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Chapter 21

Hayley and Alex sat side by side at the dining room table, with matching cups of tea and laptops, clicking and scrolling. Claire leant against the kitchen counter, watching her two daughters with interest. Not a word passed between the two of them but there was a feeling of comradery between the two sisters. Their shared interest in blogging had resulted in shared "posting parties" where they would sit together, and type madly on their laptops.

'Done?' Hayley took a sip of her tea and stretched out her fingers.

'Yeah...Done.' Alex and Hayley swapped their laptops and sat silently, reading posts on a topic which they knew nothing about. All the while, Claire stood silently, cup in hand, marvelling at the wonder of this phenomena.

'That's really good,' Alex smiled, encouraging her sister.

'Yeah, super cool post,' Hayley grinned. The two sisters turned away from each other, shooting a baffled look and a shrug at their mum who grinned in amusement. She loved the new relationship her children had, and how since no longer sharing a room her two daughters had become a lot closer.

Claire's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of laptops slamming shut simultaneously, and as one her two girls got up, and took their laptops and tea to their respective bedrooms.

'Why didn't we give them separate rooms sooner?' Claire asked ponderously as Phil came into the kitchen.

'Sorry, did you say something?' Phil took off his headphones. 'I was getting my jam on to Footloose.'

'It doesn't matter,' Claire smiled, turning back to packing the lunches.

'Still got it,' Phil crowed, dancing out of the kitchen.

'Careful, you're going to crash into something,' A strong hand grabbed Alex's arm, and her head whipped up to see a pole just centimetres from her face.

'Thank you,' Alex turned to see brown eyes grinning up at her from under a shock of black spiky hair.

'You shouldn't walk around with your head in a book; it could be quite dangerous, especially in a public school.' The guy continued.

'Well I'm quite obviously a nerd,' Alex shrugged, laughing nervously. She gasped as he took the book gently from her hands and turned it over to look at the blurb.

'I don't think that liking to read makes you a nerd, it just makes you a person with emotions,' the guy chuckled. 'Alex, isn't it? I remember meeting you the other day, the grip thing worked too!'

'Uhh yeah, Cristian, I'm surprised you remember me, I..uh I'm glad it worked.' Alex stuttered, her face getting redder with each passing second. 'So what brings you here?'

'You mean the canteen line? I'm here to get food.' Cristian grinned.

'Of course,' Alex grimaced at her awkwardness. 'Well it was nice to see you again.' Deciding that she would rather go hungry than embarrass herself in front of a gorgeous guy, Alex dashed from the line, leaving a bemused Cristian behind.

What was it about that guy? Alex puzzled the reasons behind her red face and sweaty palms as she sat under a tree, watching the guys play basketball from a safe distance. Did guys in general make smart, independent women stupid, or did this particular one hold some sort of power? She had liked the way he said that he didn't think she was a nerd, not something she was at all accustomed to hearing from a member of the male species; even Sanjay berated her for being a nerd- as he reasoned, as a man he was "learned" not a nerd.

Perhaps it was just Cristian's bewitching smile as he said those words, but she felt as if he thought it was a good thing rather than a bad thing. Urgh, I shouldn't be thinking such things, the last thing I need is boy troubles! With a good hurrumph, Alex dug into her bag to retrieve her book, deciding to bury herself in the troubles of a dystopia rather than dwell on her own.

Her hand rifled blindly through textbooks and pens, but they couldn't find the shape of her book amongst the clutter. Hmmm, that's strange. Alex opened the other sections of her bag and began madly pulling everything out, tipping her bag upside down in her efforts to find her book. Where on earth was it? Frowning she thought over the last hour in her head, she had definitely had it in the cafeteria line...

With a jolt, realisation hit her, Cristian had taken it to read the blurb. In her haste to get away she had forgotten that he was still holding her book. Alex peered around the tree at where the boys were playing basketball, Cristian laughing gorgeously at something one of his friends had said. The thought of another confrontation made her stomach flip. It was his now!

Yes I know it was quite short, but this one was a little filler chapter, and I wanted to test the waters with the possible love interest, but those who reviewed when Cristian was first introduced seemed quite enthusiastic about a love interest so I thought I'd elaborate and see how it was received. Review and let me know what you think :) :)