Chapter 13

Seth was excited to get to his photography class on Monday so he could develop his photos he took over the weekend. The whole day he was anxious to make it to his fourth period class to get into the dark room.

"Hey Mahea." Seth walked up to Mahea as she entered the cafeteria.

"Hi Seth." Mahea smiled. They got in the lunch line together then walked over to their table.

"So," Seth began as they made their way across the room. "I got into the dark room, and developed some of the pictures I took this weekend." He told her.

Mahea looked back at him. "Cool, did they turn out okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, they're great." He replied. "So, maybe after school, do you wanna look at them?" He asked. "They'll be ready by then."

"Sure, I'd love to." Mahea answered. "How about at the bleachers?" She suggested.

Seth nodded his head. "Okay."

After lunch, Mahea quickly stopped off at Claire's office to go and talk with her. Thankfully, both she and Shane were there in her office. When she left Claire's office, she thought she saw someone walking in the halls, even though fifth period had already started. She walked down the hall and turned the corner to see a boy quietly making his way down the halls. She thought it was Damien, so she decided to follow him and see what he was up to. She stopped around the corner when she saw him pulling some kind of gadget out of his locker. Mahea quickly raced to her fifth period class, not sure of what she saw.

"I'll go get the pictures." Seth said, walking past the auditorium with Mahea.

"Okay, I'm just going to my locker, I'll meet you on the field in a few minutes." She said, and they both went on their separate ways.

Damien walked up to Mahea by her locker. "Hey Mahea." He smiled.

She turned and looked at him. "Oh, hi Damien." She said, shoving a binder into the remaining space in her locker. "What's up?" She asked.

"Oh, nothing really." He said, then hesitated to say more. "Well, you know how I asked if you'd wanna do something after school sometime?" He asked.

Mahea nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, do you wanna go and grab a bite to eat right now?" He asked.

"Right now?" Mahea asked, then saw Damien nod his head. She remembered how she told Seth she'd meet him at the bleachers, and she didn't want to just not show up.

"Um…" She said, thinking of an answer, when she saw something blinking a bright red from Damien's pocket, and remembered seeing him in the hall earlier that day. "Yeah, I'd love to." She said, then closed her locker.

Damien smiled. "Great, uh, I just have to go my locker first." He told her, and led her to his locker.

Seth was excited to show Mahea his pictures and quickly got them together in the dark room, then raced back to the bleachers to wait for Mahea. It had been 10 minutes since he saw Mahea walking off to her locker, and wondered where she went. He finally got up and made his way towards the school building.

He walked across the field and towards the entrance of the school. When he turned the corner he saw Mahea and Damien walking together in the opposite direction. He stood there, staring at the two of them walking away. He felt as though his heart had just dropped to his feet. He couldn't believe that Mahea was going somewhere with Damien after she said she'd meet him.

"Great." He mumbled, holding up his portfolio with his pictures in them. He opened it and took out the picture he took of Mahea underneath the tree on Saturday and stared at it. He looked up to see them gone, he then found himself standing all alone on that Monday afternoon.

Mahea found herself laughing with Damien in between eating her hot dog and drinking her milkshake. She and Damien were sitting in a courtyard at the town center having a light snack to eat. Even though Mahea was having an okay time with Damien, she couldn't forget how she left Seth there at school.

"So." Damien said, taking a sip from his soda. "Why'd you decide to come with me today?" He asked, looking straight at Mahea.

Mahea almost chocked on her hotdog. "Umm." She started, thinking of something to say. "I dunno. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing I guess." She smiled.

Damien smiled. "Spur of the moment, I like that." He said.

Seth took his time to get home, thinking about what happened at school. He wasn't sure if he had done something wrong, or said something to upset Mahea. When he got home, everyone was surprised to see him back so early.

"I thought you were gonna show Mahea your pictures?" Zoe asked him as he slowly walked up to his room.

"Not anymore." He said softly, not looking at anyone.

Julie stood up and started for the stairs. "Seth, is anything wrong?" She asked, very concerned.

Seth, still not looking at anyone, continued up the stairs. "No, I'm fine." He lied, and went to his room and closed his door quietly.

Zoe and Julie looked at each other with confusion. "I'll go see what's up." Zoe said, and raced up stairs.

"She'll either find out what's bugging him, or she'll make it worse." Lulu commented.

Zoe knocked on Seth's door and slowly opened it. She looked in his room and saw him lying on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. She quietly made her way to his bed and stood in front of him, barely getting a reaction from Seth.

"What's up?" She asked. Seth didn't answer, but kept looking at the ceiling.

Zoe looked around the room and saw his portfolio on his desk, along with many other books and papers stacked on it. She took the portfolio and looked inside to find the picture of Mahea he was planning on showing her.

"Is this the picture?" She asked, and saw him slightly nod his head. "Wow." She replied, looking at the picture for several moments. "What happened?" She turned to him.

Seth slowly sat up on his bed, still not looking at her. "I'm not sure. I don't know what happened." He said, shaking his head. He continued, before Zoe could say anything. "So if and when I find out what happened, I'll let you know." He said, and finally took a glance towards Zoe.

Zoe nodded her head and put the picture and portfolio back onto his desk. "Okay." She replied, and slipped out of his room, closing the door behind her. Leaving Seth alone once again.

Seth decided not to call Mahea that night to ask her what happened. He still wasn't sure what he'd ask or say. So he waited until the next day. Once he got to school, he still hadn't come up with an idea of what to say to her, so he skipped on meeting his friends before homeroom, and went straight to his class. Even though Seth got out of two opportunities he couldn't talked with Mahea, he know he couldn't avoid her in physics. He anxiously and nervously waited to see her come in the room, and a minute or two before the bell rang, she walked in.

"Hi Seth." She said uncomfortably, taking her seat next to him.

Seth turned to her. "Hi."

Mahea cleared her throat. "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday. About not meeting you to look at the pictures." She said. "I just…forgot I had other plans." She fibbed.

Seth stared at her. "Other plans?" He asked.

"Yeah. I had to go someplace." She replied, fiddling with her notebook in front of her.

"With Damien." Seth said, making Mahea shift in her seat.

"You knew about that?" She asked, unsure of how he would know.

Seth nodded. "Yeah. I saw you guys leaving school together." He told her.

Mahea lowered her head, truly feeling sorry. "Oh." She replied. "Seth, I'm sorry. I really am." She told him, hoping he'd believe her. But before Mahea could get a reply, the bell rang and Mrs. Parker immediately began class.

During their theatre class, Seth seemed to be okay with what happened with Mahea the day before. Since they already were practicing reading their lines for their production, Seth and Mahea had to work together. It looked as if everything was fine between Mahea and Seth in class, so Seth decided to see if Mahea could look at his picture after class, but to Seth's disappointment, it didn't go as he planned.

"I'm sorry Seth." Mahea said, already feeling bad. "I told Damien we'd go to the library to work on our English projects." She said.

"You're both in the same class?" Seth asked.

Mahea shook her head. "No, but we have the same assignment." She said, seeing the disappointment in Seth's eyes. "I'm really sorry Seth. If you asked me before lunch, I would've said yes. But maybe some other time." She said.

The bell rang and Seth found himself once again alone after school, knowing that Mahea was spending time with Damien instead of him.