(song: "Alive" - Sia)

I avoided running into Patrick in the morning at school.

    I knew that if I got there before him, there would be a lot less to deal with. I really didn't want anyone to know that I was dating Patrick. Everything was still new and I didn't want to start off our budding, possible relationship with negative drama.

     Things seemed to be a normal school day, right up until lunch time.

     "Paying for over-priced Starbuck's coffee is dumb enough already, but the people who pay for the teas or chai lattes are the true idiots. You could have bought a box of tea for the same price at any grocery store and made a whole pot!" Jon was ranting over franchise coffee prices. He hated Starbucks, this was a rant he would revisit about once a week.

     I was sick of it. I was sick of Jon all-together.

     He had an arm lazily wrapped around Selena, and for some reason he just wasn't getting a clue from my 'I don't care' expression.

     Selena kissed his cheek like a mother trying to calm down a child. "You can buy your box of tea Jon, but if they want to spend their money on an expensive drink, that's their choice. People can spend their money how they want to."

     "Um, who are you and where is my girlfriend? You've always agreed with me about Starbucks in the past." Jon's arm slowly retreated from touching Selena. God, he was starting to get moody.

     I jumped into the situation. "Are you seriously getting upset at your girlfriend over Starbucks? Because if you're talking about true idiots you should look in a mirror."

     Jon furrowed his brows harshly and opened his mouth, but no words. It took me a moment to notice that Jon wasn't talking because he was looking at something—or someone.

     I felt someone sit down right beside me. I didn't even have to think about it to know who it was.

    Patrick reached down under the table and searched out my hand to hold it. The stares and the whispers started. The boy clearly did not care what the other students thought. I hadn't decided yet if that was going to be a blessing or a curse. No one was bold enough to say anything to me out-right yet, but I knew they were all going to talk about it behind my back.

     Selena's mouth hung open and she had stopped eating. Jon still was trying to process what he was witnessing.

     "You and Patrick?" Selena asked with a growing smile of instant approval.

     "Not exactly." I told her quickly.

     Patrick lifted up our linked hands for Jon and Selena to see them more clearly. "I'm still trying to convince her that we are dating. She seems to have a different feeling on the subject."

    "How and why would that happen? You had Valentina, the smartest girl in our grade and one of the best female volley ball players in our school. Pretty much the perfect girlfriend. Why would you even want Jenn?" Jon wasn't joking. I knew he never thought highly of me, but to know that he saw me as a downgrade made me angry.

     "That was really mean, Jon," Selena said with disgust. It was the first time I'd ever heard her refer to Jon as mean.

     I was going to give Jon a verbal lashing, but Patrick squeezed my hand and took the initiative to say, "Being around Jenn makes me happy."

     It wasn't anything really deep or profound that he said. He stated a simple fact, but it meant so much to me.

     For the rest of the lunch break Patrick took the time to get to know Selena and Jon better. He connected so well with people. What Selena had told me the first night was true—everyone got along with Patrick.

     Occasionally, between laughs, jokes and comments he would gently tug at my fingers to let me know without words that he was mine.

     In those moments I forgot that anyone was staring at us at all.

I survived the school day, but just barely. I caught Valentina crying in the bathroom. Valentina's friends shot nasty, accusing looks in my direction every chance they could get. I distinctly heard her friend say aloud how the only reason Patrick was interested in me was because of hormones and the fact that Valentina never slept with him. Their speculations were tame compared to passing Chuck in the hallways.

     "Good things don't last long for people like us, Jenn. When he knows the truth and leaves, you'll come right back to me," Chuck had said.

     Everyone wanted Patrick and I to fail; his friends, our classmates, our exes and even his family wanted to see it end.

     Patrick ended up walking me to my car after school let out. I couldn't shake Chuck's words from my mind.

     "—so I need you to go with me," he finished.

     "What?" I hadn't been listening to a thing he'd said.

     "A weekend road trip to California with my friends you were supposed to have met at the carnival. I need you to go with me. Easton will be going so, you can invite Selena. And you were right about Jon, he's a dick. Team Easton all the way."

     I still felt bothered about everything that happened earlier. "I work weekends, Patrick. I have the nights available, but not the day time."

     "Can't you ask for the weekend off or fake being sick?"

     Of course that would seem like an easy option to him. Patrick's wealthy family made sure that their children never had to think about over-paid bills, car notes and rent. I was not so fortunate. Every day of work skipped or missed was one bill that didn't get paid on time.

     "Some people don't have their parents paying for everything," I said with irritation while I unlocked my car.

     Patrick leaned forward and pressed his chest against my back. "Clearly, you are upset, but I'm not sure what I did."

     I knew I was coming across a little bitchy. He didn't deserve the way I was treating him. "Sorry, it's not you, it's everyone else. I do want to go with you on the road-trip, but that's not so easy for me. I want a fair chance with you, but everyone is just waiting for us to fail."

     He pressed his mouth against my hair and kissed the top of my head. He didn't care who saw it either. "For a long while, people thought that the earth rotated around the sun with infatuation. But there have been theorists and great minds who say the sun feels equal and opposite force towards the earth. Both the sun and the earth are orbiting their center of mass. The sun is the earths opposite and is falling towards it, and the earth in turn is doing the same thing. Their equal and opposite force is what keeps everything alive and in balance. Different and the same all at once—like us."

     It made me smile. Patrick was really smart.

     I turned against my car door so that I could face him. "You are adorable, only you could make astronomy sound that cute."

     I found myself caving in. I groaned loudly. "Ugh fine, I'll ask my shift manager if I can take the weekend off."

     I guessed that I could make up for it by doubling shifts over the next week.

     Patrick's face lit up with excitement. "Great! I'm also going to need to ask you to bring something you can swim in."

     I lowered my lashes and felt like being flirty with him. I traced my finger against his chest. "Oh, now I see. This isn't really about a weekend get away, this whole thing is some elaborate plan to see me in a bikini."

     "I'll remind you that I am a hormonal seventeen-year-old boy and that kind of ingenious plan is perfectly healthy."