The Skylar Experiment : Dead Ending (second draft)

Chapter Thirty-Six - High Standards

RILEY

I DRILLED MY STARE into the first grammar-check poster pinned to the board panel. My sneaker tapped the floor. Temptation whispered in my ear to look over my shoulder, but I mentally nixed that thought right away. I carefully detailed the comma rules from top to bottom instead, then repeated it as my brain registered nothing. The classroom was wrapped in a near-grieving silence with the only exception of Ben and his rustling bag of chips. 

Ben prodded my shoulder.

"You studying for a loaded comma quiz or...?"

I ripped my eyes off the poster, feeling another pair in the corner burning on me. Whatever I did, I made sure not to create eye contact, but just knowing that he was watching made my skin tingle. Since I kept him company after he lost to Lauren and we almost kissed, I felt tossed upside down. 

It was stupid to expect anything would go right if we played with fire. We'd barely learned how to stand each other. Why ruin it for a hollow, meaningless attraction? My skin shouldn't tingle. And Luc was always so... offputting. He told me he doesn't do relationships. We picked fights easily enough, already. 

I felt like such an idiot for commanding all these thoughts. I needed space to collect myself.

"I'm waiting like the rest of you," I scoffed after I whirled around. 

Devin slouched on a plastic chair with her legs propped on a desk. Her phone was in her lap and she scrolled on a newsfeed. She looked up from the screen, a furrow in her brows.

"What's taking the old geezer so long, anyways?"

"He's not even thirty-five," Ben defended. 

"When was the last time Greg mentioned his age? He never talks about himself."

Luc shifted his weight across the classroom, the thumb that brushed his lower lip stilling. "Who knows, really? It's like a state secret."

Ben said, "Have you seen him get a wrinkle in the last decade? Either the man can't die or he has an expensive night cream, and my money's on the first theory."

They got absorbed into a passionate conversation about Mr. Kennedy's age until the man himself appeared, opening the door and closing it back once he stepped inside. I moved toward the desk and away from the posters. Luc pushed off the wall, joining him first as we huddled in a circle.

"Alright, Greggy, what has your panties in a bunch so bad that you need to make an announcement?"

Mr. Kennedy dropped a textbook he'd been holding and it fell on the desk with a hard thump. He gave Luc a callous glare through his slate-gray eyes, his lips curled.

"Talk to me like that again and I'll rip your arm off."

Luc winked. "Bad mood, I see."

"Nothing new, here," Devin muttered under her breath, inching closer. "But can we get a fast move on? I'm hungry."

"Sure..." Mr. Kennedy rubbed his wrist, a probing stare continuously attached to Luc's while he seemed to debate on slapping him. He turned to the rest of us, choosing to ignore him. "It's more of a warning rather than an announcement. I'm not trying to ruin your day, but you should all be aware of something."

Ben planted a wide palm down on the teacher's desk. His perpetual cheeky grin flattened until every trace of it was gone from his face, leaving a cunning, focused scrutiny. "Warn us?"

A ball of nerves tangled in my stomach. We had so many worries to deal with on our plates...

"Jeremiah came across a story at the police station. He heard a rumor that Chuck had been called there for an interview, but when he tried to dig up who were the people that brought him there, he found no names." Kennedy's eyebrows lifted when he paused, letting us connect the dots on our own. "People have seen the kid going in and out of the station with none other than Miles."