Met Online

Chapter 22

I'm still as confused about Taylen and Justin, as I was at the beginning of the class, when Mr Arden finally dismisses us, after an hour and a half of torturously boring World War Two talk.

I pass Taylen on my way out of the classroom, but I don't bother to make any contact with her. Her cold attitude has gotten to me and I don't think I can handle another rejection right now.

With a heavy heart and a troubled mind I make my way toward the science building.

My heart constricts in my chest with every step I take. My feelings are conflicted; I'm constantly wavering back and forth between dreading and being excited to spend the next half an hour in the same room with Justin. I still haven't quite figured out which one is the more powerful of the two when I step into the classroom.

Justin is already there. He is sitting at the back of the classroom, leaning back in his chair and using his table as a leg rest. He looks up the minute I walk in and our eyes lock on each other's for the fraction of a second, before I tear my eyes from his and break the eye contact.

I slip into my seat just as the last bell rings and Miss Stevens walks through the door to the classroom and settles in behind his desk.

"Afternoon class," she greets us in between two sips of coffee. "I have to go to a meeting with the school board in a few minutes, so you'll be on your own today answering a worksheet," she announces and passes a stack of to the closest student, gesturing for her to pass them throughout the class. "I expect you all to hand in a fully answered worksheet by the end of class."

It takes the class approximately three and a half minutes after Miss Stevens has left the classroom to break into chatter and small talk. I try to block out the dozen different conversations taking place around me, and focus on the worksheet in front of me instead.

I'm halfway through question four, when the chair next to me is pulled out and someone slides into the seat.

I glance to my right and is utterly surprised to see Justin next to me, staring straight at me, as if he's taking in every detail of my face. I can feel my face heat up under his scrutinizing stare.

"You were right," he suddenly says, and I finally dare to raise my eyes from my worksheet and turn toward him.

"Excuse me?"

"You know," he smiles ridiculously wide at me, as if he can't control it. "About the girl."

"Oh?" I don't know what to say, because in all reality I'm not supposed to know anything about our date, yet I remember every detail of our time spent together.

"I met her on Friday," he tells me, that stupid wide grin still present on his lips.

"Oh," I repeat, 'cause it's the only thing I can think of to reply. I'm pretty sure I look, and sound, like a complete fool, but Justin seems to preoccupied to notice anything. Thank God.

"I took her out on Saturday," he tells me proudly and it makes it hard for me to contain my own smile.

"Really?" I ask, as I divert my eyes back to my worksheet and let my hair fall as a barrier between us. I'm hoping that it will conceal my own ridiculous grin and the blush that has apparently taken a permanent residence on my face. "Was it nice?"

"It was great."

"That's good, right?" I ask, sneaking a peek at him through the curtain of hair that separates us.

"Yes, that's very good," he chuckles. "She was just so real, you know? Not like all of them dolls, who act like they're made out of porcelain."

"That sounds great." I have no idea how, but somehow I manage to sound rather careless, when in fact I'm squealing on the inside.

"It really was," he assures me. "I can't stop thinking about her. Does that make me sound like a total weirdo?"

"What? No, I think it's sweet."

"Good, just don't tell anyone, alright? I can't have it ruining my reputation," he chuckles and glances around the classroom, probably to make sure that no one has heard him.

Is that what he thinks I'll do? Ruin his reputation. Just the thought of it makes me nauseous.

"Don't worry, I wont," I promise him. I'm desperately hoping that that will be the end of our conversation, but apparently he doesn't seem to share my hopes.

"It's weird, you know?" He starts off and I do my best to keep my breathing under control and the tears from free falling. "How you can miss one person so much, even though you've only just met them. It's like part of me is missing when I'm not with her or in contact with her." I want to laugh or cry; to be honest I can't really decipher my feelings at the moment. Justin has me so confused and emotional that it's starting to make me feel extremely pathetic.

"Really?" I ask, only paying half attention to the conversation. I'm too busy analyzing every thing that has happened between us to really listen to what he's saying. It seems like that's all I do these days: analyzing and worrying.

"Yeah," he sighs. He sounds happy but I can't quite decipher the tone in his voice, maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm still too busy analyzing every little detail in my life to actually listen to what he's saying. "How was your weekend?"

"Uh, it was fine," I said and clear my throat. I'm stumbling over my words, trying desperately to focus on real life and Justin. It isn't too hard to do at first, but thinking of Justin leads me back to what I overheard Hannah say in the bathroom, which then again leads me back to everything that's been said, texted or happened between Justin and I since this, whatever this is, started.

"Just fine?"

"What did you do?"

"Nothing," I sigh, a little frustrated at the path my thoughts keep travelling. I can't be around Justin with all of these destructive thoughts. Before I know of it I will have accidentally blurted everything I'm thinking, because that's the type of person Justin is: he listens when no one else does and it makes it hard for me not to talk; to tell him about everything that's going on in my head and in my life and to ask him the question that's been lingering in the back of my mind all day, and maybe even since he found me online: why me? "Do you mind? I really want to finish this before the end of class."

"Sure," he sighs after a moment of silence. Then I feel the table move slightly underneath his weight, as he uses his hands to push off on the table and rise from the chair. Before I can count to ten he's back in the seat he was in when I got here and I'm left alone to my thoughts.

//AN: soooooooooooooooooooo much looooove to all of you!!! may your tea cups forever be filled to the brim and may your dreams forever have wings to fly on xx//