DUSK TILL DAWN | ON HOLD

9

modern loneliness, we're never alone but always depressed

Neve was anxious. She couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Zach was planning on coming over to her house after school, and she couldn't stop thinking about the risk she was taking by letting him. She knew they needed to work on this project - without the presence of other people. She did plan on going to the library when possible, but it wasn't always going to be open for them to go to and who knew if Dina would show up the way she had last time and prevent them from getting anything done.

The thought of Chris walking in to find Zach at their house was scary. It scared her tremendously for multiple reasons, and the more she thought about it, the bigger the headache she got.

The final bell rang. Neve sat there and inhaled a sharp breath, almost too afraid to get out of the uncomfortable wooden desk. She knew she couldn't wait forever, because even if she had decided to take her time in leaving the class it wouldn't change the fact that Zach had planned on waiting for her in the parking lot.

After shoving her things in her backpack, she finally stood from the desk. Thankfully, a lot of students had cleared the halls for the most part, so finding her way to her locker to grab her things was easier than usual.

It was only when she was putting her textbooks away she didn't need that someone had walked up beside her. "Riding the bus today Newbie?"

Neve looked over to see Jackson standing there. She hadn't talked to him lately - let alone seen him. When she did see him and got on the bus, they sat together but that was the extent of any type of friendship between the two. It was acquaintances more than anything else.

"Oh, actually no," Neve responded as she finished getting in her locker. "I have a study... date." 

The words were very foreign to her. She hadn't ever used the word 'date' before unless she was talking about the current day. She hadn't ever had a study date, let alone been on a real one. And even though this was just that - a simple study date - it didn't change the fact that the title held a lot of weight and still made Neve nervous.

She was going to be alone with Zach. Not just studying alone together, but alone in her entire house. No parents, no teachers, no friends or people around. It was new to her, and she was already anxious enough, so attempting to explain any of it to Jackson wouldn't work out in her favor.

"A date?" Jackson raised his eyebrow. He lightly laughed as if it were a joke, "Maybe this is me reading you wrong again, but you don't really seem like the type to go on study dates."

Neve shrugged. She didn't know what to say, simply because this was true. Jackson read her right this time, she wasn't the type to go on study dates let alone dates at all. This was new to her, but she didn't feel like explaining that to the boy.

"Not that I'm judging you or anything." Jackson then held his hands up in defense, "Just stating my observations since anytime we talk that's all we really chat about."

"You might be right, might not," Neve responded. She shut her locker and turned toward him, holding some of her books in her arms. "To be fair, though, we have only had maybe one or two real conversations."

"You got me there," Jackson said. "Doesn't mean it's fun trying to guess. Especially since you already know so much about me, yet I seem to know nothing about you."

"It's just better that way," Neve softly explained. It was true, because if even Chris was a little lighter on how strict she was - it didn't change the fact that hiding a lot of her past was easier than telling people.