Allison cheats...

The rest of the day was spent, luckily, with you managing to avoid the dreaded "oxidation ratios to confound and amaze your worker friends 20 years from now!" report that had been legion in your school. The bitterness you felt when you realized that the only reason you had gotten out of the report was because Randall's letter excusing you had started with "John" was tempered, somewhat, by the fact that you and Jennifer got to work together and were assigned to a chemistry project to work on. It was one of those semester projects that the class dreaded, yet another hallmark of the Johannsen lore, but you were glad that you got to team up with her. While not at the top like how she was, your grades and performance were among the top of the class so it was easy to see how some others would want to team up with you. Still, the way that Jennifer simply glanced at the girls in the class made them back off and your hand on hers caused the boys to back off. A part of you wondered if her sudden territorial behavior had anything to do with her reaction to the hand placement, or the fact that she turned her palm and gave yours a squeeze.

After the bell, you and Jennifer gathered your books and were talking about the project when you turned the corner and stopped in your tracks. In front of you, where Allison's locker was, you saw your girlfriend's back towards you. It had been a few awkward days since the two of you had taken that next step, you hadn't forgotten how you felt and also how off she was asking. It was unusual to suddenly find excuses to hang out, to talk, but you had chalked that up to something else. You also were busy so it only stood to reason she was busy too.

Busy sucking cheek of one of the basketball team guys, that is.

You stood there, planted in place, watching as your girlfriend, the one that had been with you since Intermediate school, the one that you had talked about growing up together, hanging out with Randall...hell, even KNEW about Randall's condition as one of only a few entrusted with the information, that very girl was exchanging giggles and laughs with the guy before they went back to kissing, his hands resting on her ass. It took a moment before you realized that there was something tugging or pulling on your arm. You looked down at the hand and then to the side before you remembered that Jennifer was standing right next to you. She had seen the event in front of you but immediately turned her attention to you, making sure you weren't going to do something stupid and trying to get you to get moving. You weren't sure what would happen, not at this point.

"Tim...?" Speaking of the devil, Randall's voice came out of the opposite corner but his eyes also trailed off in the direction you were looking and his eyes went wide. Before the two of them could do anything, though, you pulled out your phone and took several pictures before Jennifer's tugging finally got your full attention.

"Tim, let's go. We'll be late for English."

You didn't want to tell her that you already had english, something that Randall knew as well as he was about to start coming over but all Jennifer, not knowing what had happened, simply gave a greeting to Miss Card before she got you moving down the hallway, past your stunned best friend who stood there, watching you disappear behind the bend of lockers.