Chapter 30 - Fascination-2

"He came up to me." "I know, but next time he does you need to walk away. And make sure you're not alone." Wow, people talk of Jordan as if he's an insane murderer. If he was that bad, wouldn't he be kicked out of school by now? "Why did Zeke even get into a fight with him?" I ask. "I don't know, he wouldn't tell me anything." "Did, uh, did your dad come home?" Her walking slows and her eyes fall to the floor. Probably not a good sign. "Maggie?" I urge her. "Yes, he did." "What happened?" She stops walking and stands outside what I assume is her next class. "All you need to know is that a lot of Zeke's injuries weren't caused by Jordan." My heart skips a beat. No. No, no, no. Fucking Paul. +++ I feel like I deserve a medal when the week ends. I didn't cry once. Not once. At lunch the next Monday, I keep working on not looking at Zeke and Isaac at their old table. It's something i've been struggling with. Cole sits with Zoey and I still, Isaac would sit with us but he cares too much about Zeke to leave him alone, since he has randomly decided to be completely done with our friendship. My anger has been building with him. The way that he just walks past me as if we're strangers and he doesn't even look at me anymore. I'd know since I stare at him twenty-four/seven. "Jordan's looking at you again," Zoey pulls me from my thoughts. I don't bother checking because I know he will be. I've managed to avoid him by walking the other way when I see him approaching, and leaving the room whenever he's looking at me. I don't bother leaving this time. He can't take my food away from me like that. "Let him," I take a bite of my sandwich. "You should tell Zeke about his stalking issues before it gets out of hand," Cole says. "What good would that do? Zeke and I don't even talk anymore." "Yeah, but i'm just sayin' it's definitely a way to get his attention." I look at Zeke, innocently eating his hamburger and listening to something Isaac is saying. I wonder if Zeke knew about Jordan's fascination with me that has evolved recently, he'd come running back acting like my hero. He once told me never to forget that that was what he was. "I don't want his attention," I decide. I don't care if Zeke would care or not – I don't want him to. Cole groans and I raise an eyebrow. "I'll just tell him." "Don't." "He should know about this." "No he shouldn't, Cole. It has nothing to do with him." "It has everything to do with him." "How?" "Jordan's only gonna keep buggin' you 'cause of the fight. He thinks that's the way to get to Zeke." "Well it's not. Can't he see that we don't talk anymore?" "Pretty sure that's why he hasn't done anything yet. He's probably gonna do somethin' to test if Zeke still cares about you." "This is so annoying," I drink my chocolate milk angrily. Why did Zeke have to make my life so complicated? +++ "I'll give you and your parter a room to do your calculations in. I have already asked all of the teachers if it is alright for you to be there, as long as you don't disrupt the class." Mr. Harrison, my math teacher is making us measure out the area of certain rooms in the school, then do calculations on them all later. It's easy work – things we learned years ago – yet he's making us do it, probably because he's too lazy to teach us anything new today. He begins to walk around the class, assigning us all a classroom to work in. "The gym hall," he says to Zoey and I, and I nod in response. Zoey smirks at me. "Oh goodie." "What?" I furrow my eyebrows and stand up, collecting measuring equipment. "Nothing," she says sweetly and follows me out the class. "I really hope there isn't anyone in here," I say as we walk to the gym hall. They would probably just stare at us while we measure the hall and think we're freaks. "Ah, that's the thing." "What?" "Zeke's class is in here." I stop in my tracks. "What? How do you even know that?" "Oh, Marnie, Marnie, Marnie," she puts a hand on my shoulder. "I know everything." It's true. If there is any sort of gossip going on in the school, Zoey will know all about it. Hell, she'll have studied that shit as much as I study chemistry. I really need to stop swearing. "Can we ask for a different room?" I suggest, hopeful. "Definitely not." "Whyyyyy?" I pout. "This is a perfect opportunity for you and Zeke to talk and sort this all out." "Zoey, I am not going to embarrass myself anymore by trying to get him to be my friend. I'm over him. I don't even care about this anymore," I lie, even though Zoey won't believe a word i'm saying. "Yeah, sure. Let's just go," she pulls me along by the arm and we step into the room. Around twenty boys fill the hall playing basketball and wearing different coloured vests. A couple others are sitting on the benches. One of them I recognise as Jordan. Great.