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

“Are you sure you want to take the bus home?” Jeremy asked for the hundredth time as he parked his car near school in the same place it had been this morning.
I pulled my school shirt out of my bag and threw it over my head, smoothing out some of the creases. “Yes, Jeremy, I’m sure. I’ve got to face him one day.”
“But, now?” He asked.
“Yes!” I told him. “But you should come too. To the bus bay I mean. So it won’t just be me randomly turning up after ditching.”
He looked at me and seemed to realise that he didn’t really have a choice. “Fine,”
I smiled at him and he put his own school shirt on.
“Let’s go,” I said, grabbing my bag and getting out of the car. The school bell had just rang so there were a lot of people at the bus bay which was good because Jeremy and I could walk up without being noticed. He grabbed his bag and followed me through the body of people eager to get home. I had just reached the middle of the crowd when I heard the teacher call out my bus.
“Bus 237 is here! Please make your way to the third bus in line!”
I turned around to look at Jeremy. “That’s my bus,” I told him and he nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Go on then,” He smiled.
I had got about three steps away from him before he called me again.
“Abby!”
I turned around and smiled before pushing my way back through the crowd to him. I didn’t really care how many people were watching us at that moment; a lot of people had turned around when he called me ‘Abby’. When we got to each other I stood on my tip-toes and pressed my lips to his. I heard people around us muttering but I didn’t really pay attention to what they were saying until…
“Last call for bus 237! Please make your way to the bus or find another way home.”
I broke away and he leant his forehead against mine. “I have to go.”
He closed his eyes and smiled. “I know.”
I gave him a quick peck on the lips before running off. Then I stopped and turned to look at him.
“I’ll call you!” I yelled.
He nodded and walked away to his car as I ran the rest of the way to my bus. I jumped up the steps and gave the driver my money.
“Sorry!” I gushed, catching my breath.
“Don’t worry about it.” He said, shocking me. “You weren’t late the past two days. I knew you’d start again soon.”
I laughed as I hurried down the isle and took my seat next to Emily. I threw my bag down on the floor and saw Alex staring at me. He was sitting across the isle from us, but he had the window seat. Emily had the school newsletter in her lap and when I sat down, she rolled it up and started hitting me with it.
“Where. Have. You. Been?” She asked, hitting me with the newsletter for every word.
I panicked. What would I tell her? Definitely not that I ditched with Jeremy while Alex was sitting one seat away from us and most likely listening to out conversation. “I… I went for a walk,”
“All day? Tell me the truth, Absidy.” She said sternly. It was weird having her call me my full name. I had gotten used to being called ‘Abby’ after spending all day with Jeremy.
“I walked to the shops and got ice cream.”
“So you stayed at the ice cream store all day?” She asked, still not convinced.
“No! I went into work and asked if I could do anything.” I said. “Maili never turned up for work so they said I could work her shift and she could work mine tomorrow afternoon.”
This convinced her. I had no clue what I was gonna do tomorrow afternoon when I actually had to work.
“I was worried sick!” She complained. “So was Stacy! Then again, so was another certain someone,”
She looked over to Alex, who had turned around and was looking out of the window.
“He’s an asshole.” I mumbled under my breath.
“I think he heard you.” Emily giggled a little.
“That’s why I said it.” I told her.
We were quiet for a while.
“Well,” She said, “You certainly made an impression.”
“What sort of impression?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“You should’ve seen his face when you walked out.” She laughed. “Oh! You should’ve seen Breanna’s face when you walked out,”
I laughed too. “I would’ve liked to have seen that!”
“She looked like she wanted to kill you.” Emily laughed.
“I’d like to see her try,” I said with a sly smile as the bus stopped and Alex hoped off.
When the bus drove away from the bus stop, Emily’s face went serious.
“Ok girlie, now tell me where you’ve been all day.”
I cursed under my breath.
“You didn’t honestly think I’d believe that, did you?” She asked.
I gave her an apologetic look. “Do you think Alex believed it?”
Emily narrowed her eyes as she assessed the situation. “If you don’t want Alex to know what you’ve been up to, you ditched.”
“It’s pretty obvious I ditched, even with my other story.” I pointed out.
“But you don’t want Alex to know, and now you’re acting suspicious. You know what this means?”
I shook my head innocently.
“Someone was with you.” She guessed, giving me a look that basically told me not to lie to her.
“Fine!” I said exasperatedly. “I was with someone.”
She perked up at this. “Oh! Who was it? Was it a guy? Did anything happen? Details, girl!”
I sighed and Emily’s eyes widened.
“It was a guy!” She gasped. “Ok. What’s his name?”
I didn’t answer.
“Absidy,” She said sternly.
“Jeremy.”
She looked taken aback at the fact that I actually answered her. “Who’s that? I don’t know anyone called Jeremy.”
I laughed. “You know that guy from yesterday?”
She gave me a blank look.
“The one I fell over?”
Her eyes widened and she hit me with her newsletter again. “You’ve been out with him all day and didn’t tell me?!”
I nodded as the bus pulled over at our bus stop. Thank god! I was saved! Or so I thought. I grabbed my bag, slinging it over my shoulder and ran off the bus. Emily was almost as fast as me. She grabbed my wrist when we were both off the bus and spun me around.
“Don’t think you’re getting away with not telling me!” She told me.
“I’m guessing you’re coming over then?”
“Did you even have to ask?”

That was the last time I ever refused to tell Emily something. I nearly got murdered, I swear. We had told my mum that we were doing a project together so she’d let Emily come over without me letting her know before-hand. Emily had stayed and had dinner with us which was good; I didn’t have to put up with the awkwardness of eating dinner with my parents in silence like normal. I had just shut the door behind Emily after she left when Mum started talking.
“Did you girls finish your assignment?” She asked me.
“We’re pretty close,” I lied. “She might have to come over again tomorrow afternoon or something, but we got through most of the stuff really quickly.”
“That’s good, honey,” Mum smiled. “Let her know she’s allowed over whenever,”
I smiled. No more making up excuses the next time I went off with Jeremy and had to tell Emily after school. “Ok, thanks Mum,”
“Don’t worry about it,” She said, “Going anywhere tonight?”
I shrugged. “Not that I know of,”
“Just let me know if something comes up last minute. Your Father’s working his night shift tonight, and if you have no homework, I don’t have a problem with you staying out late.” She told me.
I nodded and gave her a short hug before running up to my room.
I sat on my bed and wondered what the hell was going on with me. All this time I had hated Alex. Why had I told him I was thinking about giving him a chance? Rephrase: why was I thinking about giving him a chance in the first place? All he’d ever done was be a jerk to me. Until that night at the movies, anyway. If he hates being popular so much, why doesn’t he show it? Why doesn’t he stop trying to be popular? Why did he tell me all this, of all people? A little voice in the back of my head told me that it was because he liked me. But why did he like me?
Why did I care, today on the bus, what he would think if I told Emily straight out that I had ditched school with Jeremy, and how he called me cute at the park, how we nearly died when he wouldn’t turn the radio down because his hand slipped off the steering wheel, how he kissed me to ‘make up for it’, and took me to the cave that only he knew about? Why do I care what Alex thinks, period? Since when have I cared what Alex thinks? Or rather, since when have I cared about Alex in general?
Then there was Jeremy. I got butterflies in my stomach just thinking about him. I wondered how he could have such an affect on me, this boy I’d met a day ago but felt like I had known him for years. I felt like I had known him as long as I had known Alex; since kindergarten. To be honest, I had known him since the beginning of high school, but I never knew his name and we had never talked before. I never really payed attention to him. Was it possible that he had liked me the whole time? But with Jeremy, it felt like something was missing. I just couldn't figure out what.
My heart told me to stay with Jeremy, ignoring the fact that I had only known him for two days because it felt right. But my head told me to leave Jeremy and date Alex, because I had known him longer. After what he had told me when we were stuck in the elevator at the movies, though, I wondered if I knew him at all.
***
I got on the bus the next morning and took my seat next to Emily as per usual. When we reached Alex's stop, he sat two rows in front of us across the aisle again like he had done the day before. This annoyed me for some reason.
"I'll be right back," I said to Emily, stopping her mid-sentence before grabbing my bag and sitting in the