Not What I Expected

Chapter 9: What's His Problem?

1:00 pm, break between class:

Bella leaned against her locker, waiting for me to grab my textbook for the next period. I caught her up on all things Connor.

"No way you kissed him?" She punched my shoulder in excitement.

"I know, I felt like you with all this random Confidence." She laughed at the hidden compliment. I closed my locker before strolling alongside Bella down the student-filled halls.

"So much for Leonardo." she joked, nudging my shoulder.

"Don't remind me. I don't know what came over me, maybe I needed the gentle reminder that I don't need to fancy the first boy who gives me attention."

"That's my girl." She jumped, proud of my conclusion.

"Things seem better this way. Me with Connor, you seem to be pretty cuddled up with Christian. All of that and I'm STILL friends with Leo. Win, win, win!" I sighed in relief, stopping in front of my class, Bella stepped to face me.

"Don't forget to stay real. You don't wanna lose what's in here." She pokes my left breast, right where my heart would sit.

"My boob?" I placed my hand where she had poked and raised a brow

"Ha ha." She responds sarcastically. "You never let me get away with being wise. I am older than you." She crossed her arms, twitching her neck side to side sassily.

"By like two months!" I push her, forcing her to run off to class.

I walked into class smiling, genuinely thrilled to be where I was.

I headed over to where I usually sat, in front of Leo. He sat with his head facing down to his workbook, scribbling something into his paper.

"Hey, stranger." I greeted playfully. Due to the abruptness of my presence, Leo quickly swatted the paper onto his lap where he began folding it, small enough to it into his pant pocket where he then placed it.

"Hello." I laugh in confusion.

"What was that about?" I curiously asked regarding the paper.

"Nothing, Christian needed me to do something for him...it's private." he sounded convincing enough for me not to continue pestering him about it. Besides, I was in too good a mood to care enough.

The bell rang and the supposed substitute teacher rose from his office chair. "Alright class, Mr. Collins is out sick today so you'll be doing practical work. I've left the coursework and instructions on your benches, off you go," he instructs.

I joyfully made my way over to my shared counter with Leo trailing sluggishly behind me.

"Someone's bubbly today." He analyses.

"What gave it away?"

"Well for one you're wearing a bright red top with funky denim flared pants, different from your usual all-black hoodie and sweatpants."

"Didn't realize you paid that much attention to what I wear," I say while focussing on getting all of our equipment out of the draws.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Connor Mcoye, would it?" I jumped up and looked at him in shock.

"How do you know about that?" He leaned his body weight on his right arm and he rested on the edge of the counter, crossing his leg over the other.

"Mr McCoye himself seemed to have a lot of fun telling pretty much all of the boys here," he says humorously.

"Yeah, well, we aren't together if that's what you're wondering... We aren't even really 'talking'... I mean we aren't even a thing... unless he considers us a thing... but I mean we only went out once... and well-" he cuts me off.

"Lucia...shut up," he demanded jokingly, we both laughed. "Look, I've overheard that you guys went out for a little car ride and that you're his semi-gal" Semi-gal is what the boys at my school called the girls they are talking to but aren't official with. A little bit of Oak Wood High Lingo for you.

"So what do you think of him?" he asks curiously.

"I guess I like him, he's really sweet. It also kinda helps that we have some history. I used to like him but I thought he liked this other girl Nadia, but turns out"

"Nadia" he repeated under his breath, preventing my desire to continue the story.

"You know her?" I queried.

"I guess, She came up to me during lunch break, while I was throwing a ball around with the boys." He spoke so casually, invested in working through our class work. But I was far too interested now.

"What did she want?" Leo looked down at me, eyebrows furrowed. I couldn't blame his lack of understanding for the reasoning behind my curiosity. I begged with my eyes.

"Not that it matters but she was just trying to get my number." My heart sank, she had probably found out that Connor and I went out and were 100% trying to get back at me.

"That bitch." I murmur to myself, averting my eyes from Leo's gaze.

"Woah, okay. Is there something I should know?"

"It's nothing. It's just, that Nadia, Bella, and I have some history and we aren't exactly the best of friends with Nadia anymore. She's probably talking to you to get to me." I theorized.

"Why exactly would she use me to get to you?" I didn't process what I had said before the words left my mouth.

"Well, maybe she thought we were together or something, I don't know." I nervously fidget with the gadgets on the countertop, desperately trying to avoid the discussion.

"Is there a reason why anyone would think that?" he smirked down at me, who continued to avoid eye contact at all costs.

"No there isn't." I blatantly stated, putting an end to Leo's humours. He finally pulled his focus to the work in front of us, leaving a brief moment of silence before speaking up once more.

"I didn't give her my number, in case you were wondering." A rush of relief flowed through my body, glad that Nadia didn't have this leverage over me.

"Why not? As much as I don't like her I can't deny that she's pretty." I competed.

"Not my type, I'm not into girls who just fall at my feet." He turned to face me once more, forcing me to lock eyes with him, 'I like a challenge." He winked, causing me to scoff at his playful flirt.

"Well, you came to the right school if you're looking for challenging girls." I joked.

"So what exactly does Connor have that makes you so interested in him." The questions kept coming, I didn't even know what I felt toward Connor. After all, it had only been one date.

"I don't know, he's charming." I picked the first identifiable trait that came to mind, trying to dodge the topic as I still had a lot of unresolved thoughts towards Leo.

"Charming is another way of saying boring." He gently uttered, seemingly uninterested in my answer. I was taken aback by his remark.

"That's not at all what I meant." I bat, defensively.
"You know maybe I will give Nadia a call, seeing as that's what people do when they are bored around here." He threw shade, left right, and center. I had no idea where this was coming from, especially since he mentioned Connor so effortlessly, to begin with.

"I don't know where this petty talk is coming from but Connor happens to be nice, and invested at least." I shut him down, pulling my focus into setting up the equipment for our lesson in Chem.

"I don't care what you choose to do in your spare time." He forces himself to get the last word in. I chose not to respond, it felt like a waste of energy but a quick reminder as to why having feelings for him in the first place was a mistake. He was emotionally immature.