My Artificial Love [ON HOLD]

Chapter 11

My fingertips bounced against the desk slowly, to the beat of my heart. I had no idea what my teacher was talking about, something to do with polyatomic ions or some shit. Honestly I was too tired to care. I'd had a long night. I had slept yes, but it was brief and getting up had been terribly difficult.

So here I was, leaning my head against the palm of my hand and desperately trying to keep my eyes open, my fingers continuing on their own beat. Next to me, Dallen had his arms crossed over the desk, his chin resting on top. His headphones were in his ears and he was studiously ignoring me, which left me with the perfect opportunity to sleep.

Thank god we sat closer to the back. I'd get away with sleeping a lot easier than up front. With that thought, I let my eyes fall shut, slowing my breathing. I felt myself drop into the warm darkness that was my unconscious state.

It was soothing almost, with the steady beat from Dallen's music and the tick tick from the wall clock, it was almost like a lullaby........

"Miss Williams." A voice barked, yanking me from my brief slumber. My eyes snapped open and I lifted my head groggily, only to find everyone staring at me, even Dallen. The teacher looked annoyed as he tapped the board with a pencil, pointing to a chemical equation. "If you're asleep, you must've already mastered this chapter. What is the name of this formula?"

Not caring whether it was right or wrong, I let the first name from my mind slip off my tongue on its own accord. "Sodium phosphate."

He blinked, a dull shock crossing his face before he pursed his lips and erased the equation, shaking his head. "Correct. Miss Williams, please don't fall asleep in my class. I might just kick you out again."

I let my eyes roll to the back of my head as everyone's attention was finally turned away from me. Just before I let my head fall back onto my hand I heard Dallen murmur beside me, "Well at least we know she can guess."

I turned to him, glaring. "I wasn't guessing." I hissed quietly.

His eyes flicked over to mine, a hard shine to them. "And I wasn't talking to you."

We glared at each other for a moment, the tension sparking between us thicker than the morning fog I used to see after rainy days. I bit my lip, keeping back a few nasty words I knew I shouldn't say. He seemed to be holding back as well as he clenched his jaw.

I broke his gaze. "Whatever." I grumbled, mentally praising myself for not starting something.....again.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dallen open his mouth to say something when the bell rang, cutting off his thought process. My hands curled around the handle of my backpack and I jumped off the stool when we were all stopped by the teacher's booming voice, freezing us in our place.

"Before you go," he called out, his eyes raking over us, a sinister gleam in his dark irises. "Be sure to grab this rubric for your chemistry project due next Friday!"

A collective groan rolled over the class as we all trudged up and took the paper he held out. It couldn't get much worse than this, I thought to myself.

Just as I reached the desk with Dallen behind me, he smirked maliciously and I tensed up, my eyes narrowing. "Oh," he added in a dreadfully cheerful voice. "And don't forget, this is a project that you are to do with your seating partners!"

The universe just loves proving me wrong, doesn't it?

I growled under my breath, snatching a paper from him and marching out, not caring if Dallen was behind me or not. I was tempted to just keep walking and do the project by myself before I realized how long that would take. Sighing loudly, I stopped just outside the door by the lockers and waited, my fingers itching to break something.