Decisions and Mayhem | ✓

Chapter 10

"You look stressed." I looked up at the sound of Tim's voice. I gave him a fake smile before looking down at the textbook I'd placed in front of me, but I hadn't read past the first paragraph on the page since we got here. David wasn't with us at the library today, he was in the main study hall on the ground floor studying for the mock test he was having tomorrow.

"I am," I chuckled, shrugging as I flipped the page of my book. Since this morning in school, I've been conscious of bumping into Jay. I was more than sure he was angry at me for hanging up on him yesterday, and I just wasn't in the mood to deal with him today.

"Oh," Tim said like he'd not been expecting my answer. "Why?" he asked, picking up the pen that was beside his textbook before making to click it continuously.

He sure has a thing for pens. I smiled to myself, watching as his big brown eyes stared at me. His brown dark hair was combed back today — even his bangs, and he was wearing our ugly school tie that only him seemed to magically pull off as usual.

"Would I be too nosy if I asked what exactly was bothering you?" Tim asked when I didn't respond to his initial question. I smiled a bit before looking down at my textbook again as I let out a sigh. Why does he want to know? I asked myself, chuckling a bit, and making Tim raise a brow at me in curiosity.

"Sorry," I said, waving when I saw the look on his face. "I was just thinking about something. It has nothing to do with what you said."

"Would it be more annoying if I asked you what you were thinking about now?" he asked, making me let out a sincerer laugh I had to cover up immediately because the librarian turned towards our table with a frown. I brought my hand to my forehead when my laughter died down, letting out a sigh as I looked up at him.

"Has anyone ever told you you're annoying, but in an odd polite yet irritating way? That type of annoying that has people not wanting to tell you that you are?" I asked, making Tim cock his head to the side. I watched him hum, and our table went quiet after he stopped. He then started to drum the head of his pen against the table's wooden surface.

"Yeah, sometimes," he eventually answered, shrugging right after. "If I annoy you too much just tell me not to hang around you anymore, I won't."

I frowned a bit at his words, wondering if he was attempting to attempt some sort of guilt play. I was too exhausted to think it through, so I just pushed it to the back of my mind and continued our conversation instead. "True, but why are you hanging around me anyway? What about your friends?" I ended up asking, watching as he just smiled lightly before shrugging.

"You'll figure that out soon enough," he said, looking towards the bookshelves in the distance. I frowned, wondering whether he was trying to avoid my gaze. 

But why would he?

"So, are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

I groaned, rolling my eyes at his words as Tim chuckled in the background. I ran a hand through my hair as I thought of Jay, a frown forming on my face. "Jay's being an ass," I said, being as vague, yet blunt as possible. I watched as Tim stopped chuckling, and his eyes stared at me with what seemed like worry as his smile thinned out to a small frown.

"Yeah, I kind of figured out that might be the case," he said with a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck as he bit his bottom lip. "Sorry. It's because of that fight, isn't it?" he asked, and I just went along with it and nodded.

"Sorry," he repeated in a low tone, making me frown as I looked at him.

"It's not exactly your fault..." I trailed, watching as he just hummed in response.

"Well, it kind of is. If you hadn't defended me back there, he wouldn't be bothering you now," Tim said, making me smile a little. Our table went silent after his words, and we just pretended to read the textbooks in front of us until I broke the silence by speaking up.

"Hey," I said, making Tim look up from his textbook. He gave me a confused look, his brown eyes watching as I took out my phone from my pocket. I could feel my face warm up with embarrassment as I went through my messages to look for the ones Jay had been sending to me. When I did, I opened them before sliding my phone over to Tim.

"Read it," I simply said, watching as Tim nodded before picking up my phone. At first, he didn't show any reaction, but his eyes gradually widened as he kept scrolling. He put the phone down after a while, looking over at me, the look of shock still on his face.

"Well, err — that's something I guess," he said after a while, and I just sighed before resting my forehead on the cold surface of the table we were on.

"He has been harassing me. He's just terrible," I said before looking up at the sound of Tim's hum.

"I think this is some big payback joke. I mean, he has to be joking, right?" I asked Tim, groaning before shaking my head. "This is stressing me out. It's just — disgusting."

Tim didn't say anything in response, and I frowned at him wondering why he was ignoring me before I noticed he was still reading the messages from Jay.

"Well, I don't think he's joking. I think he's just terrible at doing it — err, flirting properly," Tim said, rubbing the back of his neck before looking away from me. He then slid my phone back to me, and I took it before tucking it back into the pocket of my school uniform trousers.

"What makes you think he's not joking?" I asked, making Tim look up at me before fiddling with his school tie. "Well, it's not hard to see why he — or anyone for that matter would like you," he said, smiling briefly. I frowned, not understanding the point he was trying to make.

Is he trying to make fun of me? I wondered. He was making it out like people were falling at my feet and asking me to date them. I was average-looking at best. No one liked me — well, I have a feeling Alissa might — a little bit that is, but she had a bad taste in general, so she doesn't count.

"How do you know that?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.

Tim chuckled. "I just know," he said before picking up his textbook.

I didn't have time to probe him any further since the bell for the end of the study period rang at the exact moment. Tim got up from his seat, putting his textbook into his backpack before giving me a brief wave and walking away as fast as possible. I watched him leave, and after a while, I got up as well and packed my stuff, before heading out of the library.

I smiled a little when I spotted David at his usual spot when I walked into the lab. He looked up, smiling at me as I waved at him. I headed over to sit beside him and made up my mind that I wasn't going to think about things that involved Jay for the rest of the school day. I had studying to do, tests to take, and grades to make. I had mock exams throughout the week, and it was not the time to be thinking about an aloof dirty blond that didn't seem to understand how authentic social interactions worked.

David and I talked throughout the class as our teacher went about the test review for next week. I noticed that David looked stressed — panicky might be a better word to explain how he seemed because he kept checking his phone, and he seemed a bit clumsy with his stuff today. I didn't ask him why since he seemed to be trying to play it off and he might be annoyed with me if I pointed out that he wasn't doing a good job hiding whatever it was.

A sigh of relief left my lips when the bell for the end of the day rung through the entire school building. The hallways were soon filled to the brim with students and noise. I let out a sigh of relief when I realized I had avoided Jay for the whole day. I was free, but as I walked with David through the hallways and out the school building to wait at our usual spot with Juana and Tim, one question kept ringing in my mind.

How long till I bump into him?