Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me ✓

[ 7 ] You could cut our tension with a knife

❝Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it. ❞

              — Martin Luther King Jr.

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• C H A P T E R   S E V E N  •

"So Emery, will you be my lab partner?"

I look up from my textbook at Anthony who has his shoulder turned towards me since he's seated in front of my desk.

Apparently, Ms. Sanders was surprisingly in a good mood after my tardiness. She didn't assign me with an essay and kept smiling throughout the classroom lecture which crept me out. She later instructed everyone to choose a lab partner with whom we'll be paired with for the rest of the semester and we were informed of the different location in which our laboratory activities will take place.

Initially, I thought that Ms. Sanders would have chosen our partners but since she's light-hearted today for some mysterious reason, each student gets to choose their desired partner. My eyes lock with Anthony's stormy eyes as he watches me curiously, awaiting my answer.

"What about Stacey?"

He regards me in a dumbfounding manner. "You haven't been very observant have you?"

My eyebrows furrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Stacey's absent." he says with a chuckle.

I survey the classroom only to apprehend that indeed, Stacey's no where in sight. I guess I was too rapped up in my thoughts to notice her absence. But then again, I highly doubt that I'd ever notice her absence for the simple reason that - I don't care of her whereabouts.

"Oh. . ."

"So what's it going to be?" he smiles at me.

I fold my arms across my chest, throwing him a fixed expression. "You're just asking me to be your partner because she's not in class."

"That's not true," he protests but I'm not really convinced.

"Emery," he emphasizes my name. "Even if she were here - I wouldn't have asked her to be my partner."

Okay now I'm confused - aren't they in a relationship? Last time I checked, couples team up for their schoolworks.

"Look Anthony," I trail off nervously. "I'd love to be your partner but. . ."

"But you're still not sure if you can trust me." he finishes my sentence much to my surprise. He is staring at me hard, his eyes searching mine. I tilt my head not wanting to meet his intense gaze.

"That's not what I was going to say..." I sign before continuing. "What I meant to say is, Stacey's your girlfriend so why wouldn't you ask her to be your partner?"

"So?" he says frustratedly, running a hand through his hair. "Just because she's my girlfriend doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to pair up with whoever I want."

"You've got a point," I agree curtly. "But still, I assumed you guys were a lot closer."

He furrows his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Forget I said that. By the way you played a good game yesterday." I congratulate him, hoping to change the subject.

A wide grin adorns his face from the mention of basketball. Anthony has always been passionate about the sport. In eighth grade, he started practicing basketball everyday after school to join the school team. He was that motivated to master the techniques and he always loved it when people complimented his skills which added more fuel to his ego.