War in Broadway High

6. Won't say I'm in Love

Chapter 6: Won't say I'm in Love

Cady.

That Monday morning, sitting on AP calculus, Cady felt more confident than ever about making it in the school and finding her place. She had friends, and they'd trusted her with a mission, it was good. Even though Veronica was in the same class, she'd told her they had to sit away from each other, since Cady couldn't be associated with anything regarding the Heathers if they wanted the other group to accept her.

That had a benefit however, because she got to sit behind Aaron. Aaron Samuels. He was so dreamy! She'd been completely smitten since her very first class, even though they hadn't actually exchanged a single word yet.

"If any of you would like to join our Mathletes team, Kevin here is the man to see, they need four people to compete..." Miss Norbury was saying, though Cady was barely paying attention, too busy staring at the back of Aaron's head, his curls just the right amount of messy. Suddenly, the boy turned towards her.

"Hi, I'm Aaron. You're new here?"

Finally he'd noticed her! Holding in her excitement, trying to appear cool and in control, she replied:

"Me Cady."

Her entire insides turned with inner cringing, but she continued:

"I just moved here two weeks ago. Hoping to make some human friends."

He smiled softly.

"Cool. Uh, got an eraser?"

"I would love to," she replied without thinking. Oh my god keep it together. "I mean, yes!" she handed it to him. He gave her a small smile and turned back, allowing her to safely hide her head in her arms in embarrassment.

She'd never been good at love. Boys either ran from her, literally, or laughed at her, she just didn't get it. In maths, you followed some exact steps, and would always get the correct result. It made sense. But every time she tried at love, it didn't matter if she followed all the parts of the equation like you were supposed to, the result was still wrong.

"X equals three," she replied without skipping a beat at the teacher's question at that moment. Miss Norbury seemed surprised.

"That's correct! Let's try another one..." she wrote an equation on the board.

"K equals negative three," Cady stated, which of course was also correct.

Great at math, stupid with love. She had decided to just give up on it...until now, until him. He was just like...someone from TV, like right out of a romantic comedy, just so perfect. Those eyes, she could just swim in...

"Wow, are you trying to make the rest of us look dumb?" Aaron asked her lightheartedly, a smile curling his lips in the most attractive way possible.

"I'm not trying to, it's just happening," she quipped, smiling back.

"Okay, challenge accepted. I'm gonna have to play at your level, like how J.R. Smith got better when he was challenged by LeBron James when they united. Oh, also, Miss Norbury is tough and a little weird, but you get to like her eventually."

"Like snake meat," she nodded in understanding.

He laughed. It wasn't a joke, just honesty, but she loved the sound so much she didn't clarify.

Damn it...she really was falling in love, wasn't she?

A couple of hours later, at lunchtime, she took a deep breath as she clutched her tray tightly, waiting in line for her food. It was time, she couldn't disappoint her friends, she had to earn herself a place with The Plastics. Shiny, fake and hard... she tried to channel everything she'd learned from Veronica, if she had been able to make herself a spot with the Heathers, then so would Cady with these girls.