One Normal Night: Lord of the Flies

Chapter 3

If I had one word to describe my day so far, it would be bad. Bad, bad, bad. The school's new bad boy hated me, his friend was about to get with my least favorite person, and I had been forced to deal with feelings that I haven't felt in years.

And to top it off, I had to spend 50 minutes watching Ben make googly eyes at Adrianne. I push my pencil off my desk, close to Ben.

"Oops," I say. "Hey Ben, could you please get that for me?"

Ben bends over without breaking his gaze, picks up the pencil, and returns it to my desk.

"Thanks," I mumble, shoving my pencil into my backpack.

"No problem," Ben says, pushing a strand of hair out of his eyes.

Looking back to the front of the room, I see Mr. Brown furrowing his eyebrows at me. I sit up straighter and go back to my work. Ben wasn't worth a bad reputation.

The bell rings, breaking me from the chains of my lab work. God, finally. I push my chair away from my desk and grab my backpack.

"Do you need any help getting to your next class?" I ask Ben. Formalities.

He snaps out of his gaze fast enough to reply, "I don't think so, thanks."

Just as I'm about to open my mouth, Adrianne saunters up to us. "Hi, I'm Adrianne," she flirts.

I roll my eyes, Ben widens his. "Nice to meet you, I'm Ben."

"I was wondering if you needed help getting to your next class. I mean you probably haven't gotten the best impression of this school if you've been following Dana around all day," she smiles.

Ben nervously shifts his eyes towards me as I scoff.

Adrianne puts a hand on her heart, in fake fright. "No offense, Dana. What I meant was you probably think that everyone in this school is a goody two shoes freak."

I love when people say "no offense" when they're obviously about to say something incredibly offensive.

"No, it's fine, Adrianne," I say, incredulous. "I'm sure Ben will have a nice time with you." I try to be sincere, following my one rule. Always be kind. But I so wanted to be bad.

"Have fun, Ben," I say, walking out of the room. If Ben wants to mess around with Adrianne, I could care less. But I would feel bad not warning him, so I make a mental note to talk to him later.

It's time for my last and least favorite class, gym. And even more fun, we have swimming today. I make my way to the pool locker room, throwing my bag on the ground. I quickly change into my bikini, throw a shirt over it, and check my hair in the mirror before I leave. I hate the locker room, not because we have to change in front of everyone. It's because of the locker room gossip. Not that I hate gossip, I don't. But since Presley isn't in my gym period, I have nobody to gossip with. I guess that's my own fault, as I never socialize with anyone. But sometimes I just wish I talked to more people.

I go to the edge of the pool and wait for my gym teacher to take attendance. I'm in the middle of talking to nobody when I notice someone else in the midst of my classmates. Seriously?

Jesse Easton is in my gym class, standing there, shirtless. I stare, involuntarily, at his rock hard abs.

"You finished?" he says. I'm suddenly very aware that he's closer than I expected.

"Huh?"

"I asked if you were finished," Jesse persists.

My face turns red. "With what?"

"Checking me out."

I'm flustered. "Oh sorry, I wasn't-"

"Alright everyone, partner up and do eighteen laps each," my gym teacher says.

Jesse smirks at me and I turn even redder. Everyone around us partners up and we are the only two left.

"I guess I'm stuck with you, then," Jesse sighs.

I follow him and his bad attitude to the furthest lane, and he jumps in.

"You coming?" he asks.

"Yeah," I reply, trying to keep a positive attitude.

Jesse frowns at my smile. "Why are you wearing that shirt?"

I frown, looking down at my faded Key Club t-shirt. "Why do you ask?"

I half expect him to reply with a snarky comment about my weight, but he doesn't. He just looks slightly behind me.

"Well, it's school rules. Girls have to cover their stomachs so guys don't get distracted." I finish.

Jesse stares thoughtfully behind me. "That's dumb, I mean it's not your fault if some high school boy gets a boner when you show a little skin."

My face brightens, although I am a little confused. This is the first intelligent thing I've heard Jesse say today, and the first thing that wasn't targeted towards bringing my spirits down.

"Yeah, it does suck," I say, staring in awe.

"Okay are you going to get the fuck in the pool or not?" Jesse inquires, breaking my state of bliss. I glare.

"Ladies first," Jesse says, staring at me. Wow. How chivalrous. I shake it off and dive into my eighteen laps. The water actually feels nice today, it cools down my body; hot from all the anger. With each stroke, I fall deeper and deeper into a relaxing trance. After a while, I forget all about Jesse. I forget about Ben. All about Adrianne. It's just me and the water.

After a few minutes, I feel a tap on my shoulder. "Hey, fish girl. Your turn's done." I open my eyes to see Jesse, impatient and unamused.

"Oh, sorry."

"And also your hair looks like a bird's nest," he says, diving into the water. All I can see is his back muscles swimming away. I wanted to hit him, so hard.

I wanted to kiss him, so hard.

A/N

Sorry, super short! But I wanted to update for you guys! Love you all and happy new year!!!