Kerosene Hearts

xi.

a/n: Thank you so much for 100+ reads! It made me so happy you have no idea. :')

September
School
Jeremy

I couldn't figure her out.

The thought flashed through my mind again when I saw the dwarf that was Zelda entering the lab. She was in a conversation with million-dollar-smile and "swoon-worthy" Ryan, and she was smiling that half-smile of hers. Despite not knowing either of them very well, I could still tell that Ryan was interested in her. Was she interested in him though? I couldn't tell. Let me just add it to the list of many things I didn't know about her.

I watched as she and Ryan parted, both heading to their own seats respectively. Ryan looked back at her, his gaze lingering. She didn't.

Poor boy.

I jerked my chin towards Zelda as a form of greeting when she got close enough. She did the same, and sat down next to me. She was usually here earlier than me, and whenever I arrived she would already have all her books, notes, and stationery in place. Not today, though. Maybe it was because of Ryan.

"What took you so long?" I asked, curious.

She shrugged, glancing at me once before removing her gaze. "There was a lot of people, and I was talking to someone else."

Bingo.

"Why are you so early?" she asked in return, tilting her head.

I shrugged, and said without thinking. "I have no friends to talk to."

That was meant to be a joke, even though it was kinda true, and even though it didn't exactly sound like one. I wasn't sure if she noticed, but she raised an eyebrow at me, her look questioning.

I wanted to facepalm myself. I felt like this happened a lot- me embarrassing myself, because I wanted to sound funny, or act cool around Zelda. She had a calming but unnerving effect on me. It was really weird. And I mean, it wasn't even that I had a crush on her. I didn't really have crushes. It just didn't happen to me, last time I checked.

Sometimes she would make me doubt that, though.

The teacher started the lesson then, and I was relieved. She didn't like to talk during lessons, and that gave me an excuse to avoid further embarrassing myself. Thank the Lord for that.

I got bored soon after the teacher opened his mouth, and my mind as well as my eyes started wandering. They travelled to Ryan, catching him staring at Zelda red-handed. I resisted the urge to laugh when he immediately averted his stare, his neck turning red. The guy was one of the more popular jocks along with Paris and Chris, and could easily get more girls than the rest of this class combined, but he was acting like a love-sick puppy with the way he was following her around. It was amusing.

I stole a quick glance at the little lady beside me. She looked bored as well, but it was evident that she was still paying attention. She would frown and jot down notes every now and then. When she was not, she would be knocking her ankle against the foot of the chair in barely audible thuds.

The teacher suddenly asked someone near me to answer his question, scaring the shit out of me. I heard Zelda chuckle at my reaction, and I blushed.

Maybe I wasn't that much better than Ryan, after all, despite it being for different reasons.

I forced myself to pull my attention back to the lesson.

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