Javier rolled his eyes, but I could’ve sworn I saw him hold in a chuckle. “I should let you stay on the floor.”
He then stood up and went to his closet. I heard the sound of rummaging before he came out with a red bean bag chair and threw it next to his desk chair. Without a word or even a glance in my direction, he took his seat again.
I took my seat in the chair which was more comfortable than I thought it was going to be. I opened the packet of cookies and took out a few, the sugar giving me some much-needed brain power.
"I created a slideshow about the Industrial Revolution for us to study," Javier told me, his focus on his laptop.
The first round of the competition was about the Industrial Revolution. Just a bunch of stupid shit about stupid people whoinvented stupid items. It was stupid, but at least it was an easy topic. I couldn’t complain.
He clicked through the slideshow presentation on his laptop and read the questions aloud. As we went through it, instead of us studying together it began to feel like he was quizzing me. I realized that he was doing it purposefully.
"Hey," I said, cutting Javier off mid-sentence while he was reading a question off of the slideshow. "We're supposed to be studying together."
"Yeah, we are,” he calmly replied.
"No. You're making me answer questions while you click through the presentation," I corrected him.
He nodded sharply, affirming my statement. "Yes, exactly."
I stuffed another Oreo into my mouth. It was my eighth one. "So you're saying that only I need to prepare?"
"I didn’t say it, you did."
I swallowed the food in my mouth and shot a glare his way. "You're not smarter than me."
Javier put a hand on his chin and raised an eyebrow skeptically. He then hummed. "Sorry, who's the class president?"
"Go to hell. That doesn't make you smarter than me," I grumbled.
"Sure, and how many times have I been the class president?" Javier taunted.
My tongue was tied. I had no response, no retort. I just stared as the smirk splayed across his beautifully smug face. He wiggled his eyebrows at me before turning toward his computer once again.
I should have felt embarrassed at the fact that he had just silenced me like that. And I was, I was embarrassed and insulted by his harsh words. However, I couldn’t help but feel satisfaction because he had finally truly looked at me.
After that, Javier started contributing to his share of preparing for the competition. Even with his unkind words, he still took what I had said into consideration. That was the kind of shit that made everyone love him so much. Even in his insults he couldn’t help but hear and understand what people were saying to him.
The time passed quicker than I thought it would. I wasn’t hating being around him as much as I was when I first got here. He was more relaxed than he was before, so that made it easier. Not that it changed my hate for him—he was still a prick. He was simply being a tolerable prick for our short time together.
"I need a break from this or I’ll die of boredom," Javier groaned as he ran his hands over his head. "I'd ask if you're hungry, but you just ate an entire pack of Oreos."
"Actually, there's a whole sleeve left," I said with a guilty smile. When his unamused expression didn’t change, I frowned slightly. "I'm sorry, I'll buy you more."
I didn’t do it on purpose. We had been preparing for over two hours and snacking gave me something to do with my hands. Javier watched me do so and he never made a move to stop me, and I hadn’t realized how much I had eaten until it was too late.
He waved me off. "Don't worry about it, it's not a big deal. You'll have to be the one to explain to my sister where all the cookies went, though."
Javier let out a light laugh as he eyed me. I felt my lips pull into a small smile unwillingly. His smile was cute.
Damn, what was happening to me?
Javier spun around in the chair a few times before his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and groaned when he read the name of the caller. He then muted the ringing and slid his phone back into his pocket.
"I'd hate to be the person who was just calling you," I blurted without thinking.
The nosy part of me wanted to ask who that was, but the rational part of me knew that I shouldn’t.
He looked at me, puzzled. "Why?"
