Running from You

2

"Dean".
"Dean".
"Dean".
"Dean".
"Dean".
"What?" I ask, looking up from my homework. Lucas is smiling at me, and stops poking me with his pencil.
"Are you almost done?" he asks.
I check if our teacher isn't looking at us.
"No" I say, when I see she isn't looking. "Now let me work".
"But I'm bored" he whines, and he rests his head on his arms.
"I suggest you make your homework" I say, and I continue writing meaningless sentences in my notebook. I'm not doing my best, but at least I'm doing something.

"Homework is boring" Lucas says. "I decide not to waste my time on such boring things".
"Well that's stupid" I say. "Now please let me waste my time on such boring things while you stare out the window for a while".
He stops talking, and turns away from me. I smile shortly, relieved he leaves me alone for just a second.

"Dean".
"Dean".
"De-"
"Please stop saying my name" I say.
"Please stop being boring".
"Lucas, Dean, stop talking. You're distracting the others".
We both look up at our teacher.
"I'm sorry" Lucas says, and he gets an angelic smile on his face. He can get away with almost anything using that smile. As much as he annoys me, I have to admit that he's also, as they call it these days, cute. His eyes are big, and dark, and he's always got this childish charm to him. As far as I know, I'm the only person who can see past his innocent face and see him as the annoying monster he really is.

"Just stop whispering, okay boys?"
"Yes miss" Lucas says, and he looks at me. "Right Dean?"
I look at him blankly for a second, before I continue working.
"I'll take that as a yes" he says, before he turns to his notebook and pretends to work. When I know for sure my teacher isn't watching us anymore, I whisper: "I hate you".
"Love you too" he whispers back.

After our lesson, I go to Health class. The subject I don't have with Lucas. It's always a nice breath of air to have one hour of peace, however boring it may be. Health class has never been particularly interesting for me. I sit down next to Landon, behind his friends. I don't talk to a lot of other people than Lucas and Landon, so I don't really know Landon's friends. There's Willow, who ran for president. I voted for her, but that was just because there were a lot of people going to James's box and I don't like crowds. Lucas voted for James, I think. We both didn't really care.

"Hey Dean!" Landon says, with a big smile. "Have you seen Jay?"
"No" I say. "Haven't been at the football field yet".
"Actually, she's been hanging with us a lot more lately" he says. "Right Willow?"
Willow turns around, and smiles. It's not a very genuine smile, I can't help but notice.
"Yes, Jay is near us a lot more often lately. She mainly just talks to Alex" she says. "Which is great, because ever since James is gone, she's been a bit lonely. I've mainly just been talking to Logan..."
The guy sitting next to her looks up at her, and smiles dreamily. Oh right, I've heard about Logan. He broke his arm a while ago. I look over at his cast, which is a slightly faded black color. He looks over at me, and his smile fades away when he sees I'm looking at him.

"Why did you need to talk to Jay anyway?" I ask.
"Oh, I wanted to ask about something" he says. "About Owen".
"Ah" I say. I've never seen Owen, except one time when he picked up Landon from school. I could see why Landon liked him, he's a pretty handsome guy.
"What would you ask her? You can ask me too" Willow says. Landon glances at Logan for a moment.
"I..."
We get interrupted by the teacher walking in and starting our lesson.

After class, I walk towards the school doors. I always meet Lucas there if we don't have class together. I already see him standing there when I arrive, which is odd. He's usually very slow.
"Hey" he says, when we walk outside towards the bleachers. I instantly notice something's off. He doesn't walk the way he usually does, with a little skip in his step. And he barely chats, which he otherwise does constantly.
"What's up?" I ask.
"What?" he asks, looking a little busted.
"You're being weird" I explain. "Is it the same thing you were being weird about yesterday?"
He's quiet for a moment.
"Nope, nothing's wrong!" he then says, as a big smile spreads across his face. "I was just thinking about that test we have coming up".

"Do you mean that chemistry test we have tomorrow?" I ask, frowning. His eyes widen, as he freezes in his tracks for a moment.
"Chemistry test?" he asks quietly.
"Lucas..."
I rub my forehead, and then look up at him.
"You're such an idiot".
"You say that a lot, you know" he says, fake offended.
"That's because you manage to prove it every day, and always in a different way".
I open my backpack, and shove my chemistry book in his hands.
"Now study".
His smile grows a little bigger.
"Thanks" he sighs, and he gives me a quick hug. "You're a life saver".

I spend the entire break asking Lucas science related questions, which he proceeds to answer in ways that are so wrong I can't understand how he could possibly come to that answer. Strangely enough, I find myself enjoying the time we spend. When the bell rings, and Lucas and I look up, I realise why. Somewhere across the field, I can see Jay staring at cheerleaders. I didn't even realise she was there, which is usually impossible because of Lucas's longing stares and dramatic sighs. But this entire break, he hasn't even looked at anything else than his book, me, and the sky. He always looks upwards when he's thinking really hard.

It probably sounds a bit weird that that's what makes me happy, but it's not. I'm just glad Lucas is finally moving on. Maybe he'll be happy about other things than Jay. Maybe he'll start appreciating his actual friends more. I mean, without me, he would just go home after school whenever he had a test. And Landon, of course. He needs someone to share all his dumbass-energy with.

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