The Wallflowers Revenge

Jason's Arrival

Here I am, waiting for Nicholas to reply to my text while he was busy making out with my best friend. Bianca doesn't deserve that title anymore.

I walk up to them and push Nicholas away. I stare intently at him, waiting for a reasonable explanation. Why is he doing this to me? What is his reason? Whatever it is, we can work it out together.

I'm still waiting for Nicholas to speak when Bianca turns me around and slaps me hard on my face. I hold my cheek in shock.

"How dare you?" I shout at her and raise my hand to slap her back. Nicholas holds my hand above my head, stopping me.

"Let me go!" I shout impatiently. Bianca takes the opportunity to yank my hair, pulling me towards her. She keeps dragging my hair while Nicholas holds my hands, leaving me defenceless.

Josephine rushes into the room and quickly goes to drag Bianca away. I pull my hands from Nicholas's grip and attack her.

"You w***e!" I shout at her and land her a knock on the head. She tries to attack but Josephine holds her in place, struggling to drag her out of the class.

Nicholas grabs my hand just before I can give her another knock. I pull away from his grip and slap him hard on the face. Turning around, I go after Bianca as Josephine drags her out of the class. Nicholas comes to stand in front of me, blocking my way.

My chest rises and falls rhythmically with my heavy breathing.

"How dare you," I say, pointing a finger at him. "Of all persons you could cheat with, you chose Bianca?"

"Yes, Abbie, Yes! And don't talk about her like she's less than you. You need to stop treating everyone as though you're better than them. You're rude and proud, and sometimes I feel like you're just using me like you do everyone else." Nicholas's voice rings outside the room, attracting the attention of other students.

My mouth hangs open, lacking words. I am not rude, nor any of those other things he said.

"That's your funny excuse? You're the one I caught cheating and you have the mind to call me all these things."

"What does cheating have to do with this? Put my cheating aside, you're a bad person. And it's not like you haven't cheated on me before."

"Nicholas, I've never..." My words remain in my mouth as I look at the picture Nicholas held in front of me. He knows. Bianca gave him the photo of me and Mr. Raymond. This photo isn't from yesterday. I know when I wore the pink cheerleading uniform. It was from the World Girls Day event hosted by the school which happened like six months ago. This can only mean one thing. Bianca has been watching me for long. And possibly, Nicholas has been spying on me too.

I push Nicholas aside and storm out of the classroom. The crowd of students part in front of me, giving me space to pass. One girl who is oblivious of my presence among the crowd, stands there watching Nicholas through the glass window of the classroom. Her eyes are filled with lust and she doesn't even know I'm beside her. I push her out of the way and she falls to the ground.

"You're a mean b***h as he said," the girl comments as I walk past her. Her words make me stop and come back to meet her still on the floor. I grab her by the collar of her shirt.

"What did you just say?" I ask, ready to beat the hell out of the girl who's even my junior.

She shakes her head fearfully as I glare at her. "Nothing, I said nothing."

I roughly let go of her collar and she falls flat to the floor. My eyes well up with tears as I move to the garden. I have a secret spot where I usually sit whenever I need time alone.

I move speedily through the hallway. Immediately I turn the corner towards one of the five entrances of the school where the admin block is, I collide with a guy. Papers fly in the air and his book falls to the floor.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry I didn't see you there..." I quickly bend down and arrange the papers, still muttering apologies to him. I spy his name on one of the documents.

"Jason..." I call out while handing him the papers.

I look up at him as he receives them. Our eyes meet and I must say, he's one dashing young man. With such a prominent jawline, deep brown eyes, brown curly hair, athletic build and killer smile that reflected his perfectly white teeth, he will win over the heart of any girl. I realize my gawking at him and quickly comport myself.

I clear my throat and let go of the papers. "I'll get going now, sorry for colliding with you."

Jeez! What am I saying? I shyly rush off down the hallway.

Jason's Pov

I haven't spent up to an hour here and the universe has already served me a hot chick. My charm must be magnetic. I bring up my phone and look at my reflection. Whoever that girl is, she will look for me later. No girl can absorb all this finesse in one meeting. They always come back for more.

I bring down my phone and look at the girl who is just walking out the door. She turns to look at me too and I wave at her with a smile. She looks away quickly without waving back. I understand they're always shy when they first meet me. Except for some bold ones like Chloe from summer camp. By Jove! That girl was a nutcase. She practically followed me everywhere. Her obsession with me was on a whole new level of cringe.

I continue down the hallway to the next office. Dad is supposed to be here doing this with me. We're in a new city for crying out loud. He is the one who always sang the mantra, new city, new life. But he's flunking on his parental duties again. After divorcing Mum, he couldn't even get me a new mother.

Dad had given Mum everything a multi-billionaire business tycoon could offer. But Mum left him to follow a middle-class man. Women are complex beings and that's why I choose not to be deeply involved with them.

Mum was very loving, she was the only parent who showed me true care, unlike Dad who was always flying from one city to the other on business. Even after the divorce, Mum kept taking care of me until Dad moved us from London. Now here I am, lost in this new city of New York. It's not like I need Dad anyway. I did not need him before, I do not need him now.

One good thing Dad did was enrol me into Oakville High School. This school is famed for having one of the best basketball teams in the country. It's my dream to be a national player and I believe my stay here will push me a step closer to actualizing this dream.

After meeting with the admin officer she leads me to my first class of the day. I walk into the classroom and all eyes are on me. I'm an eye-catcher so of course they will look. Some girls are already staring. I flash them a smile and they look away, blushing. The girls in this school are soft and easy to catch. It's boring not to have a challenge, a tough girl I have to exercise my wooing skills on. I expected more from high-class girls from rich families. This is Oakville High, the most expensive school in the state. The girls here should be hard to get.

My eyes catch a familiar pair of blue eyes hidden behind a black straight mass of hair. She's the girl from earlier, paper splash. That's what I'll call her until I get her name. Even if she tries to be stubborn and not tell me her name, she won't want to be called paper splash so she will be forced to tell me her name.

There's an empty seat beside her. She completely ignores me as I sit there. I've never been ignored by a girl like this. Had she gotten enough of my finesse already?

I borrow her pen and read her response to me. She doesn't seem to care. Then I notice her watery eyes. Is she about to cry? She soaks the tears in her eyes with her handkerchief so they don't fall. What could cause such a beautiful girl to cry in a literature class? What topic are we even learning? I remove my attention from the dark-haired beauty at my side and look at the other members of the class. They seem engrossed in what the teacher is saying. I've never been good at literature. I continued to fail at the subject in my former school until my teacher got tired of me. Mrs Petruce would always call me a dunkhead cause I was excellent at basketball and couldn't make even a D in literature.

I sighed in relief when the teacher finally ended the class. Everyone stands up, eager to leave the class just like I am. On my way out, the teacher calls me back. Oh crap!

"Jason, please wait behind. I'd like to introduce you to your class guide."

I furrow my brows as I turn to him. Class guide? Hope he isn't planning to set me up with one nerdy literature freak.

I meet him at his table and he points behind me. "Meet the best literature student in Oakville High School, she will be your class guide."

I turn around and lock eyes with Paper Splash. She looks away with an eye roll and I smile. I'll have a fun time with this girl.