the strings

:: five ::

  "I can't believe we only have two more days of school before we get out," Logan says from beside Nat- who has gotten over her anniversary problem with him and is back to making out with him in the hallway randomly.

I shrug, "I can believe it."

Nat bounces on the tips of her toes, clinging to Logan's arm like he's a life preserver, "I can't believe it's only three days until The Hunt."

I roll my eyes. We're back to this. "I ordered the shirts last night, by the way, Nat. They should be ready on the day of. So we can give them out right before The Hunt starts so everyone can wear them and the teams should be easily recognizable that way."

Nat nods, "Thanks for doing that, Raleigh."

I wave her off as we step into math, "Not a problem."

As we step inside I immediately notice Hudson sitting in the back, mainly because he's patting the seat next to him and calling my name over and over and over again. The guy is persistant, I'll give him that.

I'm intent on ignoring him until Nat shoves me so hard I actually fall into the seat he was patting.

"Wow, falling for me already, ginger-girl?" I can hear the smirk in his voice even without seeing it. 

By the time I sit up, Nat has already taken the only other vacant seat in the room, up towards the front, leaving me with the options of either staying in the seat I'm in or spending the entire class in the bathroom and hoping no one notices.

Wrinkling my nose in disgust I pull out my notebook, and start writing what the teacher is jotting down on the board. 

I only get a few equations in before the pen is rudely plucked from my hand.

I don't try to get it back, since I know how futile that would be, Plus it would give him exactly what he wants. I just reach down and grab another pen from my bag. 

He pokes me in the ribcage with his pointer finger. I scoot over to sit on the edge of my seat.

He flicks my curls. I pull all my hair over to the shoulder that's farthest away from him.

He whispers my name. I cover the ear closest to him.

He pries my hand off my ear and whispers my name again.

"Mr. Laurence and Ms. Johnson, is there a problem back there?" The teacher asks, one hand poised still at the board, with his head craned over his shoulder to stare at us. He looks kinda like an owl and it's a little disturbing, frankly.

Hudson doesn't let go of my hand, but simply folds his fingers so it looks like we're holding hands. "Nope, we're great, sir," he says, flashing him a smile.

The teacher looks unimpressed but moves on with his lesson.

"Stop it," I hiss at Hudson, jerking my hand out of his grip to fold it into my lap.

He bumps shoulders with me gently, "Stop what?"

Slitting my eyes I whisper, "Flirting," putting as much venom behind it as I can, like it's a curse word.

He chuckles low, and far too late I realize how much I enjoy the sound of it. "Honey, if you think this is flirting, you ain't seen nothing."

"Haven't seen anything," I mutter, annoyed now.

He raises an eyebrow, "Alright, Miss Grammar Nazi."

I try to hide my smile, but it's too late and he's already seen it. He pokes me right in my dimple with the pen he stole from me and smirks, "Got ya to smile."