I woke up early the next morning and got ready before Christina could wake up. I was hoping to avoid my brother and al his friends when I got to the cafeteria to eat an early breakfast. Fortunately, none of them were there when I got my tray. Not too long after I sat down, someone came and sat right next to me.
"Are you seriously going to eat alone?"
"I was. But now that you're here, I guess I won't be," I said flirtatiously to Clayson. This was probably the stupidest thing I had ever done. Aidan told me what he and Drake had done, but I still felt on edge from last night, like nothing, and I mean NOTHING was going to break me.
Clayson smiled back at me. It wasn't how Eric would throw me a smile, but it was still charming nonetheless. He asked me how my classes were and then shocked me when he said that we had Pre-Calculus together. That was second period and just happened to be one of the classes I had with Aidan. I was so pre-occupied with Aidan and his stupid friends surrounding me that I didn't even notice Clayson was in the same class. It was a polite conversation. After a while I saw him tilt his head behind him. He obviously saw something he liked, because then his smile changed.
"So, getting down to business," he said smiling as he turned his head back to me. "Where did you run off to on Sunday? One second you were there with me and Drake and the next thing I knew you were gone." I suddenly felt uncomfortable.
"I didn't feel well, so I ended up coming back to campus," I said as calmly as I could.
"You could have told us, we would have brought you back," Clayson said as he moved closer to me.
"It's alright," I said hoping that edginess would fill within me again. "I didn't want to bring you folks down, it seemed like you were both having fun."
"We were," he started. That feeling I had this morning completely disappeared the second I felt him place his hand on my lower back. "But then you left us. We could have had more fun if you stayed," he finished.
I felt stuck in my seat, like I couldn't move. I couldn't even say anything in that moment. All I thought about was that if I had stayed there that day, is what they might have done to me.
"Alex," I heard someone call from behind us. In a blur I was picked up from where I sat. "Aidan is looking for you," the familiar voice stated. I was taken off the table, away from there, and out of the cafeteria with such force. Given the circumstances I wasn't going to argue. Once outside the building, Eric turned to face me.
"Are you okay," he asked with a little anger on his face. I nodded. "I'll see you in first period," he said as he turned to walk away.
"Wait," I called out as he turned to look at me again. "Where's Aidan?"
Eric stepped closer. "Aidan actually isn't looking for you. He went to see our coach." I looked away knowing that Eric had just pulled me out of trouble for the second time. He just stood there looking at me. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't exactly thank him in this moment. I still felt a bit of anger for the conversation we had last night.
"Where are you headed?"
He seemed to consider what to answer. He looked away pondering whether or not to tell me. I couldn't help but think that Eric was probably going to break up with another girlfriend. I was probably putting a dent in his busy schedule. This made me smile on the inside.
"Nowhere in particular," Eric answered as he turned back to me.
As much as I didn't want to say the next words that came out of my mouth, they came out anyway. "Can I just walk with you, then?"
Almost as quick as a smile portrayed on his lips, it disappeared. He seemed conflicted as he said "Sure."
We walked as Eric put it 'nowhere in particular'. We mostly just walked silently around campus until the bell rang. He held the door open for the science building to let me walk in first. We were one of the first to class. I sat down closer to the front, hoping he would go and sit in the back with the guys, but he took the seat next to me. Part of me was actually thankful that he didn't chose to leave my side; especially since I knew the next class I would see Clayson.
The walk to second period was quiet too. Again we got there early and I decided to hurry and sit by Lauren before Aidan could come in. However, once he walked into class, he didn't look too happy to see me where I didn't seat yesterday and demanded that I move. He interrupted class twice in order to get my attention. Half way through, I finally relented and sat down next to him, switching seats with Drew.
On our way to third period, Zeke attempted to hurry me out of the hallway. There was something he did not want me to see.
"Eric Matthews!" I was right. There was another upset soon to be ex-girlfriend. Her name is Rachel. I recognized her from PE when we were getting our lockers. I stopped Zeke and turned to see Eric upset that I was here to see this happening yet again. "Britney told me you're no longer going to be joining us at the Chasm," she said full with anger.
I couldn't help but think that somewhere there was a fifth girl. Dear lord! I finally pushed Zeke into third period, hoping I wouldn't hear whatever excuse Eric was going to give this poor girl. And yes, I said POOR! I know he claimed last night that they weren't innocent, but still two wrongs don't make it right.
The day just got even worst. At lunch my meal card got rejected. It said that there were no available funds. I kept thinking that Lynn and I filled it up yesterday, not to mention I used it this morning to eat breakfast. Aidan noticed me with the cashier attendant and put a little extra food his plate for me under one condition of course, that I would no longer pull a stunt like I did in second period. I really thought he was going overboard with the whole 'older protective brother' act.
That night I went to Aidan's room to tell him, he had to stop and that I was fine. However, Eric persuaded him otherwise by informing him of what he saw at breakfast. Eric and I got into another argument. I was beginning to think, that if this kept up, we would eventually be throwing punches at one another by the end of the week.
"So, you mean to tell me that you just looked like you were uncomfortable," Eric questioned me.
"Like I said already, I was doing fine all by myself."
"Come on. You're just acting stupid now!"
"Why are you calling me stupid?"
"I'm not calling you stupid. I'm saying that your behavior is stupid."
"That's the same thing."
"No, it's not. You just don't want to admit that you're wrong."
"No, I just don't want to admit that you are right."
"Alex and Eric, could the two of you just stop it already," Aidan yelled to the both of us. Eric sat back down on his bed and just stared at me.
"Alex, why didn't you tell me about this morning?"
"I knew you were going to go even more protective than you are now." Once I said that he shook his head. "Aidan, I'm being serious. As much as I love you, I really can't stand you sending out half the football team to watch me like some wild hawk watching some little mouse. I get it. You don't want anything to happen to me. But honestly do you have to hover over me while we're in class?"
"He's in our second period."
"But we're in a classroom," I pleaded. "I just want to be able to sit by Marlene, or Lauren, or Tris and Christina without you keeping me a little bubble. I want to be able to go somewhere with them after classes without informing you every single detail." He looked away. "Please Aidan."
"I'm sorry, Alex. I don't want to take that risk." He looked over at Eric. "Can you make sure she gets to her classes?"
"You're joking right," I asked before Eric could answer.
"No," Aidan answered me with a look of disapproval on his face. He then turned back to Eric.
"Of course I can," Eric said looking at me and then turned to Aidan. "Anything for a friend."
Great, I was going to be stuck with a babysitter all semester.
Eric and the guys continued to keep a watchful eye on me. Eric and I didn't talk all week. It wasn't until Friday in third period when we were discussing the hierarchy of needs by some psychologist named Maslow. Ms. Benton, our AP Psychology teacher, decided to assign me and Eric together. We had to discover what motivates and influences our behavior and what steps we take to ensure each category of need. This would be included in our final exam, which meant I would probably make or break my GPA and my chance to pass this class all because of this assignment.
"Did you want to go to the library tonight," Eric asked.
"No, actually," I responded sort of bitter.
"We should at least try to get it started. I know it's not due until the end of the semester, but honestly, we should work on something now."
"Cheer tryouts are tomorrow," I said turning around in my chair to look at him behind me. "From what I've heard, so is football. So, I'm pretty sure you don't really want to do any work tonight."
"Still assuming that you think you know everything? Alright fine. We'll try and do some research on the theory next week Thursday."
"Why on Thursday?"
"So, you don't know everything," he teased with a smile. I just rolled my eyes. "Cheer tryouts, I believe is done in stages, sometimes it runs until Wednesday. You'll see it tomorrow. Football tryouts are five days. Thursday is when they would post who made it. So, now that you know, is it okay if we do that on Thursday?"
He still had the stupid smirk on his face. I shook my head. "Fine, we'll go Thursday."
As I started to turn around, he spoke up. "Did you want to get something to eat before or after the library?" I looked at him confused. "I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure after a long week of tryouts I'm going to be super hungry."
"I guess we can eat dinner with the gang in the cafeteria and then head to library after," I answered.
"Alright, sounds like a date."
I quickly turned back around in my chair to stare at him. Did he really need to smile? He was clearly enjoying watching me get angry. At that moment, as much as I wanted to be mad at him, I really couldn't. I actually felt better knowing he was there with me when we walked to class, sat down in class, or even when our eyes would meet in the cafeteria, which they often did. And that was starting to totally irritate me. I wanted to hate him so bad, but every time I tried to, he did something nice for me.