Love Games

So. Are we meeting after school?

Stella peered down at her screen in bewilderment, unable to recognize the number printed at the top of the screen.

This is Jules, btw. ;]

She cursed under her breath as she suddenly remembered that they were supposed to meet that morning. The dark haired girl slapped a hand to her forehead before slowly typing out a reply.

I'm so sorry, I forgot. We can do that.

No prob. I overslept anyway. See you in Bio! :]

Stella sighed softly and tucked her phone away, turning her attention to her book instead. On a typical afternoon, she'd be able to read through at least two chapters, but today she was being nagged with guilt for how she reacted to Elle's gentle questioning. Now she probably seemed like an uptight bitch.

But after hearing what Alice said about Sam during lunch, she wasn't feeling very secure. Stella just wasn't the kind of girl that boys liked to talk to. She wasn't the type of girl to even associate with them, especially good looking ones. In her opinion, she wasn't even doing a great job with the girls. Harboring feelings for someone like Sam seemed like a futile endeavor that would only end badly, or not at all. Stella could only convince herself that she didn't have time for this, none of it was her.

"Hey, is this yours?"

There was a stranger standing at the side of her table and Stella looked up enough to see a familiar blue spiral notebook floating next to her head. She frowned and lifted her gaze to eye the black haired boy who was holding it. Stella took it from his hand and flipped through, recognizing her slanted scrawl immediately.

"Yes, how'd you know?" Stella asked, putting it with the rest of her things.

"You dropped it when you were running away from Elle," he said, a crooked smirk on his mouth. "I'm Clause Decker, what's your name?"

"Stella Montgomery," she replied, watching him help himself to the seat adjacent to her without asking.

He didn't seem like he needed anything else, but he was just sitting there looking at her as if she was saying something intriguing. Stella blinked at him once before reluctantly turning to her open novel. Southwood students were truly odd, she noted, though her mother would have loved to see this. A full ten minutes passed by and Clause had yet to leave.

Stella ended up reading the same paragraph more times than she could count. She was pretty sure she could recite it from memory at this point. She stared at the blank margin of her page for a moment longer before glancing back to the boy once more. She was disturbed to see him still watching her.

"Are you ok?" She ventured.

"I'm fine."

"Ok…"

She started staring at her book again, feeling her shoulders begin to ache from being locked with tension. For one, Stella wasn't being used to being in a stranger's company. She also wasn't used to being the object of such scrutiny, which Clause was doing, seemingly without discretion. Her mouth pressed into a line as she concentrated harder on the paper, hoping he'd lose interest and wander away.

"Hey, Stella."

A rush of relief dispelled all the tension in her muscles as she recognized Jules' voice. She looked up to find the boy and offered him a tiny smile as she lifted her hand in greeting, as if they were friends.

"Hello Jules," she was so glad to see him that she knew he'd be wondering about her behavior. "I didn't know you came here."

"I was just looking at some stuff for our project," Jules flashed her a grin, holding up a short stack of books before glancing over to the boy sitting with her with a critical eye. "Decker."

Stella would have to have been blind not to realize that Jules and Clause weren't on good terms. Then again, if she were blind she'd easily be able to tell from the overwhelming amount of disdain edging the muddy blonde's tone. The tensions in her shoulders had gone away, but now there was a stronger one building in the air. Stella cringed, never one to be comfortable amidst conflict.

"Sinclair, what are you doing here? I thought you might've failed out by now," Clause sneered.

"I actually belong here, Decker," Jules growled in return. "And Stella happens to be my classmate. We have work to do, so why don't you clear out?"

Unlike Jules, Clause appeared to be thoroughly amused by the confrontation because the curve on his mouth never faltered. His hazel eyes slid from the tall senior to the meek freshman and Stella watched in suspense. The dark haired boy ultimately rose from the chair and saluted her with a carefree smirk.

"See you around, Stell."

Jules glared at his back up until the moment he disappeared around the bookshelves. Then he slid into the seat and hunched over the table as he looked worriedly at Stella.

"You're friends with Clause Decker?" He half exclaimed, shattering the silence of the library enough to make her shrink in her seat with embarrassment.

"No!" She hissed. "He just returned my notebook."

"Oh, alright," Jules was immensely relieved as the tension in his face melted away. "Well, that guy is just about one of the worst you'll ever meet, so just look out for him, ok?"

"Sure," Stella said, a tiny smile of relief on her lips. "Thanks, Jules."

"No problem, Stella," Jules grinned. "Don't worry about a thing. I've got your back."

* * *

They were assigned new seats in English class. Stella didn't think much of it as she located her name on the roster and slipped into her seat at the back of the room. At least she was next to the window, she mused as she turned her face to the glass. She barely even realized that someone was settling into the seat beside her.

"Hey, Stella."

Stella whipped her head around and blinked at Sam in surprise. He smiled at her and leaned forward in his seat as she leaned back, fighting the odd urge to blush in his presence. Stella cleared her throat and made a great effort to proceed into basic social etiquette.

"I didn't know you were in this class," she said.

"That's because you sat in the front and couldn't see me," Sam said. "But look, now we can be English buddies."

Stella smiled and looked down at her books before finding the courage to speak up again. "Just don't expect me to let you copy off my papers, Sam," she teased.

The blonde haired boy scoffed, imitating offense to her comment as he leaned back and crossed his arms. "What do you take me for, Stella?" He gave her a mild pout. "A dumb jock?"

"I don't know," Stella continued playfully. "But time will tell."

"Fair enough," Sam replied with a slightly shrug.

She did her best to suppress her wide smile as the teacher moved to the front of the room in order to start class. Her heart was beating a bit faster than usual and she had to take a deep breath in order to properly relax the tension that had built up in her shoulders. Still, Stella couldn't help but feel like she accomplished something good today in that short exchange with Sam. She bit down on her pen in an effort to help hide her joy.

With one last discreet side glance to the boy next to her, Stella wondered if this would get easier in time. She also couldn't help but wonder if this was the beginning of something that would help her grow or ultimately destroy her.