Fire & Snow

Chapter 5

“So what I am hearing is that you met Aydan, asked him to help you with Professor Burns’ class and he said yes? Or did I miss something?” Chance asked sounding perplexed.

I had told him and Alex about what happened yesterday and how Aydan and agreed to help me out. Although, I did leave the whole him being made to do it and being screwed over by Liav.

 “Yep, that is exactly what happened,” I replied as we waited for the next lecture to begin. “And he said we can meet up on Friday after class do it.”

Alex popped his head in between Chance and I. “Wait, what are talking about?” he asked. “Who is Aydan and why did he agree to help you out? Is there a catch or something?”

I rolled my eyes; trust Alex to assume that everyone who wanted to do a good thing for him had ulterior motives. “Nope, there is not catch. Just a junior helping out a really dumb sophomore.”

“You aren’t dumb,” Alex and Chance said at the same time and then looked at each other.

“You are actually one of the few people who I KNOW are smart and here you go calling yourself dumb,” Alex scowled and I rolled my eyes. “Why do you doubt your own potential so much? I really want to know why you can’t just accept the fact that you are smart and help some of us out.”

“I also want to know why,” Chance added. He had his eyebrows arched and was looking at me quizzically, which made me feel as though I had done something wrong and was about to receive my punishment.

I sighed and looked at the door to make sure that the Professor would not walk in on us talking about things that were not closely related to his class or anything important for that matter.

“I am not smart nor am I intelligent. I have to work extra hard to get where I am each time and it takes a toll on me,” I explained. “If I was smart, I would not be where I am right now. Look at Steve for a change, the guy is super intelligent and has never gotten anything below 95 since first year. Now that is being intelligent.”

Chancellor rolled his eyes at me while Alex shook his in dismissal. It was as though what I had just said was not valid or anything to be considered.

“You can’t compare yourself to Steve because his dad is a professor here and he receives some special privileges for being a professor’s son,” Chance explained. “I am perfectly certain that if Steve was just given a test to take like that and he was not a professor’s son then he would have failed all his classes and would be repeating the entire year.”

I scoffed at that. “And who do you know any of that?”

“Because sweetie, unlike you, I do go out and I meet people,” Chance replied as though he was talking to a little kid who did not understand anything he said and hence he had to dumb it down for.

I rolled my eyes at that. “Wow Chance, thank you for reminding me of how much I do not have friends,” I said. “I had totally forgotten that unlike you I am not a social butterfly and neither will I be.”

“I know,” came Chance’s reply, which made Alex laugh just as the professor walked in and that marked the end of our conversation.

                                                                       **********

I aimlessly walked outside just taking a deep breath as loud music blurred through my ears. I had had a long and busy day. After I had my lectures, I joined Faith and Liav for lunch and then began making Liav’s schedule for the rest and part of the next week. I was more than tired and all I wanted to do was to sleep but I still had to study.

I was so lost in my own thoughts that I had no clue where I was until I heard the sound of a ball hitting the hard ground and guys shouting. I had unconsciously walked to the basketball court.

Being a somewhat basketball fan, I decided to walk over to the bleachers and watch the game. The guys had split into two teams and wore separate colours. One team wore red sweatbands on their heads while the other wore yellow sweatbands on their arms. It was interesting because I hardly attended any sporting event that the school offered. The yellow team seemed to be playing better than the red and the players were all communicating with each other effectively unlike the red team.

However, one player particular player on the yellow team seemed to really know the game but I could not clearly see him from my vantage point. ‘His the captain’ my subconscious said.

“Yo James, pass the ball over,” the player shouted and then made some move with his head that I had no idea what it meant but figured it was a way to confuse the opposition team.

“Left catch Aydan,” the guy who I now knew as James shouted and made a move to throw the ball to Aydan who had three players marking him and passed it to another guy with brown hair instead.

Wait, did he just call Aydan’s name or is my brain playing tricks on me? There was just simply no way that the guy I was talking about good he is happens to be cocky Aydan who thinks he is better than the lower class.

The brown-haired guy who they had just passed the ball to ran and did a slam-dunk. The rest of his teams cheered and ran to him.

“That was awesome dude,” James shouted as he threw himself onto the brown-haired guy. “Who would have thought that this arsehole’s game plan would actually work and make us win?” he said as he looked at the guy who he had initially called Aydan.

Aydan rolled his eyes and used his vest to wipe away the sweat that was rolling down his face. As he lifted his vest up, I saw a well-defined set of abs that were tanned and I nearly blushed. His hair was swept to the side and from where I sat; his eyes looked mesmerising as the sun just hit him on the right spots. “f**k off jerk,” he said while smiling. “But thanks, I guess,” he added as an afterthought.

“No problem man,” James said with a huge smile as they walked from the court.

I was still staring at Aydan whose vest was still lifted up when he looked up and saw me. All I wanted was for the ground to open up and swallow me whole. Aydan had just catch me checking him out and if that was not bad, he had to smirk as if he knew something and then winked.

I was never going to live this down I just knew it. There was no way that cocky and know-it-all Aydan was ever going to let the fact that I, the weirdo who he just met then forced into helping was checking him out. I quickly stood up and practically ran back to the dorms.

The entire time I ran, I could see Aydan smirking and thinking what the hell was actually wrong with me. I knew I had to stay away from him but there was something about him. It was not that I now had a crush on him. No, this was different. Each time he looked at me, he was either scowling, with a neutral expression, annoyed or smirking and I did not know how I was going to get by tomorrow’s tutoring with him.

                                                                                   ***********

I contemplated just backing out and coming up with a fake excuse such, as I was sick or something. I ran until I entered my room and closed the door behind me with a loud bang.

“Are you okay?” Kylie asked as she sprung off her bed and stared at me with concern clear as day on her face.

I was bent over trying to catch my breath from the long run I had just had. It had been long since I last ran and the adrenaline rush coursing through me felt great.

“Nev, Are you okay?” Kylie asked once more when I took too long to answer her first question. “Is someone chasing you? Do they want to do something to you?” Kylie was no up and she looked frantic and about to cause unnecessary drama.

“There is no one chasing me,” I replied through deep breaths while still bent over and leaning over my knees. “I just wanted to run.”

Kylie stared at me disbelievingly. “Lies, I do not believe that was what happened,” she said with her hands resting on her hips in a no nonsense kind of way and I knew she was never going to let it go until I told her the truth, which I planned not to tell her no matter how much she pestered me. I was not going to c***k, that was a fact.

“But it’s the truth,” I replied while walking over to my bed and collapsing on it with my face staring at the ceiling. “You know I would never lie to you,” which was true. I had never lied to Kylie but I guess there were some thing that I could not share with her like how I was just checking out Aydan.

Kylie sighed and sat back on her bed. “I know,” she said. “But you need to loosen up and live a little.”

“I am living a little every day, aren’t I?” I asked whilst still staring at the ceiling. I no longer felt tired or sleepy, in fact, I felt more refreshed and rejuvenated after that run.

“You know what I mean,” Kylie said. “You need to get a boyfriend and maybe he will help with easing some of the stress and help your libido out.”

I sat up and glared at her but she already had a smile on her face. She was happy about teasing me about not having a boyfriend and always tried to set me up with one of her Literature friends every time. “You know I’m asexual and aromantic right?” I asked with an arched eyebrow.

“I know, but that does not mean that you can’t have a bit of fun and try out new things,” Kylie replied. “Besides, how do you know that you are really know that you are an Aro-ace if you have never dated anyone before or even had s*x not to talk of kissing someone,” she said seriously.

I sighed and leaned my head against the headboard. “You do have a point but so do I,” I said. “I know I am asexual because I do not feel any s****l desire towards anyone and no guy has ever come close to making me like them. Hence in my own definition of what an asexual and aromantic is, I definitely fall under.”

Kylie rolled her eyes. “That is a dumb explanation,” she said. “You have to have tried it out to know what you really like.”

“No offense, but I am not about to turn into a cheap w***e just so I can experiment and find out what my taste is,” I scoffed. It was utterly ridiculously and I could not believe that she would even suggest such a ridiculous thing to me knowing full way that I was going to turn it down.

“Just try at least before you fully say that,” there was a pleading in her voice that I almost caved but that was not going to happen.

I came to college to make a life for myself. Dating or experimenting as Kylie put it was not in the equation. I had a plan and I intended on making sure that I stuck by that to T. Now all I had to do was make sure I came up with a great excuse for bailing out on Aydan and our tutoring.