The Wallflower of Parkview High

Chapter Sixteen

Zander wasn't at school the next day, which was both good and bad for me. Good because I wouldn't have to deal with his annoyed looks and that stupid tennis ball being thrown around. Bad because I just couldn't help but wonder, what had happened to him? Why did he run so fast yesterday? What was that blissful look on his face?

Oh, and why oh why was I so worried about him all of a sudden?

I was pondering these questions in social studies while sketching a picture of a corn that I thought Damien and I could use on our poster. Suddenly I heard someone snap their fingers in front of my face.

"Hello! Earth to Noah! Did you even hear what I just asked you?!" Damien huffed.

"No." I answered with a sheepish smile; Damien sighed.

"I was asking if you searched up your information yet."

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "I didn't search it up yet, sorry."

"Says the person who told me that we have to both search up information for the project." Damien scoffed. I bit my lip.

"I'm sorry, it's just - I - I have a lot of things on my mind, that's all..."

"It's fine..." Damien huffed, turning back to his computer. I watched as he began to type even more furiously than he did the time before, surprised that the keys didn't somehow break off. My mind wandered elsewhere and I couldn't help but wonder: Did he see or know of me helping Zander to the nurse?

"Noah, are you almost done with your sketches?" Damien asked, an annoyed tone lacing his voice.

"Um, almost." I murmured. Damien let out a huff of annoyance and I looked up at him.

"Look, I'm sorry-"

"It's fine." muttered. I just stared at him.

"Damien, is something wrong?" I asked.

"No."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Is this about Zander?" I asked.

As soon as the question went past my lips, I wished I could take them back. Damien stopped typing and turned to stare at me.

"Excuse me?" he asked, his voice shaky.

"Nothing-"

"You just asked me if I was acting this way because of Zander, did you?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"Well my answer is no." Damien said quickly, and then returned to typing on his computer. As I watched him, I couldn't help but feel that he was lying, that it was about Zander. Between the way he reacted, and his now clenched jaw, I simply couldn't deny it.

We worked for the rest of the class in silence, with him typing and me switching between sketching and searching up some information of my own on the internet. I had to admit, it was pretty awkward, since Damien usually tried to make conversation with me, but after what just happened, I didn't blame him. I had never been so relieved when that naselly bell rang.

"Bye, Noah." Damien said quickly, shoving his things into his backpack.

"Bye."

He was out of the classroom before I could blink.

~~~~~~

"Hey, what's wrong?"

I turned to look at Alicia's worried expression and sighed. There was so much going on in my mind right now that I couldn't think straight: Me helping Zander yesterday, Damien's reaction to the question that I had asked him in class, even his quick goodbye struck a nerve with me, and not in a good way.

"Noah, there's clearly something that's bothering you. If you want, you can tell me."

I sighed and continued to fiddle with the edge of one of the pages in my sketchbook. I wanted to tell her, but I didn't know how she would react and I for sure didn't want to repeat the same thing that happened with Damien earlier. Somehow I felt that if I told her, she would abandon me and never talk to me again, making me lose the closest person I had to a friend here.

However, I snuck a look at her hopeful expression and gave in.

"Do you know who Zander is?" I asked slowly.

"Do you mean Zander Arador?" I nodded.

" Oh yeah, I know him, he's in my math and history classes. Why are you asking?"

"Um, well..." I started, and then took a deep breath. It was now or never.

"Damien got angry when I asked about him today in history."

"What did you ask him?"

"Well he seemed quite tense today while we were working on the poster so I asked him if the reason why he was like that was because of Zander."

Alicia chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully.

"Maybe he's still angry about the argument you guys had by the bike racks the other day?" she suggested.

"But it seemed sort of deeper than that, like he knew something about Zander that I don't." I told her. Alicia waved a dismissive hand.

"Nah, I'm sure that it's just because of the argument. That or it's because of some sports thing. They're both pretty competitive when it comes to sports."

"Sounds like them..." I muttered.

"Don't think too much about it, okay?" Alicia said, putting an arm around my shoulder. I just nodded and went back to flipping through my sketchbook. As I looked at my drawings, I couldn't help but think...

Did Alicia know something about Zander and Damien that I didn't know?