The Truce

Chapter 9

Between the whole thing with Sebastian's dad and my talk with Natalie, by the time school started on Monday, I was totally drained. I'd forgotten all about my humiliating evening at the game and I wasn't prepared for the smirks and 'hilarious' little comments from Sebastian's football buddies. But of course, they made me remember quickly enough that things between Sebastian and me were going to be just so incredibly awkward.

Having never paid attention to his schedule before, I was afraid I might accidentally spot him now that I really didn't want to. So I mostly kept my head down, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Until lunch, at least. I felt confident that I knew roughly where he was then, without having to look, so I was able to relax a bit.

But that only lasted until I remembered that I would see him in class, next hour. I wanted to ask Natalie to do recon and let me know if he was sitting there, laughing his annoyingly cute butt off and looking in my general direction, but I didn't want Kennedy or Ashley, or especially Scott to hear.

So after working up the nerve, I risked peeking at his table. He was laughing at something, but, I was very glad to realize, it wasn't me. I didn't think, anyway. He didn't seem to be paying attention to me at all. For some reason, I found it hard to look away. I was used to glaring at him, for the purpose of showing how much I didn't like him. I hadn't spent a lot of time looking at him when he wasn't scowling back at me. But I took the opportunity to try to see him differently. To try to see if I might be able to let go of my resentment and possibly see him as just a person again.

Something told me it was too long. You can't watch someone for that long and have them not notice, but did I listen? Of course I didn't.

Sebastian suddenly looked up and met my eyes. He was surprised for a second, but then he smirked obnoxiously, reminding me of my humiliation. And, darn it, I'd probably just given him more ammunition. Feeling my face warm, I quickly brought my attention back to my own table to find that Ashley was watching me, looking pensive.

"What?" I was instantly defensive, sure she was about to say something that would make Scott flip out.

"You have really pretty eyes," she said, making me slump a little in relief. Gladly I remembered that Ashley was always kind of oblivious.

"Um, thanks."

"You should ditch the glasses," she suggested. "No one can see how amazing your eyes are. I can do your make up so the blue in them would really pop."

I smiled. She was oblivious, but sweet sometimes. "Thanks," I said, but I can't take contacts for very long."

"If you got rid of those things, people probably wouldn't think you were a nerd," Kennedy chimed in. "You'd just be known as being smart then." The way she said the word smart was still not favorable.

"Have you ever tried to wear something on your eyeball?" I asked her.

"Gross!" she complained. "We're eating here."

"I didn't bring it up."

Natalie looked mildly exasperated and I shrugged. It's not like I tried to argue with Kennedy.

"Hey, leave my little nerd girl alone," Scott said, throwing his arm around my shoulders and giving me a squeeze. "I think the glasses are cute."

He was attempting to be sweet, I reminded myself as I tried not to blow up at him.

"What?" I asked through my teeth. What was cute about glasses like mine? They weren't the trendy kind that people wore to pull of a specific look. They were the kind dug painfully into your nose and made you feel like you were about to go snorkeling.