After you, Partner [39]

Coach then looked at me and then at the back of the class. "Lucas? Mind working with Katherine? You two seemed to have run into a partner problem." He mentioned and Lucas was instantly out of his seat, approaching to the empty seat beside me. Coach walked back to the front of the class and Lucas was now sitting beside me.

"I hope you all have already finished the first stage of the experiment. Now for the second stage of this experiment you all have to filter the mixture through the filter paper provided to you." He then placed the funnel in the conical flask and then picked up the circular shaped filter paper. "You are required to fold the filter paper into a half first and then into a quarter." He pleated the filter paper and outstretched his hand to show it to the class. "Now place the filter paper on the funnel and filter the contents of the mixture you have prepared in the first stage. Be careful while doing this and try not to spill it on your skin as it might cause irritation or burn the skin."

"Do remember to jot down the observations as you finish your work." He reminded.

The class once again got to work and Mr. Cooper started pacing around like before. I began folding the filter paper the way Coach has instructed by first folding it into a half and then into a quarter. In the meantime, Lucas has placed the funnel in the neck of the conical flask and was swirling the glass beaker lightly to mix the remaining contents of the blue solution.

"After you partner!" He gave me a nod as he noticed me staring at him.

The sudden feeling of embarrassment made me drop my eyes and I immediately unfurled the filter paper placing it on the funnel. He then poured the solution into the conical flask. A clear blue solution was collected in the flask as the black powder was filtered. Lucas put the beaker back on the table and we began scribbling the observations.

"Did you sleep well last night?" He asked as he noted. From the corner of my eye I could notice a smile on his lips and some of the hair strands fell on his face as he was leaned forward while writing.

"Yeah." I answered without turning to look at him. "How about you?"

Though I immediately felt a gush of regret for asking him back, I realized it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. If we are going to be partners now , then we might as well need to fraternize well with each other. But at the back of my head, I knew he had secrets up his sleeves. I still feared how he had talked directly to my thoughts the last time. If it was real? I wasn't sure if it was him and not my already messed up mind. If I was being honest with myself, I hoped it was me who imagined the whole thing. Somewhere in my head I was aware I didn't want Lucas involved in any of the witch-demon business.

"I couldn't sleep last night." He responded.

I narrowed my eyes in confusion wondering what it was intended to convey. When my reply didn't came, he raised his eyes from his notebook and turned to look at me. My expression must have imparted my confusion as he said. "I was thinking about you!" And as usual his reply startled me and I again felt a surge to slap myself for asking him in the first place. Why couldn't his replies be normal and decent?

Coach was still roaming around in class while the students were busy doing the assigned task. I didn't want to be in his bad books so I kept my head down and continued writing. "You need to stop doing that?" I said, without turning and attempting to include some seriousness in my tone.

Unlike me, Lucas didn't care about how Mr. Cooper would react if he caught us talking rather than finishing work. He put his pen down and turned entirely towards me. He then shifted in his seat and leaned on the table, resting his head on his hand.

"Stop doing what Katherine?" His eyes were eager and desperate, waiting for what I have to say. Or either he was just messing up with me. I could never be sure around him. Sometimes I saw a rare flicker of concern and thoughtfulness in him. But it disappears in the blink of an eye, like a breath on the mirror. And the sooner it disappears, the sooner his playfulness and darkness engulfs his persona, the way dusk takes over dawn.

He was waiting for my reply. I reminded myself as his grey eyes continued to stare at my turquoise ones. "Stop saying things like that." I finally managed to say. It was so difficult to focus, when he was around. He had that effect on me, or maybe on every girl around him.

"I never lie Katherine." His words held a complexity of connotations. "I was just being honest with you." He then turned back to his work, scrawling with a neat handwriting on the blank page of his notebook.

"Were you?" I challenged and noticed a grin creeping up on his lips as he wrote.

"Of course. Besides I don't see a need to keep anything from you."

"What do you want?"

"A lot of things." I heard a light chuckle beside me and I turned sideways. "And one of those things include you." He winked at me and dropped his pen again, having finished his work. He leaned back in his seat and placed his arms at the back of his head.

I was still recovering from the shock his words have left me in. What did he mean? Could it be possible that he was involved in the recent disturbing events? Or was he just being playful with his words?

 * * * * *

Do you all like Lucas?

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