Library of Physics

Bring on the science!

The bell rang and students started to pour into the classroom. Natasha got her bag from the front and dropped it next to mine on the back bench. Then she got a stool and sat beside me, evicting a random student from their usual seat. No-one was going to argue with her. I looked at her, my eyebrows raised.

"Oh come on, are you going to ask me to move?" I shook my head and pushed my glasses up again. "Good," she said. "I'm just beginning to like you." My head felt light as a feather and I had to take a drink of water. My face must have gone a shade of red because she giggled at me a minute later. I admit it was hard to concentrate on what Miss Hill was saying because I knew Natasha was there.

At the end of the lesson, I stayed behind to pack away my laptop. "Do I make you feel uncomfortable?" She asked me. "No, um, not at all?" I hurriedly stuffed my books and stationary into my bag. "I'm sorry, I realise I didn't ask your name," she said, putting her hand upon mine to stop me packing away. My cheeks flushed red again and I took a deep breath to steady myself. "My name. Um. My name's Bruce. That's, uh, Bruce Banner." She smiled at me, revealing her brilliant white teeth. There seemed to be a hint of mischief in her eyes. "Nice to talk to you Bruce. Maybe I'll see you later?" She brushed past me and left the room, leaving me to recover from her presence.

The rest of my day moved slowly as I constantly pulled the memory of her back to the front of my mind. I replayed the scene over and over, but I changed my reactions or hers even to see what could of happened in an alternate universe. "Mr Banner! Do you think you could concentrate more on me rather than the back of Mr Stark's head? Thank you!" Mr Odin was often called one of the grumpiest teachers in the school, but he got good results.

Later that afternoon, the bell finally rang to dismiss the school. I left my maths class and went up to the school library to work on my homework. I didn't have a computer at home so now was the time I could use one. I got straight to work on the physics equations in a little nook in the wall. There was room for two chairs, or a chair and a desk. Today, there were two chairs rammed into the small area. 

"Why aren't you at the party over the road?" To my left were a pair of black trainers. My eyes followed up from the feet and took in the skinny jeans and the leather jacket. "Natasha?" She moved my physics work off of the opposite chair and put it onto the floor beside me, sitting herself down. "Can you not see I'm having a party here?" I replied.

She smirked. "I don't see how that's a party. I mean, physics? Bruce it's not school hours!" I said nothing but continued my calculations. "Ok then. I'll just stay here with you." I shot her a look. "I'm a nerd. Why on earth would you stay here with me?" She giggled and leant forward. I could smell her perfume; roses and lilies.

"Well you're the only person I talk to. If I went over there, they'd all just stare at me and drool. At least you can actually talk to me?" I saw her point and made no fuss of her being there. "Ok I'm bored now," she complained a few minutes later. "Can we not do something fun?" I filed away my finished homework. "Well my type of fun is ordering homework. However, I don't think that's really you, is it Natasha?"

She laughed and out her hand on my knee. "You can call me Nat." Her voice was no more than a whisper as she winked at me. "Um ok then, Nat." She beamed at me. "Let's get coffee shall we?" I agreed and texted my Mum to say I'd be working at the library later than usual. Just as she replied to tell me to he safe, Nat groaned at her phone.

"May I ask what's up?" I was cautious, aware I had only been talking to her for a day. "Just my ex-boyfriend being a dweeb." My mind went blank. "Who is your ex-boyfriend?" I mumbled. She presented her phone to me and I read the name. "Clint Barton reckons he can use me to get another girl. And on top of that, he called me this!" On reading the bad language Clint had used to describe Nat, I began to feel an anger I'd never experienced before.

"Right. We are getting coffee and Clint isn't going to stop us." Nat seemed surprised but picked up her bag and followed me to the local cafe. I offered to buy her a drink and she said thank you. Out of the school grounds, it felt like we had been friends for years, not hours. Suddenly, we were telling our life stories and funny, as well as embarrassing, moments from our lives so far.

It must have been a few hours before we finally finished our soft drinks because it was getting dark outside. "Hey big guy, sun's getting real low. Why don't we exchange numbers and I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?" I nodded, letting out a ginormous yawn. Nat grinned at me and I typed my number into her phone as she did the same for mine. My Mum gave me a proper telling off for being home late when I got in the door, but it was worth it.