Third Time's the Charm

Chapter 3: Detention!

As soon as I entered the grounds of St Lawrence, I was attacked by a familiar crazy blonde, who started hammering me with questions.

“Hey there, have you seen my boyfriend? I just saw him pass by here?”, Mia asked me anxiously, her eyes desperately searching the grounds for her boyfriend.

I shook my head no, then wondered to myself why my cousin was talking to me now, when she had spent every year ignoring my entire existence, and she was talking politely at that.

Then it hit me, she hasn’t recognized me yet. She scowled as she realized the ground was empty and Kevin was nowhere to be seen. She then tilted her head and concentrated her full attention on me, taking in my outfit with an open mouth. Then, I saw a look of disbelief pass in her face as at last she recognized me.

“What the hell! It was you Ava?”, she said, utter disbelief flooding her voice. She took another scan of me from top to bottom and stood there dumbfounded.

I hid a slight smile, satisfied at her dumbfounded reaction to my makeover. I know it was pretty vain of me to feel this way, but for the first time in my life, I felt like I had won over my terror cousin. Then, I heard a chuckle from behind us and I turned around to see Isabella holding her stomach, trying hard not to laugh. We both looked at each other and burst out laughing, looking at Mia’s stunned expression. Mia shot an indignant glare at us, her shoulders fuming furiously.

I had to practically drag Isabella away from Mia and head inside, before she started to bawl with laughter right in front of her. Though Mia’s reaction was satisfying, I wasn’t brave enough to make trouble in front of her. I wanted her to continue to ignore me just as she has always done. I have no wish to get back on her stupid hate list.

When we reached our classroom, there was a huge commotion outside and I stopped in my tracks abruptly. I almost stumbled and fell as I was still out of balance with the heels Bella had picked up for me.

Our classroom was usually a very popular place because of Mia and now Isabella too. I sighed as took a quick scan of the surroundings then I groaned as I found out the cause of this uproar.

Mike goddamn Dillon…..He is the sports star of the school. Well, he was an allrounder to be precise. He had excellent grades and was invincible in sports. Everyone adored him, he was the most popular guy in our year…..the basketball team captain… He was the most popular guy in the school, except for maybe Ethan Torronto but that guy was basically a god in this high school because of his celebrity status. He was two years our senior and had already debuted as a pop star. His songs were lit and trending right now and it didn’t help much that he basically looked like the reincarnation of a Greek god. But though girls lusted after him, it was always Mike who got the most attention as he was more friendly and easier to approach whereas Torronto was always moody and didn’t talk much to anybody.

I snorted as I saw that he was there signing autographs to girls on their tee shirts and they giggled every time he flashed his dimples at them. I rolled my eyes at the very sight of them. Really? Who does he think he is? Michael Jordon?

He was completely surrendered by the rest of his team and some cheerleaders who were giggling way too much.

Then to my horror, I realized that his attention was entirely upon us, most probably Isabella and not me. He came towards us and flashed us a billion dollar smile, showing off his dimples and asked sweetly, “Hey ladies, require an autograph?”

Isabella shook her head politely while I let out another snort. Hearing my snort, his eyes zoomed in on me, taking me in from head to toe with a surprised look on his face.

I resisted the urge to shrink back under his intense gaze and made myself look back into his dreamy eyes. God! He really was perfect. It isn’t fair that god made someone this perfect….his jawlines could cut through steel and those baby blue dreamy eyes, no wonder the cheerleaders were always flocked around him.

I blinked then composed myself before I replied sternly, “No Thanks”, and left dragging Isabella by the hand, before giving him a chance to respond.

There were collective gasps when we entered the classroom and I immediately hid behind Isabella as I realized that many people were staring at me with open mouths. Like Mia, they had a look of utter disbelief on their faces.

All their penetrating gazes made me rethink my makeover, I was far more comfortable and content being invisible.

An irritated cough behind us made both me and Isabella jump. We turned around and saw an indignant Mia, fuming furiously and giving me the dirty eye.

Then, our homeroom teacher, Mr Dillon came in and all of us immediately fled to find our seats.

Wait a second! Dillon? He was our homeroom teacher who taught us math. Don’t tell me, Mike Dillon was his son? And how is it that I just made the connection today when Mr Dillon had been teaching us math since the past two years?

Isabella followed my gaze and whispered to me, “Mike is his son, right?”

I nodded at her, surprised that she already knew who Mike was. She hasn’t even learnt the names of the students in our own class properly, but she knows who Mike is already?

I raised my right eyebrow at her questioningly and she murmured softly, “His best friend, Luke Grayson has been my neighbor since childhood.”

Both my eyebrows shot up in surprise. Who would have known….small world indeed. I have been to Luke’s house a dozen times but I have never seen Isabella before.

“You live near the St Peter’s church?”, I asked her curiously.

She nodded confused and muttered, “How did you know?”

“Luke is an old family friend of mine. We have known each other since childhood. His mother and my mother were besties. They went to the same high school and college.”, I whispered back, and ducked my head just in time, so as not to get caught by Mr Dillon.

Mr Dillon was awfully strict and never wasted any opportunity to give out detention. Despite his stern nature, I was kind of fond of him, because he was the only teacher in St Lawrence who treated every student as equal. The rest of them would turn a blind eye to all the messes the rich kids created and just prey on the scholarship kids while he wasn’t afraid to punish even the rich kids.

A strange expression passed on Isabella’s face when I mentioned that Luke and I been friends since childhood, but I couldn’t quite put a hand on what it meant. It was gone before I could even blink and was quickly replaced with her signature cheerful smile which left me blinking confusedly wondering whether I had imagined the whole thing.

“I have heard him talk about his childhood friend before…just didn’t know it was you”, she stated wistfully and I raised an eyebrow at her sudden change in tone.

Luke was the only one who talked to me in high school but we kept our friendship a secret because I didn’t like hanging out with his crowd…..with the arrogant, narcissist Mike Dillon and his group of followers.

Isabella then shook her head at Mr Dillon sympathetically and murmured to me in a matter of fact tone, “Mike apparently hates his father”

“Why?”, I asked her, not being able to stop myself from being curious.

“Well, it’s quite obvious, isn’t it? They are poles apart from each other. Mr Johnson is a scholar and a perfectionist whereas Mike is the typical jock though he is quite good at academics too, maybe his father’s genes, I don’t know.”, she replied matter of factly.

How is it that she knows more gossip than me who had spent my entire schooling here? Well, Isabella is quite good at making friends and she already had many friends across different class sections in our year and she had already befriended some of the seniors too.

“Rumor has it that none of the teachers bother with Mike because he always starts pestering them with questions in the class and advises them on how to teach more effectively and better”

I rolled my eyes and snorted. That’s just like him. In fact, this doesn’t surprise me anymore. I had always hated the guy. I had run into him several times when I was in Luke’s house and I had never met a more self obsessed guy in my life.

“Hey, do you know that Mia fancies Mike?”, Isabella continued to the gossip she is currently equipped with.

I raised an eyebrow at her confused. Isabella had quickly caught on to the fact that Mia and I didn’t get along quite well despite the two of us being a family.

“Yeah, I overhead her and Lisa talking in the washroom yesterday. Apparently, she joined the sports club with the sole purpose of latching on to Mike and has also hired a private trainer so that she would win all the titles at the sports meet this year so that she can impress Mike.”

I laughed out loud at this new found information. Mia was her daddy’s princess, so of course he would hire a personal trainer just so that his kid could win in a high school sports meet. But weren’t Mia and Kevin dating? Only this morning she was looking desperately for her supposed boyfriend.

“But what about Kevin?”, I asked her confused and she gave me a smug smile, already expecting my question.

“She is just using Kevin to get into the sports club and hang out with the jocks so she can eventually get near Mike.”

I let out a snicker suddenly and Isabella raised an eyebrow at me.

“Just imagine Mia running in her designer, glitter tank tops and high heels”, I said and she immediately burst out laughing.

I let out the laughter I had been holding inside too, and a split second too late, I realized that we were being too loud and now the entire class’s attention was on us.

Mr Dillon glared at us both and shouted, “You two detention!”

I groaned out loud. Great! Another detention! By this point I am a regular to the detention squad.

Mia turned around and smirked at us, satisfied. God! I hate that b***h. Ugh! Detention again!