Don't give up on me ✓

[08] School Bus Behavior

Love ceases to be a pleasure, when it ceases to be a secret - Aphra Behn

Chapter 8: School Bus Behavior

Did Jesper even know what girls were saying about him?

He walked into class and swung his bag on a spare desk. He pushed back against his chair, looking very reluctant to be here. He unzipped his jacket, revealing a t-shirt that clung to him in all the right ways. He used to skip class all the time back home. Here, they took attendance.

I pressed my body against the wall and shimmied my way down the class, trying to blend in with the wallpaper. I did not want him to see me. Not when I had to tell Isla about the situation first.

"Saved you a spot," Isla said, "Actually you saved me."

She was pointing to a sleeping boy on the desk next to ours, drool coming out of his mouth. It formed a trail that dripped off the side of his desk.

"Good afternoon class!" the teacher clapped everyone to attention, "Welcome to English Literature, a class where we will delve deep into the emotions buried within our souls. Now we have a new student today."

Oh no no no.

The teacher continued, "Her name is Lavender Young."

"Georgia actually," I corrected her.

Jesper turned around. He raised an eyebrow.  It was a why didn't you say something look that I found really hard to ignore. The teacher continued with her poetic introduction.

A rustle of movement occurred in front of me. "Excuse me," Jesper said as he stood up and came over to the desk right in front of me. He pulled a guy out of his chair, "Can we swap? I forgot my glasses at home and I'm short sighted."

Blatant lie.

Jesper's vision was fine.

He'd phrased it as a question but he wasn't asking. The boy in front of me moved. I guess posh schools were nice schools. Or at least they avoided physical confrontation a bit more. 

At our last one, Jesper's request would have ended in a fight... which I think he still expected. The chair squeaked as they swapped places.

Jesper made a point of getting comfortable in front of me. He twisted his chair to the side and leant back, resting an arm across my desk.

Isla made a not so subtle gesture to his hand and squealed. I nodded, much less enthusiastically.

"Was something wrong with your seat Mr Palmer?" the teacher asked, having obviously not missed the musical chairs in her class.

Jesper shook his head. "We good."

"Alright, but there will be no more movements from now on. The seats you are in will be your seats for the year."

Jesper raised his hands in a gesture that said, "I'm fine with that."

The door opened, and Hugo walked in late. The classroom got very excited. 

"Sorry, just switched into this class. I wasn't feeling carpentry."

Uh.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I didn't pay any attention to class. Every time Hugo moved, some girl reacted. Meanwhile, Jesper was sitting right in front of me and I really didn't want him to reveal how well we knew each other. 

I had enough on my plate right now with Maythorne's experiments and the Manor prison.

"We will start next week with Catcher in the Rye. Make sure you read the first three chapters," Mrs Halliday concluded the class.