Emails

Chapter 15

Liv.

School is a blur.

It's bleary.

Unfocused.

Seen through drowning eyes.

A tired mind.

Cole has tried to stop me in the hallways twice now. He always seems to be around my locker. It's a little unnerving.

I narrow my eyes at the bright smile he always has plastered on his face.

I open my locker. Grab and replace the textbooks and notebooks stacked in my hands.

"Are you stalking me?"

His smile turns innocuous. The little boy's innocent eye. "What?"

He is trying not to laugh. He is trying to make it like I have no idea what is going on. He is trying to make it seem like he is not a stalker. He is. Why is he always following me?

I side eye him. Frown. Turn away.

He sighs. It's a big, loud, sigh that is so exaggerated, you wonder how his lungs can spare so much air. It's so long to the point where it wheezes at the end. A lilting accent that is breathless.

"Okay-okay, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to figure you out, you know?"

I blink at him. "No, I don't know."

He sighs again. Shorter this time. More reasonable. "Sorry. We still on for tonight?" He looks hopeful.

"That's what the email said. But please stop waiting at my locker so much. It's mildly creepy," I admit.

His eyes go wide. He pinks. He's the type that is easily embarrassed. "Sure, sorry." He stutters. It is the kind of adorable when a kid is caught trying to persuade their parents for candy.

I realize that there are people watching us. Eyes even wider than Cole's dart and flit like fireflies from one person to the other. Whether it's me, or Cole, or their friend. They giggle. Say that Shark Girl is hitting it up with the cute boy over there.

I blink. Startled. A dear in headlights. We are having a diplomatic conversation. Are they all deaf?

Blue eyes peer at me. They ask, are you okay? I'm not. Jesus, what kind of question is that?

He grasps my shoulders. I flinch. He takes them away.

"Sorry-" He says that a lot now "-I didn't mean to."

I'm flustered. I'm annoyed at myself for being flustered. I'm annoyed with my own gender. I'm annoyed that he keeps apologizing even though it's not his fault I'm annoyed.

"See you later? I'll see you at 6. Near the bubble tea shop down the corner."

I practically run away this time.