14.The chapter where alicia apologizes

Christian

" According to Hund's Rule, if there are degenerate orbitals available, that is, with the same energy level, initially the electrons occupy the empty orbitals, and then pair up. Don't forget to write this down. Our evaluation is coming up, and I am sure that anyone with a well made notebook will have no problem! “

I took note of everything Ms. Hanh, my general chemistry teacher, said in a nonchalant way. That teacher was slightly strange, so I preferred to always sit in the last row of the class, trying to avoid her noticing me to ask me questions as she used to. I was alternating my attention between the class and the messages that were arriving on my cell phone.

Helping Theo Peterson with his project earlier in the week was like an initiation, or maybe, helping to put O'Donnel in his place was the initiation, either way, I was now part of the group.

"We finished class earlier, Liam and the others are going early, do you want a ride?"

" Hey man, are you going to the festival today? " my roommate called my attention to him in a small whisper so as not to attract the teacher's attention.

" I am," I mumbled, concentrating on answering Rose's message with my cell phone hidden by my wallet.

"Thought you might like to drink today"

" And you're going with Van Derr Waal? " He asked, ignoring the whole explanation about the distribution of electrons in atomic orbitals.

I frowned, paying attention to Harry for the first time, not understanding his interest in this subject.

" Yes, why? " I asked before turning my attention once more to my cell phone, wishing Ms. Hanh would just close the class.

"Yes, but I needed more time to get ready and your class isn't over yet.

"I'll give you a ride today, be in the parking lot in an hour.”

" I am curious, is he seeing someone? Because he's always with a different girl," he probed.

I sighed with relief when I realized that Ms. Hanh had finally stopped passing out material. I finished writing it down and closed the notebook, ignoring the questions my classmates were asking and concentrating on Harry.

" If you want to know if he is dating someone, the answer is no. But I don't think he's interested in guys," I warned, getting up.

The teacher finished giving the last warnings, and released us from the torture she calls class, so Harry and I began to walk side by side down the auditorium stairs.

" No, not that! I want to know about the girls, I... wanted to meet one of them," he explained.

This made sense, the freshman especially, were afraid to approach Rose or Skyller because of their relationship with Liam and this was only made worse by the fact that he had already called them "his girls," but this was only a way to shield them from unnecessary harassment.”

" Do you want me to introduce you to Rose? " I feigned disinterest, walking toward the exit, even though I was bothered by the possibility.

I knew that Rose and I were just friends, and despite my clear physical attraction to her, I knew that nothing would happen. I wasn't looking for a relationship and I wouldn't risk ruining our friendship at the very beginning.

" Rose is the blonde one? " he asked, following me.

Blonde? So his interest is Skyller! Perfect.

Not that it would change anything if it were Rose, but it was more comfortable that way.

" Skyller then. Are you going to the festival? I can introduce you both there.”

" Yes, will she be there? " We both walked together through the corridors of the building toward the exit.

" Yes, and I need a favor from you," I decided to enjoy the moment, remembering that I had promised Rose a ride.

I wasn't used to offering people rides and I didn't have an extra helmet, but I wasn't willing to take her without the equipment.

Luckily, Harry had no problem lending me the spare helmet he had, and a few minutes before the agreed time I walked towards the parking lot. I had barely left the housing building when I heard a voice calling me, I turned towards the voice spotting Alicia walking hurriedly to where I was standing.

" Hi," she smiled as she reached me.

" Hello," I replied politely.

It had been a week since the party, and in this time I hadn't had any sign of her. Alicia didn't look for me during class breaks even once, didn't even bother to send me a message, and the times I realized that our paths were about to cross she changed her ways to avoid our meeting.

" How are you? It's been a while since we've seen each other, the last few days have been crazy with this whole hell week thing," she stopped walking, forcing me to interrupt my steps as well.

" I'm fine, I hope the sorority is everything you imagined it would be" I tried to get rid of her at once, but Alicia didn't seem to get the message.

" Yes," she looked at me as if she didn't know how to continue with the subject and I understood that feeling.

After what she did at the party, nothing was like before, when the subject came up between us without any effort.

In fact, I didn't feel like talking to her at all, even though I was no longer upset about what had happened. We were both from different worlds and it was foolish of me to approach her knowing her type.

" Alicia, can I help you with something? " I decided to cut to the chase to find out what she wanted.

" Actually, I wanted to talk about the party. We both ended up missing each other and…”

" We didn't miss each other, you saw me but decided to pretend I didn't exist," I interrupted her.

Yes, it was true that I was no longer upset about what happened last Saturday, but that doesn't mean that I will accept any excuse she makes just to make herself feel better. If she wants to apologize, let her at least assume what she did.

" I understand, you were about to meet the perfect guy and I would get in the way, we weren't together, so you shouldn't worry about that.”I decided to put an end to this situation, already getting tired of being there while I was supposed to meet Rose.

Considering the matter closed, I walked back towards the parking lot, but she followed me, walking beside me with some effort.

" I know it was a stupid thing to do, but I'm sorry. Are we okay?”

" Of course we are, why wouldn't we be? " I tried once more to shake her off, knowing that she was probably now an official member of Audrey's sorority.