A Surreptitious Relationship

:A Surreptitious Relationship: Chapter Forty-Five

            “Hey Holly! Congratulations!”

            Pausing, I turned away from my locker to look at a grinning James, my hand still on the combination dial. “Congratulations…?” I tilted my head to the side in a confused manner. “For what?”

            He laughed loudly, patting me none too gently on the shoulder with a rough hand. “Oh, you know what I mean.”

            “I don’t…?”

            “About you and Aaron,” he pressed, the corners of his pale lips falling down the tiniest bit. “The whole school basically knows about it… There’s no use lying to me.” His green eyes shone with a smidge of hurt.

            Narrowing my eyes, I let my hand drop from the dial. “What exactly about Aaron and I does the school know?”

            “That you’ve been dating since Wednesday—”

            “What?”

            He blinked at me. “Why are you surprised? Was it supposed to be a secret?”

            “Where is that little brat?” I demanded, clenching my hands into tight fists. “Have you seen him today?”

            “Yeah, he was headed to Mr. Heywood’s room—”

            “Thanks,” I said, cutting him off curtly. Instead of throwing my books into my locker like I wanted to, I twisted on my heel, heading toward the biology wing. “I’ll talk to you later, okay James?”

            “Sure!” he called back. “In bio!”

            The hallways were quiet and clear as I marched down them in angry strides, ready to bite Aaron’s head off. What was he doing going around and spreading rumors about us? Hadn’t he had his fun with the whole Jeremy thing? Whose side was he on now? What was Chris thinking? Maybe he didn’t know. He hadn’t sounded irritated on the phone last night…

            “Aaron!” I exclaimed, throwing open the door to Chris’s empty classroom. After a quick scour of it, I scowled, realizing no one was in it. “Mr. Heywood?” I tried, entering the cold room and closing the door behind me. “Chris?”

            “Holly!”

            I paused upon hearing the muffle voice, my eyebrows drawing together in confusion as I tried to place its whereabouts. It came again, this time a little bit louder. Slowly, I began to creep toward the supply closet. As far as I could tell, this was the location the voice was coming from. “Chris?”

            “Holly!”

            “Chris?” I said again dumbly, staring at the wooden door. “What are you doing in there?”

            “Playing hide-and-go seek,” a different voice snapped at me, just as smothered as the first.

            I placed my hands on my hips, frowning. “Aaron, why are you in there too? Come out.”

            A hand suddenly slammed on the other side of the door, causing a noisy bang to fill the room. “If you think we could get out, don’t you think we would be out already?” Aaron demanded brusquely.

            My eyes dropped down to the door handle of the closet, widening slightly when I realized there was a cheap lock from Walmart on it. “You were locked in there? By who?”