Irritable Love

Chapter 8

"Never."

Is that remorse in his voice? Could this repulsive human being feel sorry for his mistakes? Is he repulsive anymore? Do repulsive people regret their decisions? These questions flooded my mind as Jerk Jock muttered his last word before descending into silence, leaving me with my thoughts. Perhaps he is no longer repulsive, just a nuisance that I deal with. Today is in the first day of a week in the torturous punishment of spending time with Chad and helping the community. Although I'm no longer sure which is the worst punishment.

The students race to exit the bus and leave me to wait until we are only remaining students. Fantastic. I shift my backpack strap and step into the aisle when I feel warm hands on my hips. They turn me towards Jerk Jock, who looks at me with an unreadable expression. I raise my eyebrow, waiting for what he has to say. When he says nothing, I speak for myself.

"Let me go," I request with as much force as I can muster.

He releases me and I exit the bus without turning back. If he thinks he can touch me whenever he wants he is definitely mistaken. I hear the sound of a warning bell and race to my history classroom. Mr.Quincy, my history teacher, is a stocky man with a long, thick beard. His dark, brown eyes are always filled with happiness and enjoyment. He talks about history as if he is telling stories he shared with his "good ol' pals". He carries a briefcase that contains a comb for his beard.

"Alright class," he begins. "Today you will be working in pairs on a project about the caste system."

I sigh softly at the mention of collaboration. I prefer to keep to myself and work alone. It's difficult to trust people to balance the work. I always manage to be picked last by a stupid, illiterate, vulgar teenager.

"I have created the partnerships myself, and I believe you will enjoy them," he finishes. I feel as though that sentence was for me.

"Abby is paired with Martin. Kia is paired with Maddi. Robert is paired with Selena. Amy is paired with Chad. Nathan is paired with Julie. Lee is paired with Matt. Amelia is paired with Jake..."

Wait. I have finally been paired with an appropriate partner. Jake is known for being wildly intelligent and extremely humorous. He has short, brown hair paired with sea green eyes. Girls swooned over both his personality and looks, quite unlike the boneheaded hotties like Jerk Jock.

He walked up to me with a contagious smile. "I guess we're partners now," he grins.

"That we are," I reply with a matching grin.

"Well all we have to do is find an interactive way to represent the caste system," he states.

He was obviously paying more attention to the instructions than I was. "Oh yeah," I reply.

He sends me yet another smile. "You weren't paying any bit of attention, were you?"

I sigh. "Not even a little."

He chuckles. "That's alright, I rarely pay attention."

I scoffed and reply. "Jake Smote, the most intelligent human being in 1st period history, rarely pays attention in class."

He waves me off and laughs. "I can be easily distracted."

"By what," I question.

"You."

I feel a blush creep onto my cheeks and glance down with a small smile. His words are kind, but I'm automatically assuming they're just empty words. There's nothing special about me, so why would any boy become distracted by me, let alone Jake Smote.

"So," he says as he clears his throat.

"So," I repeat.

He grins, unfazed by my awkwardness. "How about that caste system?"

We laugh and begin to actually work on the project. Working with Jake proved to be an enjoyable experience. The only odd part of this event is Jake's random staring at me and Chad's angry glares towards Jake. By the end of class, I was glad to be free of the peculiar staring contest between them.

2nd period was a blur of mathematics and word problems that made me glad that I had the early lunch period. I was enjoying the turkey sandwich I packed myself when I heard a loud chorus of cheering adolescents. I quietly finished my sandwich in the near empty cafeteria. When I attempted to exit, I found a large crowd surrounding both Jake and Chad.

It seems like every boy I meet is an idiot.