Loving The Jerk Who Might Have Feelings

I stumble into my eighth period. I say ‘stumble’ because I trip over somebody’s foot. “Whoa!” I exclaim as a struggle to regain my balance when the bell rings.

Some of the kids, that had seen me, laugh, but they mostly look at the new girl with pity.

I turn back to tell off the perpetrator and find out it’s no other than Mr. Jackass himself, he laughs at me harshly and walks into the class room without an apology.

“Take a seat” the teacher, Mr. Doctrine, a grumpy looking short man, tells me.

Ah, Biology, it’s usually one of my favorite courses but right now I’m pissed.

“Today we’ll start off with what we left off on Friday, the cell, who can tell me the organelles that gets rid of the cell’s waste?” Mr. Doc asks.

I raise up my hand and he nods for me to answer, “Lysosomes”

“Yes,” says Mr. Doc, “And as we all know Lysosomes are cellular organelles which contain acid hydrolase enzymes to break up waste materials and cellular debris. They are found in animal cells, while in yeast and plants—“

Suddenly a loud clang interrupts Mr. Doc. I look around from my black top table and spot Alex and Lilith on the floor, entangled together.

“Whoa” Alex Winters says as he disentangles himself from Lilith, who looks a bit shocked. She catches my eye and grins. How the hell is she happy to have fallen on the floor?

“That is enough!” exclaims an angry Mr. Doc as he rushes over and picks them both up by their arms. “I’ve had it up to here with you Mr. Winters, and I don’t care that I can’t punish you by any means because I can certainly make you learn and if you don’t want to, then great! It’ll be even more enjoyable for me!” he yells at him.

“And as for you, Ms. White, I would’ve thought that you’d be smarter than that since you are an AP student, but I suppose not! To the Headmistress’s office, she’ll want to know why you’re hung over, well won’t she.”

The class ‘oooh’s as Lilith staggers out the door. She was probably still a little drunk, being as she got in at nearly four in the morning last night, or should I say this morning?

“Go sit next to our new student, maybe some of her intellect will rub off on you” Mr. Doc growls at Alex.

“I doubt Barbie has anything inside her empty head but rainbows and unicorns” The stupid jackass says loudly staring right at me as he sits down.

The class laughs but Mr. Doc grabs a nearby marker and throws it right at Alex.

The class laughs even more and Alex groans angrily, “My father will hear about this!”
“Well then, I hope he pays me to not murder you next time”

I laugh slightly with the rest of the class. Alex turns at me and grimaces like if I was a scum, his ice-blue eyes piercing mine.

I turn away with a roll of my eyes. I can laugh if I want, it’s a free country.

Mr. Doctrine continues with the lesson on the plant and animal cell whilst I listen intently.

After twenty minutes he begins handing out worksheets. It’s a picture of the cell with empty labels that we have to fill in. I nearly squeal with delight but I get a hold of myself and take out my pen from my bag.

Two minutes and I’m done, I nearly run to turn it in. Mr. Doctrine looks at my paper briefly and gives me a smile, “Good job, Ms.—“

“Athena”

“Very well then, Athena, I think you will be an excellent student, keep up the good work,” He praises.

I smile at him and walk back to my black-top table where Alex Winters is sitting on, starring down at the paper blankly.

He looks up when I sit down across from him in my seat, “Since when are you so smart, Princess?” as always his nickname for me is filled with venom and sarcasm.

I glare at him, “It’s Athena, you know, like the Greek mythological Goddess of wisdom, and you don’t even know me, talk about hypocritical, or how smart I’m capable of being,”

He rolls his eyes at me and I notice his got snakebites; oh super, whereelse has he got piercings? Is he one of those masochistic people that cut themselves for fun? Like Nate apparently—

I shake the thought from my head, I don’t want to worry right now, and it’s none of my concern, anyway.

I sit there for a while, while the class finishes the assignment, waiting for the period to end, trying not to think.

Alex looks up at me then and stares. I stare back. It’s a contest, I can immediately tell. He likes to play games, it’s obvious, with girls too, I realize as I think of Lilith.

But I’m not letting him win, I stare him down until he blinks.

“Ha” I say without amusement.

“What? Are you alright? I think you need help” he says with a sly smile.

I roll my eyes knowing he’s trying to charm me, I’m the expert at that, no way is he beating me at my own game. If I wanted to I would’ve already had him wrapped around my finger, but he’s not my type so his loss.

“What is with you and Lilith?” I ask bluntly letting no emotion seep into my voice. If he thought I was curious he would drag out his answer to entertain himself.

But Winters looks confused, “Who’s ‘Lilith’?”

“Um, my roommate?”

“Oh, her; the slutty girl with bangs...” He shrugs, “Nothing much, she’s just one of my many sex toys, why? You interested? We could have a threesome, I’ll try anything” he smirks at me.

I try not to shudder but I have trouble, “Ugh, no, I just meant that why is she hung over, and would you have anything to do with it?”

Winters laughs, “Maybe, no wait, yeah, it was a Holey Sunday morning, and I’m not talking about Church” he winks at me.

I grimace, “You are disgusting; I hope you fall off a cliff someday,”

But Winters just laughs again as the bell rings, “See you around, Princess”

I frown at him and leave, heading towards my father’s classroom. Thankfully, I’m the first one there. I approach my father who’s writing on the board.

“Hey, Dad”

He turns around and smiles at me; then he gives me a warm hug. I love my dad’s hugs, he smells like chocolate, always; Mom says that that’s what got her to fall for him.

Then he lets me go, “So by your awkwardness I’m guessing you want to tell me to not let anybody know I’m your dad because it would be highly embarrassing; am I correct?”

I blush, “Uh, how’d you know?”

“I’m only thirty-three, I still remember being a teenager, y’know” he rolls his eyes at me.

I roll my eyes at him too, I don’t want to think of my father as a teenager, it’s abnormal; like trying to imagine a preppy Nate, or a rational Joy.

Just then AJ comes in.

“Hey, Athena!” he gives me a peck on the cheek in front my father. Oh dear.

I blush as my dad raises his eyebrow at me.

“Er, AJ, why don’t we go sit down?”

But he ignores me, addressing my dad, “So you’re our new history teacher?”
“It would seem so” My father says briskly.

“Did you know our last one dropped dead for no reason? They say the classroom is haunted now,” AJ says persuasively.

My dad rolls his eyes at him, “I was told Mr. Johnson got in a car crash and broke both his arms and legs”

“If you want the cover-up story, then yes” AJ retorts with an exasperated sigh.
I narrow my eyes; it seems to me that AJ’s beginning to seem like a compulsive liar. Ah well, so am I, so whatever.

I lead him to the back row as students started filing in. Oh wouldn’t you know it, Arrow, Nate, Joy, Stacie, Peter, and Alex all have this class, too.

Arrow brieflysmiles at me and AJ before whisking Peter, who had been deeply immersed in a conversation with Nate, away to the front desks at the edge opposite of the door.
Stacie smiles at me,and thengoes to sit with her friends.

Joy goes to sit with Arrow and Peter, and Nate stares at me and AJ with a grimace. I give him that look and he reluctantly takes his seat next to Peter.

Winters doesn’t even notice me, he has his hoodie on and I can he’s listening to music. He takes a seat two desks in front of me and AJ.

Great.

The last bell rings and my dad closes the door and turns to look at us, “Hello, I’m you’re new U.S History teacher, call me Mr. Evans”

I narrow my eyes at him. He hadn’t been called that since his old teaching job at the middle school in Lincoln’s Pass. I suppose he’s more used to ‘Evans’ than ‘Night’.

“Can anyone tell me what Mr. Johnson was covering before he mysteriously dropped dead three weeks ago?”

Stacie raises her hand, “The Civil War”

The class groans but my father smirks; he loves History, no matter what anybody thinks. We are in for a long year.

________________________

When class ends I stay behind waiting for everyone to leave. AJ looks at me expectantly, “Aren’t you coming?”

I shake my head, “No just go right ahead”

He shrugs and exits the room. The only ones left are me, Winters (who’s fast asleep snoring), and Nate.

My dad looks at us then realized this is our business not his and he leaves.

“I know you’re mad, but just chill, Nate” I say cautiously, as I approach him. He’s sitting on his desk sideways, staring at the balled hands in his lap.

“’Just chill’?” he looks up at me with narrowed eyes, full of contempt, “Athena, you expect me to ‘just chill’ while you out with yet another asshole?”

“AJ is not an asshole!” I say with my hands on my hips, and then smile sheepishly, “And we’re not exactly going out...”

He rolls his eyes and giggles sarcastically, “God, Athena, you just don’t get it? All jerks are the same, and after what that—“

I shake my head and close my eyes, wanting to cover my ears, “Don’t talk about it!” my hands itch to scratch my arms. God, if he was reacting that way towards AJ, I can’t imagine what he would do if he found out—

“Fine, but if that God forsaken bastard lays a hand on you, I will murder him” Nate says with cold eyes.

My jaw drops, because I know he means it.

“See you later” Nate adds before walking out of the class room.

Then I realize I can’t hear Alex’s snores anymore. I spin around. He’s standing right behind me, probably shocked by the conversation that had just taken place.

His ice-blue eyes find mine but I look away and exit the room like nothing ever happened.