Rooming with the Bad Boy

Four.

Chapter Four –

Caleb was trying to taunt me.

He wasn’t doing it straightforwardly; he was still the cold asshole with bi-polar issues whenever we spoke more than two words to each other.

No, this was worse. For the past two weeks, I had memorised the mischievous glint in his eyes as they slightly narrowed and he raised an eyebrow with a smirk. It was from that look that I knew to snap my mouth shut before risking being exposed in front of everyone else.

He still hadn’t found out. That was the only plus side to things. I could tell it was affecting him more than it should have. I would find him glaring at me suspiciously when we’re both alone in the dorm room or after I’d finish a conversation with our circle of friends at the usual cafeteria table when it was breakfast or dinner time.

And that was my exact situation right now. It was our last class for the day; Caleb was sitting on my left while Linda occupied the seat to the right of me; and Jacob was slouched on the chair beside her.

“We can use my dorm room or the library if you don’t want to do it at yours…” Linda trailed off in a soft whisper, before casting a nervous look to the front of the room where our lecturer was in a deep moment with the rest of the class.

“The library sounds like the most practical place. There’d be no distractions and a lot more resources available.” I replied, briefly looking over to the front of the room.

Linda let out a relieved sigh. “Okay, that sounds great. Thank you so much. I really don’t want to trouble you-”

“Ladies. Am I interrupting something?”

Linda’s jaw hung open as she turned to face our lecturer, who had her hand on her hip and was tapping her foot with raised eyebrows. I watched as Linda’s face turned beetroot red before deciding to speak up. “My apologies Professor Stacey. I couldn’t quite grasp the psychology concept of this unit and did not want to interrupt your lecture, so I decided to ask Linda instead.”

“I’m finding it hard to believe that a law student of your success is finding-”

“She’s a fucking human being, not a robot. I’m pretty sure she’s allowed to find something difficult.” Caleb suddenly snapped from beside me.

The majority of the class turned and looked over at Caleb just then – including myself – and found him unaffected by the sudden attention. Instead, he was still glaring at the short lady in the front of the classroom before snapping out of his glare and packing up his laptop.

The buzzer signalling the end of class went off just then, and Caleb shot out of his seat almost immediately; as if he were expecting it. “Come straight back to our room once your done with loser Linda over there. We need to talk.”

I didn’t get a chance to even formulate a reply before Caleb had left the room, and my eyebrows knitted into a frown as I began packing my own things.

“So… uh… Do you want to grab a snack before we go up or are you fine as you are?” Linda asked awkwardly, scratching the side of her upper arm.

I blinked up at her blankly before her words registered in my mind. “Oh! Uh no thank you, I’m good. Do you want anything though? I don’t mind stopping by the cafeteria if you’re hungry.”

Linda shook her head. “I’m okay. Plus if we do get hungry, there’s a vending machine up in the library anyway.” She grinned.

“Hey… do you guys mind if I join you? I do not understand Victimology as well as I hoped I would be…” Jacob trailed off, suddenly appearing beside Linda.