He's A Nerd {marcel styles}

Chapter 11

*Marcel's POV*

"What's wrong?" Ryleigh asked, a small pout resting on her lips.

I snapped out of my thoughts and turned my gaze to her.

"Me? Oh, nothing, sorry- I'm just a little tired. I had an English project that really wore me out this week." I leaned back in my chair, and lifted a hand to fix my hair, momentarily forgetting that my hair rested in softer curls.

"What are you thinking of getting to eat?" Ryleigh asked, bringing her elbow up to sit on the table and resting her cheek in her palm, batting her eyelashes.

I looked over to see Rose dart from her table and vanish from my sight.

"Um, I think I'll have the ravioli. A friend recommended it." I answered, my voice drifting off as Rose reappeared and then disappeared as quickly as she entered my line of sight.

Ryleigh snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Are you sure you're okay?" she repeated.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just going to go to the bathroom, be right back."

I bolted from the table in the direction of Rose, trying to catch her eye. I turned the corner into the hall near the bathrooms, colliding head-on with someone.

"Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry," Rose looked up. "Oh, hi Marcel! I didn't even know you were here!" she said, her voice pitched about an octave higher than normal, and I could tell she was lying, or at least trying to cover something up.

"Hey, Rose! What are you doing here, this is kinda fancier than your usual night," I said.

"Well, since you asked, Miles sort of invited me out here tonight."

"Oh, oh yeah, that's cool." For some reason, it felt as though the room was getting a bit hotter.

"And, um, are you here with Ryleigh?" she asked, sort of choking out the last few words.

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered, under my breath.

"Well, this is a nice place to take her." Every word out of Rose's mouth sounded distorted and awkward.

"Yeah, I'd been with my parents before and I thought it would be good for a first date."

"Oh, yeah, well, um, I'm going to head back to my table, but um, good seeing you! See you in bio?" Rose rushed off in the other direction back to her table in a flash of pink, and was gone in seconds flat.

Confused, I retreated back to my table, with a horrible sinking feeling in my chest. Why was she here with Miles? I thought they were just partners, nothing more. I couldn't help but want to go over and sit with her and just talk like the old days, but instead I sat back down across from Ryleigh and sighed.