Free The Fire Starter by Misty Wright, Summer Sauteur

concentrating on the food I was going to get. He was insistent, and he brushed his hand against my forearm, which, of course, had the desired effect. I snapped. "What the hell?"
    A few students looked at us, but they looked away quickly.
    "Please talk to me," he said in a hushed tone, nervousness lacing his voice.
    "There's nothing to talk about." It was my turn at the counter and I recalled the order I had been chanting inside my head without difficulty. It must just be me, but the waiter seemed to be preparing my order extra slow today. I waited impatiently, already imagining my room and the long walk I would have to endure. Now that Spencer has found me, I don't know how I'd get rid of him.
    "We have to talk," he insisted, his voice growing unbearably cold. "Look, I'm sorry about last night--"
    "Of course you are, Spencer. You must be regretting every minute of it."
    "No. That's not--Kayleigh--"
    "Something wrong, Spence?" I heard Alice's irritatingly chirpy voice from outside the cafeteria but I didn't bother to check. I know she would be smirking evilly at me, and I don't want to give her that satisfaction.
    "Nothing," Spencer answered flatly.
    "I'll wait for you outside. Be quick, dear," Alice mentioned, certainly for my purpose. She was telling me that she had won. That Spencer was hers and that I should back off. Oh, sure. You can have him, bitch.
    Spencer let out an exasperated sigh. "Will you speak with me later?"
    "If you mean you're going to knock on my door helpless and sad, the answer's no. Just hurry and tend to Alice's problems, will you? She gets more and more irritating as you let her wait."
    With one long look in my direction, Spencer left in a hurry. You see? I'm not imagining that Alice and he are an item. Just look at how obedient he is to her. It's sickening, actually. He's a man, for crying out loud. And Alice seems to be holding the reigns. No wonder he's regretting what he had done last night. For a moment I felt sad for him, but then again, he has a choice. If he doesn't like how she's treating him, he could just end it. He had done that before, so why can't he do it again? And why did he even get back with her in the first place?
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    Much as I didn't want to meet with Spencer, I had no choice. We were the only two who had any concern for our projects, and though I know he could finish everything off on his own, I wouldn't allow myself to be viewed as someone who just lets others do things for her. If I can help with the project, I will. There's no changing that.
    "Let's finish this quickly," I announced as soon as I dropped my bag on the chair beside me and sat down on the seat farthest from him.
    He sighed, pushing a book towards my direction. "There are some revisions."
    "Yeah," I answered without much interest. I studied what he had pointed out and wrote it down in my notebook. I have to admit, this is helping me focus on my studies. At least with the tension between us, I could improve my grades. At least there's a consolation in all this.
    We continued working silently, separately, as the hours passed. It was already eleven thirty and I was growing tired. I still had a lot of things to do, and I was determined to finish my share so that this would be the last meeting we would have.
    "You're still not going to talk to me, are you?" he asked out of the blue. He looked up from what he was doing and waited for my response.
    I finished with my tasks and pushed it towards him. "I'm done. If you don't mind, I'd like to rest now." I stood up and collected my bag, ready to leave the room. I still needed him to check what I have done to make sure that there were no problems. I waited.
    He looked at my notes, and his eyebrows furrowed deeply. I wanted to ask if he found some problems, because if he didn't tell me, I know he would solve them on his own. He flipped from page to page without saying anything. He didn't even bother talking to me, which was good.
    As he was halfway on my notes, he stopped and