Natural Chemistry

Chapter 20: Day One

The first half of school went by uneventfully, the tension between Jake and I remained unresolved.

I hadn't seen Vince the entire day, which made me once again wonder if he had got into a fight or in danger.
But my thoughts were put to rest when I saw him at lunch hour sitting by his table alone.

"Hey, guys, I'll catch up later." I informed the rest of the gang as I walked towards the loner.
They all murmured confused goodbyes as I left them.

"Hey, there, how are you feeling?" As I kept my tray on the table, I could feel the heat of everyone's gaze on me. I straightened my shoulders and sat down infront of him.

"Jinx, everyone is watching." Vince said with a smirk on his face, "especially your friends."

"Why, am I ruining your reputation?" I smirked back at him as he shook his head with a small smile.

"I'm afraid you've already ruined yours."

"I thought you didn't care about what people said?"

"I don't, but you do."

Before we could continue our talk, Brandon stalked towards the table. Vince looked me in the eye and cocked is head a little as if to ask if I was alright.

I nodded back at him and shifted my eyes to the ex in question.
"Great to see my prank caught you a boyfriend." Brandon laughed at my face, I wanted to punch him and from the way Vince clenched his fist he was not far.

"Great to see you're still an asshole." I bit back, staring straight in his eyes.

"Man, I must say, from loner to sagging Miss Popularity, you sure have game." The anger swirled in Vince's blue eyes as he spoke to me with his eyes. I shook my head a little, wanting him to calm down for this would come back to him. Brandon could walk from his unscathed.
Vince breathed in and out a little and turned to give Brandon a murderous glare.

"You think you're a hotshot because your father is the head of council? Believe me, being kicked out of school hardly scares me nor does going to jail but you know what makes me feel on top of the world?" Vince was now standing in front of a regretful Brandon, "Punching someone so bad their own mother can't recognize them." Vince added in a dark voice. With those words he sat back down and continued with his lunch like nothing happened. I wanted to laugh at how I knew even though Brandon made it seem like he wasn't scared, he was trembling on the inside.

He soon left us, well, some of his followers took him out. I could tell his face promised another meet such as the one I experienced but at that moment, I didn't care.

"You shouldn't threaten him like that, we've already seen he isn't sane." I'd love if Vince screwed up Brandon's face but the fact that could in return harm his education wasn't settling well.

"Relax, Jinx. He can't do anything." Vince only smiled at me, somehow with that all the stares of the others and the hanging jaws of my friends vanished. Nothing else mattered but the guy that sat in front of me.

As the lunch hour got over, I realised people still hadn't got used to our new relationship. But Vince didn't seem bothered by it one bit as he walked me to my next class.

"I'll see you in Calculus then?" He said with a smile as he placed a quick kiss on my cheek and went his way.
I stood there with my hand on my cheek and wondered where we stood in our relationship. I found myself asking myself this question ever so often.

It felt right with Vince like he didn't care about my title, my past, my wrongs or my rights he just liked me, he understood me. Simple me, who pointed fingers at him, who called him all kinds of names and picked on his smoking habit.