Not For You || ON HOLD

CHAPTER 4

"I hope you're happy now," Max grumbles, slamming the car door shut as I roll my eyes.

"I went over time, it's not the end of the world," I reply, unable to help feeling guilty now.

I decided to go to the gym this morning, which made Max and I late for class, which is unfortunately Literature.

"Brownie will make sure it's the end of our lives though," Max chuckles, pinching the bridge of his nose as he shakes his head.

"Oh I'm sorry, am I eating into your time with Zahlia?" I laugh, now realising why he's annoyed at me.

"Yes, obviously," he scoffs, putting his hands up in defeat, "Can't a man miss the girl he's in love with?" he asks.

"Just ask her out then," I argue, "That'd be better than just using a class assessment to spend time with her,"

He shrugs, "We'll see," which is code for 'no'. Max has liked Zahlia since we all started at college, and is something which has never progressed, despite his constant talking about her. I'm honestly surprised she doesn't know yet.

We walk through the quiet halls until we reach the classroom, looking over at Max before I push the door open.

All eyes fall on us and I swear I see Dahlia roll her eyes before she looks over at Zahlia, who just laughs and mutters something to her.

"So nice of you two to join us," Brownie says in an unimpressed tone, "Find your partners and continue with the project," he doesn't give us a second glance before he looks back down to his laptop.

"That went better than expected," Max mutters under his breath, patting my shoulder before walking over to where Dahlia and Zahlia are sitting.

I walk over to Max and I's usual desk, sitting down and getting my laptop out, looking up as Dahlia sits down beside me.

The soft smell of vanilla wafts over me, catching me off guard as Dahlia gives me a polite smile.

"I split up the work, so since you didn't read Frankenstein it won't really matter," she says, turning her laptop to face me.

"You already started?" I ask, dumbfounded as I scan over the page and half she's already completed, trying to concentrate on what she wrote.

"I mean, I figured since you're so busy, it would be better if I did some," she explains.

I nod slowly, "So, sorry, where do you want me to start?" I ask, blinking like an idiot as I read the screen.

"Um, probably here, just researching other works written at the same time as Frankenstein," Dahlia says, pointing to the screen which clearly outlines what I'm supposed to do.

How did I miss that? Fuck I'm dumb.

"Right, ok," I say, opening Google.

"What year was Frankenstein published?" I ask mindlessly.

"Um, 1818 I think," Dahlia replies, sounding disinterested.

I hum in response, typing in books published in 1818, not really sure what I'm looking for.

"Maybe try to find other books in the gothic genre, and books written by women during the 19th century," Dahlia suggests, her voice tight, suggesting that she doesn't love leaving this up to me.

I nod, "I'll just make a list," I say, going onto the first wikipedia page.

"Sounds good," she says, typing on her laptop, shifting her body slightly away from mine.