31| Studying at a Fancy Restaurant With No Books in Sight

    "CAN we just talk about physics for once?" I practically begged.

    Porkchop was once again going off on a completely random rant during 8th period, which was AP physics 2. As always, I was trying to get the homework done before the bell rang. However, Porkchop's constant rambling and Tanner's unending moaning definitely put a damper in my focus.

    "Cereal has to be a salad!" Porkchop exclaimed, hitting his fist on the desk.

    "No, it's a soup," Tanner argued. "Come on. It's little chunks of matter floating in a pool of milk."

    "Or," Porkchop drawled, "is it milk poured over little chunks of matter? Yes, yes it is! You don't start with the milk!"

    "Explain."

    "Gladly," Porkchop said, straightening up in his seat. "You see, with a soup, you start with the base and then you add ingredients. With cereal, you never start with the milk! Unless you're a psychopath."

    "That, I will agree on," I chimed in, not once taking my eyes off of my homework.

    "Thank you!" Porkchop exclaimed. "However, with salad, you start off with the ingredients and then add the liquidy thing, which would be considered the dressing. Therefore, cereal must be a salad!"

    "That... that makes no sense!" Tanner said. "They're just two completely different experiences."

    "Oh my god, guys," I interrupted. "Cereal isn't a soup. Cereal isn't a salad. It's literally just cereal. There's no deeper meaning to a bowl of starch sauced in milk!"

    "AHA!" Porkchop yelled, standing up. "YOU SAID SAUCED! THAT INDIRECTLY IMPLIES THAT YOU BELIEVE CEREAL IS A SALAD!"

    I facepalmed myself right as the teacher shot Porkchop a dirty look and shushed him. Porkchop mumbled an apology before sitting down and grinning at Tanner, who just rolled his eyes.

    "We're done with this conversation," I said.

The two babbling idiots finally shut up and focused on their work, which I was thankful for. I was almost done with my homework, which was good. I wouldn't have to worry about doing my physics homework tonight. Not to mention, I already knew how to do a few of the problems because of the fact that Logan had been given the same assignment yesterday.

The bell rang and I got up to head out to my car. Usually, I would be heading to the girls' volleyball practice to scrimmage, but today practice had been canceled. Since Genevieve collapsed yesterday at practice, apparently everyone was waiting to hear what was wrong with her.

I turned the corner and watched a seemingly angry Logan Pierce slam her locker shut before walking towards the exit doors. I followed after her in a spur of the moment decision.

"Logan!" I called out, but she just kept walking towards the parking lot.

"What?" She asked, not stopping or turning around.

"Hey—" I ran in front of her and stood in front of her to stop her from walking any further. "What's going on? Why are you mad?"

"Why am I mad?" She asked. "God, there are so many reasons, but I'll give you a hint! One word starts with a V, ends with a 'ball'."

"Volleyball," I said. "Where are you headed?"

"The gym. Because I'm angry and need to punch something," Logan said, her voice was harsh and filled with anger.

"I'll come," I said.

"Noah—"

"You can punch things and rant to me," I explained. "Come on, Logan. You might need a chaperone anyway so that you don't end up killing someone."

Logan waited a moment before taking in a deep breath and sighing. "Okay," she agreed. "You drive."

✯ ✯ ✯

Punch. Punch. Punch.

Logan had been going at it for a good 10 minutes now. She was completely destroying the punching bag. She really was pissed, and even I could admit that it was pretty intimidating. She was definitely someone that people would easily be intimidated by, even if they hadn't seen her beating up a punching bag.

"Do you want to talk?" I asked in between her punches. "I mean, what's better than punching something and getting to rant about what's making you so mad at the same time?"

"Don't push it, Noah," Logan warned, and I just sighed. She wasn't exactly the easiest person to get through.

I was just standing next to the punching bag, although I was a safe distance away. I was afraid if I stood too close, she might accidentally punch me instead.

"I'm just pissed," Logan said, still punching. "First of all, Genevieve has been playing like shit, which makes me so mad! And then she goes down at practice and practice tonight has to be canceled! Like why did practice have to be canceled? We still scrimmaged after Genevieve went to the nurse!"

"Coach said they were waiting to see what was wrong with her," I said, but Logan just shook her head and kept on punching.

"No. You wanna know what's wrong with her, Noah? Besides the fact that she's a complete and utter bitch who everyone hates?" Logan asked. "She tore her fucking meniscus! That's what's wrong with her. She tore her tendon weeks ago and kept playing, which is why she was so shit! And now she tore her whole goddamn meniscus and she's benched!"

"Shit," I muttered. Tearing your meniscus was a big deal, and an injury with a long recovery.

"So guess what? Guess who has to play now?" Logan asked, and started punching even harder. "Fucking Savannah! So what I'm telling you is that we're screwed!"

"Shit."

"Yeah. Shit is right," she said. "Noah, Savannah has been a goddamn bench player every year she's been on a team! That's how bad she is! She's so inconsistent and the only time she played in a match— we lost! And then we took her out, and we won! So we're screwed!"

"Maybe..." I paused, trying to think of something optimistic to say. It definitely wasn't easy coming up with anything, since I also knew how bad Savannah was. "You're not screwed. Maybe she's improved—"

"Please!" Logan scoffed as she interrupted me. "Did you see her in hitting lines yesterday? She hit 6 times. 2 of them went out the back of the court, one went into the net, and the other 3 were in, but they were goddamn rainbows! That's a 50 percent success rate, and they weren't even powerful hits! We are screwed!"

"You have other hitters besides her, Logan," I said. "There's you, Olivia, Melissa—"

She interrupted again. "Yeah we have other hitters, I know," she snapped. "But our first rotation, we have a full 3 hitters. Me, Olivia, and Melissa. But in the second rotation, when Sophie is front row, we have 2 hitters because Sophie still sets front row! And those hitters are Rose and Savannah! If we don't get a perfect pass, or at least a decent pass, there's no way Sophie can set Rose. So she'll have to set Savannah, and Savannah can't hit for shit!"

Now she was really punching hard.

"Logan," I said. "Logan, calm down."

Logan stopped punching and turned to me. "Don't— tell me to calm down!" She yelled. "God, you don't get it, Noah! I can't lose, I don't want to! Savannah playing is going to screw us over!"

"Logan—"

"Stop trying to be reasonable, Noah!" Logan yelled. "You don't get it, and you never will! You shouldn't be here right now, and I don't even want you here!"

"Logan," I breathed, grabbing her gloves and holding them down before she could start punching again. "I do get it. And it doesn't matter what you say, because I'm here and I'm not leaving. Just take a breath."

Logan waiter and closed her eyes, then sucking in a deep breath and letting out. She repeated a few times before opening her eyes and looking up at me.

"Sorry," she whispered. Logan wiggled her gloves out of my grasp and turned to take them off and throw them in her backpack. "I'm sorry. I do want you here, and I shouldn't have blown up on you."

"It's okay," I said. "Really. I'm used to you blowing up on me."

She turned around and laughed a little. "Yeah, I know," she said. "I'm just fucking pissed, clearly you can tell. One thing you never do is get in between me and volleyball."

"I know that, too," I said. "But it's going to be okay, you got it?"

"Yeah, sure. I got it," she said, sending me a weak smile. "That doesn't mean I'm not still mad, though."

"How about I help you get your mind off of it? Like the last time I found you here taking your anger out on the poor bag," I offered.

"I don't know," she drawled. "It's probably a bad idea. My parents will wonder where I am, and then they'll probably get mad at me."

"You remember what I said about your parents awhile ago?" I asked. "I said that you can't let them control you. You can't let them scare you into missing out on things. Things like going out tonight with your... slightly-more-than-friend."

"Slightly-more-than-friend?" Logan asked. "Is that your title?"

"I think it's suitable."

Logan rolled her eyes. "Okay," she sighed. "Let's do it. Take me somewhere to get my mind off of how insane I'm going to be tomorrow at practice when Savannah actually gets to play."

I laughed. "Follow me, then."

After Logan changed, we left the gym. I knew just the place to go, too. It was Amelia's favorite restaurant, the one I always took her to for any special occasion, whether it was Valentine's day or her birthday. Usually, my parents would be gone, anyway, so taking her out to this restaurant had become our thing.

It was a flipping amazing pizza restaurant called La Belle's. It was to die for. I would do nearly anything for a slice of La Belle's pizza, no matter the flavor.

I pulled into the parking lot and parked the car. Logan and I got out and headed into the restaurant.

"So, pizza?" Logan asked.

"Pizza," I stated. "Didn't you know that pizza is the cure for everything?"

"I thought that was Hannah Montana," she said, smiling up at me.

"That, too," I said. We walked inside and waited to be seated. Finally, a girl took the both of us and sat us in an empty booth, then handed us some menus. I was starving.

"Damn," Logan said under her breath. "A mozzarella stick would just hit right now."

"Oh, they're the best," I told her. "Trust me, you've never tasted a mozzarella stick as perfect as the ones they have here. We'll definitely be getting those."

"Hell yeah," Logan said.

That was when our waiter walked over, but he was no stranger. "Can I get you two something to dr— Noah? Logan?" Charlie said.

Logan and I looked at each other before I looked over to Charlie. "Charlie," I said. "I didn't know you worked here."

"My mom said getting a job would be good until volleyball season starts up," he replied.

"Good for you," I said.

"So... what are you two doing here?" Charlie asked, and he was clearly suspicious. His eyebrows were raised, and he was looking at the both of us like he had just spotted a giraffe in the middle of a volleyball court.

"Uh... we're studying," I said

Logan nodded. "Yep, we are just studying. Being all studious as usual."

"You're studying?" Charlie asked. "At a fancy restaurant? With no books or anything in sight?"

Logan and I looked at each other. Well, this was awkward. We both looked back at Charlie. "Yep," we said in unison. Now, it was even more awkward.

A small smirk grew on Charlie's face and he just nodded at us. "Okay," he said. "I'm not gonna question your study methods. Drinks?"

"I'll... have a coke," I said.

"Same," Logan said.

"Got it," Charlie said, and he turned to walk away, but before he did, he turned his head towards us. "I'll make sure to not interrupt your studying too much."

He winked and then walked away.

Yep. This was awkward.

    Logan and I looked over at each other, and after a few seconds, we started laughing a little bit.

    "Okay," Logan started, "we're definitely going to have to be more careful if we want to keep whatever's going on with us a secret."

    "Agreed," I said. "But, you know, I don't want to keep you a secret forever." I reached under the table to grab her free hand, and she looked up from her menu and smiled at me.

    Then she rolled her eyes. "Don't get too ahead of yourself, boy. We just started doing this."

    "But it does feel right, doesn't it?" I asked.

    She smiled again. "Yeah. It does," she agreed. "God, stop getting all weird and mushy. You should go back to being a dick."

    "I can be a dick all you want," I said, winking.

    "You're repulsive," Logan laughed. "Now will you please wave Charlie over so we can order? Mozzarella sticks and a huge pizza are calling my name."

✯ ✯ ✯

Number one: Noah helping out Logan and letting her rant to him while she punches a punching bag is just everything. Get you a man who will let you throw your temper tantrums and THEN take you to a restaurant to calm you down. What a guy,

Number two: Do you think Savannah playing is going to be bad? Or is Logan overreacting? Personally, I just don't like Savannah, sooooo it doesn't sound like the best idea having her play. Smh. Stupid Genevieve and her weak knees.

Number three: Charlie CAUGHT THEM. And he didn't seem to believe their whole "studying" claim. I love them, though. They just need to be public with their relationship.

OKAY BYE.