When Perfect Meets Crazy novel Chapter 34

It wasn’t the first time Ian was showing up unannounced at my school. While I wasn’t as surprised as the first time, I was just as irritated. Maybe even more so considering the fact that he was drawing a lot more curious gazes this time as he causally lounged against my car with his jacket hanging jauntily over his shoulder like there was a hidden film crew secretly taping the event. That and the fact that I hadn’t ditched my friends yet annoyed me to no end.

He couldn’t have picked a worse day to show up. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking post last night’s confession but in my book, he was still a dirty secret I needed to hide. Showing up unannounced at my school with Claire out for blood was one hundred percent unacceptable.

The girls started walking in his direction before I even took a step forward.

I scowled and quickened my pace, getting to him just a few moments before they did.

“I told you to wait at home!” I hissed quietly.

“You always go directly to your job. I figured I’d better meet you here,” he whispered back just as the girls came to stop behind me.

I shot him a look that made it clear I wasn’t a fan of his idea before pasting an amicable smile on my face. I turned to face my friends so Ian and I were standing next to each other, facing them.

“Guys, this is Mask-- Ian.” My smile felt like more teeth than lips but with their attention firmly fixed on Ian, they didn’t notice. They didn’t even catch the blunder I almost made saying his name. “Ian, my classmates. Mae. Claire. Tony. Bailey. Cara.”

“Hello.” Claire led the coop, an angelic smile on her face.

“Hey.” Ian nodded.

“You’re picking Avy up?” she asked innocently.

I managed to refrain from scowling but I didn’t buy her act one bit.

“Uhmm,” he hinged, looking for me to help.

Keeping my expression neutral became so much harder.

I couldn’t communicate to him that it was a question that required a lie. Not with Claire’s hawk-like gaze trained on me, waiting for any slip-ups. Any tells. If I so much as glanced at Ian, she would know something was up, that I had something to hide so, I kept my gaze on the others and prayed he would be smart enough -for the first time ever- to come up with an acceptable response on his own.

“Yeah, I guess.” He shrugged when no help came from me.

It took all my willpower not to slap a hand against my forehead in exasperation. His response would have Claire panting for more.

“Really?” She beamed, eyes narrowing imperceptibly.

“Yeah, I need her help with something. She’s the smartest person I know,” he embellished, then threw in a shrug at the end like it was supposed to be common knowledge.

I exhaled a breath as quietly, the tension in my shoulders fading away. A smile was easy to drum up now.

“Real smart.” Claire smiled tightly.

I was the only one who caught the annoyed glint in her eyes.

“Well, we have to go. See you girls tomorrow.” I feigned disappointment, hurriedly herding Ian into the car.

We couldn’t get away fast enough.

Glancing at his profile, I said, “Tammy did a good job with your makeup. What lie did you feed her?”

He sighed, gingerly touching his expertly concealed black eye.

“Kick boxing. Told her my dad was in a foul mood.’

“We might make a liar of you yet.” I flashed him an approving smile.

He shrugged self-consciously, his neck turning a light shade of red. It informed me he’d never be a good liar. How Tammy bought his lie was beyond me. Body language was his biggest tell.

“What was that just now, by the way?” he inquired. “That girl. It felt like she was fishing for something.”

“Claire is always fishing.” I shrugged, keeping my face blank. “You did good though.”

“Yeah?” He flashed me a boyish grin that had me rolling my eyes.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself there, Bucky.”

A reluctant smile tugged at my lips as I glanced at him.

“If she’s your friend, why was she acting that way?” he asked after a beat.

I took my eyes off the road for a second, glanced at him, then sighed.

“It’s complicated. We’re not friends but we are not exactly enemies. Well,” I frowned, unconsciously tightening my grip on the steering, “I don’t think of her as an enemy but I wouldn’t call her a friend. An irritation, yes. An annoyance, yes but we’re too passive for actual enemy status. It’s more that we just have the same group of friends and are mature enough to keep our differences to ourselves.”

He rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath. My eyes narrowed in irritation as I wondered whether or not to pursue it. Eventually, I decided to let it go. It wasn’t worth the effort.

“We’re here,” I needlessly announced, pulling up at the library.

He was a familiar face at the library now so hardly anyone -my co-worker or the regulars- blinked when he trailed in behind me. I immediately got to work updating the log. He perched gingerly at the edge of my desk, throwing and catching a stress ball he snagged from April’s desk.

“I sense a story between you and her. She's the same one from the day you fell sick. What's up with you two?” he asked conversationally, sparing me a side glance. “We both know I was going to ask eventually.”

“Maybe it’s none of your business,” I said flatly, not taking my eyes off the desktop screen.

“Oh come on,” he cajoled, inserting his face in the space between mine and the computer screen, awarding me an up-close-and-personal view of his molten brown eyes that I soon discovered contained flecks of golden yellow.

I didn’t need to know that.

Entirely irrelevant to the topic of conversation, he also had pale, soft looking lips, big eyebrows that somehow still worked and a barely there beard which he, no doubt, constantly shaved.

“Fine. I’ll tell you.” I cleared my throat awkwardly, pushing his head out of my field of vision. “Don’t do that again.”

He grinned with all the roguish charm of a boy band member and for a second I understood why he had so many Instagram followers.

“Claire,” I cleared my throat again, cowardly averting my gaze, “is smart. Really smart and she has the guts -and the brains- to go after what she wants. I respect that.”

He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly.

“Anyway,” I continued, the contents of my stomach settling down as my attention returned to the work I was doing. “She moved to town in middle school. Before that, she was the best at everything. She had always been the best student, the smartest one in class.”

“Until she met you,” he deduced.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “Until she met me.”

Several people went their whole lives without such an awakening, without realizing that no matter how hard they tried, they could only be second best so I sort of understood her resentment but it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t ask her to move here, to come to my school. She, somehow, was blind to that.

“I think at first she told herself -and everyone else- that it was because she was new. You know, adjusting to the environment and the school’s style of teaching.”

“But...” he prompted, tilting his head.

“But by the next semester, I was still top of the class. And the next. And the next until it became obvious it wasn’t going to change. So, she narrowed her sights to one subject. I think at that point, all she wanted was to beat me at something no matter cost.” I shrugged dismissively even though till now, the knowledge still made something inside me feel off. “She colluded with this guy in my class who also isn’t my biggest fan. Ralph. You met him the other day. Remember?”

He nodded affirmative.

“They were to each focus on one subject they could beat me at. Which is dumb because I wasn’t the best at everything. There were a subject I was second place at. French. Anyway, I still... I beat them even in the subjects they chose and I was going through a rebellious phase back then. Acting out and all that.”

I shuddered, recalling all the dark themed outfits, the misplacing my notes and refusing to study, the not turning in assignments. It all felt like that was an entirely different person now. I almost couldn’t believe I had ever done that.

“I wasn’t studying at all and everyone knew it which made matters worse. I wasn’t trying but I still beat them. It was a hard pill to swallow, I guess.” I shrugged, sparing Ian a glance as my fingers danced across the keyboard.

He wore a sympathetic expression that turned my stomach. Everyone always sympathized with Claire. It was her superpower. She could make any wrong she got caught in seem understandable.

I never told my side of the story so it was easy for her to manipulate everyone into believing hers. I had never been able to elicit and manipulate sympathy like that and I hoped to God I never learn how to. Sympathy was just a shade away from pity. Sometimes, it was even just a prettier name for it. I’d much rather suck it up than have that. So that was what I did. I sucked it up and moved on. Even when she got everybody to start calling me names.

I heaved a sigh, meeting Masked Idiot’s gaze.

“Anyway, it pissed her off beyond belief. So the next semester, she somehow stole our exam questions. I still beat her though.” My lips curled into a vindictive smile. “She eventually realized it was never going to happen and dropped all the ploys. Now, we’re at an impasse of sorts. She acts like it never happened from her high horse. Like it’s all forgotten,” I finished, slightly surprised by the bitterness in my voice.

“There was no apology?” Ian asked, staring at me intently. “Wait, you didn’t snitch?”

“I didn’t.” My smile was ugly, vicious and dipped in self-loathing. “She ended up coming out as poor little Cinderella who was just trying to get what she wanted and oh, oops if she went about it the wrong way.”

I realized I had accidentally typed in the wrong entry. I punched the keys a little too hard as I backspaced and corrected it. Then, I fisted my hands, lowering them to my lap as I drew in a calming breath.

Relax, I reminded myself.

“Nobody really knew the details. I’m sure Claire spun some completely different story because, suddenly, I was the bad guy even though I had done nothing but have higher intellectual capacity.” I forced a shrug. “Anyway, it didn’t matter at the time because I was going through my rebellious phase. I was fighting a lot. With my parents. I had a lot on my plate so I just couldn’t be bothered about a girl at school who was making people call me names simply because I scored higher on a test. It sucked but... life sucks sometimes. I never called her or Ralph out on it. I just... took it.”

An awkward bit of silence passed and I finally looked up, meeting his gaze.

“I hate that,” I admitted.

He blinked and stared, not saying anything. I forced a smile, then averted my gaze, returning my attention to the desk unit as the most uncomfortable silence ever descended between us.

He cleared his throat noisily, drawing my gaze back to him.

“Do you know what we should do?” he asked.