LAW OF ATTRACTION

CHAPTER 4 : COOKIES AND PROJECT PARTNERS

I'm still pondering about this, hesitating to just put the packet in my locker and forget it, when I'm about to close my locker door, and someone closes it for me, making me jump in surprise.

I feel a silhouette towering over me. I'm rather short since I'm 5'3, so basically almost everyone is overhanging me, but this figure doesn't stand out by the height; it's the dark aura attracting the light and my eyes. I'm not really surprised to find Alex Carter because I don't know anyone else as impressive without even talking. Yet my breath still gets caught in my throat when I meet his tenebrous gaze, and it's probably because I would have never expected to see him standing by my locker that my heart has stopped for a second.

"Hi." He leans casually against the lockers.

"Hi," I reply quietly. A million questions and thoughts are rushing in my mind about the reason why he's here during the few seconds of awkward silence.

"I think this is yours."

I blink several times before my eyes can finally make out what are the black wires he's holding out my in front of me.

"Oh! My headphones! I didn't notice I hadn't them... Thank you."

"Maybe I could have kept them then..." A mischievous smile forms on his lips, and I can't decipher if he's joking or if he's serious.

"Er... Well, thank you... and t-thank you for Friday..." I stutter under his intense gaze, yet it's also these penetrating eyes that make me add quietly, "By the way..." I fumble nervously in my bag to take out the little packet of cookies, and I quickly hand it to him. "T-This is to thank you... I-I made them with my Mom."

I feel ridiculous as his eyebrows lift up, and I'm withdrawing my hand when he grabs the packet. "Um... Thanks." The smile he gives me doesn't make me regret offering him the cookies, and my cheeks obviously take a red tint, which deepens under his unsettling stare.

The bell rings, making me jump once again, and I take this as an opportunity to get away before my cheeks literally light up on fire.

"Er... I gotta go... in class," I say, before escaping as fast as possible.

As I arrive in front of the classroom, trying to calm my heartbeat, I'm startled once again.

"So... We saw you with Alex Carter at your locker..." Judy assails me with her eyes twinkling as I don't even have time to catch my breath.

"This is not what—"

"What we think?! Again?! Really?!" she asks, raising her eyebrows with a suspicious look.

I sigh. "He drove me home Friday, when it was pouring down, and I forgot my headphones in his luggage carrier, so he gave them back to me today,"

"You went on his motorbike?!" Lisa – whom I haven't even noticed the presence – pops up beside us with a shocked stare as Judy makes "ooh" sounds.

"Yeah, this is no big deal. He drove me home. That's it! Stop looking at me like I'm an alien!"

"No big deal?!" Judy gasps. "Alex Carter, THE bad boy drove you home!!" She insists on each word as if we were talking about something as incredible as an alien invasion.

"He was just being nice," I argue, shrugging it off like I've done with my Mom, even though I'm not used to this kind of nice gestures from anyone.

"And since when Alex Carter is being nice?!" Judy asks, and Lisa nods in agreement.

I don't get to reply because the teacher arrives and the class begins soon after, a class I don't have with Alex Carter, luckily.