Chapter Two
1959 Words
"Let's get out of here," Collin whispered into my ear.
I nudged him in the side, shooting him a teasing glare
"I am serious," he whispered.
"Mr. Langford," Mr. Murphy called from the front of the classroom as he paused the movie.
"Do you have something you'd like to share with the class?"
"No sir," Collin declined.
"I'd suggest you pay a little more attention to my class and a little less attention to Ms. White."
I blushed, covering my smile with my hand.
"Yes sir," Collin said, flashing me a smile.
"And if you feel the need to disrupt my class again, I have some beakers that could use cleaning afterschool."
Collin sobered up.
"Yes sir."
Mr. Murphy nodded before starting the movie again.
Collin could not afford a detention with basketball practice afterschool. But even so, within five minutes Collin's lips were pressed to my ear again.
"If you won't get out of here with me now, will you let me take you out on Saturday?"
I crossed my right leg over my left, shooting a look in Mr. Murphy's direction.
He was engrossed in something on his computer.
"What do you have in mind?" I whispered back, raising my eyebrows at him.
"You, me, and laser tag."
I smirked at him.
"Are you sure you want to reopen that wound? You do remember who won last time?"
Collin laced his hands in front of his mouth to keep from laughing, and we both focused our attention on the movie for a few moments.
"I will kick your butt, just like I did in Call of Duty yesterday," Collin whispered, after a few moments of silence.
"Mr. Langford!" Mr. Murphy called.
Collin let out a small groan.
"I am glad you decided to join me afterschool," Mr. Murphy continued.
Collin let out a sigh, rolling his eyes to look at me. I shot him a sympathetic smile.
"And you are not too far behind him Ms. White," Mr. Murphy added.
Collin stuck his tongue out at me, and I rolled my eyes, refocusing my attention on the movie that I still didn't know the name of.
"You didn't kick my butt in Call of Duty yesterday," I informed Collin once I was sure Mr. Murphy was not paying attention.
Collin raised an eyebrow at me.
"I let you win."
This time Collin did bust out into laughter.
With one more glare from Mr. Murphy, Collin and I decided to put a pause in our conversation until the end of class. Fortunately for me, this was our last class of the day. However, Collin still had basketball practice after school, so when classes ended I decided to go to Starbucks with my friend Mary to do AP chemistry homework.
"How do catalysts lower the activation energy of a reaction?" Mary asked me, looking up across our table at Starbucks.
"By providing an alternate pathway for the reaction," I reminded her, curling a piece of hair behind my ear.
"How do you remember that?" she complained.
I shrugged, causing her to flick a piece of her pencil lead at me.
"I am sorry," I defended, while laughing.
"I hate you and your brains."
"I still love you."
She glared at me while I took a sip of my Iced Caramel Macchiato. I went to start on my final practice problem for AP Chemistry when my phone started blaring Rihanna, otherwise known as Collin's ringtone.
I checked the time before answering.
He should be headed to my house for dinner.
"Hey babe," I said, a smile making its way across my face.
"Hey," he answered, his voice a bit deeper than usual.
"How was practice?" I asked, taking another sip of my coffee.
"Practice ran smoothly. Coach names shooting guard tomorrow."
"And?"
"Call me conceited, but I am not worried."
"That definitely puts you in the egotistical jock category," I teased.
He let out a short laugh.
"So, the reason I am calling is because I am not making it over for dinner tonight."
"Is everything okay?"
Collin comes over for dinner practically every night. His mom travels a lot for her business, and his dad walked out when he was young, so my parents practically insist that he at least eat dinner with us.
"I've got this killer headache," he said.
"I have not been able to shake it."
"Go home and put an ice pack across your forehead," I advised, crossing my right leg over my left.
"Do you want me to come over?"
"It's okay," he promised. "
I am just going to try and sleep it off."
Lack of sleep is probably the reason behind the headache.
"Call me if you need me," I said, twirling a piece of hair around my finger.
"I will. I love you," he reminded me.
"I love you too."
And then the line clicked dead.
"Is everything okay?" Mary asked.
"Collin isn't feeling well," I said, starting in on my last AP Chemistry practice problem.
"Hopefully he can sleep it off."
"Hopefully," Mary agreed.
"The last thing we need is for our shooting guard to get sick."
I finished up my last problem, unable to stop worrying about Collin. He was not one to get sick all too often, and when he did he was not one to complain about it. So, the fact he even told me about his headache meant it must've really been bothering him.
"Do you mind if I cut out early?" I asked Mary.
"It's okay," she promised, looking up from her Chemistry book.
"This is my last problem anyways."
"Thank you so much."
"Do not sweat it. I really appreciate you meeting me at Starbucks in the first place."
I packed up my stuff and blew her a kiss before I left, heading over to Collin's place. I went around the back, lifting up the shell on the plastic turtle retrieve the key. I let myself in, immediately greeted by Scooby.
"Hey buddy," I said, scratching him behind the ears for a moment. I kissed the top of his head before heading over to Collin's bedroom.
"I said you didn't have to come over," Collin reminded me, as I stepped inside.
He was stretched out across his bed, the lights dimmed. The TV was playing on a low volume, spouting a rerun of The Beverly Hillbillies.
"Lucky for you, I am not the one to follow the rules," I said, plopping down on his bed.
"That sounds pretty sexy," Collin said, wrapping his arms around my waist.
"Not so fast mister," I said, brushing my fingers across his forehead.
He did feel a bit warm.
"Did you put some ice on your forehead?"
"Yes Nurse White." I rolled my eyes.
"Any Advil or-"
"No," Collin declined, before I could finish my sentence.
"Did you think about it?"
"No."
"Well, if your headache gets worse, maybe you should?"
"I won't."
I straddled his abdomen, bending down and planting a kiss on his lips. Collin pressed his lips to my ear.
"You look very pretty today; in case I didn't tell you earlier."
"You did, six times to be exact, but thank you," I answered, before hopping off his bed.
"What are you doing?" he complained.
"Letting you rest because you have a headache."
"Will you at least stay with me?"
"Well making out isn't going to help your headache," I said.
But I could already feel my resolve fading as I stared into his crystal blue eyes.
"We can just watch a movie," he said, offering me a smile.
"Okay," I said, climbing back into bed next to him.
He wrapped me up in his arms before pulling up his DVD player.
"You already have the movie in don’t you?" I asked, with a laugh.
"Do not laugh," he ordered, as he started Hairspray.
"This movie is the worst."
He made a face at me, and I shook my head at him, laughing. This was Collin's all-time favorite movie, so I was surprised when I looked over halfway through the movie to see him asleep. But I wasted no time in turning the lights off, as well as the movie, which could all be done from my position in the bed.
I could not name the last time Collin fell asleep around me, and I was afraid to jostle the bed because I didn't want to accidentally wake him up. I slowly inched my way off the bed, watching Collin's face the entire time. But he didn't stir, and I managed to shimmy my way out of his bed and out to the kitchen.
"High-five dude," I whispered, bending down to Scooby 's level.
The black lab just stared at me.
"Good try," I said, patting him on the head.
"Do me a favor and let him sleep?"
Scooby hopped up on the couch, and I kissed the top of his head before leaving Collin's house.
The next day, I was eager to see Collin at school. After I left his house yesterday I had assumed that he slept through the rest of the day as the first time I had heard from him after the fact was this morning when he sent me the usual ‘good morning’ text.
"How's the headache?" I asked Collin, as he joined me before school.
"Gone," he said, planting a light kiss on my lips.
"I guess I just needed a good night's sleep."
"And did you get one?"
"Six whole hours."
I shook my head.
"Six hours isn't a good night's sleep you dingo."
"Dingo? Isn't that a type of African lion?"
"Australian dog, but close."
"Same thing," Collin agreed, with a smirk.
"So did you do the Chemistry homework?" Mary asked Collin.
"Kind of," he said.
"How do you kind of do ten practice problems?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.
"You do three of them."
"Mr. Murphy already hates you," I reminded him, letting out a laugh.
"Well, I had practice yesterday," Collin whined.
"And then I had that headache."
"Those problems were assigned on Friday," Mary reminded him.
Collin scoffed.
"As if I am doing homework over the weekend."
"As if you are passing your Junior Year," I retorted, raising my eyebrows at him.
"You are so sassy," Collin whispered, a smile playing on his lips.
"I love that about you."
I could not help but blush, letting my head dip.
"You two need to go somewhere else," Kimberly muttered, shooting us a glare.
"Why is that?" Collin asked.
"Because I do not like seeing everyone’s favorite couple also known as the golden couple of Finbury high all mushy before I've even had time to digest my breakfast."
"Do not call us that," I ordered.
"I do not know, I kind of like it," Collin said, with a laugh.
"That nickname is so stupid," I complained.
"We are not The Golden Couple."
"Well I think you need to check last year's yearbook love," Kimberly reminded me.
"Because your picture is definitely underneath that title."
I made a face at her, and she stuck her tongue out at me in return.
"Okay, I have to go," Collin said, standing up.
"Do you want to come play nice with my friends?"
I shook my head.
He bent down and planted a light kiss on my lips.
"Well then I will see you in class."
"You have the best boyfriend on the planet," Mary informed me, as Collin left to meet up with his jock buddies.
"I won't dispute that," I said, a smile still lingering on my face.
"They are The Golden Couple after all," Kimberly added.
I shot her a glare while the rest of the table cracked up.
"I seriously hate that title."
- Writer
