A Dribble For Love [English]

Chapter 4

The long wait had finally over. Well honestly, she had just waited for about twenty days. But to her excitement, twenty days seemed forever. Wasn't it too exaggerated for a teenager to feel that way? What mattered to her most at that moment was, she needed to wear her best and be attractive to James. Well, congratulations to her because she even managed to be in the same class with James. Sometimes, it was worth the effort to be a good actress and she got it. She worked too hard for it and she did it. She smelled the success for her plan.

She was so true to her words about her so called seriousness. She had arrived in the class room in a perfect timing. The teacher was a about to speak when she interrupted.

"Good morning, fellas!" Danielle exclaimed with a bright smile and energetic vibes. She had even raised her arms up high while facing the whole class.

What an epic entrance! Well, that was crazy! None of the people inside the room utter a single word, neither Terrence nor James. Their eyes were focussed in one direction, they're looking at Danielle. There could be a certain word to describe their reaction, and that was 'jaw-drop'! They were all gaping to see a crazy stranger in their class. And it took a few seconds for Danielle to feel the awkwardness but she didn't care at all. She had slowly turned to the teacher and greeted her with a awkward smile.

"G-Good morning, ma'am. Did I make it on time?" Awkwardly, she asked.

"Well, you're just a second away from tardiness. And you must be..." Ms. Mckittrick said confirming her identity.

"Oh, D-Danielle. I'm Danielle Torres," she faked her smile as she was waving at whole class. Yet, none of them responded even just a smile.

"Oh, right! So, it's you. You know, I've heard so much about your story and I'm so aware that you are an actress. But I tell you what, I am the best actress here,'' Ms. McKittrick emphasized her authority and glared at her with an 'fool me and you'll be dead' look. Yet, she was threaten at all.

Everyone was murmuring after hearing such words from their teacher. For they knew well their teacher. She was known to be a scary old madame that even a glare could scare away bad students. Very very scary! This could be a terror class for Danielle, if she would mess around. But thinking about the positive side of it, having this kind of teacher could help the school to be a bully-free zone.

"O-Of course you are, Madame," Danielle had acknowledged the authority of her teacher. She was maybe a drama princess but she was not stubborn. She was raised in decent family with good manners and right conduct. She absolutely knew where she stood but she couldn't blame the teacher for saying it.

"Good! Oh wait, you're the third student came from same school. Is this merely coincidence or did you guys plan this?'' the was suspicious.

"Oh really? I uh... I don't think so,'' she stuttered knowing that she had planned all of these.

"Alright, you can find your seat now."

Danielle was roving her eyes to see a vacant seat. Terrence was waving at the back but she ignored it because she saw a vacant seat beside James.

Perfect! Everything went well for her plan. But as she was heading to that seat, everyone was gazing at her, even James. A kind of gaze that could melt someone down, as she was half way there, she almost lost her strength but she had to be still.

"Come on! Hold still, Danielle! Hold still!" she scolded herself at the back of her mind.

"Eherm," she cleared her throat as she gripped her hands to gain strength. "Is this seat taken?" she asked James. That was the first time she spoke to him closely. She couldn't stop her lips from shaking as she was facing the person whom she admired. As if her precious young heart was about to pop out from her chest.

"No."

What a plain answer from James. There was no emotion at all. He quickly turned his head to a another direction. Obviously, he didn't want to have a conversation with her but Danielle really tried her best to reach out.

"Hi, I'm Danielle. Nice to meet you. And you are...'' as if she didn't know the guy. She just wanted to talk to him. Danielle offered her hands to him for a handshake but he ignored her, so she had take it back and just took the seat beside him.

That was so embarrassing! But wait, why she was not affected at all? As she felt comfortable with her seat, she even tried to whisper to James.

"Hey, look. I'm trying here, okay?" she said in a hush tone.

"Who told you to do so?" he snorted.

That was a direct hit. It smelled like there would be another big challenge for Danielle, and that was his being an arrogant. James was a little hard to please guy and somehow easy to be irritated. Let us see how far could she go with his personality.

"That made you even more cute. Uh...so sweet," Danielle blurted it out. But James didn't expect to hear that. He turned to her with a frown and didn't seem to like it at all. He looked angry.

"Oops. Did I say that out loud?" she even covered her mouth because she herself couldn't believe what she had just said. She's embarrassing yet happy of what she did.

"Could you shut up and concentrate on the class? If you don't, I'll report you," he said firmly.

"Alright, alright. I was just trying my best to be friendly here," she reasoned.

His being arrogant had no effect to her. She had even managed to ignore his bad attitude towards her and remained in a good vibes. Hopefully it would last and she would be able to win his heart or else all her efforts would end up in vain.

While everyone was busy on the class, she was also busy eying James. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. How could she ever get concentrate in the class like this? Did she forgot the condition that had been given to her in order to remain in this school? In just a blink of an eye, she forgot everything. She forgot her promised to her mother. She forgot that she needed to behave and perform well as a under observation student. Anytime she could be kick out of the school as agreed. But really, her craziness about James was a distraction for her. This could be worse!