California Kisses

Chapter Seven

The next several weeks were odd. For many reasons, but all of them rather different. For one, finals were closing in and the stress of preparing filled every bit of my existence. Studying took on a new meaning and pain as I fought to memorize history facts I would never use again. As I learned math equations I wouldn't need unless I decided to go into a profession with science and physics. Honestly. When would I ever need Algebra again?

The finals were killing me. But, to my surprise, I found other things were on my mind even more so. For instance, rumors were floating around about two of our teachers eloping. That was pretty interesting.

People were also talking about the new box store going in on the outskirts of town; so literally, literally anything, remotely interesting which came across my mind seemed better than focusing on the stupid finals. Who needed to get a good grade anyways?

"Ugh," a long groan left my lips as I ruffled my hair aggressively.  With a thunk, my forehead connected with my desk. Frustration welled up in my chest and I wanted throw something, anything, as I closed my textbook (maybe I should throw that?) and turned off my desk light. The bed looked incredibly inviting and comforting, so giving into the urge, I dropped face first into the mattress.

More than these things, however, I found it strange how silent my phone seemed to be. For what felt like months, at any given point during the day, messages would light up the screen. Sometimes more than one at a time, clusters if you will. Bennett seemed to constantly be talking to me through his day, walking me through chores, explaining the problems in his schoolwork, or just telling me hi.

But over the past several weeks, the messages became fewer and fewer. It started harmlessly enough; right as finals crested over the horizon, visible but not here yet, I stopped getting updates on his chores. Which, fair enough. I wasn't excessively interested in how much wood he chopped or the snow he had to scrape off a windshield, but it was still some sort of contact. Whatever floats the boat.

Then, by week two, as studying began creeping in the corners of my brain, the updates on schoolwork started to disappear. Now, at first, I remembered Bennett did his schooling from the comfort of home. So maybe he finished early and didn't exactly need to send updates.

But this begged the question: why didn't he fill the void with something else?

By the time I found myself knee deep in finals (read: current time period), Bennett's messages were essentially non-existent. I shot off a text to him hours beforehand and instead of receiving a message within a few minutes or even within the hour, I was still waiting for some sort of a response.

Tapping the screen of my phone, I chewed on my lip absently when I didn't see any new alerts. Maybe Bennett was avoiding me for some reason. I really didn't see a reason he would ignore me, though. I was . . . nice enough.

Even as the words crossed my mind, I groaned at my own thoughts. "Maybe my attitude and crank finally got to him," I muttered, laying the phone face down and pretending I didn't care about the lack of response.

After all, it's nothing I wasn't already used to. Before Bennett, I didn't have anyone. That's kind of what got me into this whole situation in the first place. Lack of friendship and human interaction. The kind of nonsense that got unicorns sent to small towns in search of purpose and then one day eventually become a princess.

"Maybe I'll be a pony princess." My eyes shot open and I abruptly stood, walking away from my desk. "Okay, I clearly need a break; my brain is a bowl of goop right now." A break would hopefully give me some time to recollect my thoughts. To refocus them on my finals and getting ready for tests.

Bennett and pony princesses would need to go on the back burner.

But . . .

As I left my room, I hesitated at leaving the phone behind. Not because I felt overly attached to the thing but if Bennett finally replied back, I wanted to give him a piece of my mind.