Hellhound (Supernatural #1)

16: Take a Hint

Uncomfortable, adjective.

1. Causing discomfort or distress; painful; irritating.
2. In a state of discomfort, uneasy; conscious of stress or strain.

***

My science teacher wasn't a warlock, or at least, not that Tate had mentioned. That didn't mean he wasn't good at what he did. Mr. Fallon had a way of mixing the seriousness of science with quirky humor. He wasn't afraid to mock himself or any of his students. There was a girl at the back of the classroom who would turn bright red when speaking, and he liked to tease her about it, causing her to become even redder. It was all good natured fun though, and no one was spared.

Still, that didn't mean we didn't do any work in his class.

Today's worksheet had us working in pairs, trying to figure out what all the gibberish meant and getting the experiment done. I was working with Danielle. She was a nice girl. Pretty but not too pretty that it had gone to her head. And smart enough to understand what needed to be done. She had me doing all the experiments while she wrote down notes, which was just fine by me. We were done ten minutes early because of how we had divided and conquered, which gave me time to copy her notes.

We talked a little about school, the weather, that horrible book we had to read in English class but neither of us had bothered to pick up yet. But it was inevitable that the conversation turned to something else, something that had quite a few people wondering. I had caught the whispers, I had caught the glances; it was only a matter of time before something with enough courage came along and asked what people wanted to know.

"Hey Sawyer," Danielle started tentatively, making me look up from the answer sheet. "I was just wondering - you can totally tell me to mind my own business - what's the deal with you and Tate? I mean, you guys were pretty close and then it looked like you guys had a bad breakup or something. And now you're back to being normal again. What's up with that?"

I paused, looking at her neat writing and my own handwriting that suddenly didn't look as neat anymore. Still better than Dad's scribbles, I thought to myself, remembering the note on the fridge that morning telling me he would get groceries. Was I annoyed with Danielle for prying? That would be hypocritical of me considering I hid in toilets to listen to people's conversations. Did that mean I was jumping to answer? Not really. But it would always be better to tell someone the truth than whatever people would come up with themselves.

Before I could answer she added a tiny question, "Are you guys together?"

I let out a loud "Ha!" which drew the attention of the teacher and half the class. I mumbled something about finally getting what the whole worksheet had been about. Then, turning back to Danielle, I added, "No, we're definitely not together. Tate and I are just friends. We did have a bit of an argument but it was nothing. I don't even get why people are so interested."

Her eyes went wide. "Come on! Have you looked at Tate? He's hot!" Then she started laughing and I couldn't help but join in. So that was why people were obsessed; it was all about Tate. Of course, I'd noticed that Tate was good-looking, it was kind of hard to miss. Still, he was my friend, one of the very few I had had in recent years. "Are you sure you two are just friends? Like, not even friends with benefits?"

"No. Certainly not."

"So you wouldn't mind if someone asked him out?"

The immediate answer would have been to tell her I didn't mind. Then I got this feeling I had had when Kira had come to ask him out. It wasn't quite jealousy - it wasn't like I wanted to date him - yet there was definitely something possessive about the feeling. If Tate started dating someone, wouldn't that mean we would spend less time together? Maybe the reason why I didn't like the idea was because I was afraid of losing the one friend that I had.