair closer and took her pencil from her hand.
“You have to tell me sometime,” I whispered.
She looked up at me, confused, “C’mon, give me my pencil, I have to finish this.”
“What’d they do?” I asked, looking over at Kelly and Shane and then back to her.
She didn’t say anything for a long time. “They didn’t do anything, honest. I’m just weirded out by this morning, that’s all. Don’t worry about it.”
That wasn’t going to work for me, I worry about anyone I care about. And I definitely cared about her and this situation.
“I will worry about it. We can’t really talk here,” I trailed off, trying to think of something, “so will you have lunch with me today?” I asked, getting really nervous. I didn’t want her to decline.
She smiled and nodded, “That’d be great, sure.” She looked much happier, I felt much better about the rest of the day.

Edwards class was going to be a breeze, we had to pair up and do a lab together.
“Excuse me miss,” I started, “be my partner?” I asked, smiling innocently.
“You’re corny sometimes, you know that right?” she asked, laughing, “It’s actually pretty cool.”
I didn’t know what was coming over me, I acted goofy and silly with her. Something that took me a long time to do with any other girl. Every other time was just awkward. Either no one laughed, there was a long silence, or she didn’t get it. But it was different with JC.
“I’ll get the microscopes,” she said with a smile, getting up.
I watched her walk to the front, her dark hair swaying from side to side. She was in sweats and still managed to look pretty. I’ve seen a million girls in sweats but none of them had me drawn to them like this. I had never seen her in a mini-skirt or a short dress or anything. Not trying to be a horny freak and say I wanted to, but she never did and she was getting called a s**t. It was sad and pathetic.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” she said, climbing onto her stool.
I was still staring, not hearing anything she was saying. Her hand waving in my face broke my trance.
“You okay, Mr. Star athlete? Don’t need you passing out, you have playoffs to win,” she mentioned, laughing softly.
I smirked and looked in her eyes, “You’re..you’re,” I trailed off.
“I’m what?” she asked, turning in her stool to face me, concentrating on my eyes.
“Pretty,” I finally managed to say. She smiled and I saw a hint pink making it’s way across her cheeks.
“You’re pr-pretty too,” she stuttered, covering her face as it turned red. I laughed and tried to move her hands away. That was the cutest thing I had seen in the last few months.
“Just give me a second!” she exclaimed, moving her hands back over her face.
“Don’t make me pry them off of you,” I joked, putting up a karate stance.
She moved the fingers that were covering her eyes to peek through and giggled.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jet Lee,” she answered back sarcastically, still laughing.
“Alright then, here comes the moves,” I laughed, moving over to tickle her softly. She laughed and finally moved her hands away from her face, onto mine.
“Stop, stop! I’m really ticklish, this could get ugly!” she laughed, barely able to breathe, trying to move my hands away. I couldn’t help but laugh and look at her; she made me feel good, made me feel comfortable. I was starting to fall for her, more than I was before.
She pulled the microscope and began looking inside it, beginning the assignment. I had completely forgot. We tried to work through it, but conversation and laughs prevented us from it. When the bell rang, I got up and pulled my backpack onto my shoulder. JC was rushing to get everything in her bag and to get the equipment back to the front. She grabbed the microscope and rushed to the front. As she did, I saw Kelly coming from the left to return hers. If I didn’t get up there, it could get ugly. And I didn’t work the entire period to get JC to laugh, for her to end up pissing her off. I grabbed the rulers and slipped right next to JC before Kelly could.
“Forgot the rulers,” I began, nervously, “Can’t forget the rulers. JC smiled and was about to put the microscope down softly when Kelly pushed past her as she walked by. I grabbed the microscope before it hit the ground and saw Kelly laugh as she headed out the door. Anger began forming inside me, this was completely unnecessary. I headed after Kelly through the door, to demand an explanation. I felt someone grab my hand and pull me back. I whizzed around to see JC, pulling me back inside class. She dropped my hand and looked at me.
“Forget it, it’s not worth it,” she said quietly, “Don’t let her ruin your good mood.”
I sighed and closed my eyes for quite some time, “You’re right, absolutely right.” I exhaled and looked back at her smiling face, which reassured me everything would be okay.
“I’ll see you at lunch, then?” she asked, grabbing her things and heading for the door.
“You don’t want me to walk you?” I asked, hoping for a yes answer.
“I don’t want you to be late and have to run and injure someone else,” she mentioned with a laugh.
“Then lunch it is, meet me in the student parking lot,” I added, flashing a smile, as we both walked through the door and headed opposite directions.