Accidents Happen

“I don’t suppose I could sit with you at lunch?” Gavin whispered from beside me in third hour.

“Why don’t you go hang out with another member of the sausage crew?” I whispered back. “Or have they not been to welcoming to poor little Gavin?”

“I’m kind of bad at making new friends.” He admitted. “I already know you, so why can’t I just sit with you. You never know, it might boost your rep a little.”

“Wow. Even more arrogant than I thought.” I laughed quietly. “Didn’t know that was possible.”

“Come on Fi-Fi, please?” He asked, face imploring.

Nice things, I told myself. Be nice to the new guy.

“Only if you promise to never call me that again.” I stipulated.

“Fiona and Gavin, if you’re done talking, I have a lesson to teach.” Mr. Matthews cut in.

“Sorry Mr. Matthews. Wouldn’t want to miss that by talking. Glad you stopped for us.” He smirked. I swiveled my head around, staring at him incredulously. His face was calm, aura cool as a cucumber.

“Maybe you should see me after class. Since you’re finding this so riveting, some extra problems would be right up your alley.” Mr. Matthews shot back.

“Of course sir. I’d love to brush up on my Algebra. Took it a couple years ago at my old school.”

“Delightful.” Mr. Matthews sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, turning back to the board. “Okay, so just pull out the negative and everything inside the parentheses become positive. Just don’t forget to put the negative back in at the end.”

Gavin raised his hand like a suck up, shaking it every which way. “Mr. Matthews!” He called. Said person turned away from the board to Gavin, raising his eyebrow. “Does it really matter if we put the negative back or not if we’re just solving for the roots?”

“No, I suppose not.” The gray haired man replied , sounding defeated. I guess Gavin just had that affect on everybody.

“You’re such a dick. The man’s just trying to teach a lesson.” I whispered, or so I thought.

“Thank you for defending me, but maybe next time a little less profanity would suffice.” Mr. Matthews commented. He turned back to the board, ready to start scribbling on the whiteboard again, but the bell cut him off. A symphony of scraping chairs erupted, everyone in class suddenly bursting into a loud chatter.

Gavin and I dropped our things off at our lockers, luckily at different ends of the school, and met back up in the cafeteria. We entered the lunch line, grabbing anything that looked slightly edible before I took him to my usual table.

Luna Mae didn’t sit with me. She had other friends to sit with, not that I minded. We were best friends, but we weren’t inseparable like that. Sure, we were close, but we weren’t joined at the hip. We were from two different sides of the social spectrum, but we didn’t care.

I could feel the confusion surrounding Gavin and I as we sat down.

“This is Gavin.” I introduced. I then went on to name the rest of the people at my table, though I didn’t expect him to remember the names.

“You’re new, right?” My friend, Annabelle, asked.

“Nah. I just used to be invisible, that’s all.” He explained, swatting the air casually. “They finally figured out how to turn me back, so I can go to school like a normal kid.” Annabelle’s brown eyes went wide like a child on Christmas morning, receiving their first bike.

“Really?” She gasped.

“No. I’m new.” He chuckled.

“He’s kind of a dick, but I’ve been put on new kid duty apparently.” I told my friends. They nodded, but I could see that all their eyes were on Gavin.

***

Lunch was very uneventful, just as I figured it would be. A newcomer at our table was rare, so everyone spent the whole time gawking. I was sitting at my Chemistry class, at my usual lab table. I sat there by myself, like I liked it. I didn’t have to worry about my idiot partner messing up our lab because I always did them by myself.

“Ah, Gavin.” I heard Mrs. Clark greet warmly. “Why don’t you sit by Fiona. She’s the only one who doesn’t have a partner.”

The world was testing me, I knew it. Someone out there just wanted to see how long it’d be before I broke. I slid my books over to my side of the table, no longer room enough for them on the other side once Gavin strode smoothly over and plopped down at the stool beside me. He dropped his books on the table, a smug look settling on his face.

“Looks like we’ve got chemistry together.” Gavin winked.

“I swear, I’ve got the worst luck. What happened to Luck of the Irish?” I thought aloud.

“Ah, so that’s where the pale skin comes from.” Gavin mused. “I was starting to think you were a vampire or something.”

I grit my teeth together, telling myself I only had to endure this for another hour. He wouldn’t even be able to talk once Mrs. Clark started in on her lecture. When students started talking, she just talked louder to make a point of drowning them out. And if the person didn’t stop talking, even when she was done with her lecture, she’d go all filibuster on them, reading or saying anything she could think of until the person was done and realized that the whole class just listened in on the last half of their conversation. That’s teaching at it’s finest right there.

“Alright.” She started, rubbing her hands together in a ‘let’s get down to business’ type of way. “We’re going to start this week with a research project. You’re going to partner up-,” the words sent a wave of chatter over the classroom, friends looking to each other, smiling when they realized they both wanted to be partners. “With the person I assign to you.” She added loudly over the excitement. A collective chorus of “Aw!” spread through the class. “And you’re going to research a molecule and model it in 3D. I know most of you did this in 8th grade, but this time I’m going to give you harder molecules. This will be due on Friday and we’ll be presenting on Monday.”

Mrs. Clark read down the list, pairing everyone off, receiving mixed reviews. Only a few people were left, and even though I didn’t believe in God, I prayed that I didn’t get paired with Gavin. I couldn’t imagine spending any more time with him than I had to. I’d probably end up with a bald spot from all the times he made me want to pull out my hair. And we’d just met.

“Gavin and…,” she hesitated, looking down her list to read the name. My heart started pounding; I could hear it’s echo in my ears. “Fiona.”

I let a low groan escape my mouth. Fucking great.