Pretty Little Liars

Chapter 5: Talk About Chemistry

Halfway through the day, Dakota plops down in the back of her chemistry classroom-- a class she shouldn't even be taking but once again, the guidance counselors at this school have screwed up her schedule. She's too scared to walk down to the office herself and tell them that she isn't qualified for such an advanced science class, though. She'll wait until she starts to fail and then do something about it.

She doodles Neah's name on the first page of her empty notebook. It was nice of her to check in earlier on her busted knee-- that is still bleeding. Dakota forgot how caring Neah has always been. She was sort of like the mother of the group: caring and nurturing. It's not like Dakota and the other girls have some huge vendetta with each other. They just grew apart after Ali went missing, and apparently that's normal. Alison was the glue that held them together. Without glue, nothing sticks.

She balances her chin on top of the stack of books in front of her, listening to Mr. Raholey speed through the syllabus that Dakota has already heard different versions of a hundred times today. She's hoping her curtain of hair will block her face from Tyler seeing it across the room. She doesn't get embarrassed too often but this morning was straight humiliating. Tyler out of all people to be the one to run her over. Just her freaking luck.

"Tyler Firestone and Dakota Winthrop," Mr. Raholey announces, blowing his squishy nose into a tissue.

"What?" Dakota perks up, clueless.

"You're lab partners," Mr. Raholey states, tossing his tissue into the waste basket by his desk. "If you weren't daydreaming, you would've heard."

"I was listening," she loudly lies, startled by the fact Tyler is already making his way over to the chair next to her at their shared desk. He's gliding. He's a God.

"We meet again." Tyler grins, setting his books down on the desk.

"Yeah, and this time it isn't with your car," she jokes, wanting to pat herself on the back because this is flirting. She remembers all the times in her room when Ali would try helping her in that department.

"You need to maybe play with your hair some more," Ali advised, running her hand through Dakota's curls. "You have so much of it, you might as well use it. Otherwise, it's just a bird's nest."

Tyler doesn't say anything for a few beats before glancing at her. "Uh, how's your knee?"

She feels a little self conscious when he glances down at her leg but she shrugs a shoulder, keeping her cool. "It's doing well. How's your knee?"

This makes him laugh for some odd reason. "It's doing pretty good, I guess. Can't complain."

"Groot."

"Groot?" he echoes.

"It means great in Dutch," she tells him. "You'd probably know that if they offered more languages at this school other than French and Spanish."

"I don't think I would take Dutch, even if it was offered."

"No talking," Mr. Raholey scolds from the front of the room, still calling out names to pair other students up.

Tyler does as he's told for just a few seconds before whispering to her again, "Are you any good at chemistry? Because I kind of suck."

She feels a muscle near her eye twitch. "I'm all right."

"Just all right?" His face falls.

"Yeah, just all right," she hisses back, eager to get him to stop talking. If they talk too much, Mr. Raholey might unpair them. "I'm no genius."

"I'll take that."

Dakota isn't sure what that means but it almost sounds perverted. She shifts in her chair and keeps her eyes ahead. This is the worst. The absolute worst. After everything that happened with Tyler's situation and now she's sitting next to him in chem class. She feels like an elephant in the room-- a giant animal seated among little ants blending in with each other while she hogs the awkward. If Tyler knew more about her family, he wouldn't be sitting next to her right now. The law wouldn't allow it.