Our Little Secret

Paranoia

It's been about two weeks since me and Xavier have had any real time together. And with winter break coming around the corner, the teachers got us packed with projects and finals, so that makes it even harder to see each other. Also since football season is coming to an end, coach is pushing them to condition harder so he's always busy and tired. So basically I'm feeling kinda deprived and I'm craving attention.

I open the door to walk out the house. There's a girl peeking at me from behind the tree in our driveway. I go back inside the house. Sarinna looks up from her breakfast.

"Can I get a ride to school?" I ask her.

She frowns at me. "You good? You look like you just saw a ghost."

I shake my head. "There's this girl watching me outside," I tell her.

She grabs her keys from the hook on the wall. "Do you know her?"

"No, but she's been stalking me for a while now." I look through the peephole. The girl is still there.

"A while? Should I call the police then?" She asks. She opens the door and walks out. She looks around. "Where is she?"

I point at the tree. "Right there. She always just stares at me and never says anything." I look to Sarinna. "Should I confront her?"

Sarinna looks from me to the girl then back again. "No. Just keep your head down and get in the car."

"Ok." She unlocks the car and we get in.

"Hey, Zaki?" She goes when we why to the school.

I look back at her. "Yeah?"

"You... I--" she sighs. "Have a nice day."

I smile at her. "You too." I go to the group chat to see where everyone is at. Michael is the one that replies back.

We're in the library.

The only time he'll ever be found in the library is finals. I make my way there. They got a table near the realistic fiction section.

"Ok!" Aiden goes. "Now that the smart person is here, we can start."

"I call dibs on her first!" Xavier exclaims. "Come here, Zachary."

"Coming, Alexandra," I play along. I go and sit with him. He pulls out his math study guide.

"Ok so imma ask you first and then you can ask me." He shuffles his papers around. "What's the equation for linear lines?"

"Y=mx+..." The books around me catch my eyes. "Look at all these books. Should I check out a book?"

"Zak," Xavier complains.

"Y=mx+b," I answer.

He nods his head. "Equation for a parabola?"

"Y- k=a... Xavier, I really want a book." I start getting up to go to the bookcase, but he grabs my hand.

"Zakiyah, can you please focus? This is really important to me," he tells me. "I've been doing good all semester and I need a pass this final, so help me."

I sit back down and roll my eyes. "I don't see what the big deal is. It's just math." Everyone at the table turns to me. "What?"

"You love math," Michael tells me. "You like it so much, you do it when you're bored."

"Yeah, well I'm over it." I lean my head back and stare up at the ceiling. The table stays quiet.