The jocks hadn't dropped dead by some merciful act of God.

In fact, by some punishing joke, her group had the highest grade on the project assignment.

Cassidy wondered which girl the jocks had slept with to help them out.

She didn't have to wonder long, because Loisa walked past Derek and thanked him for a great night.

She even told him that they should do it again sometime.

Derek wholeheartedly agreed.

A few things struck Cassidy.

They had no shame, talking about it in class like that, whether they kept their voices low or not.

Was Derek really that good? That thought came from the morbidly curious part of her brain which she wished would shut up sometimes.

Poor thing didn't even know that she was being used as a ticket to Derek's diploma. She would be the one of many to get him through high school, and she'd never receive due credit for that.

Cassidy decided to stop watching the train wreck that was Derek's life, and instead opened a new book.

It was a sci-fi. Pretty good stuff actually. There was a plot about overdependecy on technology, and the possibilty of that backfiring into an apocolypse.

Plausible.

Cassidy didn't like the main character though.

The main character was lonely, and that was some BS. Who needs people when you are comfortable with your own company? And who has the time during the Apocalypse to get a relationship?

Class started with the Progressive Era. One of the only not-war topics there was in history was politics, which most of the time bordered dangerously close to war anyways.

The door opened 15 minutes after class started, and Leo Henderson walked in.

Mr. Gurshed didn't say a word as the New Guy walked in late without a pass, sliding into the seat next to Cassidy.

Someone had probably paid him to annoy her.

There was a seat right next to Xander with the jocks.

And there was a whole open row to her right.

And another desk in her row if he wanted to put the space of a desk between them, which Shay-James had done on her other side.

But he didn't hesitate or even think about it.

He dropped right next to her, his larger frame crowding into her space a little, making her obnoxiously aware of his healthily built bicep that was now far too close.

"What'd I miss?" He whispered, leaning toward her.

Cassidy hadn't taken into account his pretty face when she'd made her original analysis of him.

Up close, it was REALLY hard to ignore.

He was dangerously good looking.

His dark hair was a wild mess, spiking up. His eyes were a shade darker than his hair, like some vortex that could see into your soul.

Cassidy shoved over her paper over onto his desk, just to move his attention somewhere else.

He nodded and copied down her notes, before carefully passing her paper back.

Cassidy held out her finger and thumb like crab pincers and grabbed the corner, determined not to make any contact with him at all.

He chuckled and turned to the front.

Things were fine for the next 10 minutes.

Cassidy scribbled down notes, and stared at the front.

New Guy took short bullet-points, and stared at the front.

Shay-James ran out of lead and cleared his throat nervously before asking Cassidy if he could have some of hers.

Cassidy passed him her lead.

He passed it back.

She kept taking notes. She stared at the front.

Shay-James kept taking notes. He stared at his paper.

And then New Guy broke the peaceful cycle by pulling out a container.

He must've gotten hungry. Hey, with guns like those, he probably needed the energy.

He popped open the lid and rummaged through his backpack, muttering that he couldn't find a fork.

A delicious smell wafted from the box to Cassidy.

It smelled really good.

Cassidy tried to casually steal a glance at what was in the container, but it was on the far side of his desk.

He was still digging through his backpack, so Cassidy leaned a little closer, crossing the line where the two desks met.

She still couldn't see over the side.

Just then, New Guy made a triumphant grunt and twisted around, his head almost whacking into Cassidy's.

She flipped around quickly, pretending to be seriously taking notes, but her curiosity was killing her.

The yummy smell got stronger, and Cassidy glanced over as New Guy slid the container across his desk within sight range of Cassidy.

There was rice, chicken, vegetables, and some sort of delicious sauce. All giving off steam.

Cassidy's mouth watered.

The lights went out as Mr. Gurshed pulled up a clip on the board.

She sat up a little straighter, and looked forward, using her restraint.

Suddenly there was warm air against her ear.

Cassidy jumped in her seat. Then relaxed when she saw that it was just New Guy.

"You aren't a germaphobe, right?" He whispered.

"Um, no." Cassidy answered, keeping her eyes focused up front.

Then he tapped her shoulder and she turned her head so fast they almost bumped noses.

She was about to lay into him for disrupting her learning when he lifted up his fork and passed it to her, gently pushing the container so that it straddled the meeting point of the desks.

Cassidy looked from him to the container.

This felt like a trap.

Everyone else was watching the movie.

It was dark.

Cassidy snatched the outstretched fork and scooped up a bite of rice, taking a bite and nearly moaning.

So. Worth it.

She put the fork in the container and turned back to the front.

She watched from the corner of her eye as New Guy took a bite and then put the fork back in the container.

He left it there.

They went back and forth.

He took a bite, and then, instead of putting it in the container, he handed it to her directly.

Cassidy took it.

They finished the container together in the 20 minutes during the video, passing the fork back and forth.

The lights flicked back up, blinking a little as they turned on.

New Guy closed the empty container and put it in his backpack.

Neither one of them said anything to each other for the rest of class, but every so often, Cassidy would sneak glances, wondering what he would do next.

Sorry, this one is a little longer than normal! Thank you for reading this far, we both know you didn't have to! -SinkingLemon