Sk8er Boi (Logan Reese)

twelve: turning point

Technically speaking, I wasn't really an assistant to Logan. During the first few days of my new job, he made me make a schedule of when Nicole, Zoey, and Lola should cheer for him. I felt bad for the girls (well, mainly for Zoey) so I made sure to only schedule them a couple times during the day. After that, though, all I really did was follow Logan around after our classes were over. We did homework together, I helped him online shop for new clothes (specifically for new shirts that didn't have sleeves), and other pointless duties. 

It was humiliating. Fortunately for me, it was nearly over. I made a deal with him that if I would stay with him after school, I would only have to work for him for a week. Logan actually agreed with me, and the week was nearing to an end. The other girls had already quit their job, but I told myself that I would go the whole week, just to see this thing through. Not because I felt bad for Logan. That was what I kept telling myself, anyway.

I flung the door open to the building, making sure that it was open enough for Logan. He was silent behind me as we made our way toward the lounge area of the residence hall. It was homework time, which meant that Logan and I were going to do our homework together. Most of the nights, it was very terrible, with Logan complaining about everything under the sun, but tonight, it wasn't that bad. Well, besides the chemistry homework. That was always bad.

The lounge area was deserted, which was weird. Usually, the people that lived here always hung out right here in this room, but there wasn't a single soul anywhere. It probably had something to do with sports; it seemed like people went berserk with anything to do with sports. Not me. With everyone gone, I didn't have to hide in the corner, trying not to let other people see me with Logan. Instead, I chose one of the few couches in the middle of the room, grabbing my chemistry homework and threw my bag to the side. Leaning back on the couch, I began my homework.

I stared down at my homework, nothing going through my mind. It had been ten minutes of me not doing anything. It was like my chemistry teacher was trying to kill me. She always assigned the hardest worksheets without even going over the instructions with us in class. It was like she thought we were all chem geniuses. I was not a chem genius by a longshot, and neither were my classmates.

Glancing up at Logan, I saw him zooming through his chem worksheet. He would look at the problem for a minute and then did it in the next, making me frown. I knew I wasn't the smartest person around, but I thought I was smarter than the Logan Reese. How could he be better at chemistry than me? 

"If you're going to stare at me," he said, lifting his head with a grin decorating his face, "then let me show you my good side." He struck a smoldering pose, nearly making me burst out laughing. I didn't, though. "Better?"

"No." I pointed at his worksheet, focusing on my serious side. "How are you doing those problems? I'm literally losing braincells trying to figure out what's going on."

He dropped the pose he was holding, leaning forward slightly, like he was going to tell me a secret. I backed up slightly. "I'm a genius, Kels."

"No, you're not. Tell me how you're doing this." His eyes widened, and I realized how rude I sounded. I was desperate for him to help me with this homework, so I had to be nice to him. Just a little bit. "Please."

Logan sighed, scooting his body closer to me. I didn't really want him to do that, but if he was going to show me how to do this worksheet, then by all means, get closer to me. "My grandfather was a chemist, and I spent a lot of my summers with him," Logan said, moving my paper slightly so he could see it. "I guess I retained most of the information he talked about or showed me."

Then, he started explaining to me how to do each problem. A huge part of me listened to what he was saying so that I could learn, but a small part of my mind wandered. Logan wasn't acting all high and mighty like he usually did; instead, he was slow when I didn't understand something and very knowledgeable about what he was telling me. It was nice seeing this side of him. I hadn't realized how complicated Logan was, and for some reason, I wanted to learn more about him. 

"Do you understand now?" he asked, leaning back against the couch cushions. He looked a little embarrassed that he knew that much information, and his eyes were flickering back and forth, like he was making sure no one was around. And then he locked eyes with me again, a small smile spreading across his pretty boy face.

"Yeah. Thanks." 

I was embarrassed, too, but it wasn't because I didn't know the information. It was because I finally figured out what the weird feeling was in the pit of my stomach. I was crushing on Logan Reese. When had it started? I didn't know the answer to that question. But that wasn't the point. The point was that I was crushing on him, and knowing me, I would start liking him more and more if I spent more time with him. At least I was close to being as his personal assistant. Until then, though, I would just have to distance myself slowly.

Glancing back up at Logan, I see him focused back on his homework. He was silent, which was weird. He was always talking, even if I didn't even talk back to him. But tonight was different, so I stuffed my chemistry homework in my folder, nudging his shoulder. Sure, I said I would distance myself from him, but that didn't have to start now, right? 

"Are you okay?"

My question seemed to surprise him. His eyes flicked up to me, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He played with the hem of his sleeveless tee, his homework laying forgotten on the couch cushion next to him. "I'm fine," he said, nodding slowly. "Are you okay?"

Did he figure out that I like him? Why would he be questioning me about that if he didn't know? "I'm fine," I said a little too quickly. His face turned into a frown when I shoved my folder into my bag. Jumping up from the couch, I said, "Hey, I have to go." 

"But, our deal!" Logan said as I hurried away from him. His homework landed on the ground as he threw himself up to a standing position as I glanced behind me. "You said you would spend the evenings with me!"

"I can't tonight." Looking over my shoulder at him again, I shook my head. "I don't have a reason why I can't be with you tonight, but I just have to go. Sorry."

"You're breaking our deal, Kelsey," he said, his voice a little harder now. I didn't dare look back at him right now; if I did, it would ruin my exit by having me backtrack with my decision to leave like this. "Because you're breaking our deal, you get to be my assistant for another two weeks."

I didn't answer him. My mind was too full of things for me to even focus on anything right now. I never wanted to get connected to this place, let alone any people here. Unfortunately for me, I sort of liked Zoey and Quinn and Logan. Whenever this happened at the other schools I had been to, everything would somehow get ruined, either by me or those supposed new friends. I didn't want that to happen here. This was my last chance to prove myself. I didn't want my mother to be disappointed with me again, so I squared my shoulders and told myself that I would do anything to stay here, no matter what.