A Chance At A Time

Chance IV: Forget About Trust Funds

"Kris!" Melody's slurred voice came through as Kristofer and his friends found a table at the pub and began ordering their drinks. The other students began to murmur around wondering about Melody and Kristofer. Kristofer was positive that even the freshmen thought he was going out with her. Such gossip and rumors spread across campus like wildfire!

Melody moved between the bodies of the university students that were taking a break for the night but then again it was always like that throughout the week. Students just loved alcohol because it was a way to deal with the stress they got from their college programs. She went over to where Kristofer was, making sure every girl in that pub saw her, and wrapped her arm around his shoulder before she placed a kiss on his cheek. 

"Hey, Melody." Kristofer moved away a little and unwrapped her arm from his shoulder. 

"Can my friends and I join you at your table? We are sitting on the other side of the bar and it is full of freshmen." She rolled her eyes and added. "Very boring."

"Nah." Cash quickly answered. "We are here to discuss some man issues."

"I wasn't talking to you, Cash." Melody killed his buzz.

Cash rested back on his chair and shrugged. "Then I suggest you start doing so because I'm Kris' closest friend and I can help you get him."

Kristofer turned to Cash with the are-you-f*****g-kidding-me-right-now look but the guy just grinned and wiggled his brows. Kristofer didn't want to answer any questions from Melody so he didn't wait for the waitress to put down her tray and quickly took a beer before gulping it down. 

"Is that true, Kris?" The smile on her face slowly faded.

Kristofer just gave her a shrug.

"Is this because of that freshman?" Melody inquired, her eyes turning thunderous suddenly. "You are seriously going to brush me off because of some b***h-faced freshman?"

Kristofer knew Melody was seconds away from making a scene. She was always someone who thought the world revolved around her and always wanted to have things go her way. She was what Kristofer called a trust fund baby. She thought the entitlement that her parents bestowed on her, cut across the world and that everyone around her was supposed to attend to her whims. What she didn't understand was that everyone came from different walks of life and they had their own s**t to deal with. She was negligible in other people's lives, no matter how much of that irked her. 

One of those people who saw her as a negligible variable in his life was Kristofer. No matter how much Kristofer tried to highlight to her that he didn't want to be with her, she still came back. 

"Come with me." Kristofer suddenly got up and grabbed her arm then guided her out of the bar until they were at the foyer where it was a little quieter. 

Kristofer went out that night for that one reason; get Melody off his back for good. 

"Let. Me. Go." Melody angrily yanked her hand away from Kristofer's grasp and crossed her arms across her chest defensively then eyed him like the way a mother would eye an errant child. 

She was already worked up because her breathing came out in harsh pools of air and her eyebrows came down her forehead in a frown. Her mouth was pulled in a tight line and Kristofer could almost hear her string of curses that were going to tumble out of her mouth once he brushed her off yet again.

"You need to stop sabotaging my tutorials, Melody. Unlike you, some of us do not have trust funds to support us through school. We need to work hard and earn money. Is someone else's struggles just a joke to you just because you have it all?" Kristofer gritted his teeth.

He couldn't deny that Melody was one of the hot girls at the university and that she could have any guy she wanted there but she didn't want anyone else other than him.

"It's not the tutorials that I am worried about, it's the girls that you tutor. I know that all of them are interested in you and I don't want them to steal you from me--"

"But I am not yours, to begin with! I never was and I never will be. I was your tutor, Melody but that was all there was." Kristofer exclaimed then ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath. "Melody, you and I don't have anything going on. You need to accept that and move on."

"It's that freshman then, isn't it?" A murderous expression was reflected on her face as one side of her mouth went up in a half-smile filled with malice. "She is the one who got you all tangled up in your feelings for her. I've never lost to anyone below me before and I ain't going to start now. So, if she has to go, she has to go."

"Melody, are you listening to yourself?"

"Of course I am! I am listening to myself way better than you are listening to me." She assured him.

"Harper has nothing to do with this Melody so don't try anything," Kristofer warned her but he knew his words were only adding fuel to her already roaring flame of hatred and vengeance. Kristofer could almost see the wheels of her mind churning in her head, coming up with all sorts of absurd scenarios of what she had installed for Harper. 

Kristofer wasn't the person to stand aside and watch someone get harassed for something that is not their fault. Many of the female students that he was helping in his tutorial program dropped out because of Melody's threats and even though he had even complained about it to the college administration, there wasn't much they could do because of what her family was doing for the college but this was the last straw. 

"If you don't want to see a side of me that will shock you, Melody, stay away from Harper." He told her sternly. 

Melody laughed bitterly and turned to her shoes. It looked like she was looking for a decent come back for him and when she found it, she lifted her face up and she asked. "What is it about Harper that gets you all protective of her, Kris? This is not like you. You didn't really give a f**k about all the previous girls I drove away yet you are ready to bring out big, bad, Kris when it comes to Harper. Why is that so? What has this b***h done for you that I haven't mastered yet?"

Unlike the other girls, Harper had absolutely no interest in him. In fact, Kris was utterly sure she hated him. Kristofer could work with that because it meant she would concentrate on the work more than on his face and her fantasies about him. Harper was also hardworking although she was clueless about what she was doing. It was as if she had something to prove either to the world or to herself. If pointed in the right direction, Kristofer was sure Harper would do wonders especially with her determination and zest to learn. 

One could not choose their group mates but now that she was in his and he needed the credits in order to keep his scholarship, he had no choice but to make sure that she became one of the best freshmen. Even if it meant that he tutored her himself. 

"Because I need her to keep my scholarship," Kristofer told her the truth. "She is in my group assignment team this semester which means she needs to perform her best for me to get the credits I need to graduate this year." 

Melody's eyebrows arched up in surprise. "That is all?" 

"Harper hates me to hell and back but why should I explain anything to you, Melody. I need you to stop interfering in what I do." He told her. "I will not be this nice the next time you do something to affect me."

A small smile appeared on her face as she reached forward and ran her hand over his chest. "How can I stop interfering with all this? I can't help loving you, Kris, and I will make sure you will love me in the future." Without a warning, Melody leaned in and planted a kiss on Kristofer's lips then quickly went back to where her friends were.

The passers-by whispered to themselves at the action but Kristofer gritted his teeth. Melody was not his type and there was never going to be a relationship in the near future like the way she thought but she was quite dense, not wanting to believe that the one person that she liked in college didn't feel the same. Kristofer knew it wasn't about what she felt about him because the feelings always lied to the heart but in the end, those feelings died. To Melody, having Kristofer was like getting a trophy after a long battle. She knew so many girls were interested in him and she wanted to rise in triumph that she got him. That wasn't the kind of relationship Kristofer wanted.

With a sigh, Kristofer returned to his table where Cash and the others were giving him the knowing look.

"It looks like you told Melody exactly what she wanted to hear. I haven't seen her that happy before--" Jace remarked.

"I don't want to even hear of it," Kristofer growled as he gulped down his beer and ordered a new bottle as a waiter passed close to their table.

The others chuckled lightly and went back to their idle conversation while Kristofer pondered on the next step to keep Melody from ruining his life...

                                                            **********************

Harper looked down at the laptop in front of her then up at Kristofer. She could tell that he had a very long night yesterday and that got her a little annoyed given to account that he was the one who told them to work hard yet he was out the whole night and looked like he drowned himself in alcohol. She wondered if she could trust him in terms of the work they had to do together. 

"What is this?" She asked him, turning back to the laptop he had placed in front of her.

Kristofer rubbed his face and ran his hand through his dark bedroom hair but the locks fell right back in their previous place. "This is my old computer, I hardly used it because it didn't have the specifications I needed. You are wasting too much time coming to the library every time you need to work and since I am not using this laptop, I will lend it to you until you get yours--" 

"I am not a charity case, Kris." Harper retorted tautly. 

Kristofer was looking down on her! 

She pushed the laptop to him and said. "I am going to get my own in time and I don't need for you to look down on me. I am facing enough bullshit every day to have someone like you do that."

Kristofer scoffed. "I am not looking down on you. I am trying to help you finish off your part of the assignment. As it is, you are one with the most revisions, not to mention you have not completed the work in the first place. I sent you some references last night, did you check them?" Kristofer had printed out her work and to her dismay, she saw just how many revisions Kristofer did on it. 

Did he really know what he was doing with his alcohol-laden brain? She wondered in distaste as she took her work and looked through it. 

"And what do you mean by someone like me? Why, am I too low a class to breathe the same air as you? Or is it because I have tattoos and I love silver on my body?" He asked.

Harper looked up at the upset Kristofer and was rendered speechless because his eyes smoldered with cold flames that threatened to engulf her and burn her into a crisp. He wasn't merely upset, he was enraged by her careless words. 

"You forget that if you were a trust fund baby in your past life, you just woke up to the harsh reality and you have no title here. You are plain and powerless, like me. Now, it's high time you get your head out of your fantasy world and start accepting your circumstances as they are, including having someone like me to deal with." He snapped.

Harper pursed her lips and turned her eyes back to the stapled papers he handed her. He was very immaculate in revising her work, making small notes on the side for her which included all the articles she needed to read to get the information and the page numbers. It was as if he had already gone through all the material and just wanted her to compile the information so that she did her part in the assignment. 

"I didn't mean--"

"We are done here. Take the laptop and do the work. Send me the draft this evening so that I can compile the report before Friday. After that, you can toss that laptop in the trash for all I care." He got up, shoving the chair back so hard that he caught the attention of the other students there. 

Harper wanted to shrink away and just hide. She watched Kristofer's broad back until he disappeared then looked down at the laptop he left behind for her to use. She searched the laptop bag and got out a mouse and the charger. The laptop looked quite new that she wondered if he had just lied to her so that she didn't feel guilty about him buying her a laptop. 

It was funny how in her past life, she loved it when someone bought her something. Her father and friends spoiled her, getting her expensive gifts. She never felt guilty because she knew that she could afford that kind of stuff. But now that she couldn't afford it, she felt as if people pitied her even though they truly didn't know her situation. 

You forget that if you were a trust fund baby in your past life, you just woke up to the harsh reality and you have no title here. You are plain and powerless, like me.

Kristofer's words burnt holes in the little pride that she still had. She wasn't going to surrender or cry in defeat for this. She was going to fight until the end and show her father and everyone else who doubted her that she could stand on her own two feet. 

"I'm not a trust fund baby," Harper grumbled lightly to herself as she opened the laptop when someone suddenly passed her and accidentally knocked down her books. Harper frowned and as she bent down to collect them, the guy also bent down at the same time and their heads butted. "Ouch!"

Harper pushed back and rubbed her forehead, staring in annoyance at the guy who was also rubbing his. 

"I'm sorry. I was a little distracted." He bent down again and collected her books before he placed them back on her table.

"No harm done," Harper assured him as she pulled the books from the edge of the table to prevent the accident from happening again in the near future. 

The guy gave her a little nod then turned to leave but took just a few steps forward before he looked up and sighed then turned back to Harper who had completely turned her attention to the laptop. She was surprised when the guy suddenly settled down in front of her, in the seat that Kristofer had vacated. 

"I'm sorry but I was wondering if you would like to grab something to eat with me one of these days." Harper almost smiled as she watched his face turn bright red with shyness. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and smiled sheepishly then added. "The reason I knocked your books over was that I was staring shamelessly at you for a long time."

"Like the way a stalker would?" Harper asked. She couldn't help but tease him because his expression made her chuckle lightly.

"Nothing like that. I just--I just wanted to talk to you. You and I share some of the classes and I have always wanted to talk to you but...." He looked down at the table then quickly looked up. "I am Evans, by the way."

Harper gave him a little nod but she couldn't help but smile at his expressions. Back then people were always scared to approach her because of her status and at the college, she didn't give anyone the opportunity to talk to her. Evans had balls if he could try and pass through the barriers she had erected around herself. "Harper."

"Harper Scott, I know." He assured her.

Though Harper had put it in her head that she was not there to make friends, her friends at home had suddenly disappeared. She couldn't get hold of any of them and wondered if her father had stopped them from contacting her. Harper was very anti-social especially when she was surrounded by people she didn't know. She liked her own company better than talking to someone who didn't get her excited. She wanted to give Evans a chance because he seemed different from the likes of Kristopher who was very upset with her. 

"So, would you like to go for lunch or dinner with me?" Evans asked.

Harper thought a little about it and nodded. "Sure."

Evan's eyes widened in disbelief. "Really?" he exclaimed then recalled that they were in the library. He lowered his voice and repeated his question. "Really?"

Harper nodded. "Of course." then looked down at her watch and discovered that it was almost time for her next class. "I need to get to my next class."

"Okay, so can I have your number so that we can plan something?" Evans asked and Harper frowned.

"I don't have a phone at the moment." She gave him an apologetic look.

He chuckled and shrugged his broad shoulders. "There is a freshers cookout this Saturday at the college's main grounds. Maybe we can meet there."

Harper smiled and got up. "Sure."

Evans stood up with her and said. "Wow, I didn't expect this--but you will not be disappointed. I will see you at six?"

"Six it is. Bye Evans." Harper collected her stuff and headed out of the library. 

She had not planned to go to any event at the university unless it had something to do with her program but she had not been to a cookout either. It sounded interesting and she wanted to see what was happening there. As she made her way through the hallway she noticed Melody was speaking to her friends. When Melody saw her, she gave her a venomous glare and gave her the middle finger.

Harper's eyebrow arched up slowly and took her time studying the girl from her shoes to the top of her head. She wasn't even worth her time but she was really trying hard to get her attention. The friends that were surrounding her snickered and chuckled. Harper rolled her eyes at them and continued walking as if they weren't even in the same plane as her. Melody and her friends were troublemakers and maybe they had nothing to lose but Harper had plenty starting with her pride as a Blaak and her reputation at the college. 

Though she wanted to go back there and pull Melody's hair out, she knew that was what the little b***h was expecting. She wasn't going to fall for that but she was going to get even with her at a level that was going to leave her beyond baffled. 

A small wicked smile appeared on Harper's face and she tossed around the prospects in her head as she entered her classroom...