HALLUCINATED

A Playboy?

It had been a week since the day Aaron Cage skipped English. Ever since, I didn’t see him at school. Neither the other two guys. Ginny was upset too. She had not heard from Justin all week.

It was a Tuesday and Tuesdays for me were the worst. Every Tuesday we were supposed to turn in a report of how our week went, to the life skills class for the first month of our session. It was a pain in the ass to write those reports for someone like me who wouldn’t have anything going on in life except waking, attending school, eating studying, watching Netflix, eating and sleeping and repeat.

And no, this Tuesday I hadn’t prepared my report. Life skill was fifth on my schedule. Before it was lunch break. So the most I could do to save my ass from Ms. Hermeth was that I could make something up during lunch.

When the bell signaling end of fourth period rang, I gathered my ass to run across the corridor and towards the canteen. With my books in one hand and the other keeping the strap of my bag in place, I ran towards the only vacant seat I could see.

Once I was settled, I opened my file and started filling in for the report. I had about fifteen minutes to bring something up. But, because my life actually sucks, I couldn’t get anything good enough to write. I mean, I do literally nothing all day that was worth accounting.

As I sat there looking around the canteen, hoping on finding some sort of inspiration, my eyes dropped on a very beautiful yet disturbing sight. It was Ginny with Justin, both were laughing. And with them was none other than, Aaron Cage.

My eyes were bulging out of my head and if they got any bigger they would just fall onto my feet! But seriously, for a week this guy was nowhere to be seen and today here he is accompanying MY friend and here supposed to-be or already-been boyfriend.

Ginny came to stand in front of the table I was sitting at. I swear the grin on her face could fill in for all the missing gossip that was due. But I wasn’t gonna let go of this new topic.

“Hey babe. This is Justin. Justin. Ivory. My best friend.” Ginny introduced us formally with the same grin on her face.

“This is Aaron. He is Justin’s friend. They’d been in the same junior too. Oh! And I filled him in about how you both ended up being partners and you can thank me for that later. Now I guess you both should start working on the project since Aaron finally showed up today. And the due date is next Monday.” Ginny said turning to Aaron for the last line.

Next thing I knew was Aaron sitting beside me and Ginny and Justin sitting across the table chatting. From the look of it I could really not tell that they just got to know each other a week ago, had I not known that it wasn’t true, that is. While the two went on about every possible thing they could talk about, silence had engulfed me and Aaron.

God! This was soo awkward!

Aaron was the first to break the silence.

“Hi. I'm Aaron. Aaron cage. I'm sorry about the gym incident. I'm a little too worked up during gym.”

“Oh! No! I'm sorry. I was not paying attention.”

“Well, that’s true. You should not drool over other’s body during your game.” He winked. The nerve of him. He was the one who was staring at me!

“We both know who caused it. And by the way now that both of us are not being formal, I would like to admit that it served you right!”

“Woah! I like not-being-formal thing.”

Did I ever think he was gorgeous? Well, maybe he was on the outside. But in person he was real filth! Can’t believe I was crushing on him on the first day.

“Don’t eye-f**k me! It’s rude you know.” Aaron blabbered.

“Can we please stop and start with what we were supposed to do originally.”

“Oh, and what might that be?” he wriggled his brows and it finally dawned on me how my words came out to be.

“Yeah! In your dreams! I'm talking about our English assignment here.”

“Yeah right. What is it about, again?”

“We have to write a book review on any of the classics.”

“And have you read any classics yet?”

I shook my head. Was he trying to dump the work on me? I swear to god if he was anywhere near implying that, I would kill him.

“I think you sh –

The sound of the bell cut him off mid-sentence. Realizing that this was end of lunch break and also end of my supposed chance at saving my ass in life skills, I buried my head in my hands and groaned.

“Uh! What am I gonna do?” I moaned into my hand.

I heard Aaron laugh lightly before I felt his hand on my shoulder.

“Problem?”

“I haven’t finished writing my report for life skills and I was supposed to turn it in by today or I get an F for this week or even worse, Ms. Hermeth won’t let me continue in her class. She’s pretty strict for life skills in charge.”

“Why don’t you just skip class and I’ll fill in for you as sick?”

“And that would save me from getting an F.”

“If we make it look genuine then, yes.”

“And why would you do that for me?”

He moved his chair closer to mine and leant over to hover over me. He was so close that I could feel his hot breath on my face.

“I am always glad to lend my help to the ones who need.”

I felt a little suspicious about this but I guess I didn’t have a choice now, did I?

“Ok. Thank you.”

“You should decide whether to thank me or not later.”

With that I got up and headed to the parking.

The rest of my day went on like any other usual day. Except that I had now completed my report and it was ready to be submitted and I could also manage to get nice grades. Thanks to Aaron. But like he said I’ll save my thanks for later.

The next day, my life skills was on fourth in my schedule. I was happy and at peace that I would be able to submit my report. I walked in the class room with my head down and a smile on my face. I walked to the usual seat I would take, second row third seat. As I came to a halt beside my seat I noticed a figure slumped into my chair and head buried into his phone. It took a few minutes for me to recognize him. He was none other than Aaron Cage. Now, that caught my complete attention. He hadn’t opted for life skills. I hadn’t seen him attend the class during the past two weeks since the start of the year.

“What are you doing here Cage?” I asked him confused.

Aaron looked up at me with a devilish grin plastered on his face. He kept looking at me with the expression until Ms. Hermeth walked into the class.

“Oh Miss Hale, fancy seeing you here today?” sarcasm was dripping from her sentence.

“Excuse me Ma’am. I didn’t quite get you?” I was confused. What was going on?

“Dear, you are not allowed in this class for this year I am taking you out of it. I suggest you choose a different option if you cannot take this class seriously.”

“I don’t get ma’am. What have I done?”

“Don’t play smart Miss Hale. You bunked the class yesterday and it was made pretty clear that I don’t spare kids who make mistakes like that. Had it not been for Mr. Cage informing us you would have been able to pull out an incredible act and gotten away with your carelessness. And the group is not even at loss as Cage himself is replacing you.”

It all hit me like lightening and it took me a few minutes for everything to sink in and make sense. But eventually it all did in the end. My head turned in the direction of Aaron, where he sat with the smirk stuck to his face. I couldn’t believe I had trusted this devil.

I stared at him for what felt like ages and abruptly whipped my head away from the disgusting sight of his face. I walked out of the class with my head hanging low and as I reached the door I looked back at Aaron whose expression was now replaced by a blank one and I glared for a complete minute then looked ahead as tears threatened to spill.

For the next half hour of the fourth period, I had a major breakdown in the girls’ restroom. I cried my eyes out and punched the walls and cursed Cage and mostly myself for believing that piece of s**t. When the bell rang for the lunch I got out did my touch up to hide my horribly swollen face and headed towards the canteen.

I found Ginny sat at our usual spot with Justin. She really looked happy so instead of me ruining their moment, I walked in a different direction in search of a vacant seat. When I found one I settled there with my books and started finishing my homework and preparing in advance for my next class. I was so taken up by what I was doing that I never realized that Ginny and Justin had come to stand beside my table until Ginny impatiently tapped on my table.

I immediately looked up.

“And Missy, what do you think you are doing here all by yourself. Do you know I had been waiting for you?”

“Oh I thought I might just –

“Yeah don’t give me that! And for heavens f**k! Have you been crying?!”

I laughed at her way of interjection. Ginny took a seat with me and Justin along with her. I filled them in on what happened today.

“I'm so sorry Ivy. Aaron is not mature enough to understand what he’d done. He doesn’t understand how much your good grades mean to you. Unlike himself there are people who attend school to actually study. I'm really sorry, he’s naïve.” Justin finished.

“Yeah and besides he’s such a jerk. Did you know that he was known to be dating Mia?” Jessica asked, scrunching up her nose in disgust at Mia’s name.

Mia was a w***e b***h and we all knew it. I shook my head no to answer her question and she continued.

“Anyways, Aaron was with her only to get in her pants and yesterday after you left he broke up with her and insulted and called her a slut in front of everyone in the middle of the corridor. I mean not that she doesn’t own the title already but that has always been in gossips. Girl! You should have seen her face. I’d never seen her cry like that before, or anyone for that matter. She was a mess. And today I saw him with Tessy. He’s such a play boy. ”

My eyes had widened and my mouth had dropped into a ‘O’.

Even though I agree to the fact that Mia is a b***h but yet even she didn’t deserve that. I really felt bad for her.

While I was sitting in my seat looking down at the tray Ginny had pushed in front of me, from my peripheral view I saw Aaron walking towards me.

“Hi partner!” he greeted as if he was not aware of what had happened just an hour ago. The nerve of this boy! I really couldn’t control the anger that was taking over my senses and in a matter of minutes I exploded.

“After what you did to me, you still have the nerve to show me your face.” I literally screamed.

“Woah! I just used an opportunity to get my revenge on you for the gym class. Plus I really wanted an easy A so would have to study a little less.” He tried explaining while he was as calm as ever.

“you little son of a … unlike you mister Cage, there are people who need an easy A not to lessen the amount of hard work they’ll have to do but to use that time and energy to work harder for the other subjects. Do you know how important that A was for me? Do you know how much I’ve lost due to this little stunt that you pulled? I’ve seen many assholes till date Aaron Cage but let me tell you, you top them all. Open up your eyes Aaron and look around you ‘cause people don’t live to serve you! You’re the worst, Cage. The. Worst. I hate you. And even though I'm stuck here as your partner in English but I would work on my own projects and you on yours. I don’t want anything to do with you. I despise you Aaron Cage!”

And with that I stomped off with Ginny hot on my heels.