Heart as hard as a rock. (A Tanner and Cora love story)

Chapter Fifteen

Tanner's POV
Even before the bell rang for first period, everybody's been talking nonstop about what happened last night. It's actually trending until now. Everybody's been talking about the fight. Some were rooting for the other girl saying she was drunk and didn't deserve it while mostly were Team Cora saying she totally deserved it since she started the fight and was provoking her. Earlier, everybody was staring at Cora when she was walking in the hallway. She would just glare at people so that they would stop looking.

As I was walking for my next period, I saw Cora and Wil came out of their first period and parted ways. They were in front of me.

"Hey Cora, wait up!" I tried to catch up when she stopped.

By the look on her face, someone must've pissed her off. We walked to second period without saying a word. I stared at her first before saying anything, trying to analyze what I would say to her. She noticed that I was staring at her and gave me her 'mean girl' look.

"What? You're gonna tell what I did yesterday was wrong too?" She asked.

"Is that what you think what I was gonna say? No, I totally get where you're coming from. I don't know if this would make you feel any better but I once was in the same situation you are in right now. My ex broke up with me for no reason not knowing she's been cheating on me. The next night, I saw her with a guy and this drunk guy came up to me. He started saying stuff like "you don't deserve her," "you could've done better but instead you chose to hang out with you're brother more than you did with her." He said a lot worse than that. So I punched him in the jaw and he attempted to fight back but failed so I threw another punch and it left a mark on his left eye. It was actually the week before their tournament when that happened. So yeah, let's say douchebag didn't get to play the sport he loved." I said.

She stared at me for 5 seconds. "Wow, that's gonna make me feel better!" She rolled her eyes.

"You see, we both have something in common. Love is our weakness." I said.

All she did was glared at me then looked at the board. "You act like you know what happened." She replied.

"If I ask, would you tell me?" I asked.

She sighed. "No."

"Then I probably won't know." I replied.

"I apologize for being a little late today but I am gonna mix you guys up for today's lab." The teacher announced as he entered the class.

The teacher had a jar with our names inside it. He said there would be 3 people for each groups. Unfortunately, Yassi was one of my lab partners. I've been avoiding eye contact since we went to our assigned lab station. I looked around for Cora. She's with two guys who seems to be staring at her instead of the chemicals we were supposed to observe.

"Tanner, can I --- can I talk to you?" Yassi asked.

"We have nothing to talk about. Let---" I was interrupted.

"Hey Tanner, can you come here for a second?" Cora asked.

"Gladly." I walked out and smiled. "Thank goodness, you just saved my life."

"Geez, what happened out there?" She asked.

"Nothing, I just needed fresh air." I said.

"Uhm, we're in one room so obviously you breathe the same air she breathes." She said. "You should go and talk to her. Tell her what you want to tell her. C'mon, you're not supposed to be here anyways. If you don't go talk to her, I'll snitch." She teased.

I sighed and went back to my lab station. Before I could say anything, Yassi came up to me first and started explaining. Although her explanations seemed convincing, that still didn't change the way I see her nowadays. I still see her as the girl I saw outside the gym throwing flowers and chocolates that were given to her by her suitors. Yes, I could've been happy with that but I imagined myself in that position. What if she does the same thing to me?

Just like what Cora said, I talked to Yassi. We are now on good terms. But that doesn't mean I'll go back and ask her out again. Right now I just wanna focus on friends. We went to our seats after the lab and waited for the bell to ring.

"So, how'd it go?" Cora asked.

"We're good now. Don't even ask." I said.

"You're welcome." She said.

I shook my head and smiled. "Thanks!" I said.

Our conversation was cut out by Cora's ringtone. She frowned when she looked at it. She didn't answer the call and shut her phone out. She rolled her eyes as she puts her phone on her pocket.

"Stalker problems?" I asked.

"If you mean Daniel tryna make me remember what happened last night asking me if I wanted to talk about it, then yes." She laughed. "You're actually the only person who never mentioned it today. Well, except when I started talking about it and you thought your 'so called experience' would make me feel better." She said.

"Hey! I was trying to be nice to you since you don't get that a lot!" I joked.

"If you want to be nice then you'll take me out of here and treat me food." She said.

My phone rang. It was from Tyler. Cora saw it. "And no phones for the whole day." She added.

I turned off my phone. "If that's how you define nice, then yes, I'll be nice for today."

We laughed. *bell ringing*