Untouchable - Chapter 12 #2
“One sec,” Matt said. He stood up and walked over to Charlotte who was beckoning him over. They started discussing something, but I couldn’t hear them over the chatter around me. Neither looked particularly happy.
Matt said he wasn’t dating Isabella. Was he dating Charlotte instead? That would explain why he didn’t defend me in class when she was berating me. It would explain why she kept looking over here like she wanted to throw me out the window. It would explain everything.
“What’s up with them?” I asked Rob.
He looked over his shoulder. “I don’t know. Why, are you jealous? I saw that you two were all over each other at that party.”
“No.” Oh God. I could feel my face turning red. “Matt’s a jerk. He and Charlotte deserve each other.”
Rob laughed. “No one deserves to be with Charlotte. And Matt’s not that big of an asshole once you get to know him. He saved you from being teamed up with her, after all.”
“Pretty sure the teams were randomly assigned,” I said.
“Everyone knows that nothing in Mr. Hill’s class is random.”
What the hell did that mean? Before I could ask, Rob started talking again.
“So about this project.” He rubbed his hands together. “I was thinking we could do something fitness related.”
“That would be really great.” This project could end up being a breeze. Rob and I were completely on the same page. Plus he seemed fine talking to me, unlike his friend.
He laughed. “I was joking. I thought that would be the last thing you wanted to do.”
“Why?”
“I heard Cupcake nailed you in the face with a dodgeball in gym today.”
“Oh.” I laughed. I guess everyone did call that kid Cupcake. “I didn’t realize there were rumors spreading around about me.” Besides the fact that I don’t have a lot of money and am not as cool as a student nicknamed Cupcake.
“Everyone’s always fascinated by the new kid. You also have a tiny little bruise right there.” He pointed to the inside of his left eye.
I mirrored him and reached up and touched the spot on my face.
“Other side,” he said with a laugh.
I touched the left side of my nose and flinched. Ow.
“Sorry about that,” Matt said and sat down in his chair facing me. He had a huge smile on his face and was looking directly at me.
Wait, was he talking to me? I looked over my shoulder even though I was in the back of the classroom. Nope, just me. Maybe I really did have a concussion.
“I heard about dodgeball,” Matt said. “Are you okay?”
Caring? Again? I just stared at him. He stared back like he was acting completely normal.
Nothing about this was normal. It was the first time he’d spoken to me in school for weeks.
He’d literally never spoken to me in this class before.
I figured we’d have to do our project in hotel bathrooms and drunken parties or cut him out entirely.
“It looks like it hurts,” he continued, even though I hadn’t acknowledged the fact that he was speaking to me.
You know what hurts? You pretending I’m invisible. “No, it doesn’t hurt,” I lied. I didn’t need Matthew Caldwell to fake care about me. You hurt. You hurt me.
He lowered his eyebrows slightly like he could read my mind.
“We were just talking about her dodgeball incident,” Rob said, breaking the awkward silence. “She wants our project to be fitness related.”
Matt smiled and rested his elbows on my desk. “Even after today?”
“Just because I’m not super coordinated like the two of you doesn’t mean I don’t take fitness seriously. I prefer running.”
“I feel the passion,” Rob said.
Matt locked eyes with me. “Me too.”
They were both acting weird. I grabbed my notebook and wrote down “fitness” at the top. “We could do something health food related if you’d rather,” I said without looking up.
“Yeah, yeah, that would be fine,” Matt said. “Whatever you want to do is fine with us. I’m glad you got home safely on Friday. I was worried about you.”
Worried? Yeah, right. This wasn’t supposed to be how today went. I wanted to crawl under my desk. Instead I had to sit there, my heart rate increasing by the second with his eyes on me.
“Maybe next time avoid the punch altogether.”
Please don’t talk about this. Ever. “Yup.” I jotted down the health food idea in my notebook.
“We should probably exchange numbers for the project, don’t you think? And that way I can text you if I’m ever worried again.”
I forced my eyes not to roll. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
Rob laughed. “Shot down, buddy. Sanders, you’re even cooler than I realized.”
“Okay, so no phone number,” Matt said. “We’re going to have to work on this outside of class though. So I need a way to contact you.”
My notebook page was very interesting so I didn’t look up. “I think we should just roll with the fitness thing since we’re all so passionate about it. We can split up the work for the project and do it independently.”
“Double shot down,” Rob said with a laugh.
Matt leaned forward even more, his strong forearms dangerously close to my notebook. “I was kind of hoping that we’d work really really dependently. Lots of visits to each other’s houses. Late-night study sessions. That kinda thing.”
I looked up at him to tell him he was ridiculous. That this project didn’t need study sessions because it was a project and not a test. But I swallowed down my words when I looked into his chocolaty brown eyes.
He smiled.
My throat made an awkward squeaking noise.
And the bell rang to save me.
“See you tomorrow, Sanders,” Rob said. “We’ll hash out the rest of our topic so you never have to hang out with Matt outside of school.”
At least Rob understood what I wanted. I quickly shoved my notebook into my backpack and zipped it closed. Before I stood up, I noticed a piece of folded up paper on top of my desk. It hadn't been there a few seconds ago. I picked up the paper and unfolded it.
I’m sorry about the past few weeks. Let me make it up to you. Meet me in the auditorium in five.
I looked up to see Matt walking away. He was the last one leaving the room.
I knew it was from him even though he hadn’t signed it.
But he didn’t realize that actions spoke louder than words.
Being nice to me in one class didn’t make up for weeks of silence.
A simple note didn’t make up for it either.
It was just further proof that he didn’t want anyone to know he was speaking to me.
Forced to be in a group with the new loser of Empire High was one thing.
Voluntarily hanging out with them? Social suicide.
I pulled my bag over my shoulder and made my way past Mr. Hill who I swear glared at me. Instead of turning left toward the auditorium I went right toward my locker.
There was nothing I needed to say to Matt.
I didn’t want to play whatever game he was playing.
And the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like I was being set up for something awful.
He had talked to Charlotte before inviting me to the auditorium.
She and Isabella and all the Untouchables were probably waiting there to make fun of me. I wouldn’t be part of their prank.
Still, I found myself putting the note in my blazer pocket instead of tossing it in the trash where it belonged.
I hated how nice it felt next to my heart.
I hated that even thinking about Matt still made me feel like I was breathing easier.
And I hated how badly I wanted to run to the auditorium, even though I knew he wasn’t sorry.