Girl Next Door

CHAPTER 3

Tifa had just finished an English class which had been handled by the homeroom teacher, Miss Anabelle Greene.

The next class was the Math Class and Tifa couldn't wait for all the classes to be over so she could get back home and wrap the large arms of her duvet around her.

"Calculus. That's our topic for today's math class" The voice of the Math Professor brought Tifa back to reality. She hadn't even noticed when he walked in.

Adjusting her glasses on her nose bridge, she flicked the cap of her pen open and wrote down the topic. Raising her head, she focused her eyes on the stoutly built man whose hairline is receding and paid rapt attention to whatever he was saying.

Tifa adjusted in her seat when the man threw a question to the class. The question was a hard nut to crack as there was pin drop silence because nobody seemed to know the answer.

Peering closely at the question on the whiteboard through her glasses, Tifa returned her head to her note and scribbled a few things. She continued scribbling for a while and ran double lines under the answer when she finally got it.

Slipping her hands into the pocket of her hoodie, she leaned back into her chair and allowed her eyes to scan the whole of the class.

"Anyone?" Came the Math Professor.

This was the second time he was asking if anyone knew the answer, making Tifa wonder if the whole class was made up of no brainers.

"You" The Professor paused in front of Tifa, making her snap back into reality.

"Your face doesn't seem familiar. You're new?" He asked, leaning against the edge of Tifa's desk.

"Yes Sir, I am" Tifa lowered her eyes.

"I'd like you to raise your face, Miss. My eyes are up here".

“Darn it!” Tifa cussed inwardly. Eye contact was something she hated a lot.

Gathering all the courage in her, she raised her head till her eyes met with the Professor's caramel colored ones.

"So, your name?" The Professor asked.

"Tifa Usnavi, Sir" She replied, eyes dancing left and right.

"Name of your former High School?" He probed further.

“What's this? Some kind of interview?” Tifa wondered, almost smirking.

"Summer Academy of Arts and Science" She finally answered.

"Ok then" The Professor said, unleaning from Tifa's desk.

"So, Tifa Usnavi" He called her two names.

"Can you supply the answer to the question?" He continued.

“What?” Tifa's eyes slightly widened in surprise.

“Where's that even coming from? I mean, why me?” She thought.

"Tifa?" He called out and she was brought to the present.

After hesitating for a while, she stood and gave the right answer.

"An applause for her, please" The Professor beamed.

"You may have your seat, Tifa" He smiled at her, amidst the applause.

In less than forty minutes, the Professor rounded up the Math Class and next came, recess.

Tifa sighed as she remembered that she didn't have her map with her and that she had to go to the school's cafeteria.

Walking down to the edifice of the map just beside the school logo was something she didn't want to do, so she was left with no option but to ask for directions from a fellow student - another thing she didn't want to do.

"Arrgh!" She groaned out loud.

"Why is this so hard?"

"And here comes our clumsy weasel. Why is what so hard?" She heard a voice then felt the presence of more than one person around her.

She didn't know she had said that a little too loud.

She raised her head to meet the teal blue eyed boy staring intently at her. His strongly scented cologne whiffed into her nostrils, causing her to inhale deeply. His features were also something her eyes couldn't help but take cognizance of.

On his visage sat his piercing teal blue eyes roofed by dark lashes. His aquiline nose settled atop his full lips while thin beards which ran along on either sides of his profile colliding with his sideboards graced under his chin.

His head carried midnight black hair which had been gelled up at the back, the front falling over his eyes in ringlets.

Her eyes raked him over, taking in his slightly broad shoulders and chest which was clad in a Hawaiian shirt. As though reminded by someone that he had asked a question, Tifa snapped back to the present, her lashes fluttering as she did.

Had she ogled him a millisecond back? No! Of course not! She had only taken note of his features which screamed, “Notice Me!”.

“The f**k is this guy's problem with me?” She wondered, trying to avoid eye contact with him.

"I asked what's so hard" He repeated.

"Your titties?" He continued, causing the other boys around him to laugh out loud.

A look of disgust spread across her face. She knew what titties meant but what she didn't know was why that had to be the first thing to roll off his tongue.

Raking her eyes over him again, she took notice of the stud that was on his left ear as well as the 18-karat million dollar gold chain on his neck: typical bad boy look. She wondered why she hadn't seen that since.

“He must be filthy rich” She thought because everything about him screamed money ranging from his Hawaiian shirt, to his pair of designer Bermudas and his Dior sneakers.

"Probably" Another boy said.

"Who knows? She must have been wanking all through Math Class" Another said, earning guffaws from the rest.

"Clumsy weasel? Have you guys met before?" One of the boys asked.

"Oh yeah! She's the girl I told you about who bumped into me in the hallway, making me change my shirt because of the coffee she spilled on it. I wonder why we have to share the same class" He replied.

"Ahan!" The boy who asked nodded his head.

"And our newbie hasn't answered my question yet" The teal blue eyed boy said, reaching out and tossing the hood of her hoodie off her head.

"Uh oh, Shawty's got freckles" He said, laughing, the others following suit.

“You didn't have to remind me, you fool” Tifa wanted to say but restrained herself.

She had suddenly become self conscious as he had reminded her of the dapples on her face which lay evenly spread on her nose bridge and on either sides of her face, just below her eyes.

"Nothing's hard. Just go away. Please" She finally replied, looking everywhere but their eyes.

"Seems you have difficulty maintaining eye contact" The blue eyed boy crouched to level up with her height.

“Good gracious” Tifa sighed inwardly, rolling her eyes.

She fought the urge to reach out and place her five fingers on his face and push his head backwards.

"Shawty's got nerves, huh" He said, looking up at the other boys.

"We'll put her in her place" One said.

"Just like we've done to the others" Another added.

"Can you please go away?" She said with pleading eyes, irritation lacing her voice.

"Not until I'm done making you understand whose rules you'll play by, if you want to enjoy your stay here" He replied, a smirk sitting at the corner of his lips.

"My rules" He added.

A pause came afterwards, allowing the words to sink in.

"Tad's the name and C-TENN's my gang name: Chance, Eden, Nebula and Nolan. I'm sure you know who the T stands for" Another pause followed.

"We're the Kings here and you'll have to obey. Failure to do that attracts punishment" He said, rising to his feet.

'Bully alert' Tifa's brain rang again and again.

"I think we've dished out enough guys. Let's see if she'll become a fall guy" Tad laughed and turned to walk away, the other boys on his trail.

Tifa heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Tad and his gang walk away but her relief was short lived when she noticed that Tad had paused in his tracks and had turned around.

“The hell does he want again?” She wondered as she pulled her hoodie over her head.

"A friendly reminder" Tad began leaning on the edge of her desk.

"I don't like wiseacres and it seems like you're one" He looked her in the eye, disgust sitting on his face.

"Do me a favor and pocket all that intelligence you think you have".

"That's an order" He added.

"If I don't know it, then no one else knows it. Got that?"

"Got that, Freckles?" He asked again, when Tifa didn't respond, moving closer, voice raised.

"Uh, yeah. Got that" Tifa quickly nodded, slightly frightened.

"Good girl" He said.

"And try not to be clumsy" He reached out and took her glasses off her eyes, dropping it on her desk before walking away.

"So much for my first day at school" Tifa muttered under her breath as she watched Tad and his gang sashay their way out of the class.

Annoyance taking over, Tifa sprang up from her seat and went after Tad. She wasn't sure exactly what she was about to do, but she knew it was something she was going to probably regret doing because an aftermath was sure to come.