Fitting In

Chapter 8 - Operation In The Grass pt.2

He was right next to me. I needed to get rid of him, but how?

We were both quiet, but it wasn't uncomfortable. I didn't know how to make it uncomfortable. It kinda sucked because I didn't want to have to ditch him. I honestly found him fun to talk to.

My mind was spinning. I was searching for anything. Grasping for straws and trying to find any way out of this. I could just leave, but then he would guess it was me. I wasn't quite sure what he would do with the information, so I had to be cautious.

Luckily for me the perfect opportunity arose when Ben (another kid from the team) asked Connor to spot for him. He looked over at me, and I just nudged him forward. Go, I tried to say with my eyes. Please just leave.

"I'm done anyways," I said standing up.

His eyes locked onto mine. For a second I thought he was going to say something to me, but the moment passed.

Him and Ben walked over to the benches, and after a moment I went into the locker room.

I still had three minutes to go, but I figured being a little early wouldn't hurt.

I gathered myself and tried not to smile. Excitement won, and I started grinning. There's something exhilarating about breaking the rules. About going crazy. Being unexpected. Doing whatever I want, and not letting everyone else plan everything.

Theres also something exhilarating about putting a snake into another kid's locker.

I grabbed my things and snuck out the side exit into the hallway. I looked left and then went to turn and bumped right into something hard.

Scratch that someone's hard abs.

Man, this guy is ripped.

I slowly looked up to see Connors face. He wasn't smiling this time. He just looked confused and curious.

"Ms. Taylor, lovely to see you. May I ask why your sneaking around the school at this untimely hour?"

I wasn't putting up with this Victorian crap.

"I could ask the same of you," I dodged.

"Yeah, but I actually have an answer. I do dual-enrollment classes, so on days that I don't have class I  help out in the office. They needed me earlier today, so here I am. What about you?"

A random adult rounded the corner.

"Connor! There you are! I was wondering if you forgot!" Seeing me, she stopped and frowned. "Who's this?"

Without missing a beat, Connor said, "You said you needed help, and so I brought backup. This is Taylor, she's new."

"Alright, well we better get started. Come on."

He shot me a look, and shrugged. I guess I'm stuck doing whatever this is. I quickly sent Macey a text telling her that I had been compromised, and followed them down the hall.

We rounded a corner and shuffled into the main office. The room was a cluttered mess and there was one other student filing away papers. I mentally groaned at the sight. This was going to be work. We were led over to the opposite corner, and she told us to start rearranging by date. She explained that the alphabetical system wasn't the easiest now that the new computer software was installed, and that these all needed to be sorted within the week. As soon as she turned away Conner nudged my shoulder.

"So...why were you in the hallway?"

I gathered and started sorting papers. I took a deep breath then said, "Let's sort them by year, and then we can go from there."

He grabbed my hand. A few sparks few up my arm. He looked me in the eyes, and I had the nerve to hold his gaze.

"I just saved your butt back in the hallway, and I want to know why. I could have very easily told Mrs. Kocha the truth. Honestly, I still can. Why. Where. You. In. The. Hallway?"

He leaned closer and his grip tightened as he slowly enunciated each word. We were still staring at each other. He wasn't going to drop this.

"Um..."

He raised his eyebrows.

"I don't really know how to explain this...So on Monday Tyler asked me out. I said no for irrelevant reasons. That same day he spray painted over my locker, and he's threatened to do more. I was hoping to give him a taste  of his own medicine."

He had let go of my hand at this point and was just staring at me.

"And how were you planning to do that?" he asked.

I winced. "There may or may not be a snake in my bag."

His eyes widened in confusion and disbelief, so I felt the need to elaborate. "My cousin loves snakes, and had a rescue, and she said I could let it go in his locker, and I was planning on doing that, but that obviously didn't work out..." I babbled on.

"You really have a snake?"

I nodded.

"How did you know? Who told you?"

"Told me what?"

"You don't know?"

"What?"

"Tyler's terrified of snakes. Like really terrified. In sixth grade we had a field trip to the zoo, and he wouldn't go anywhere near them. It was really funny, but also annoying because we were partners."

My face paled. Oh, no. "You're friends?"

"Used to be," he said bitterly, his face darkening as he looked off and remembered something distant and unpleasant. Although I was curious, I knew better than to ask. Some things were better left unsaid, but a lot of them seem to revolve around Tyler. In the words of my science teacher, hmmm curious.

We sorted some more in silence.

"You know," he suddenly said, "You probably would have gotten caught. The security in this place is tight. Only one person has ever gotten away with something like that here."

"Who?" I asked intrigued.

"Nobody knows, they got away with it."

"Any idea how they did it?"

"Oh, I know exactly how they did it. And I would be willing to do it agian. For a price."

"You mean..."

"Yeah, but good luck getting anyone to believe it was me. I'm this place's golden boy. That's why it was so easy. Everyone trusts me."

I just looked at him. "What's the price?"

He laughed.