The Gray Zone

CHAPTER 20

/Alexis' POV/

At dinner my mom began to talk about the conversation with my teacher and smiled brightly. "I'm very proud of you, Alexis" she recognized my hard work which I had done this whole year without a pause until now. If I couldn't have trouble I might have good grades even when I hated it. The whole damn system is wrong, but that's a bit off-topic now. 

"Mr. Dannie had also mentioned that there is a big football game this Sunday." 

I shrugged and put more rice on my plate. Madison had talked about it but I wasn't really into football or any kind of activity that involved the whole city. Levi made an "Mmhh" sound and focused at his lap again so I assumed he texted with someone. 

"So I thought I could end your punishment and we could go there as a family!" She stated and smiled at me. Without a second thought I nodded and wanted to proceed with my food but Mom added "And then I can thank Mr. Dannie for the conversation again." 

Slowly I looked up at her again. "You aren't hitting on him, or?" 

Suddenly Levi looked up too and leaned back a bit. "Nooo, Mom, you can't get together with a teacher. Nononono" 

She chuckled and examined both of us. "He's just very nice, kids, don't worry." If anything, that made me worry even more.

On Wednesday I spend my free period with Sasha again and we had expanded the subject we were studying to English and Physics too so today we were doing our homework about the laws of Newton. The library was more crowded than usual so we sat against some old bookshelves at the back with our books in our laps. I leaned a bit against him. 

"Alexis?" Sasha asked while I underlined something. I looked up and he smiled at me concerned. "I wanted to talk to you about Monday..."

My heart sunk into my stomach in surprise. "Sasha... do you really" I stuttered "Like... We promised not to talk about that again." 

He nodded and closed his eyes for a second. "I know, Alex, I know." He sighed and his bright blue eyes were locked on mine again. "It's just that I think your special Mister is playing with you. You've heard the rumors; every girl is mentioned but you." 

"Please stop." I chocked and began to freeze. Jesse had said I was the only one he thought about. The only one. The only one. My friend made a "Shh" noise as he leaned closer and before I could notice his lips were on mine again. 

"FUCK NO!" I screamed and pushed him with all of my strength back, my book fell off my lap as I crawled a few foots away from him. I breathed heavily and starred at Sasha who looked at me in surprise. "What the hell are you doing?!" 

Before he could answer one of the women who worked in the library stopped before us and examined us both. "Is everything alright?" She asked annoyed and we both more or less nodded. "Well, I may have to tell you again that this is a quiet zone. One more scream and you'll be suspended until the rest of the week." She hissed and without a chance to protest or anything, not that this wasn't my biggest concern right now, turned away and I faced Sasha again. 

He almost seemed to panic. "Alexis- I ... I just want to help you because you look so unhappy with that whole Jesse thing. I want to be there for you." 

I shook my head and smiled at the floor before getting closer to him and looked in his eyes for a long moment before starting to clarify the situation.