Fake Bully, True Crush

Chapter Six: The Stealer

I entered the classroom, my eyes met Noah and Aiden that were in the final row, as well as Ava ahead of them with her usual scowl etched on her face.

Ava gave me the middle finger and muttered, “b***h!” while Aiden said a quick polite hello, Noah merely gave me an expressionless gaze, his lighter grey eyes looked somewhere else. I felt guilty that I lost Noah’s jacket, so I just want to stay away from the group as much as possible. I smiled respectfully at Aiden before I took a seat at the farthest corner from them. I didn’t want to face Ava’s wrath early in the morning as well.

After a short while of students chattering off with each other, Mrs. Carter, she was slightly overweight, but she was full of warmth and humour when she arrived and got her marker ready to explain on the whiteboard as she started the class. Zoey came over wearing Noah’s jacket and my eyes went saucers at the rebellious girl that had a smug smirk on her round face.

It was Zoey stole Noah’s jacket in the middle of the night. That sneaky girl. People like her shouldn’t be in the world.

Ava was raged at the fact that Zoey had her boyfriend’s jacket, she made a neck-wiping motion to Zoey that was still standing, making her death threat known to my roommate. I still didn’t believe that she went behind my back to get her filthy hands on Noah’s jacket, even more so, putting me in this weird situation with the couple.

My phone dinged, notifying me that there was a text message.

‘Why is your roommate wearing my jacket?’ I identified that it was from Noah. He was the one questioning me about his jacket.

I was taken aback at how he knew that Zoey was my roommate. It was hardly a surprise, Noah acknowledged everything given his sharp intelligence and memory. I didn’t know how to reply to the demanding guy behind me, but I could feel his eyes shoot daggers at me from the back. I wanted to die or disappear from this situation.

My phone vibrated again, and I looked at the new message.

‘Reply to this message!’ I was in big trouble with Noah, and I typed in some shitty excuse. I had to make up some stuff when it wasn’t my problem. What was more irritating was that Zoey posed in front of us in class confidently with no care in the world.

I kept editing my reply on the phone when I listened in to Mrs. Carter’s announcement to Zoey, “Miss Baker, it's been a long time! I didn't even get a notice that you were coming to class today. If I had known earlier, I would have dressed up. Look at me, I'm so ashamed of myself now."

The students howled in laughter, Zoey stood by the door, her eyes felt overwhelmed and lost. Mrs. Carter left Zoey to sit down after she saw her blush profusely. It was an odd sight to witness Zoey’s blush formed around her cheeks.

The class was about to end, Mrs. Carter declared that this semester’s project would be about a study of the evolution of American fashion, adding a mocking “Thanks to Zoey’s inspiration.” That made the class erupt in laughter once more.

Mrs. Carter called out the group pairings for the project, I heard my name next to Aiden, followed by Ava and Noah in the next pairing. I was over the moon as I glanced to see Aiden’s handsome face, but a sudden realization made me pause at the fact that Aiden might be what Mia mentioned to me before. That was the last thing I ever wished for, I couldn’t do this to Mia, I was known as a loyal friend all those years to her. It was against the girl code we had. Whoever had a crush on a guy first couldn’t been stolen by another girl.

Could it possibly be? I wondered over it in thought. I had dived into the possibility of this Aiden being my best friend’s crush. I started to think even deeper about the outcome in the future since I liked to think before doing anything reckless that could hinder my friendship with Mia, that was until I heard Aiden’s voice as he reported to Mrs. Carter.

“I don’t think I should be with Emma, she’s too unfashionable as me, and I don’t want think we could get good grades, which isn’t fair in our behalf. I would like to be with Ava instead, the most stylish person.” He implored. I wasn’t happy about the things he said, I could tell that he was beating around the bush, and I was confused about the whole ordeal. Aiden was a nice guy, so why didn’t he want to work with me so bad?

Mrs. Carter found truth in his words because next thing I knew, she said, “then Emma could be in a group with Noah, Noah is both smart and stylish, he can surely bring Emma out with a good grade.” Her brownie-coloured eyes alight with the new idea as if she created another planet. I despised her idea so much that I wanted to dig a bigger hole for myself and stay there. I grimaced at what was going to happen because I knew Ava wouldn’t be okay with this at all.

I cried internally at the mere imagination of Ava killing me a thousand times. I prayed for help in my mind when Aiden got back to his seat with a pleased look on his defined face.

Damn it! This day REALLY kept getting better and better.