It's Hard to Breathe

Plans

The next day it was astonishingly easy to pretend that she detested Fintan with all of her heart. She still didn't completely like him, but he proved himself a little yesterday. He wasn't as stupid and annoying as she originally thought he was. She had only agreed to the alliance because it seemed to suit them well, and holding hands? It proved he had some feelings for her, hidden behind the snark. Now all she had to do was pretend to like him back, but all the while she would be playing with his delicate emotions.

Gisela was snapped out of her thoughts by a certain spiky-haired blonde clearing his throat subtly in her direction. 

Fintan.

Gisela raised an eyebrow at him, like, What do you want now?

He made the universal sign for "Shh", and seconds later, she watched a piece of paper flutter onto her desk. She opened it careful not to let the paper rustle.

Meet me in the library after school in the non-fiction section, row 2, next week on Wednesday at 4:15, It said.

Gisela bobbed her head slightly in Fintan's general direction, to which he gave an answering subtle nod of agreement.

Job done, Gisela turned her attention back to the teacher.

After two lectures, it was time for lunch. When Gisela sat down at her usual table, Circ and Ruy were looking over some gadget intently.

"What do you have there, Circ?" Gisela asked curiously.

"This is a gadget that absorbs sound frequency, making an entire building silent until I turn it off." Circ proudly informed her.

"Cool. Nice job, Circ." Gisela replied.

Circ nodded, then flipped the switch to turn it on.

Instantly, there was suffocating silence. Golden silence.

Circ flipped the switch again, and all sounds came back. He grinned proudly.

"Nice work, cuz." Ruy said, clapping Circ on the back.

"You two are cousins?" Gisela asked curiously.

"Yeah." said Circ, still grinning proudly.

"Neat." Gisela responded offhandedly, as she was scanning the crowd for a particular blond boy. The first blond boy she saw however, was Jerky Cassius, who was no doubt thinking about quantum physics or something as he looked off into space, studying something behind her. 

Gisela internally groaned, then continued looking.

She finally found him at the end of the lunch line, and his eyes were boring holes in hers. Gisela jerked in her chair, nearly toppling over, but thankfully nobody saw.

Vespera was still reading, and Circ was proudly showing off his gadget to Gethen, Trix, Alvar, and Ruy.

Fintan smirked again when they made eye contact.

Gisela refused to let a blush color her cheeks, and kept an iron expression.

Fintan cocked his head, then shook it, and walked through the line without glancing her way once.

When he finally arrived at their table, he watched Circ's newest gadget work, but when Circ was done explaining it, Gisela cornered him.

"Why were you late to lunch, Pyren?" She demanded.

"Calm down, Gisela. I just got in trouble." He said.

"For what?" Gisela pressed.

"For, um doing something I shouldn't have."

"No s**t, Sherlock. What was it?" Gisela snapped.

"W-well, I um, I..."

"Yes?" Gisela demanded.

"Igotcaughtforwritingsomethingthatshouldneverbewritteninschool!" He blurted out.

"Which was?" Gisela asked, motioning for him to continue.

"Some of my ideas for our future as a team." He whispered.

"Oh. Why did you get in trouble?" She questioned.

"Some of them may have been graphically violent descriptions." He admitted.

Gisela grinned in vindictive glee.

"Well, I guess that means that we'll get along perfectly well."

He sneered back, internally relieved that Gisela could handle severe violence. He supposed that he shouldn't be surprised. After all, Gisela had looked like she was attempting murder with her pillow last week during his first time at her house.

After lunch was over, they started up the stairs, only to find them blocked.

"Come on, I know a different way." Fintan muttered in Gisela's ear, and led her off to the side. They ducked through the crowd, wandered down two hallways, then made a sharp right. 

Fintan lifted a trophy for 1st place in the National Spelling Bee off of the pedestal, and a secret doorway appeared with a click.

Gisela and Fintan walked in the now-open passage.

"Down this way," Fintan said, leading Gisela down the right path in the fork. A few minutes later, there were at a dead end.

Fintan touched a brick in the wall, and another hidden doorway opened with a click. When they walked out, they were in their regular hallway. Upon entering the classroom, they silently took their seats, being the only ones back yet. 

"How did you know about that?" Gisela asked.

"I just do," Fintan replied with a smug look shot at her.

Gisela rolled her eyes, and pulled out some of her homework. She had finished part of it by the time everyone was back in their classroom.

Their next class commenced. By the end of the day, people were making plans to see each other over the weekend and such as they packed up.

"Hey," Someone said quietly to Gisela. She looked up.

Fintan was standing by her desk, shifting his weight almost nervously.

"Yes, Pyren?" She answered, intent on cramming her science binder into her almost overflowing backpack.

"I was wondering...Could I come over again on Sunday?" He asked.

"Why?" Gisela wanted to know.

"So we can get to know each other a little better-and so we can continue the pillow tournament." Fintan admitted with a grin.

"Also, last week was pretty fun, if I'm being honest."

"All right, sure. It was pretty cool." Gisela agreed.

"We should probably finish our homework, and you can tell me about those 'team ideas' you had."

"Sounds good," Fintan responded, concealing his excitement well.

The bell rang, and they headed out the door.

Before Gisela started down the sidewalk, she sidled up next to Fintan, and said,

"See you in a couple of days, partner."

With that, she walked down the sidewalk, turned the corner, and disappeared.