Contagious Chemistry - Sian Webster (black male authors txt) 📗

he wasn't sitting near us, but I didn't want to give them details.
"I don't think Alex would appreciate it if you went around telling everyone he likes me. Or that he actually got rejected for once in his life." Or anything else he said whilst we were stuck in that stupid elevator. I finished in my head. In the corner of my eye I saw Alex turn around for a fraction of a second and look at me. It looked almost as if he was smiling.
"Why is everything suddenly about Alex?" Emily asked suspiciously. "Did something else happen that you're not telling me about?"
"No! Nothing happened!" I reassured her. "But seriously, if this gets out, I'll have an army of murderous popular bitches trying to kill me for 'stealing their unofficial boyfriend'."
"True," Emily laughed.
People started standing up and walking off the bus before I even realised it had stopped. Emily and I walked off just as the bell went.
"Come on, then!" She called out to me. I had paused at the door of the bus, my eyes following Alex as he walked up the school's driveway; he turned to look back before he saw me looking and stopped. I rolled my eyes and walked off to class with Emily.
***
I sat in advanced maths in the horrible seating plan our teacher had put us in. I was sat in the front corner of the classroom right next to Alex. Luckily the door was right in front of Alex's desk. And the teacher new how much I hated Alex and said if I needed some space I could leave the classroom whenever I wanted.
Before class he always wrote a note for me to leave the classroom and put it on my desk so I wouldn't get done for truancy, in case I ever needed it. I had never used it yet, no matter how much Alex annoyed me. I couldn't let him win. I wouldn't give in and show he was annoying me, or affecting me whatsoever.
Behind us was his friend, Sam, and his ex-girlfriend, Breanna. I got death stares from Breanna every lesson... I had to admit, it was a little creepy.
I leant back in my seat, Breanna glaring daggers at my back as usual. Mr Stewart had his back turned to us and was filling the board with numbers and symbols I couldn't concentrate on, but was meant to be copying down. He droned on about how to do the work in immense detail, even though all of us knew how to do it already. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out, hiding it under my desk even though Mr Stewart's back was turned. It was from Emily, who sat in the back corner behind me with a boy called Brad.
The tension's rising over there, huh? ;)
That's an understatement. I replied before putting my phone away again as Mr Stewart told us to open our text books and do exercises in our books.
I sighed and pulled mine out because Alex had lost his at the beginning of the year and we had to share. I turned to the right page and started the first question. I had just finished my work when I snapped. Alex hadn't spoken to me all lesson. Sam and Breanna were talking behind us, and the rest of the class were in some kind of discussion. We were the only silent people in the class. There was ten minutes left before second period, so I threw my books and pencil case into my back, sat back and looked at him.
"What, so you're just gonna ignore me for the rest of your life, then? Great decision, Alex."
He was quiet for a moment longer. I don't think he expected me to say anything to him.
He shrugged, finally. "I thought it was what you wanted, Absidy."
"You... you can't just say something like that to me and expect me not to react!" I defended myself.
"And here comes the 'I'm not like other girls' speech..." He muttered under his breath.
I slapped him hard on the arm. That's gonna bruise. I thought.
"Doesn't last night mean anything to you?" I snapped.
"Well clearly it doesn't mean anything to you, so no." He snapped back.
"You are so frustrating!" I told him, trying not to yell. "I was this close to giving you a chance, Alex. But, hey, you screwed that up too, didn't you?"
He looked at me with a shocked look on my face.
"Exactly. Don't ever think you know what means something to me, Alex. Because you obviously don't." I snapped, tears springing to my eyes, before grabbing my bag and truancy note before running from the classroom, getting stares from 28 pairs of eyes as I left.
5. Directions For Ditching

I ran through the hallways and out of the building. I didn't know where I was running to, I just ran. I wasn't leaving the school; I just needed to get away from Alex. I hoped that Mr Stewart wouldn't let him come running after me. I hoped he wouldn't let anyone.
I stopped running and found myself sitting behind the old music classroom that no one used anymore. I was finally alone. I dropped my bag beside me and hugged my knees to my chest as tears rolled down my face. I didn't know why, and I didn't like to admit it, but I was crying. Why are boys so frustrating? I wondered in my head.
I don't know how long I sat there, crying silently, but after a while my tears slowed down a little, but they didn't stop. I needed to talk to someone, but I couldn't talk to Emily or Stacy. I wondered who would sit and listen to me cry about something they probably didn't even care about, then I remembered how Jeremy had slipped me that little piece of paper with his number on whilst handing me back my iPod the day before. Luckily, it was still in the front pocket of my bag.
I pulled out my phone, ignoring all the messages from Emily and Stacy, and texted him. It was probably a stupid idea, but I did it anyway.
Hey, it's Absidy. Could you meet me behind the old music classroom? I need someone to talk to, and you were the only person I could think of. Don't ask. I'll explain when you get here.
His reply was, surprisingly, almost instant.
I'm coming. See you in a minute.
It surprised me that he actually agreed to come. Especially half way through second period. Him meeting me meant somehow sneaking out of class and ditching, yet he was still coming. It was nice to know someone other than Emily or Stacy cared about me that much.
"Absidy?"
I turned to the sound of Jeremy's voice and gave him a small smile when I spotted him.
"What happened?" He asked hurriedly, ditching his bag, sitting next to me on the ground and wrapping his arm around my shoulder when he saw that I was crying.
I leant my head on his shoulder and sighed. "Alex Parker happened."
"He's an asshole." Jeremy told me.
"I agree." I said between tears.
"Do you want me to go punch him? Maybe it'll fix his face." He joked.
I shook my head.
"You're right. Not even that would fix a face like his."
I laughed a little and looked up at him.
"How did you get out of class?" I asked.
"I had agriculture. We were at the farm and our teacher had disappeared so I just walked off. My friends are covering for me." He told me.
"You didn't have to come, you know." I said quietly.
"Of course I did. You needed someone to talk to." He brushed my hair out of my face and moved so he could look me in the eyes.
"But you only met me yesterday. And then I fell over you." I pointed out.
"So? I can't just leave you out here crying all by yourself."
"I'll live."
He smiled. "You said that yesterday about a grazed knee. Somehow I think a broken heart is different."
I gave him a strange look. "I never told you I had a broken heart."
"Well broken hearts are Alex Parker's forte, are they not?" Jeremy asked, raising his eyebrows. "That's all he ever does."
I nodded.
He moved to sit next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. "So what did he do to you?"
I sighed and told him. I told him everything, even the things I had left out whilst telling Emily.
He whistled. "If I were you I would've slapped his face, not his arm."
"I would've, but we were in the middle of class, Jeremy." I laughed. I had stopped crying by then.
"You wanna ditch?" He asked suddenly.
"You mean the rest of the day?" I asked, and he nodded.
"Well, it's better than staying here and having to face Alex in every class, hey?" I laughed.
"Sure is." He agreed. "Where do you wanna go?"
"Anywhere." I said. "Anywhere where Alex Parker isn't."
He laughed and grabbed his bag off the ground before standing up and offering me his hand. I smiled and grabbed my own bag before taking it and letting him help me to my feet.
"So we're just gonna walk into town and hang around there all day?" I asked him.
"Of course not!" He said. "We can drive, silly!"
"Not if your car is in the parking lot! Someone will see us!"
"My car's around the back." He assured me. "We'll be fine, come on."
We walked down to the back of the school and up to the four foot high wooden fence that was there to stop us getting out. I paled when I realised we had to climb over it. The last time I climbed a fence I fell and broke my wrist, so as you could guess, I wasn’t so enthusiastic about having to climb this one.
“What’s wrong?” Jeremy asked as I stopped.
I didn’t answer, I just looked at the fence and he figured it out.
“Don’t worry, you won’t fall.”
“The last time I climbed a fence I fell and broke my wrist.” I told him.
“Come on, Abby!” He pleaded. “I’ll climb over first so I can catch you if you need it.”
No one had ever called me ‘Abby’ before. I guess no one had really thought hard enough to give me a nickname, yet Jeremy had called me it without even thinking.
I sighed. “Go on then.”
He climbed over the fence quickly and when I heard his feet hit the ground on the other side I followed suit, but a little slower.