Twenty-One

 

Heather twisted her hair around her finger as she nervously looked up from her notebook and at her lab partner. “What?”

“Are you and David together?” The girl repeated with a frown.

“No. Why?” Heather replied looking back the petite blond warily.

“Becauuuussse,” She said stretching out the word as she cleaned her nails. “I’m not blind I can see the way you look at him.”

“Mandy, I think we should get back to work.” Heather said rolling her eyes.  Mandy wasn’t just a gossip she was Gerald Memorial’s ultimate gossip. Mandy smiled knowingly and shrugged her shoulders.

“So, how was you’re study date with David anyway?” She continued.

“How did you…never mind.” Heather said looking back at her notebook. Mandy watched as Heather’s neck and cheeks turned pink and nodded.

“So how did it go?”

“Fine, I guess.”

“Oh God don’t tell me you studied the whole time?” Mandy asked horrified.

“Noooo.” Heather said pouring a clear liquid into an Erlenmeyer flask.

“Hmmm. Go on I’m listening.” Mandy said writing down a number onto a chart she’d made in Heather’s notebook.

Heather frowned at Mandy. Heather knew, from experience that Mandy could be as useful as she was annoying if you asked the right questions. Only it meant she’d have to give a little to get what she wanted.

“Okay, so David has that habit of never shutting up. Right.” Heather began.

“But he never actually talks for real. When he first moved here I tried to find out about his last school. Got nothing,” Mandy looked up suddenly. “Don’t tell me he’s opened up to you?”

Heather suppressed a smile and shrugged her shoulders and Mandy responded with a squeal.

“How did you mange to do that! Forget that,” She blinked. “What did he tell you?”

“Nothing much only that he’s got a girlfriend. He was texting her the whole time.”

“Oh, that sucks.” Mandy said suddenly sobering up. “You do like him don’t you?”

“It’s fine. They broke up, he’s all torn up about it too.” Heather said dropping her pencil. There was no point in pretending they were doing any work.

“Do you know who she is?”

“No, any way do you remember…”

“Did he tell you about his old school?” Mandy asked in full gossip mode.

“Forget David, what do you know about Richard?” Heather said slightly annoyed.

“Oh. Richard.” Mandy said giving Heather the stink eye. “Please tell me you aren’t into him again.”

“We weren’t like that.” Heather said stubbornly. “And I never liked him.”

“I was hopping you’d have moved on to some nice like David.” Mandy said shaking her head.

“So what do you know, Mandy?”

“That he’s been asking about you.” Mandy faux-gagged. “I told him you’ve moved on to other guys.”

“You said what to him?” Heather spun toward Mandy in a panic.

Mandy bit her lip and shrugged one of her shoulders. Pulling on a strand of her hair she lifted her chin suddenly and looked Heather in the eye. “I just told him that you weren’t interested in him and that there was chemistry between you and David.”

“S**t, Mandy.” Heather said sitting down on a stool. Her shoulders sagged as she let out a defeated sigh. “What else did you say?”

“Nothing. He just kept asking about David. Man did he look jealous. You sure there wasn’t more between you two?”  

“It wasn’t like that.” Heather hissed standing up as their chemistry teacher noticed the lack of productive work . “What did he want to know about David?”

“Everything.”