Crushing on the Geek(23)

“Have a good day!” she heard him call out as she pushed open the school doors.

“Tamara!” Amber called from somewhere outside, but Tamara ignored her. She didn't want to talk about what was happening. She just wanted to leave the faeries something equally valuable to what she had taken and be done with it.

The halls of Central Glade High were empty except for a few teachers gossiping in the science hall. Tamara ducked around the corner when she heard them laughing.

Guess I'm not using the elevator, she thought as she headed towards the stairs. She dashed up the stairs, legs burning from the effort. Since the end of volleyball Tamara hadn't been as active as she should have been. After a quick survey of the first hall on the fifth floor, she decided to just go for it. Shouldn't the fifth floor be empty this time of morning?

Footsteps fell on the stairs as she sprinted to room five eighty five, urging Tamara on. She pushed the door open and sighed in relief when it was blissfully empty except for Sir Bedivere. Tamara removed the tube from it's plastic wrapper and lay it in front of him.

“We're even now, right?” she asked out loud.

Tamara wasn't sure what she expected to happen, but she felt let down when nothing happened. It was foolish, but she did. She meandered down the hall and stairs, heading to her locker.

“Tamara!”

She looked over her shoulder to see Hayden running after her.

“Hey,” she had to force a smile, because she hadn't forgotten their argument yesterday. Thinking about it still left her bemused. Hayden had insulted and complimented her in the same breathe. He had drug her into this mess by cutting open those damn apples and now refused to acknowledge that anything was happening.

Hayden grinned at her and despite her anger butterflies began to flutter around her belly. She crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay this morning,” he said.

“Why wouldn't I be?” Tamara asked, wondering if something had finallyconvinced him that she hadn't lost her mind.

“You were acting really weird yesterday.”

“Oh,” Tamara rolled her eyes after being let down for the second time this morning and classes hadn't even began.

“I didn't mean to piss you off,” Hayden said shifting his backpack from one shoulder to the other, “We're all upset about losing the tournament and all the crazy stuff going on. I don't know what happened to you yesterday at the library.”

“Yes, you do!” Tamara snapped, “You know because I told you, Hayden!”

“Yeah..” he paused, “but I wasn't there.”

“You just wait! You just wait until they do something and you have to believe what's going on.”

“Even if they are real, if you ignore them, they'll go away.”

“I doubt it,” Tamara said, turning on her heels.

“Tamara,” Hayden said again. Tamara liked how her name sounded on his lips and the way his brow creased in frustration.

“What?”

“Can we start this conversation over?”

“Not unless you have a time machine,” Tamara said.

“Then can I apologize again?”

“I don't know, can you?”

“Fine,” he sighed, “May I apologize again.”

“Permission granted to grovel,” Tamara smirked.

“I was trying to ask if you wanted to hang out some time this week?”

“That's not groveling,” Tamara said, arms crossed.

“I know, but I'm above groveling. So, what do you say?”

“You think I'm crazy and you want to hang out with me?”

“I never said you were crazy,” Hayden sighed.

“Might as well have.”

“I'm sorry.”

“We'll talk later,” Tamara sighed and turned on her heels again, just in time for the bell to ring.

By third period Tamara was exhausted and debating whether or not she was going to tell Amber about leaving the lip gloss and yesterday at the library. She was still mulling it over when she arrived at their lockers to find that Amber hadn't arrived or had headed on to drama class without her. Tamara pretended not to notice Hayden talking with Greg and the others across the hall.

Her stomach churned as she walked past the group. Hayden tapped her shoulder and when she turned to look slipped a note into the side pocket of her backpack. Tamara scurried away pretending not to notice the dirty look Cindy and the others shot her. Were they bad mouthing her? Was he only talking to her to get dirt for the Chess Club? Tamara wanted to hit her head against the wall, but instead she stifled her cry of frustration by biting her lip and power walking to class, determined to find Amber and tell her everything.

The drama classroom was noisy and crowded, but Tamara forced her way through the crowd searching for her BFF.