Sincerely, Charli Day

Chapter 3

"Hey, Sugar?" Caden whispers, poking my back with the end of his pencil for the fourth time. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

If I breathe, maybe I won't kill him today and his pretty face will get to live another couple of hours.

I turn around slowly, my eyes narrowing.

"What do you want, Caden?" I ask in a low voice so our French teacher can't hear.

"Do you have an eraser?" The corners of his mouth tip upward as he leans forward so our faces are only inches away from one another.

For a second my heart skips a beat as I stare into his brown eyes. They're almost hazel with green and gold flecks; perfect for a portrait picture. I never noticed that before...And that's on extreme violation of personal space.

I quickly look away as my eyes flicker down to the eraser on his desk.

"You already have an eraser, idiot." I seethe. He doesn't flinch as he leans further forward, if that's even possible.

I really need to back up, but there's barely any room left between my desk and I.

He smiles innocently, "I know, I just like using yours."

I'm about to punch him in the face, but for once I appreciate Madame Louise yelling at me.

"Que se passe-t-il?" She demands.

What's going on? That's a damn good question because I have no idea, and I would like to know too.

"Je suis désolé, Madame Louise. J'ai demandé à Charli une gomme." Caden responds in perfect French.

That's right, he was terrorizing me like the little shit he is for an eraser. Since when did he have a clean accent? For all I knew, he could barely speak proper English. 

"You have an eraser on your desk, Mr. James." She points out. Half of the class laughs, while the other half stifle their snickers.

Caden offers her a cheeky smile, not flustered at all. "My mistake then, Madame."

"In french, dude." One of his friends shouts from across the room, causing Madame to purse her lips.

Sighing, she turns back to the rest of the class, resuming her lecture in some speedy French. I don't even bother trying to catchup. I can kiss my aesthetic notes goodbye for the rest of the semester, and most likely year at this rate.

Zayden grimaces from the other side of the classroom, but I barely acknowledge it. Instead, I glance one last time at grinning Caden before swiveling back around in my seat. 

"I'll see you later, Sugar." He whispers again.

This time I don't answer and I don't look him. Sugar my ass.

❂ ❂ ❂

Zayden and I walk together to the cafeteria for lunch after the bell rings. Unfortunately, I don't miss the dirty look Madame shoots me as I wave her goodbye. It's enough to make me internally cringe, but I'm too tired to defend myself.

"Why didn't you say anything back there?" Zayden interrogates when we're a good distance away from the classroom.

I bite the inside of my cheek before answering. "It didn't matter."

"You could've said something to clarify that he was bothering you-"

I stop him. I really don't need another headache. "I can take care of myself, Zay. I don't need you to tell me how to handle Caden."