Contagious Chemistry by Sian Webster (best ereader for pdf TXT) 📕

“Absidy! Wait up!”
I cursed aloud. Normally when I hopped off the bus after school, I was free from Alex. Not this time, though. I had wondered why he hadn’t got off at his stop. I turned around and glared daggers at him. “What?” I snapped.
“I need to talk to you, Abby.”
Him using my nickname made my heart flutter, but I ignored it. “There’s only a limited number of people in the world who can call me that, Alex, and I hate to break it to you, but you’re not one of them.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Absidy…”
“I thought you were going to leave me alone.” I said, cutting him off, taking a step closer to him. “Wasn’t that our deal for me letting you kiss me today?”
“That was before you kissed me back!” He said, taking a step closer to me so that we were almost touching. I could feel that spark I got when he touched me even though there was about half a centimetre between us, and it took all of my free will to ignore it and pay attention to how angry I was at him rather than how close we were.
“What’s wrong, Alex? Not used to girls kissing you back?” I snapped. “Oh wait, you’ve kissed nearly every girl in school, haven’t you?”
“Yeah! You included so you can’t say shit!” He snapped back, shoving me backwards slightly then closing the space between us again.
“Yeah, well, I’m sorry, but kissing the weird emo chick isn’t gonna do much on your reputation, no matter what it does to your ego.” I said, narrowing my eyes at him.
“‘The weird emo chick’? Seriously, Absidy? You can’t see it, can you? They made you Queen Bee. And you know what? You’re acting like one. You’re turning into one of them, Absidy, even if you can’t see it. You’re a hypocrite!” He nearly yelled.
“I would never let myself turn into one of those sluts!” I told him.
“Says the girl who’s kissed two different guys in one day!”
I slapped him, just like I had earlier that day, and quickly took a few steps back in case he retaliated. I didn’t think he would, but after all the fights I’d seen him get in over Breanna, I knew he had killer reflexes.
He grasped his cheek where I hit him and gasped in pain. But then he smiled and looked somewhat relieved. “There she is,”
My anger melted away into confusion and I looked behind me to see who he was talking about, but no one was there. “Who?”
“You.”
“Me?” I asked, perplexed. “I was here all along!”
“I mean you. Not the girl Breanna’s turning you into.” He said, walking up to me and taking my hands in his. “The girl I fell in love with.”
I was about to argue back when he kissed me for the second time that day, and once again, I kissed him back, no matter how much I hated myself for doing it. He gripped my waist softly and I took my hands from where he had left them on his chest to around his neck. It was the same as the first time he kissed me – like he was afraid I would disappear any second – except this time we weren’t locked in a tiny, dark store room, we were out in the open, on the sidewalk of my street in broad daylight. I cursed against his lips and broke his grip on my waist.
“What?” He asked, concerned.
“I can’t do this, Alex.” I said simply.
“Why not?” He asked, but he didn’t try to kiss me again.
It was a real blow when I realised that’s exactly what Jeremy would tried to do. For a fraction of a second I wondered if I had made the wrong decision.
“I’m with Jeremy, Alex; I have a boyfriend!” I reminded him.
“And I have an English test tomorrow.” He told me.
I stopped. “And why does that matter?”
“I’m sorry, I thought we were listing things we could cheat on.” He smirked.
I slapped him again, on the same cheek.
“This was a mistake.” I said, shaking my head.
“Slapping me?” He asked hopefully.
“No! Kissing you!” I said, pushing him backwards, making him stumble.
“Oh come on, Absidy, I was kidding around.” He insisted.
I laughed humourlessly. “I knew it!” I exclaimed. “All this time you were just screwing me round, weren’t you? I can’t believe I was stupid enough to believe you actually liked me for a second.”
“Absidy, just let me—”
“Explain? Why don’t you explain to me why the hell I should trust a word that comes out of your mouth.” I snapped.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but decided better of it and closed it again.
“Yeah,” I replied. “That’s what I thought.”
I turned around quickly and walked off. I knew that if I stayed there looking at the expression on his face any longer, I’d end up doing something I’d regret. Like kissing him again. Or apologising. I decided neither of those things were ever gonna happen. Not after that. There was no way in hell.

***

The next day at lunch, after two incredibly boring and uneventful classes, everyone I walked past was screaming about something, but I couldn’t figure out what because too many people were screaming at once. When I reached the girls, they stopped screaming immediately. I wondered if it was because they were screaming about me, or because of my newly found monarchy.
“What’s everyone screaming about?” I asked sceptically.
Nora was practically jumping up and down in excitement. “The P&C just announced that they’re throwing a masquerade ball here tomorrow after school for charity!”
“Seriously? That’s what everyone’s screaming about?” I asked, slightly disappointed.
“Well, there is gonna be a draw for King and Queen judged by the teachers.” Stacy put in.
“But if it’s a masquerade ball, they’re not gonna know who anyone is.” I pointed out.
“It’s a costume masquerade ball, silly.” Sam smirked. “Cause tomorrow also just happens to be Halloween, and half the P&C wanted it to be a Halloween disco, while the other wanted it to be a masquerade ball, so they decided to mix both ideas together.”
“So, you have to dress up,” I started, “and you can dress up as anything, but you have to wear a mask?”
The girls nodded.
“That’s actually pretty cool.” I commented.
“Exactly!” Kaitlin exclaimed. “But there’s another rule; you’re not allowed to tell anyone what you’re going as.”
“What’s the point of that?” I asked. “No one will know who you are!”
“That’s the whole point, stupid.” Emily smirked.
“But we all know that Abby’s going as Sleeping Beauty.” Someone from behind me said.
I turned around for a fraction of a second before being swept up into someone’s arms. I squealed as my feet left the ground but opened my eyes to see Jeremy staring down at me. He sat on the table and set me down softly on his lap.
“Why Sleeping Beauty?” I asked, confused.
“Because you’re always sleeping when I call you, and you’re beautiful.” He pointed out.
I blushed. “So you’re going as Prince Phillip?”
“I can’t tell you, I’m afraid.” He smirked. “It’s against the rules.”
“Fine.” I snapped playfully. “I’m not telling you what I’m going as.”
“We’ll just have to find each other then, won’t we?” He said, touching my nose.
“Shouldn’t be too hard,” I smiled, pressing my lips against his, when I heard a voice I could have done without hearing at that moment. Except, for once, the voice wasn’t asking for me.
“Casey?” Alex’s voice rung out over the group, shushing everyone instantly.
Everyone turned to look at Casey.
“I’m over here,” She stuttered. I wondered if she had even spoken to Alex before.
“I was wondering if you’d go to the dance with me tomorrow night?” He asked her. “I want to thank you for helping me yesterday afternoon.”
“You don’t have to, you were upset and needed someone to talk to.” She paused. “Well, looking back on it now, you were actually more distraught, but you don’t have to worry about thanking me.”
“Yes I do!” He insisted. “Just let me take you to the dance.”
She sighed in defeat, but she didn’t look at all defeated. She looked more… ecstatic. “Fine.”
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Alex chanted before kissing Casey on the cheek.
Casey looked like she was about to faint, and didn’t dare try to speak, but Alex ignored it.
“I’ll be the one in the mask!” He winked.
“That’s definitely gonna make him stand out,” Jeremy whispered in my ear.
I laughed. “Will I find you?” I asked flirtatiously, well aware of the fact that Alex was still there.
“If you look hard enough.” He smirked.
I smiled, remembering he said the exact same thing to me the day we met when I asked if I would see him around. “Good job I have great eyesight then, isn’t it?”
“Definitely,” Jeremy smiled and kissed me. I kissed him back and could feel Alex’s death stare at the back of my head. I hated the fact that when I kissed Jeremy, there was no spark like there was with Alex, but I was determined to make Alex think there was one.
I decided I’d show Alex that two can play that game.

Emily and I drove through our town to get to school the next night, every house decorated in a different way, but there were none that I even partially considered scary. Little kids ran away from teenagers dressed in scary costumes, their high pitched squeals piercing the usually silent dark night. Taking her eyes off the road, Emily looked at me with envy.
“Seriously? Why can’t I look as amazing as you?” She pouted, her mask slipping as she spoke. It was black and covered in gold swirling patterns, and only covered her eyes and nose. I had never seen anything like it. She wore a yellow and black striped silk skirt, black fishnets, black Doc Martens with yellow laces, a tight yellow singlet, little sparkly wings and black and yellow antennas. A bumble bee.
“Me?” I asked. “Look at you! You’re the cutest bumble bee I’ve ever seen!”
“But look at you! Why didn’t I think of Cinderella?” She moaned.
“It was my Mum’s idea.” I told her. “It was a joke she made because I had to be home