Convergence - The Last Science #2.2 - Heroes and Villains

B2: Chapter 32 - Paranoia - III

  Natalie made it back to class before the bell rang. She took her seat next to Quinn, trembling all gone. She was calm again. Quinn looked about to ask her a question, but the teacher started talking almost immediately, and he had to save it for later.

  She couldn't avoid it forever though. Quinn was in all her classes until gym in fourth period. As soon as they split up for group work, which left Natalie and Quinn alone as usual, she took the initiative and cut him off before he could even open his mouth to speak. "Uhh... sorry."

  "For what?"

  For being me. For you being with me. For being so broken and screwed up that we can't even hold hands properly. "If I grabbed your hand too tight."

  Quinn shook his head. "It was fine. But—"

  "I can't." She couldn't bring herself to explain it further, but she knew he'd get the wrong idea, so she forced herself to get a few more details. "It's not a magic thing, it's... I..."

  "It's okay, Jenny," he murmured, as another kid walked by passing out the assignment. "You don't have to sa—"

  "I really like you, Quinn."

  The kid snickered. "Jenny's got a boyfriend," he smirked, handing her a paper.

  "Yeah, I do," Natalie snapped, glaring at him. "So what?"

  He took an involuntary step back, cowering just from her cold gaze. "...Sorry," he mumbled. He thrust the paper at Quinn and hurried away.

  "...Boyfriend?" Quinn asked, glancing at her.

  Why's he asking me that? "...Yeah. I mean, isn't that what we are?" she mumbled, feeling her face grow red.

  Quinn blushed too. "I guess so."

  "Huh?" Natalie's embarrassment fell away, replaced with confusion. "But, didn't you call me that? Your parents—"

  "My parents called you my girlfriend?"

  When I was spying on them... "Yeah." Natalie shrugged. "Do you... you know. Do you want to be that?"

  He smiled. "Yeah, I'll be your girlfriend," he said, without an ounce of sarcasm.

  Natalie giggled. A wave of relief finally washed through her, cleaning out all the awful feelings from the morning. She didn't exactly feel great, but she felt a whole lot better than a few minutes ago. "Thanks, Quinn."

  He smiled again, but the teacher came by a moment later, and they quickly buried themselves in the assignment before they got in trouble. Natalie had missed so many classes that she couldn't afford to fall behind another day, even with Quinn helping her out. Through English and then study hall in the next period, they sat close together, heads down, and worked non-stop. After study hall, Social Studies was pretty much the same, except that they didn't have a chance to talk at all as the teacher was giving a lecture the whole period.

  Finally, gym rolled around. Natalie had to wave goodbye to Quinn as he headed off for tech class. To her relief, as soon as she walked into the locker room, Kelsey was right there waiting for her.

  "Hey girlfriend," she said, smirking.

  Natalie rolled her eyes. "You're just jealous."

  "Of you? As if." Kelsey sighed dreamily. "I'm going for someone way cooler than Quinn."

  Nobody's cooler than Quinn. She's hopeless.

  You're happy.

  Yeah, I kinda am.

  Natalie hurried back to the corner of the locker room with Kelsey, who stood in the way while she changed clothes. Kelsey had started doing it without being asked, after noticing just how much Natalie shook even taking off her shirt in front of the rest of the girls. It still wasn't great—and Natalie hated herself a little more every time she remembered how it never used to bother her—but having a friend nearby helped a lot. After the first few times, she didn't even need Kelsey to be facing away, so they could actually hold a normal conversation while she changed.

  It didn't stop the voices, though.

  "She did?" asked Lydia in an exaggerated whisper.

  Blake replied in just as loud a whisper. "Totally! I swear she was going to, like, tear his hand off or something. It was crazy."

  "She's crazy."

  I'm not crazy.

  "Talking about you?" asked Kelsey, obviously seeing something in Natalie's expression.

  Natalie nodded. She pulled on her shirt and tucked her clothes back in her bag—no way was she going to trust a locker today, with how Blake was going on. Kelsey looked about to turn around and confront them, but Natalie just shook her head. She hurried out into the gym, but Kelsey couldn't resist snapping one of Blake's bra straps as she walked past, bolting out of the room before Blake could retaliate.

  "Did you really have to—"

  "Yes," said Kelsey. "She's a bitch."

  "It's just words." She's right though. Blake really is that.

  Just words, as you said. You don't need to concern yourself with just words.

  Right.

  Natalie took a seat on the bleachers. The teacher came out after a couple minutes, just as the last couple stragglers from the lockers appeared. Blake and Lydia were still shooting her dirty looks, but they were quickly distracted by a chorus of groans.

  The usual Friday Field Day was cancelled—it was snowing again—so they had to stay inside. Natalie groaned right along with the rest of the kids. She'd been looking forward to the fresh air and a chance to really get out and run. The teacher tried to play it off with a joke and a smile, but they all knew how much it sucked... until he rolled out a huge cage of rubber balls. Natalie's eyes widened.

  "I thought it was banned," she whispered to Kelsey.

  "It is." Kelsey shrugged. "Maybe they're for something else."

  "All right," the teacher called out. "Today, we're going to be playing Spatial Awareness."

  "What's that?" shouted a kid up in the back row.

  "Well, it's simple. Everybody will split up until teams of six and take one of the courts. You'll have six balls in the center of the court, and when I blow the whistle, you grab a ball and try to tag out someone on the other side. You aren't allowed to cross the line, and if you get tagged, you're out. If somebody catches a ball you threw, you're out and one of their team is back in. Last team standing wins." He glanced around. "Any questions?"

  Nobody spoke for a full minute. One kid giggled. Finally, one quivering hand went up, very slowly—Lydia Jennings' hand, in fact. Her voice trembled as she spoke. "But, isn't that just dodg—"

  "No, Jennings. This is Spatial Awareness." He gave them all a very serious look. "Does everybody understand how to play?"

  Natalie and Kelsey looked at each other, dumbfounded. Kelsey's face twisted into a wicked grin. She was practically bouncing up and down in her seat.

  "Thinking what I'm thinking?"