Chapitre 12: The Cafeteria

AP Bio was Ivy's last class before lunch. In her preoccupation about Carson's view on superpowers she had nearly forgotten it was almost time to meet with Adrian. Getting closer to him was absolutely imperative and she couldn't allow herself to remain distracted.

She took notes dutifully but her mind was already at lunch. As were the minds of the majority of her classmates. AP Bio wasn't the most exciting class.

'I hope they have curly fries today. They're the only thing in the cafeteria that's edible.'

'Will Josh notice my new haircut? What if he does but thinks it looks stupid? Oh, why did I cut it so short? I wanted to try something new but it might look terrible to other people…'

'Mr. Beyer's voice always puts me to sleep. But if I get caught napping one more time I'll get detention for sure.'

Ivy yawned in agreement with that particular inner voice. She wasn't even entirely sure what he was talking about right now even though she was writing down every word he said. In classes like this she tended to function on autopilot.

Thinking too much always tired her out. As she did every day, she wished she could use her headphones. Taking notes would be easier if she didn't have so much background noise. It was incredibly tempting to lay her head on the desk and take a nap right alongside her classmate.

'Ivy looks tired again…but I don't have any gum to offer today,' Carson thought. 'I could offer to buy her something at lunch. Would that be too weird?'

Why was it that he seemed to be thinking of her every time they were in the same room these days? It was strange. Ivy was so good at blending into the background that she largely went unnoticed unless she accidentally embarrassed herself.

The only other person in this school who thought about her this much was Lydia, her self-proclaimed best friend. Did Carson think of her as a mystery to solve or what? They were classmates but couldn't exactly be considered friends.

She would have accepted his offer to buy her food if it was any day other than today. Figuring out the secret behind Adrian Marquez's silence was more important.

Ivy didn't want to have to turn him down so when the bell rang she sped out of class to the area of the cafeteria where she and Adrian had agreed to meet. Despite her speedy departure, he had beaten her there and was leaning against the wall.

Today he was wearing a tee shirt advertising a metal band, ripped jeans, and the same leather bracelet as before. Her plain mint green long-sleeved shirt and skinny jeans with boots were only slightly less casual.

"Hey," she greeted as she approached.

Adrian smiled at her. "Hey yourself. Ready for some hot chocolate?"

Ivy nodded, internally berating herself for not having something more interesting to say right off the bat. He went to go buy their drinks and she sat down at a table in the corner of the room, praying Lydia didn't spot her.

If this Adrian and the one she was crushing on were the same, getting caught would be incredibly awkward. She didn't want to have to explain that she wasn't interested in her friend's man. At least not romantically.

He was a mystery but that didn't mean she liked him. His head was probably every bit as perverted or boring as ever other guy's she knew.

At this school late fees were only ten cents per day. To owe two whole dollars meant he had been holding onto it for weeks. Notes went around to students with overdue books every so often. How had he managed to miss that?

"So…your book must have been pretty good to hold onto it for so long," Ivy ventured.

Adrian laughed and shook his head. "Not really. I needed it to help me write a history paper and then I completely forgot about it. It sat on my desk at home for about a month. Thanks for saving me, by the way. I really needed to check out that new one but that dragon wasn't going to let me before I paid the fine."

That didn't explain ignoring the overdue notices but she chose to let it go. She didn't want to antagonize him. But calling the librarian a dragon? That wasn't terribly nice. Ivy never had any problems with her. He must turn books in late frequently to kindle her wrath.

"It was nothing," she demurred. Ivy was mostly glad that he didn't seem to think she was weird for overhearing that he couldn't pay his fine. "Do you hang out in the library often?"

"I prefer spending my lunch breaks outside. But sometimes I need to finish homework before my math class right after lunch," Adrian confessed.

Lydia had math right after lunch too. She was willing to bet that this was the same Adrian. That was good news—if they got along well at the dance she wouldn't have to come up with dumb excuses to see him later.

The stupid idea of trying to hook him up with her best friend on a more permanent basis appealed to her. As Lydia's boyfriend, Ivy would see him a lot more often than she would otherwise.

"Makes sense," Ivy said. "I'm always in there because I prefer doing homework at school than at home."

He laughed. "Solid logic. But don't your friends want you to hang out with them at lunch?"

Yes. Lydia tried finding her on a regular basis. But she didn't want to admit that she avoided her best friend because that would sound weird without context. She really hated the cafeteria, okay?

Even now she was struggling. Her head hurt from the cacophony of inner voices but she needed to stay focused on the conversation.

Ivy simply shrugged in response. But man, this was terrible. There was a good chance she would need to ditch APUSH and go to the nurse's office to lie down with her headphones on after this. Becoming a hermit in the mountains was more appealing all the time.

commentaire Commentaire 11

Voter

ENVOYER LE CADEAU

Load failed, please RETRY