Chapter 17

At lunchtime, we were summoned to Principal Donna’s office.

“Hmmm,” her deep voice hummed as her watching eyes scanned through the list Logan and I made on Friday as well as the extra stuff I added over the weekend. “Not bad.”

Logan and I were seated opposite her, the same way we’d been almost a week ago when she’d stuck us together in this project, only difference now was that our relationship wasn’t the same now that it had been then. I sneaked him yet another glance from the corner of my eyes, holding back a smile when he subtly winked at me. I couldn’t believe it either; Logan was actually making me giddy.

“You want to expand the building?” Principal Donna asked, raising her head for the first time since we entered her office to look at us. “That’s… ballsy.”

I snorted at her choice of words.

“Yes, Principal Donna,” Logan interjected. “It’s way too small that both of us could barely fit inside and the animals barely have any room to breath. We think it would be a good investment as it would aid the shelter in handling more animals providing better care.”

She made that sound at the back of her throat again and I couldn’t tell if she liked the idea or if she hated it.

“I spoke to Mrs. Patty,” she said.

Logan and I were quiet, thinking she had more to say. When she only stared between the two of us for another thirty seconds, I could help but ask, “And?”

She took off her square-shaped glasses, balanced her elbows on the desk, intertwined her fingers and then rested her jaw on her intertwined hands. “And she actually had good things to say about you two.”

I raised a brow, not really getting where she was going with this. Did she expect to hear bad things? Logan and I made eye contact and he shrugged.

“What happened to you two?”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean?” Logan asked.

She furrowed her brows. “Last week when you both were seated here just like now, you almost tore each other’s heads off. Frankly, I only assigned you two to this project because I was certain you would fail and then I would have to expel you. So, what happened between you two that’s made you start stealing glances at each other?”

So, she noticed. I almost laughed. There was no way I was going to tell her that Logan and I kissed. It wasn’t against school rules or anything, it was just too personal. Besides, what on earth did she mean by she wanted us to fail so she could expel us?

Well, she could stare all she wanted but I was definitely not going to answer that. In fact, I was not mandated to.

“Fine,” she sighed after a long while of silence from both of us, putting her glasses back on. “I don’t care anyway. As long as you’re not trying to burn down my school, I’m okay with it. I approve your project and you can begin with the preparations.”

“Thank you,” I muttered, though I was lost in thought. If Principal Donna could notice the change in my relationship with Logan, wouldn’t every other person? Was I ready for that? I didn’t even know what it was that we were doing. Hell, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do anything with him. So why wasn’t I stopping it now that it was still early?

Principal Donna released us after specific instructions to report back to her on our progress every Monday, and encourage to adopt this new relationship we developed and make it stick. In her words, she would rather we were playing Romeo and Juliet than Bonnie and Clyde.

“Phew. That woman is intense,” Logan muttered once we were outside. There were only ten minutes left for lunch and I wanted to eat as much as I could so I made my way to the cafeteria.

“Tell me about it,” I replied, suddenly very aware of the situation. Logan and I were walking side by side and having an actual conversation that didn’t involve yelling or screaming or pranks and it was earning us stares from every angle.

I swallowed, holding my backpack closer to my shoulder while increasing my pace. Jesus. This was not welcomed, not at all.

Logan caught up to me, “Damn, Hale, it’s not a sprint. Calm the hell down.”

“You don’t see it, do you? Everyone’s staring at us.” I muttered through clenched teeth.

“So?” he replied, like as though it didn’t matter. Which it probably didn’t, not to him. “Who cares?”

I stopped abruptly, meeting his eyes in wonder. How could he be so unbothered about this? “I do, Logan. I care. I don’t want people thinking you charmed your way into my pants and I finally forgave you.”

He gave me a surprised look. “Where is this coming from?”

I shook my head, licking my lips. It was too soon, my mind whispered. And maybe I agreed with it but I needed to know. “What are we doing?” I leaned in and reduced my voice because the last thing I wanted was for any more rumors to spread. “What is it… thing between us?”

“Lexi—”

“And don’t give me that crap about your not wanting to fight with me anymore. There’s a difference between not wanting to fight and sucking faces.”

Silent, he stared at me. My chest was heaving and I tried to calm myself down. God knew I was grasping at straws. I wasn’t holding out hope that he would say anything I wanted to hear because screw it, I didn’t know what I wanted to hear. But it certainly wasn’t that he just wanted to know what it was like to kiss me. No, it was more than that. My mind travelled to Darren and the statement he’d made last week about Logan actually liking me.

Could it have been true?

I mean, he had been the one to make the first move that day in the girls' bathroom.

Logan took one step towards me so that our bodies were pressed together. I gasped at the contact, trying to look anywhere that wasn’t at him. When I did avert my gaze, I saw that several students had gathered and were watching us. Some even had their phones out and were doing God knows what. Oh, God. I was mortified. Was he trying to make this harder than it already was?

“Lexi,” he muttered, his breath fanning my face. I was ashamed to admit that I liked the intense way he was staring at me. “I’m not ashamed of you.”

I sucked in a breath at the admission, feeling my cheeks heat up. Seriously, you could’ve cooked a pancake on either of them. Whispers rose up in the crowd and before I knew it, the hallway was full and we were at the center of the stage.

“I think you’re pretty and I think you’re smart. Probably the smartest girl I’ve ever met. You keep me on my toes and call me an asshole every other day but those, and many more are the things that draw me to you.”

I hadn’t known it was possible but heat spread to my entire body and it left me speechless. I’d never been a shy person, but at this moment I didn’t think I could be vocally expressive even if I tried.

And so, I did the only thing that came to mind:

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

The entire hall erupted in whistles and cheers.

And now that I think about it, I never got around to having that lunch.