My Opposite, But Not Really

9: The Forms

-Alexis-
"Here's your stop!" My mom announces. I kiss her cheek before getting out, as does Dakota. I wave as she drives off. We're a bit early. I'm hesitant to move and I think Dakota can tell. "Hey Alexis, you alright?" He asks. He looks worried about me which makes me smile a little.

"Are y-you su-sure you w-wanna co-come in with m-me? M-might ge-get made fun o-of..." I sigh and begin walking. I hear his feet steps trying to catch up to my without running. "I don't mind, I like hanging out with you so who cares. Besides, I'm never letting Kory near you ever, EVER again." He says. I stop.

"I-I..." I can't even speak. He understands, which is great, and wraps his arms around me, comforting me with his touch. I'm so glad to have him, he's being great and helpful. "At least we have English together!" He smiles. I can't bring myself to smile back. People, crowds make me nervous. He pulls out of the hug.

"Alexis. Please smile for me." He fake pouts. Hearing him say my name brings butterflies to my stomach. I can't even stop the smile on my face if I wanted to. "Okay. Come!" I say. We walk into the building and it's more crowded than outside, I get nervous but Dakota will help.

"My lockers closer, so mine first. Then yours is near our class so we'll go there after." He smiles down at me. I nod and give a small smile. We reach his locker and he grabs his class book and a personal book. Everything's alright so far. We get to mine and I grab my book along with my drawing notebook.

I start thinking everything will be okay until I hear a "Hey, man!" Coming from Kory. Dakota turns his head so fast I thought it'd break. I turn also, looking up at him and his face just shows anger. I don't think Kory notices though because he walks right up to us. I suddenly feel really small.

"Kory." Is all he says. Kory looks at him confused, then looks down at me. Anger reaches his face. "The hell did you do? What did you tell him?" He says through gritted teeth. Damn, if I hadn't had told Dakota he'd for sure know somethings up now.

"Don't go near him ever again. If you do I'll make sure to do something you won't like. Trust me, I can make your life a living hell." Dakota slams my locker, causing me to jump because it was loud. He then takes my hand and drags me to our first class.

Once we're safely inside and sit at our desk, which is in the back, we notice no one's even here yet. "Are you al-alright?" I ask him. He nods but I see his anger. I take his hand again and do what he did to me. I rubbed small circles on the top of his hand.

He smiles down at me, so I guess it worked. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't handle the though of him doing something bad to you. But he did. I couldn't... I couldn't protect you... I was too late." He looks away from my eyes, but I saw tears in them. I lean my head on his arm, since he's sitting next to me. This is the closest we can possibly get so it's all I can do to comfort him.

"Your he-here n-now!" I smile. Someone walks in and I, unintentionally, jump off his arm. A few students walked in and sat at their desks. Since we're in the back they probably won't notice so I grab his hand that's under the table. I bring it up to my lips and kiss it.

He tenses and I begin to panic thinking I didn the wrong thing. But he relaxes again. "I'm s-sorry." I get close to his so I can whisper. "My m-mom used to do it to help m-me w-when I was s-sad or angry." I try to pull my hand away because I don't want him to get angry but he holds it in place.

"Wanna play a game?" He whispers into my ear. I nod and smile slightly, only for him to say, "Don't let go of my hand for the whole class." I tense. He could see it. "People m-might s-see!" I whisper. "Who cares. Holding my hand will make you feel better, right?" He asks and I nod.

"Good. It's making me feel less angry. So it helps both of us. Just don't let go until we have to leave." I think it over and he's right. If I can help him it's worth it. I look up into his eyes and nod, barely smiling so no one sees. He smiles back and pulls out the book he brought. It's called The Fighter.

A few minutes later everyone, including the substitute teacher, are in the class. I tense at the hand that's in mine but he rubs soothing circles over it so I calm down almost immediately. He's good at that. "Alright class, before you and your partner begin working out story details, I want you to know there's something coming up the following Monday."

That catches everyone's attention, as everyone stops talking and starts paying attention to her. "We will be having a week trip. In middle school you went as well, and now that your in highschool... Well you know." Everyone freaks out and gets excited. "Good behavior or you won't be allowed to go. Also-" She held up some papers. "Your parents need to sign these consent forms."

She begins passing them out as she speaks. "Only our class is going, along with Mr. Write. As you can see in the bottom there's a box to write in." I look down at the paper. I get flustered as Dakota squeezes my hand, not hard though. "You'll be putting a name in the box. You get to pick a buddy to stay with for the trip." I frown. I'll be alone...

"Your 'buddy', will be sharing a cabin with you. You'll have to stay together if we have an activity or anything." Someone raises their hand. "Yes... Um-red shirt?" The class giggles, including Dakota. "Does this mean we won't have to do the projects until we get back!?" Everyone gets hopeful.

"No no. The teachers discussed that a lot and decided while your on the trip you'll also be working on your papers. Meaning you'll have to be wise about who you choose as a partner." Dakota's gonna want to go with someone else, probably his friends. "Your cabin buddy has to be the same gender. No boys with girls or anything." People get angry about that.

"Take your papers home and have your parents sign by Friday, which is... Two days from now. Read it over and know the rules and stuff. Well also be in the woods so bring mosquito spray and whatnot. Basically, be sensible about what you bring." She says. Everyone nods and begins talking.

"Now I allow you time to discuss with your partner and all that. Use your time wisely." She says before going back to her computer and doing whatever teachers do. Probably grading tests or something. I don't know, I'm not a teacher but I'm curious to know what they do while we're working.

"Sooooo..." Dakota says quietly. I look up at him. My hand is getting sweaty. "C-can I wipe m-my h-hand?" I whisper. "Nope! You have to hold it for... Forty more minutes." He smirks and it causes me to blush and look away. Every movement from his hand makes me flustered. This boy.

I can't help but be sad. Not even his hand helps the fact that we'll be separated for two weeks. He'll be with someone else... I- "What's wrong, Alexis?" He whispers. I shake my head. "Please tell. I'll hug you in front of everyone if I have to!" He smirks and I can't help but smile a bit too.

"Just... T-the tr-trip." I sigh and look back at my desk. "Huh? What about it?" I pout and say "I re-read and i-it said it's $400 for the entry fee... I-I c-can't... Money i-is a-an issue." I feel ready to cry. "A-and y-you probably w-want t-t-to go with so-someone else..." I pout again. "I'll b-be alone." I sigh.

Just then he slides his paper over to me. I look up at him confused and he takes free hand and points to the box. He's already written my name down 'Alexis Jones🖤'. I gulped at the heart. I look up at him and he, again, rubs my hand with his thumb. "There's no one else I'd rather spend a week together with!"

He smiles and I can't control the huge smile that makes its way onto my face. I'd probably hug him if we weren't in a classroom. My smile fades. "B-But..." "I'll pay for it. 400 is nothing in my family. Don't argue please." He smiles at me again.

I don't want to take his money but he won't take no for an answer, not like I want to say no anyways. I nod. "Great!" He says, a little too loud and some people look over. I hide my face. "Sorry..." He whispers in my ear and does his magic hand thing. He's driving me crazy.