I wanted to thank her, but I had to climb down these stairs before I broke my teeth from gritting them so hard.
Finally, we came to a stop in front of the table and I sat down, panting silently because of the pain, but I got a grip on myself when Tris hugged me.
“Thank you, Tris,” I whispered.
I didn’t have to explain what this “thank you” was for, she understood. Because Beatrice was the person that ripped down my walls, even though I tried to build them high and impenetrable, reaching out to me and becoming the sister I never had.
“What is our next class?” I asked to Tris. I was too careless with our schedule to learn it, thankfully my best friend was the responsible type while I was the one who read books during class and studied my ass off just before the exams.
“Chemistry,” she answered cheerfully. That was her favorite subject. I loved chemistry, but that class didn’t give me much opportunity to read my novels. I sighed and stood up when I noticed it was only fifteen minutes till class. Normally that wasn’t a short period of time for other students, but for someone like me…it was the time I needed to walk up to the classroom.
Tris stood up with me as well and linked her arm through mine again as we started to climb the damn stairs. My swearing was alternating between the architect who didn’t think of building an elevator to the cafeteria and the damn stairs that looked like they were getting more and more each day.
Finally, I could reach the Chemistry wing of the building, panting. Normally, my place was in the middle of the second row, but today there was a guy, muscled like a mini-Hulk, at the first row and with my petite frame I wouldn’t see a thing if I sat behind him. I headed toward the window side desks, passing by the mini-Hulk on the way.
I didn’t see his face until I passed by him. At first glance I could only notice his well-built frame, but when I saw his face…I lived the biggest cliché of my life. After a heart beat of checking him out, with the painful reminder of my leg, I moved toward my desk and sat down to have some relief over my leg.
I hardly noticed the class notes on the desk, courtesy to Tris, as the professor came into the classroom. The professor started his lesson without wasting a second, but I was busy checking out the guy in the front row.
He looked like a guy from my dreams–broad shoulders, muscular arms, dark and stylishly messy hair…he was gorgeous and I was awestruck by his good looks.
Shaking my head I turned to look out of the window, but within a minute my gaze turned back to look at him. I couldn’t help it even though I tried so hard. But when I heard his raspy, deep voice as he asked some questions during class, I was sold.
I counted the minutes till the professor dismiss us. I hoped I would never see him again and would never feel this strange pull and the confusing feelings that came with it. I didn’t need to feel this way on top of everything else.
Finally, when the professor dismissed the class, I sighed in relief…but it didn’t last long.
The relief faded away the next day, at the lab class. I was in the same group with the mysterious-dream guy. The chemistry lab was the hardest class of my department and as an addition to all struggles I’d been through, I had to try not to be distracted by him.
But it wasn’t that easy.
His place in the lab was just in front of mine. I had to face him, every day, for the next four months. Like this wasn’t enough, on our second day, the lab assistant gave us the same chemical experiment, but thankfully, we had to do everything separately.
Working on the experiment, I tried to be sure I was doing everything right. Not being able to sit down was enough pain in the ass and I couldn’t ignore the pain that radiated from my leg.
Taking a slow breath through my nose, I closed my eyes, tilting my head back, hoping the pain will be subdued. When I noticed it didn’t work, I opened my eyes, only to be captivated by dark brown orbs.
He was looking at me…
Why was he looking at me?
“Inspiration from above? Is that the secret of your success with the experiment we had yesterday?” he asked with a crooked grin on his incredibly handsome face.
“Inspiration has nothing to do with this job. Just follow the steps. It is science not literature,” I snapped. I didn’t mean to sound harsh, not at all, but the pain consumed me and the anxiety of being in such proximity with him confused me.
His smile faded as he nodded his head, “Right. It was a silly question.”
I wanted to slap myself.
Why did I have to snap at him?
Why did I have to be this bitter?
Fisting my hands on the granite surface of the lab desk, I closed my eyes for a brief second again. But this time, he wasn’t looking at me when I opened them.
The next day there was chemistry class before lab time…again. But I was too late to grab the notes from the department, I headed directly to the classroom, hoping Tris would be there with my notes. I was glad the professor was nowhere to be seen, yet.
Tris sighed in relief when she saw me, like she was happy that I was still in one piece. Smiling weakly I walked toward her, looking around the class. I stopped for a heartbeat when I caught him looking at me…