I Heard His Thoughts While Chasing Him For A Year Chapter 05

I Heard His Thoughts While Chasing Him For A Year Chapter 05

Everett said Zoe sometimes spoke without thinking and asked me not to take it personally.

He reminded me that we were best friends and should not ruin our relationship over something small.

Every sentence sounded protective. He already treated Zoe as if she belonged to him.

Caleb Foster from the next classroom passed us and whistled. He was the friend who always teased Everett and me as a couple.

I used to blush. Now I rolled my eyes.

Everett told Caleb to get lost.

Of course. The moment he thought Zoe and I had argued, he rushed to separate himself from me.

The bell rang.

Back at my desk, Zoe leaned close.

“Something is weird between you and Everett.”

“It’s like you switched personalities. You’re quiet, and he’s finally talking.”

A whiteboard eraser flew toward us. Zoe grinned awkwardly and sat straight.

Our teacher announced that too many students’ scores had fallen and assigned peer-tutoring groups.

—

Naturally, Zoe and I landed in Everett’s group.

The arrangement was supposed to help struggling students, but to me it felt like a trap designed by the universe.

I could not avoid Everett without sacrificing the tutoring my grades genuinely needed.

She nudged me.

“Now your favorite valedictorian has to tutor us officially.”

“Who cares?”

Everett looked over and quickly looked away.

[Yes. Fate keeps putting us together.]

[Maybe someday it will become two people instead of three.]

The thoughts overturned another jar of jealousy inside me.

During study period, the three of us sat together. I felt like an outsider.

Everett looked at Zoe while explaining problems. Whenever he glanced at me, his eyes escaped immediately.

He answered Zoe’s questions in seconds. When I asked something, he stammered through the explanation, then challenged me with a harder question.

I read his hesitation as impatience. In reality, looking directly at me had apparently erased half his vocabulary.

Why did he have two completely different faces?

—

Maybe he wanted me to become frustrated and leave.

That possibility made me angry. Zoe did not like him, so I refused to make his pursuit easy.

I asked question after question until Zoe could not interrupt.

Everett had no time for anything else, and his thoughts went silent.

The harder he made each problem, the more stubborn I became. By the end of the period, my notebook was full and his attention had never left me.

When the bell rang, I felt absurdly victorious.

I had learned the material and ruined Everett’s chance with Zoe. For the first time all day, my chest did not hurt.