Smile

Chapter 17: Deathtrap

It was January 14th.

Today marked the first month of my relationship with Logan McCloud.

It all started very well for a Monday, as I woke up with a sweet text from Logan. On my way to school, there was no traffic whatsoever, which made me think the day would go perfectly well. I was wrong.

I had English first period, and the teacher announced that we had to write an essay due at the end of the week on technology and how it affected us. Then, I had Math. Five whole sheets of homework due the next day—I managed to finish two during lunch. After that came the annoucement of my History homework; read a whole chapter in the manual and answer all the questions at the end of it (we had to write five definitions—who, what, when, where, why—and answer seven questions, all due for Wednesday). By the time my last class came around, I wanted to cry. I almost hugged Mr. Romanov when he told us there wasn't any homework.

Logan joined me at my locker after the final bell. "So, are you free tonight?"

My nose scrunched up. I couldn't believe I'd gotten so much homework today of all days. "No, sorry. I have tons of homework, most of which I need to work on tonight. I'll probably be at the library until late."

He frowned. "Alright, well, do you mind if I join? I need to study for this Chemistry test I have on Wednesday."

"Sure." I nodded, swinging my backpack on my left shoulder before closing my locker. "Of course you can."

He smiled in satisfaction and grabbed my hand before taking the lead to the school's library. "So, aside from a whole bunch of homework being assigned to you, how was your day? I didn't even see you at lunch! For a second, I thought you'd disappeared," he joked, chuckling.

I cringed. "Yeah, sorry. I was working on my Math homework, hoping to at least get some of it done."

"And how did that go?"

I sighed as we went through the library doors. "I'm not even done half of it."

"Well, then," Logan said as we sat down at a table. "I guess we'll be here for a while."

-/~\-

"Hey, Chloe?"

I looked up from my History book. "Yes, Logan?"

He was biting into his pencil, studying me. Had he been staring? If the answer to that question was 'yes', then how long had he been staring?

"You know I love you, right?"

I think I stopped breathing for a second. "What?" Surely I'd heard wrong. I mean, yes, I'd admitted to myself several times by now that I loved Logan, but I'd never actually told him so, and neither had he—I hadn't even known he felt that way.

"I love you," he repeated. This time, I was certain I'd heard right—and yet, I felt like this couldn't be real. As cliché as it sounded when I asked myself so, how could someone as strong as Logan love someone like me; someone who made a big deal about her mother's pregnancy because she was jealous of an unborn baby? Logan didn't even have a mother, and yet he never told me I was being ridiculous. All he did was comfort me. What did I do for him? He was suffering and all I did was stand there and watch. What kind of good girlfriend behaved like that? Logan needed someone better—someone who didn't panic everytime he had a nightmare.

"What made you come to that conclusion?" I finally asked him when I noticed the alarm rising in his eyes.

"You always frown when you're concentrated," he told me. His pale blue eyes danced along my face before setting themselves on my dark ones. "And your eyes dart everywhere on your worksheet. I don't know if you knew that, but I think I always have." Logan bit his lip, his eyes shifting to his Chemistry notes then back to me. "Even before we started talking."