Zenon's Game Chapter 139

I went to the computer lab at lunch time. Joe was hanging out there and agreed to go over some math problems with me. It didn't last long when I saw my phone vibrate with three missed calls from Cynthia.

A text came through: Girl, you better pick up

"Do you need to answer that?" Joe asked me.

I nodded and walked out of the quiet computer lab in order to answer.

"Hey, is everything ok?" I asked.

Cynthia said over the phone, "I imagine your head's been stuck in a book all day, but you're on everyone's radar. Where are you?"

"I'm by the computer lab. Why?"

"I'll come to you."

We hung up and I stared at my phone for a second. I know something hasn't been right about today, but I didn't know why.

I was almost fearful of what Cynthia would say. Last week, it was a murdered cat. This week...

But maybe Cynthia really had my back.

It's hard to develop trust in this school and in this town. But with Zenon, Cynthia, Axel and even Bryce... I was beginning to get there.

Speaking of the devil, strong arms wrapped themselves around me from behind. His hair tickled the cape of my neck as he bent his head to kiss my cheek.

I don't know how he knew where I was. People talk about him so much that I feel like it's not hard to find him. But...

He found me. Finally, we had a chance to talk.

"Playing hard to get?" he whispered in my ear.

I shivered, feeling my skin tingle. "Playing hard to forget."

And here I was thinking we no longer play games.

Strong arms wrapped themselves around me from behind. His hair tickled the cape of my neck as he bent his head to kiss my cheek.

I slowly raised my hand to touch his hair.

"Playing hard to get?" he whispered in my ear.

My skin tingled under his touch, like there was a magnetic circuit underneath. He has that effect on me every day.

"Playing hard to forget."

Did that come out of my mouth? Why did it sound like a bad movie soundbite?

He chuckled and I could feel the deep and soft vibrations of his laughter. I'm glad Zenon's amused by my cringey moments. It makes me feel comfortable with myself around him.

Zenon's tolerance for most people's nonsense is practically at zero. But he seemed to have infinite patience for mine.

"Oh woah," Cynthia said as she sprinted round the corner and bumped into us, "I had NO idea Zenon Albert was here."

"I tend to hang out with my girlfriend," Zenon answered sarcastically.

"Right. But if you hung out together more at school, it wouldn't have taken weeks before the entire student body caught on," Cynthia answered, "With all respect."

"What do you mean?" I asked, though I felt the familiar dread sink in my stomach.

Was my anonymity disappearing?

"It means the whole fricking school knows," she exclaimed.

Maybe I should clean my ears and ask her to repeat herself.

"Hmm?"

The door to the computer lab opened behind us and Joe stepped out. He wore a knitted sweater vest and held a calculator in his hand. He looked from me, to Zenon and Cynthia.

"Candace, do you still want to work on math?"

We had been working together in the computer lab and he'd been waiting for me to come back inside. There was a silence as Zenon and Cynthia registered the situation. I think they sometimes forget that a large portion of students actually study.

Zenon recognized him, "You're suspender boy."

Joe's expression turned to bewilderment, "How did you know I'm wearing suspenders?"

The suspenders were hidden under his sweater vest today. Joe even double checked.

"Candace talks about you. You're one of those math geeks."

"Mathletes," I corrected, giving Zenon a nudge to be polite, "He means mathletes."

Joe nodded, "You're Zenon Albert, the best basketball player in our school. You run... really fast."

"Thanks."

"Anyway, Candace, you may want to take the day off today," Cynthia suggested, getting back to what she was saying before, "Go to the nurse's office and get a sick note."

"But she's not sick," Joe said.

"Joe," Cynthia told him, not wanting to burst his academic bubble, "You seem like a nice guy-"

"Candace! Zenon!" Jake called out, hurrying towards us.

He appeared from around the same corner Cynthia just came in. I was surprised to see him, but he was looking surprised in general.

I guess we were a weird group, standing, conspiring outside the computer lab. Zenon and Cynthia have never come here.

"This school is weird," Jake said, "They're talking about the two of you like it's breaking news. They're acting like there aren't a billion more serious issues to tackle."

"Hmm?" I repeated.

I'm so eloquent with words in moments like this.

"What are they saying?" Zenon asked.

Yeah, maybe I'll let Zenon handle this.

"Maybe we should rewind for Candace's benefit," Cynthia mentioned, noticing my lost expression. "You and Zenon kept your relationship pretty low key. You don't have any classes in common, he's at basketball most times and you eat lunch with me..."

OK, I can follow up to this point.

"There were rumors that Zenon's been seeing someone, but there are always rumors about that. People thought he was dating Bianca up until now. Then your name came up, but most people don't know who you are. They thought it was Candace Turnstead."

"Who?"

"She's a freshman. There were rumors that Zenon slept with her a few months ago," Cynthia said and gave Zenon a suspicious look, "Apparently he declared it in the middle of the hallway."

I blushed. I remembered that.

"But then you guys went public at Zenon's basketball game," Cynthia concluded excitedly, "The whole basketball team saw so now everyone knows."