Cliché Gone Wrong

Chapter 2

Classes went by uneventfully. They always went by uneventufully to be honest. Liam found himself drifting from the teacher to the window, then to the board full of words he did not care to copy nor take brief notes. Sighing, he looked at the other students, who seemed as uninterested as him. He was at the far back of the class after all, where kids liked to drift away, only a few really paid attention to what was happening at the front.

Suddenly, Liam felt his jeans vibrating. His cellphone. He took it out of his pocket, only to read the newest message from James:

Jay: Any progress with the four eyed freak?

Liam bit his lip then looked at the teacher, Mr. Collins, who silently wrote on the board while explaining something about past tense in french. The perpetual scowl on his face was softer, his eyelids seemed heavy. Clear signs that he was rather bored with his own class or had given up a long time ago. Feeling it was safe, Liam carefully put his phone under the table and tapped his response.

Liam: We are just on second period bzut I made a move on her.

He sent and waited for the reply. It came almost right away.

Jay: How was it?

Liam: She fell for it. 

Jay: I want details. 

Liam: What are you, a girl?! Trust me, she will be kissing my feet at the end of the week.

After some seconds without a reply, Liam put his phone aside until James decided to say something. He turned to look absentmindedly at Mr. Collins trying not to fall asleep in the middle of a explanation, a small smile forming on his lips. Then, the bell finally rang. Sighs of relief could be heard, the students almost instantly got up and exited the classroom. Liam looked at his phone, wondering why James didn't reply.

Liam: Hey, are you there?

He sent and exited the class as well. Mrs. Collins glared at him when he passed by, Liam opened the door and gave a sheepish smile to the teacher. Walking towards the next class, he gave up on trying to contact James. He must have been caught or got bored of texting him. When Liam entered the classroom, automatically his body moved towards the back, but stopped when he saw her.

There she was, sitting on the first seat of the third row out of four. The messy brown hair almost covered her entire upper body, leaving no space to someone see her face properly, only her dark blue sweater could be seen. It was too big however, covering her hands while she tried to pull them backwards with no avail because the sleeves would fall back again in an instant. Somehow, she turned her head towards him. Her big, black frammed glasses covered her face as well, reflecting the light and allowing Liam only to see glimpses of the nerd's brown eyes. He couldn't see her expression very well, but she looked a bit surprise, her mouth was a little opened. Flashing a charming smile, he walked towards her then sat at the chair behind.

"Hey." He said, waving his hand slightly. Quinn turned her head to look at him and what could be considered a smile was forming on her lips.

"Hey." She replied shyly. Actually, she did not seem that shy, but her voice was calm and her sentences were almost always formed with few words.

"I didn't know we shared a period. That's good, now we have something in common to talk." Liam smiled, trying to sound happy with having a class with the freak. But at same time, he wanted to smack himself to saying such a silly thing.

Having something to talk about? In a Maths class? That was over the top even for him. He would be a lot smoother if it was another girl, but dealing with someone who might have not even touched the hand of a guy, he needed to be softer. Quinn didn't seem to care though, she only nodded then returned to look at the front. The atmosphere was so awkward Liam wanted to run away. Was he losing his touch?

"Err...could you bor-" Before he could finish, the teacher entered. Her high heels clicked on the ground, announcing she was there and ready to begin the class. All the students seemed to understand the warning, because they sat immediately after hearing the clicking sound

Mrs. Hayez wasn't a bad teacher, actually she was rather pleasant. She managed to do what only few teachers ever accomplished: gained the respect of her students. With her petite yet strong presence, she demanded order and discipline, yet was inteligent enough to know what a joke was whenever hearing one. Her eyes roammed the classroom, landing on Liam's. She frowned, probably wondering why he wasn't sitting at his usual place. 

"Oh, what we have here." She said, walking closer to Quinn, who looked at him. Actually, the entire class was looking at Liam. "Someone decided to change his...habits."

"Yeah, I'm tired of only Cs" He replied, rubbing his head. Mrs. Hayez chuckled in amusement.

"In what class? Mine you only receive Ds." Some classmates laughed at the little joke, others were too afraid of expressing themselves in front of the king of school. "But I'm glad you did so, it will help you so much. Just wait and see." She smiled then looked at Quinn and her smile widened. 

Teacher's pet, Liam thought.

Quinn gave a small smile in response and the teacher returned to the board, telling everyone to pay attention. Liam didn't want to pay any attention though, even if he was sitting at the second seat. Liam found himself looking at Quinn's hair, wondering if she was paying the attention he should. He wanted really bad to talk more with her, to be over with everything already. It had high chances that she was crushing on him, but he needed proof.

"Psst" He whispered, but she did not turn around. He looked at Mrs. Hayez, who was writing some equations for them to work on. 

"Hey..." He whispered again. Quinn's head moved, showing she could hear him. "Do you know any of these things?"

He said, pointing at the board.

"Yes." She whispered.

"Could you help me?" He bit his lip.

"If you want..." Quinn trailed then returned to the board. Liam's fist shook in victory, he had her attention. Mrs. Hayez suddenly turned her head to look at the students, making students who were secretly chatting cower and lower their heads. Liam took out one piece of paper out of his notebook then wrote a note to Quinn. 

I'm glad you're gonna help me. - L

Folding and handing it to her, he waited the response. A smug smile on his face. Then, tiny hands carefully handed the foldled paper back to him.

Do you want me to give you some head ups? - Q

Liam smiled, wondering where those "head ups" could "head" to. Laughing at his own joke, he wrote on the paper.

Yes, thanks for offering help. I'm a little slow with new subjects. - L

A sudden chuckle could be heard when Liam handed the paper to Quinn. He wondered if what he wrote was funny to her, it wasn't the intention though. He didn't want her to think of him as a dumb guy, desperate for help.

You asked for my help. And we're learning this since the first week. I'll help you though :) - Q

When reading those words, Liam's eyes widened. He also must have let out a weird sound, because when he noticed, everybody was with their head turned to him. Including Mrs. Hayez. She raised an eyebrow, glaring slightly at him.

"What's so surprising, Mr. Woods?" His first instinct was to hide the piece of paper.

"N-nothing, I was j-just surprised with...with...the squirrel in the tree!" He explained. The teacher looked at the window, frowing even more.

"Mr. Woods, are you feeling well? There's no tree." She said, her voice sounding as if she was talking with a crazy person. Small chuckles came from all directions. Even Quinn seemed to be silently laughing. Liam's cheeks reddened with embarassement. 

"I-I wasn't talking about it. I-It's a code, you know."

"A...code?" Mrs. Hayez said skeptically.

"Yeah... a code to... to... go to the bathroom!" Liam said excitedly, raising his arm in the air. Another amount of laughter filled the class. "You see, I need to go."

"Okay..." Mrs. Hayez nodded, still looking at him suspiciously. Noticing this, Liam gave a shameless smile then got up.

"When nature calls, we have to go. I'll put this squirrel out of my tree!" Liam laughed at his own joke again, trying to make the teacher laugh as well. Some disgusted sounds were heard along with laughs. Mrs. Hayez rolled her eyes in distaste.

"Please, let's not take this to a crude talk. You can go now, Mr. Woods. Just take care to not have this "squirrel" with you every class." More laughter and Liam fastly made his way towards the door, taking a last look at Quinn, who no longer had a smile on her face.

Shrugging, Liam exited the classroom and went to the bathroom. In the hallway, he whistled while slowly walking, until he heard some angry footsteps going his direction. More like heels, though, the "click sound" was just like his Maths teacher's shoes. Realizing it was a girl, he kept walking, not bothering to check who it was. Bad move. Suddenly, sharps nails touched his shoulder, aching. 

"Ouch." Liam jumped, looking at the one who harmed him. The cascade of strawberry blonde curls made him instantly recognize the culprit.

Caitlin.