Page 3 of Only ever you-Ana & Byron
Byron grinned. "Just two answers. Come on. I'll owe you one."
"You already owe me more than you can ever repay from last term," she said, but slid her sheet an inch to the left. "Number three and number seven. No more."
"Absolute legend," he whispered, scrawling the answers with more speed than accuracy. His handwriting looked like it was being chased across the page by angry bees.
"And if you tell anyone," Ana added, not looking up, "I'll tell them about the time you put sodium in the water when Mr. Cunningham specifically told us not to. You're lucky it only burnt your eyebrows off."
"That were one time," he said, looking tragic, but without an ounce of regret. "And they took ages to grow back. I were a victim of my own genius."
Ana glanced at him, unimpressed. "You were a victim of your inability to read the label that said 'Do Not Touch.'"
"I thought it were more of a suggestion."
"One that didn't have a hope in hell," she said. "Like your academic future. And for the last time, ‘it was’ not ‘it were’ "
“Huh?”
Byron laughed quietly at Ana’s expression while Ana tried very hard not to smile.
At the next station, Gray was laughing at something Cadi said, both hunched over the microscope, their heads close.
Ana tilted her head in their direction. "Do you think they even realise?"
Byron followed her gaze. "Nah. But Gray's written 'G .C' in Tipp-Ex on his calculator."
Ana raised an eyebrow. "Subtle. Or maybe for Gray Callahan?"
Byron smirked. "Don't be daft. Anyway, yours says 'AB.'"
"Because my name is Ana Bartolini, you numbskull." Ana flushed and snapped her folder shut. "Two answers. That's all you get."
He scribbled fast, smudging his ink. "You're a right genius, Bartolini. Might have to marry you one day."
"Don’t put yourself out on my account. I will deny everything that happened today," Ana said, ignoring his joke, though the bright flush travelled down her neck now.
At the next table, Gray and Cadi were whispering and pretending to swap notes, but Gray was just red in the face from smiling too much.
Ana gave them both a sideways look. "Honestly. They act like we're all blind."
Byron leaned closer again, whispering, "They're just as clueless as you are about your inner nerd."
Ana smirked, not looking at him. "Keep talking and you'll lose your two answers. And those two front teeth, which won't grow back a second time."
Byron mimed zipping his mouth and smiled down at his sheet.
Later, when Mrs. Greenwood collected the worksheets, Ana watched Byron scribble her initials lightly at the corner of his.
She narrowed her eyes. "Did you just-"
"It's just me sayin' thanks," he said innocently, swinging his bag over one shoulder.
"Two answers, Byron. Doesn't buy you rights."
He shrugged. "Maybe next time, I'll charm ya into three."
She rolled her eyes.
She didn't answer, but when he walked away, she was still smiling.
