The Chemistry Test

22. gossip and suspicions

Day Ten

Sitting in class, I couldn't keep my head from spinning around the events that had transpired the past few days. There were too many loose ends to tie up, so many things left unresolved, and many conversations that needed to happen to organize my thoughts once again.

In English, Mark and Gwyn had been more lovey-dovey than usual, hardly paying me much attention other than saying hello and goodbye. Gwyn shot me a look at the beginning of class, reminding me of our conversation last night, but otherwise, I'd barely seen or heard a peep.

Even more strange--Mark had completely ignored Damon and the return of his camera equipment--solely focused on the smiling, hair-flipping blonde in front of him. If only he'd heard our talk yesterday.

If I wanted to have a serious conversation with him, I needed to wait until we could be one-on-one. Maybe at lunch, if Gwyn could take her perfectly-manicured fingers off of him.

Gathering my things, I headed out of the building only to be held up by Damon's thundering voice behind me.

"Zoe," he called, and I turned to face him. "Do you have a minute?"

"Hi, um," I looked down at my phone to check the time. I only had a few minutes until my next class started, but I could always ask a couple of friends to cover for me. "Yeah, what's up?"

He tilted his head to the side and I nodded, following him around a corner out of sight from the exodus of peers leaving our English class. Mark's voice stood out among all of the others as he laughed with Gwyn, slowly fading into the mix as they walked farther away.

Once we were out of earshot, Damon lowered his camera and double-checked the area before turning back to me.

"How're you?" He cleared his throat, eyes glancing anywhere but me.

"Much better, thank you." I said, anticipating more from this shifty secret conversation than small talk. "How are you?"

"Been better." he said, furrowing his pierced eyebrows together. "Tell me, how good are you with a camera?"

I cocked my head at him, glancing down at the mass of technology in his gargantuan hands. "I mean, I'm not the best-"

"Can you press an on and off button?"

I nodded, letting out a laugh. "Yeah, I think I could manage that. Why do you ask?"

He shifted on his feet, glancing around again before his dark eyes met mine. "I need your help with something."

I squinted up at the giant, whose expression was a mixture of apprehension and determination as the silence waved between us.

"Hmm," I pursed my lips. "Okay, go on."

"Sounds weird, but I wouldn't ask if I could do it myself." he sighed, "Something sketchy is definitely going on with Gwynn Ryann Harris. I know you guys are friends, so I was hoping you could do some digging. You know, girl talk, or whatever."

I blinked up at the giant, right then and there making the decision to play dumb. Maybe she wasn't my top priority compared to Mark, but she definitely ranked higher on the list than Damon.

I shook my head, "I don't get it. Why are you asking about Gwyn?" There had to be another explanation. "Do you have a thing for her, or something?"

"Don't be daft." he scoffed, but I could tell it made him uncomfortable as his eyes fleeted away. "It's not like that."

"Oh, sure." I teased, rolling my eyes at him. "Why else would you be asking me about Gwyn?"

"Gorveau asked me." he sighed in exasperation. "He wants to know what the deal is with her and Lisp's relationship. You can take it or leave it, but I'm telling you, the chick's not my type."