Chapters nine | Not so easy simplifications

Chapters nine | Not so easy simplifications

I was silently sitting on the bleachers as I read through my book. It was the reading assignment they forced us to read this year. 'The Invisible Man' was boring according to me. Reading between the lines was not my thing, and this book's plot was too slow for my liking. Like seriously, we get to know the invisible man's name halfway into the novel.

From time to time, I looked up from the boring book towards her. She was flawless and looked at total ease as she followed the commands. Andrea's hair fluttered in the light breeze as a wide smile remained static on her face. A hopeless sigh slipped past my lips.

I seriously hope this bad boy bullshit works.

Sometimes, my eyes moved towards Cynthia too, noticing the ease with which she commanded the team. Flipping in the air as if it was nothing out of an action movie.

Moving my eyes away from here, I noticed a figure approaching me. My eyes hardened a bit as they met Jacob's steely grays.

He smirked and stopped in front of me. He turned around and looked towards the cheerleading squad, where my eyes were a few seconds before.

"Seriously, nerd, you are so desperate," he commented with a smirk. "Following her around like a lost puppy when she is just using you."

"I am not fucking desperate," I hissed, making his smirk widen.

I tried taking a calming breath as I didn't want to get in trouble after punching the star quarterback of school.

"Oh? Well, following her to practice makes you fucking desperate," he leered.

His eyes hardened as he glared at me. He lightly pushed at my shoulder, coaxing me to make a move.

It was silent for a moment as our eyes battled in a hard staring match.

"Why the fuck do you care? She is not your fucking girlfriend, Andrea is," I said, pointing out the well-known fact.

He seemed a bit stunned for a moment. For a few seconds, he was a total loss of words.

His facade slipped, and he looked every bit of a vulnerable teen he was. But he was quick to return to his usual demeanor with the ever-present smirk back.

"You like my girlfriend, don't you?" he stated, leaning forward. He was trying to intimidate me. I was sick of the mind games he was trying to play with me. His words were not making any sense, only adding to my irritation.

"What if I do?" I seethed as my fists balled on my sides. I didn't even realize when I stood up from my spot, meeting Jacob straight on.

I was expecting some kind of threat, some kind of comment or some joke about me, but his face turning to a smile was something I never expected.

He just gave a nonchalant shrug at my words, uncaring of the fact that I had just confessed about my interest in his girlfriend.

"You can have her for all you want, her best friend is good enough for my needs," he said with a coy smile lighting up his face.

It took me a moment to realize the meaning behind his words. I went stalk still as realization dawned in. I faintly heard him scoffing at my reaction and moving away from me, towards his team.

No matter how much I wanted to deny his words, it was impossible to do so. His confession provided an explanation, way better than what Cynthia had offered. Once again, my eyes went towards Cynthia's direction as her team practiced some complicated moves.

Cynthia had slept with Jacob, or maybe she was sleeping with Jacob, and Andrea did not know about it.

The kindness of my heart, bullshit! My mind snarled amidst the storm of my thoughts.

Cynthia wasn't helping me. She was using me to separate Jacob and Andrea. I was just a toy in whatever plan she was intending on pulling.

Maybe, she felt guilty about sleeping with Jacob or maybe, she wanted Jacob for herself.

Whatever her reason was, it was sickening me to my core. My conscience was screaming to march down there and demand answers from her.

For the next half hour, I was drowning in my mind, forming reasons she did this. When students began to clear out of the field, I grabbed my bag and made my way towards the car.

The car ride was suffocating, and I refused to interact or look at her. The thought that she could do something like this to her best friends was fueling my anger.

I faintly heard her talking about Organic Chemistry tutoring after I parked my car in the driveway.

I closed the car door, more harshly than I should have, but I needed to be away from her. I needed to calm myself down before I faced her and maybe demanded answers from her.

My jaw tickled, bringing a slight burst of pain with every movement. Too lost in my thoughts, I kept staring at the floor.

By now, my anger had ebbed away, leaving a commotion of feelings in its wake.

Words from my conversation with Jacob floated through my mind. It was as if his words had delivered a blow straight through my soul.

I checked the time, and there were still a few minutes until I had to meet her again. Everything in me screamed to call this arrangement off. But being selfish, I threw the thoughts of my conscience out.

If she is using me for her sick purpose, I will do the same.

I looked at her window. Unlike the usually open curtains, my eyes fell on the drawn together blinds.

I huffed and grabbed my organic chemistry books along with my laptop. Quickly making my way towards her house, I knocked at the front door. I patiently waited for a moment.

I expected her to open the front door, but it was someone else. She was a mirror image of Cynthia but a taller and less curvy version.

It took me a second to recognize her as Cynthia's elder sister, Azalea Crimson.

Soon, I realized I was staring, making me avert my eyes. It was easy to tell that she was doing the same. Her eyes scrutinized me from top to bottom, narrowing more and more with each passing second. Unlike me, she seemed unabashed about it.

"I never knew my sister's standards stooped so low that she had to pity fuck our neighbor," she said, not caring about the fact that I was standing right in front of her.

I narrowed my eyes towards her and recalled how she was known as the residential bitch when she was in high school, which was roughly two years back.

"Are you done?" I gritted, feeling more frustrated than I was before.

"Oh, so he speaks!" she mocked, trying to grate my nerves.

Scoffing at her immature behavior, I stepped past her. Just as I was going to move up the stairs, I turned around, pinning her with a glare.

"We are not fucking," I stated and made my way up.

As I pushed Cynthia's bedroom door open, she jerked awake, looking startled.

Her eyes were unfocused, and her hair pulled up in a bun. She was donning simple sweatpants and a large t-shirt. The t-shirt was so large that it was slipping past her shoulders.

Finally, regaining her senses, she noticed my presence. Giving me a guilty smile, she rubbed her eyes, trying to get away any sleep from them. "Sorry, I was just kinda tired."

Nodding, I closed the door behind me, not wanting to see her sister even accidentally.

I placed my books on her bed and made myself comfortable on the spot next to her. With her laptop and books neatly arranged in front of her, she was ready to dive into Organic Chemistry.

"So, which chapter do you want to start with?" I started as I flipped through my notes. "I seriously hope your basics of carbon's structure are clear. You know about carbon and its catenation tendencies and anomalies, right?"

"I do. My problem is with the haloarenes area," she answered thoughtfully.

I nodded and opened my chapter notes. "What is the weak area in the chapter? The preparation methods and their limitations, the recognition tests, or the chemical reactions of conversion into other functional groups?"

"Everything?" she squeaked with a guilty smile on her face.

Sighing, I took out my pencil and started to explain to her the basics of Haloarenes. It was half an hour into babbling through my notes that I felt her leaning against me.

She was trying hard to pay attention to what I was saying, but her eyes were barely open. I sighed when she closed her eyes, finally giving in to the lure of her sleep. She still was leaning against me, using me as the temporary pillow.

I looked down at her, sleeping against my arm. Soft snores slipped past her lips, making her look adorable. I don't know how, but any remnants of my previous anger dissipated.

Truthfully, it was impossible for me to stay mad for long. My anger was like a burning magnesium ribbon. Burning too bright, but ending into ashes too quickly.

I suddenly felt guilty about the way I acted today. It was horrible on my part. The same guilt consumed me, rooting me on the spot next to her.

I didn't want to wake her up, so I stayed very still. Her exhaustion was justified, after her cheer practice, especially after so long.

My thoughts once again drifted to Jacob's words. My jaw clenched with anger but towards myself. I should have confirmed it with her before getting so angry. I don't know why, but something told me he wasn't lying.

Because somehow in the whole arrangement we were going through, his words made sense. They gave explanations to the question I didn't even know I was seeking answers off.

I once again diverted towards her slight form curled against my side.

"Were you lying to me, Cynthia?" I felt myself softly mumble.

It was another hour before she showed signs of waking up. I was reading through my notes, revising our latest class topic when she woke up. Even though I wanted to deny it, I might have stared at her sleeping form for too long. (Talk about being creepy)

She slowly blinked her eyes open and groaned as she stretched after the nap. Her eyes met with mine, and she realized that she was half sleeping on me.

Quickly she scrambled beside me, straightening her clothes that had dipped a bit low after her nap. A blush coated her cheeks, making her look cute.

"I am sorry," she mumbled. "You must have wasted so much time because of me. You should have jerked me awake."

"Well, that would make me jerk that I am usually not, and you looked like you needed to sleep seriously." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Thank you," she smiled up at me.

Collecting my book, I gestured towards the door. "I think we should do this tomorrow. You look exhausted."

She gave me a relieved smile and nodded. She was still sporting her blush, making her eyes look brighter. "Yeah, you are right. We should reschedule it for tomorrow."

She looked like she wanted to say something more, and I stared at her expectantly.

Her shoulders slumped, and she sighed. "Eli?" she asked softly.

"Yeah?" I replied in the same tone. I had an inkling about what she was going to say.

"Why were you angry with me?" Her voice was hesitant as if it scared her that talking about it would make me angry. It just made me feel more guilty about the way I treated her.

At that moment, she looked so fragile that it was impossible to imagine her as the same person she acts as in high school.

This needed to be cleared, better now than later.

"I will ask you something, so please tell me the truth, ok?" My voice was firm, but my thoughts were a jumbled mess.

She nodded, feeling a bit confused as to where this conversation was going.

"Did you sleep with Andrea's boyfriend, Cynthia?"