The Nerd's Alter Ego

Ch 16: Time

(unedited)

Alex's pov

The hallways were suddenly filled with noise. I took a deep breath and turned towards the door. I peaked outside. The students were returning. I didn't have the courage to look at Nichole, because of what I just discovered. I couldn't believe it. Why did I fall for her? Even though I promised never to fall in love again. Kathrine's face flashed behind my eyes and I shut them tight, trying to get it out of my head. I didn't want to get hurt again. 

But I think Nichole's different...she wouldn't hurt me. 

I think.

"Oh. My. GOD!! ALEX!!!" Out of nowhere Natalie jumped at me and hugged me. She had tears in her eyes, though they looked kind of fake. "I was so worried! I'm so glad you're okay!" Her voice cracked at the end. She was NOT a good actress. At all. She probably just wanted an excuse to get close to me. Other girls started to gather around, some boys as well.

 I looked at Nichole to see that she herself was surrounded by people. The teacher came and gave her a high five. "Good job. When your brother said that you were the one who called him, I was very proud of you. Thinking on your feet is not something easy."

"It wasn't much." She said, almost uncomfortable. Everyone was swarming both of us with questions.

"Are you two okay?" "I didn't know your brother worked at UnderKover!" "Alex, why did they want you?" "Did you guys meet the Phoenix?" "Wasn't he just amazing?" "How did he even get here?" "Was he here in the first place?" "I'm glad you're okay!" "Nichole, you should be more social!" "You'd make a good friend."

That was when both of us had enough. I rose my voice to reach to everyone. "SHUT UP!!!!"

Everyone quieted down. Nichole sighed in relief.

"Guys, please just leave us alone," I said. "We're both tired and mentally exhausted." 

Nichole looked like she was mentally thanking me. 

There were many protests, especially from Natalie, who was still stuck to me like a leech. Did I mention that she's not even supposed to be here right now? But thankfully, the teacher was an understanding adult. "He's right. These two must've had a hard time. Well, the bell is going to ring in a while and the entire period was wasted, so why not have free time? But asking these two questions about what happened here is not allowed. Leave them alone, okay?"

Nichole stepped forward. "Thank you." She told our computer teacher. Then she moved to sit down at her seat. I went and to sit beside her. And my heart started jumping the moment I did. 

Oh, god! Why did I have to realize that I had a crush on her? I was doing perfectly fine without it.

Everyone started to go to there assigned seats. I never got that part. The teacher is super chill but he never let us choose our own seats.

Not that I had a problem with it. 

Someone asked if we could sit wherever we wanted so we could talk with our friends. Since there were only five minutes of class left, he agreed. Natalie came over and speculated our positions then glared at Nichole, "Move it."

The way we were sitting, I was at the corner, Nichole next to me then someone next to her and so on. The rest of the row was already full, and there were only a certain amount of seats in this lab. In fact, our class was the biggest class where all the seats were taken. And since Natalie refused to be 'away from me', we had an extra student. If Nichole moved, she would have nowhere to go.

"Why?" she asked.

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Because I want to sit next to Alex, and you're taking the spot. So get lost."