Living High School to the Fullest (Completed)

Chapter 13: Drama, drama, drama

Chapter 13

The next day in school was one of those days that just dragged on and on and on. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but somehow everything seemed to be in slow motion. I would check the time, take some notes, try listening to the ramblings of my teacher, doodle for a few minutes, then think about which song we could perform in the cafeteria, doodle some more, try to come up with some slogans for our canvas bags, take some notes again; wash, rinse, repeat. A half hour later or so I would look at the clock again – only to realize that barely five minutes had passed!

Exhausting. It made me itchy all over to just sit there and having to wait ages till I could finally get up and out of the classroom again. It was like swimming in a pool of Jello; you just didn’t seem to make any way forward. Not that I had any experience in the Jello-swimming area. Although it does sound like a lot of fun. Hm, how many packages of Jello do you need to fill a pool? I wonder if anybody has ever tried it. I should look into that and google it at some point.

Barely half of the last period before lunch had passed, but I just couldn’t take it any longer. That’s why I asked for a bathroom pass. I didn’t really need to go, but I had to get out of there for a few minutes.

I was enjoying walking down the deserted hallways towards the bathrooms, only to realize that they weren’t as deserted as I expected them to be. All the way down a guy stepped out of the men’s room and was headed in my direction. It only took me a few seconds to recognize him: it was Nick.

As soon as he caught sight of me, his lips curled once again into the same mysterious smile he had shown the day before. I simply nodded at him and planned to walk right past him. But obviously the quarterback had other plans – he grabbed my arm and said: “Hold on a minute.”

Okay. Weird.

I stared at his hand which held me firmly in place, then gazed at him, trying to figure out what in the world he could possibly want from me. I mean, until yesterday we barely ever acknowledged each other’s presence. But he didn’t say anything. At all.

“Yes?” I finally asked, prompting him to speak. If he wants something from me, he should get it over with and tell me. What if I really needed to go to the bathroom?

Nick still didn’t say a single word. His blue eyes bored into mine. Was he trying to hypnotize me? I narrowed my eyes at him. No reaction. I was just about to yank my arm out of his grip and continue walking, when he finally addressed me.

“Have you heard about that kid from Hillside High?”

“What kid?” What on earth was he talking about? And why should I know anything at all about some Hillsider?

Oh god. Unless it had something to do with their school mascot.

“You know, just some sophomore. He confessed that he was the one who placed their mascot on the Jefferson statue in the park.”

“What?!” I cried out before I could stop myself from doing so. Dammit! I could kick myself. An innocent person would never in a million years react the way I did.

As soon as I realized that, I shrugged and tried to play it cool. “So? Why do you think I care about that?”

Nick wasn’t fooled, though. He smiled at me knowingly, flashing his perfect teeth. Almost immediately my heart rate picked up. Stupid hormones. They are just teeth! Granted, the most beautiful teeth ever; but still. It isn’t normal to react to them the way I do every single time I see them.

“Well, you seemed to be very interested in that whole mascot business yesterday. You were basically glued to my back, trying to listen to my conversation with TJ.”

Crap. I hadn’t been as sneaky as I thought I was.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” I replied as nonchalantly as possible.