The Nerd's Secret |Ongoing|

☫ Chapter 8 ☫

☫ Chapter 8 ☫

My heart sank at the disappointed look I received from Dr. Robertson.

     He kicked me out of his lab the moment I walked in. Actually, that was a bit of an exaggeration. He first gave me an interrogation and followed that up with a lecture. Then he kindly escorted me out. His tone was one of incredulous and he sighed while I gave him a look of ignorance. For some peculiar reason, I felt astonishingly guilty. And slightly disgusted with myself.

     "Are you high?" His blue eyes were stern and demanding.

     My eyes widened at the accusation as I quickly denied it. "O-of course not!"

     "Jeremiah," he started with narrowed eyes. "Explain why you smell like you've been smoking, then."

      "There was a fire," I lied and carried on with my explanation. "When I was coming here I passed by and there was tons of smoke so I smell like it." Yeah, that seems like good reasoning. I grinned to myself and hid it with a cough. My throat was sore.

     "And you passed by a bar too?" He raised an eyebrow and wrinkled his nose as if I smelled like alcohol. He was dumbfounded at my excuse, not quite believing any of it. I was feeling too drowsy to notice the way his forehead creased or how his face was etched with concern.

     "Yeah," I exclaimed. "That's exactly what happened! There was a fire at a bar." I snapped my fingers, not realizing how ridiculous I sounded or how dumb I was being.

     He gave a long hard stare and blew out some air as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're a good kid. I can tell. Maybe you're going through something, I don't know. But I will not tolerate this. Jeremiah, you understand that this isn't okay, right?"

     I tipped my head up and down and fiddled with my feet. "Right," I dragged the word. "I understand."

     "You have a bright future going for you, don't mess this up," he reminded me and placed a hand on my shoulders. "Go home and get some sleep. And if you do this again I won't hesitate to call your parents."

     I didn't bother letting him know that his warning wouldn't do anything since I didn't have any parents and gave him a nod.

     "Jeremiah," he called before I closed the door. "Goodnight."

     I smiled still feeling hazy. "Yeah, you too."

     Sixteen hours. That's how long it's been since I experienced one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. Now I was simply recalling the events of last night with frustration and agitation. To make matters worse it was Mr. Phillips class that I had to deal with and I certainly didn't want to catch his attention.

     I ran my fingers through my hair and lightly groaned as I wrote down notes. Dr. Robertson probably thinks I'm some druggie or rebellious teenager, doesn't he? Will he even take me seriously anymore? I'm going to have to apologize in a very sophisticated manner the next time I see him. Hopefully, that could fix my reputation with him.

     "Are you kidding me?" I heard the person next to me whisper. I looked over at them, with a pounding pain in my head. It was Lucas Trevor, he ignored me and hissed at the person at the opposite side of me. It was Kyle. He had his hands crossed over his hands as he pouted.

     Oh, please no. I really hope they don't talk to each other while I'm in between them. I have such a headache and my stomach feels like it's going to explode.

     "You're really not going to talk to me?" Lucas continued speaking, his tone somehow gentle but still holding that aggressiveness he always has.