Chapter 05: Staring Problem

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I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest

I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest

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J A M E S

Turns out, I had a staring problem.

A bad staring problem.

What was even worse, was that I hadn't even realized it until someone else pointed it out. That alone made me want to drown myself.

A nudge in the middle of class from my side has me snapping out of it.

"Say," Tyler leans closer and whispers, "Does she have something on the side of her face?"

"What?" I scowl at him, "Who?"

He smiles, and it's very evident that the smile is meant to be teasing. "Annabeth, of course, who else?"

I glance at her again from where she was sitting, on the right side of the row ahead of ours. "No, she doesn't? The fuck you asking me for?"

"You were staring at her," he tells me, his eyebrows wiggling.

"I was not," I deny hotly. But I was- shit, I was.

The bell rings, saving me from having to defend myself- or pathetically attempt to, at least.

Tyler gives me a look that tells me that he wasn't letting go of that observation, as he rises from his seat.

"I see you," he tells me ominously.

"Great to know you have a pair of functioning eyes," I tell him, as we step out into the corridor.

"No, as in I see you," he says, with an almost teasing look, "Your partner- Annabeth, isn't she lovely?"

"A lovely pain in my ass," I tell him, shaking my head, "It's like someone put sunshine into a person- the girl won't stop smiling. I tell her to leave me alone? Smile. I tell her I hate this stupid program? Smile. I tell her that I hate her? Another fucking smile."

"And that bothers you because?"

She has a pretty smile and I can't stop staring at it. I hate myself for thinking that. I need someone to push me off a cliff.

"Because," is all I say, my voice snippy.

"This," Tyler looks like he won the lottery, "is great. I thought it was going to be entertaining to watch you just work with another person- but this, this is so much better."

"I don't know what you're on about."

"Really?" his eyebrows go up, "So you don't mind that she's flirting with a guy right now?"

"She's what?" My eyebrows pull into a scowl, as my head whips in the direction he was looking.

Only to see that she was standing there- all by herself, waiting for me.

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