Lost in Love

Chapter 1 - The Project

"She'd never go for someone like me."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
I give him a quick nudge, "you know what I mean."
She's sits a few rows ahead of us. Long black hair, tied in a high ponytail. Brilliant. She's brilliant, yet I was being honest, she doesn't know me. Even if she did, she would never be with me. I'm a freak. My home is broken, I'm gay, and I dress like the "goth slut" according to everyone else.
"Ms. Roberts. Would you kindly pay attention?"
"Oh, right, apologies," she roles her eyes as she continues.
"Luna and Bella will be our final pairing."
Ryan grabbed my arm, his mouth looking as though he wanted to let out a massive scream. I shushed him and removed his hand.
"Now what?" I whispered to him.
He cocked a brow, "you know what."
This was our final class of the day. As Ry and I packed up, he elbows me and jolts his head behind us.
"What?" I ask, grabbing my phone.
"Hey," the voice comes from behind me. Ry raises a brow and smirks.
I turn around, "hey."
"So we have been put together as partners?"
"Yeah, I guess we have," I chuckle
"Do you want to start brain storming tonight at your house?"
"Um, sure it's 1952 4th street."
"Great, see you at 7?"
"Sure," I respond as she walks out the door.
"Oooooo," Ry gloats, "you got a date."
"It is not a date," we continue down the halls, "we are working on the project, the same one you're working on with Dan."
He stops at his locker.
"So by your logic, that means you and Dan have a date."
He falls silent.
"I'm right, she would never go on a date with me. Now can we please drop it and go hang out at your place until the project?"
"Yeah, whatever. So are you going to change?"
"What? Why?"
He looks me up and down.
"Oh, shut up. There is nothing wrong with what I'm wearing."
"Okay."
We finished walking to his house. It had thankfully only taken him 5 minutes to drop the whole "it's a date thing."
"Hey Mrs. Jeffery,"I greeted his mom, who was practically waiting at the door.
"Hey kids. How was school?"
"Very boring mom, although Luna has a date tonight."
"Really?"
I start pushing Ry into his room before he can make fun of me anymore. "What are you thinking?"
He begins to laugh.
"Your mom is never going to leave me alone about it now!"
"Oh please."
I flop on his bed, "you know I'm right. You know how she is about that stuff."
I toss his basically weightless bag onto him after he lays down beside me.
"Maybe now you'll wipe that smug look off your face." I get up and look in his mirror. "What's wrong with my outfit Ry?"
"There's nothing wrong with it, as long as it's not a date."
"Then good, because it's not a date."
"Ok, ok." He raises his hands, to reveal two controllers, "how about a few rounds on the tracks?"
I lean on my hand and look at him, trying to stay upset, but he makes me grin.
"I knew I could break you," he jumps on the mattress and passes me one.
After almost 2 hours of playing I glance at my phone, noticing that it's nearing 6, "shoot, shoot, shoot."
"What?"
I begin grabbing my sweater and bag, "it's almost six, I have to go so I can cook and have time to eat before Bella gets there."
"You know my mom can make enough for you and then drive you home."
"Yes, I know, but then she'll question me about the "dating" thing the whole time, and I don't need to have any stress when I'm working on the project."
He passes me something from his desk, "don't open it until you get home."
I look at him and raise my brow, "what-"
He cuts me off, "don't ask, you'll see."
"Ok, I'll text you later, love you!"
"Love you!"
I rush down the hall and to the door, "see you later Mrs. Jeffery."
"See you dear."
I rush to my house, which is 10 blocks away. When I get home, I heat up the left overs mom left last night. While I eat, I open the little envelope. A note and a necklace,
"Thought this would help you at some point. I knew it was inevitable for you to see Bella outside of school, and just in case I'm hoping this will help. This necklace is Sodalite, it's supposed to help in stressful situations. Hope this helps luv, love you!"
It's absolutely beautiful, royal blue with white speckles in it. He knows how much I enjoy crystal's and always knows the right ones to find, I can't help but wonder how long he's had this one. I put it on and wash my dishes. I hear the knock.
"Hey."
"Hi."
"Come on in," I have a sudden feeling of butterflies in my stomach.
I watch as she gawks around my house, clearly not the kind of place she's used to. A tiny two bedroom place that can barely hold two people. We walk into my room, and get straight down to business, we begin to work on the project separating the questions as needed.
After a couple of hours, we decided to call it a night.
"So, we still have a couple days to work on this, do you wanna work on it for a bit tomorrow?"
I hesitated before answering, "sure, where?"
"Are you ok with doing it here again?"
"I mean- sure."
"Cool, see you at school, and then afterwards."
She left and I slummed onto the "couch."
8pm
R: Hey, what happened luv?
8:34pm
R: Hey
Has she really not left yet
9:02pm
R: You guys are kissing, aren't you?
I knew it
It's a date
I win
9:23pm
L: Dude, chill out
We were working
No one was kissing anyone
Jeez
R: So you didn't get any signs or anything from her?
L: No, also, how are you still on your phone
Your mom hates you being on it so late
R: Shh
She'll never know luv
L: If only you could see my face
R: I can imagine
Goodnight
L: Goodnight
I lie on my bed. "Now what?" I mumble to myself.
I turn over and hold on to my pillow, "I really hope she doesn't find out, secrets are going to save me here."
The next day feels normal, as Ry leans against the locker next to mine.
"So, you going to tell me what happened last night?" He's beyond excited, to get all the "tea."
"Well, she showed up at my house, where I was dying to see her," he's nodding beside me, "and then she came in, and we went to my bedroom and..."
I close my locker, leaving it there.
"And what? LUNA!"
I walked down the hall laughing, "see you at lunch Ry."
Classes were beyond boring, so I constantly found myself doodling in the margins of my notes. Simple things,  flowers, squiggles, smiley faces, the usual pictures you'd find in a notebook. As I slowly continued to get through my classes, I kept laughing to myself at the thought of what was going through Ry's head. I'm just awaiting the questions that will follow through the lunch hour, and into 4th and 5th period.
I consistently watch the clock, giving myself enough time to pack up and get out of the class, not wanting to stick around longer than I have to.
3..2..1.. the long awaited sound, time to hear Ry out, and perhaps stop leaving him on the cliffhanger that isn't even interesting.
I sit outside waiting in our normal lunch spot. Trying to run through my notes before 4th period.
I glance up to see two pairs of legs standing in front of me.
"You'll never believe who caught up with me in the hall, looking for you," Ry might as well have said, "look it's your crush, try kissing her."
I give a slight smile, "what's up Bella?"
"I was just wondering if we could get together for the assignment right after school, instead of tonight?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Awesome, I hoped you'd understand. See you after class." She walked off and Ry sat down across from me.
"So last night-"
"Nothing happened."
He looked down grinning, "but you wanted something to happen?"
"No!" I could here myself lying, "can we please just change the subject?"
"Are you ready for the test today?"
"Not particularly, I'm terrified."
We finished eating and spent the rest of the time studying, he is really good at science, he makes it so I can understand.
"Ready?" He asks as we walk to class.
"As ready as I'm gonna be, I guess."
After the hour was up, and we handed in our exams, it was off to our final class.
"Only one more hour," I mumble.
Ry's brow raises.
"You know that's not what I'm looking forward to," I chuckle and nudge him slightly.
When we walk into class, Bella waves and smiles, while we find our seats.
"Uh oh, someone's blushing," Ry begins to bug me.
"Oh, shut up."
Class was boring yet again, but I tried to stay focused. We got to pack up a bit early today, so while I waited for Ry to get out of the class, I ran to the computer lab to print some stuff for this afternoon, as well as some things to do while I'm bored this weekend.
"Hey, where should I meet you to go over to your place?" Bella startled me a little, as she entered the lab.
"I have to go to my locker as well as Ryan's, if you want to meet me at the back entrance?"
"Sure, how long do you suppose you'll be?"
Ry walks into the lab as she's talking, "ready?"
"Yeah," I turn back to Bella, "I'll be there in less than 15."
She nods and walks out, with a quick wave.
Ryan and I hit both lockers, in less than 10 minutes, and head to the entrance, where he waits with me.
Bella shows up a few minutes later, so Ryan heads off.
As we begin to walk I question whether or not I should start a conversation. I mean, we aren't friends, we're just partners for an assignment. That's all. The walk to my house, which involves a lot of sketchy sections within the area, feels longer then normal.
"What's that place?" Bella points to a small clearing in the trees, with two rocks sitting across from one another.
"It's nothing, the younger kids like to hang out there."
"Oh, how fun," she's incredibly happy about it.
We stay pretty quiet through the rest of the walk.
When we get to my place, I decide we should work in my room, while I know it's unlikely, I can't help but worry that my parents will come home and be... well... them.
"Hey, what's this?"
I grab my notebook and glance up, "oh my god, th-that's nothing," I run to the other side of the room, to take down my rainbow flag. I had taken it down yesterday, since I had time, but she sprang coming after school during the day.
She looks confused, but I change the subject back to the assignment. We got a good portion completed by the time she decided to leave.
"Have a good evening," I stand in the doorway.
"Yeah, you too."
After she leaves, I get the door locked and make up some food. By the time I'm done and I clean up, I am completely exhausted. I decide to relax on the couch with the TV on. What a way to spend a Friday night.
A knock comes, and unfortunately I am the only one here, as usual, so I have to answer it.
"Hey?" I'm exhausted and confused, as I find Bella back at my door.
"Hey... can I stay here tonight?" I could tell she'd been crying, "I understand if I can't, but-"
"Of course you can, are you okay?" I open the door more, so she can come in, "you can stay in my room."
"Thank you so much for this."
"Yeah, of course," I gather up a blanket and pillow to take to the couch with me, "please, let me know if you need anything."
When I reach the couch, just before I go to sleep, I have to alert Ry of this chaos.
12:53am
L: She's staying the night...
R: What?
L: She left, I got my stuff together, and was on the couch
Next thing I know, she was back at my front door, she was upset and needed somewhere to stay
R: Why?
L: I have no idea, I didn't ask, I didn't want to pry
R: ...
You know this is how psychopaths get in and kill people
L: Oh haha, you know that's not what's happening
R: Do you tho?
L: Ugh!
R: I'm right :)
L: No, you're not. That's not it.
R: Alright, mom's mad at me for being on my phone, gn
L: Good night Ry <3