Sirens (Theo Raeken) [1]

Self Defence

Theo seems to be everywhere today.

This makes avoiding him extremely difficult and I have to take a surrogate route multiple times throughout the course of the day.

Lydia assists me in this task and we hang around separately from the rest of the group. "How was the party?" she asks as we fall into step behind a loud group of freshmen.

"Great," I say loudly over the the loud voice of the freshmen. Ah, how I remember being so young and full of life, I reminisce in my head. "They had good cheese."

She looks at me funnily. "They served cheese? At a party?"

"No," I reply, skirting out of the way of a giant of a guy. "I went snooping in their fridge."

She cocks her head slightly. "And what did Brett think of you stealing from someone else's fridge?"

I shrug. "He was with his friends. He probably didn't even notice."

She stops in her tracks. "Are you saying that he ditched you at the party?"

I shrug. "I guess so," I hedge. "I don't mind, though."

She links her arm through mine. "You should mind," she says. "Tell me he at least gave you a ride home." I don't answer and clutch my books closer uncomfortably. "You drove yourself home, didn't you?"

I nod gently. I'm saved from having to say anything because we arrive at the biology classroom. I start to walk through, but Lydia tugs me back. "Theo's your lab partner," she says. "How are you going to avoid him now?"

I take a deep breath. "I guess I'll just have to sit next to him and ignore him."

She looks at me. "You can't do that," she says. "Brett will get the impression that you two are still friendly."

I stare at her blankly. "I can sit with whoever I want to," I say, stepping into the classroom. "And besides, he's not in the position to complain about me sitting next to a friend."

I drop down into the seat next to Theo and use my hair as a crude sort of curtain. "Arden?" he asks. I ignore him and he doesn't press the matter any further.

Our teacher enters and smacks her books down on her desk. I glance up briefly. "To start off the lesson," she says, scrawling something on the board, "you're going to work in pairs to answer these ten questions."

I grunt internally as I glance over at Theo. He looks back at me uncertainly. "I'm not working with you," I say bluntly. He looks taken aback and a little hurt.

"Who are you going to work with, then?" he asks.

I scan the room and realise that everyone is in pairs already. "Myself," I declare. "I'm going to work by myself."

He shakes his head. "Fine with me," he says.

I unzip my pencil case and rummage through it. I have no pen, I realise, immensely aggravated. I could ask Theo for one, I suppose.

Instead I get up and out of my seat in search for Lydia. I lean over her desk. "Can I please borrow a pen?"

She glances up at me. She sighs and goes through her pencil case. "Doesn't Theo have a pen?"

"I'm not speaking to Theo," I tell her.

"Mhmm." She digs around in her pencil case some more. She's buying time to keep me talking to her, I realise. "He hasn't tried talking to you?"

I shake my head. "I haven't given him the chance to."

Her eyes light up and she produces a pen. I make a grab for it. She pulls it away. "Not until you promise me you'll sort things out with Theo," she says.