Homeroom

20: Fiiiine

[A/N] Hey, hey, ILY. Song for this chapter is Bad Blood by Taylor Swift.

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"So I heard Luke joined Charlie's band," Shay gossips as she leans against the lockers on Thursday morning.

I grab my Chemistry and Calculus books off the shelf and slam the metal door shut. "Um, yeah. Can you tell how thrilled I am about it?"

Shay ignores my snide comment. "Do they have a name for their band yet?"

"Shay, it's been about five days since Charlie and Al picked them to join the band. I don't think they had a practice yet, let alone named themselves."

She blinks a couple times, embarrassed by her curiosity. "Oh, okay. Well, let me know when they decide on a name."

"Alright, well, I have to go before I'm late," I sigh, pushing my backpack strap further up my arm.

"Okay, have fun with Aaron. I know how much he likes to bother you in homeroom," she giggles.

"I'll try my hardest not to," I reply in all-seriousness.

"You're such a sourpuss," she laughs, shaking her head. She disappears into the crowd before I get the chance to defend myself.

Yeah, thanks for the complement, Shay.

I roll my eyes and head to Homeroom. The halls are packed, but I manage to arrive to the classroom without pushing and/or punching the slow walkers who always manage to walk in front of me.

"Miss Russe, you're late," Mrs. McKenna announces as I walk into the class. 

The bell rings right after she finishes her sentence. "No I'm not, I made it just in time," I cogently reason, heading to my seat.

Aaron watches me as I accidentally trip over someone's backpack and miraculously catch myself. He stifles a laugh, and I glare at him as I sit on the cold seat. Luckily, he turns his attention back to his textbook.

The teacher huffs. "Very well, but next time, I won't hesitate to send you to the office, okay?"

I wave her off, pulling out my math book to do some homework I forgot about. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

I'm pretty sure she heard my dismissive comment and chose to ignore it. I guess the ungraded papers on her desk demand her attention more than my antics.

"You coming to the homecoming game tomorrow night?" Aaron asks as I start working on a calculus problem.

"No," I reply, biting on my pencil.

"You should. I'm a starter," he says again.

"Yeah... no," I reply, writing down the functions and performing the product rule in my notebook.

"If I paid for your ticket to the Homecoming dance would you consider coming to the soccer game?" he barters.

I drop what I'm doing and look at him with wide eyes. "Is that your way of asking me out?"

He chuckles nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "If that's what you want this to be, then sure. I was thinking of it more as a truce, but whatever floats your boat, Iron Fist."

I roll my eyes but am fully aware that I could use this to my benefit. "I'll go to the game if you do my math homework for me."

"Just the game? Not the dance?"

"Just the game."

He sighs, pouting. "Fine."

He grabs my math book and spins it around so that he can read it. He looks at the first problem, skimming it over quickly as his eyebrows scrunch up in confusion. 

I smirk at him. "Can't figure it out?"

"No, I can do it," he replies, picking up my pencil and reading over the problem for another minute or so. "Okay, I give up. This crap is too hard."

"Oh, that's fine," I innocently agree, "but this means that deal's off ."

"What?! That's not fair! You set me up for failure, didn't you?"

I smile. "Hmm, maybe."

"You did."

"Maybe."

"Admit."

"Okay, I did," I admit. "Happy now?"

Aaron groans, folding his arms on my textbook. "You're too mean to me," he whines.

"And you're too clingy, now stop stating the obvious," I say. "And get off my math book. I still have to finish the rest of this."

He doesn't move.

"Aaron, move," I demand, poking his extremely toned arm. "Please?"

His hazel eyes shine mischievously as he continues to remain immobile on top of my book. "Come watch the soccer game, and I'll get off of it."

I stare at him for two seconds before latching onto the book and trying to pull it out of his possession. He's too quick and too strong for me. He takes ahold of the book as I attempt to get a good grip on it. He yanks it from me from my grasp and pulls it to his chest, hugging it with all of his strength.

I huff at him and the stupid grin on his face. I can't let him keep the book because I can't afford to get a zero on another homework assignment. A couple missed assignments can be the difference between valedictorian and salutatorian.

"Aaron?" I sweetly ask, smiling as attractively as I can and flipping my long hair over my shoulder. He visibly gulps, and I can tell I'm making him nervous. "Can I have the book back?"

His discomfort slowly but steadily shifts to a taunting smirk. "Only if you go to the game and the dance with me."

Ugh, he's wasting priceless homework time, and he knows it. I only have one option: negotiation. "Really? You're blackmailing me? How mature."

"Not blackmailing, bartering," he corrects, giggling. "So, what will it be?"

I think about it briefly, trying to figure out his hidden intentions. But my homework needs to get done, and I have only 20 minutes...

"Ugh, fiiiine," I sigh. "I'll go."

"Cool, here's your book back," he happily says, placing it back down on my desk. "And I'll pick you up on Friday at five."

I roll my eyes, plucking my pencil out of his large hand so that I can get to work on the assignment.

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[A/N] Keep reading to see what happens :)