Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen I follow the direction of her eyes, and immediately recognize some familiar faces.

Walking upfront is no other than the school queen Valerie Vale, and next to her is Eason. She has her arm wrapped around his tightly, like she’s parading him around like a trophy. Eason’s face is calm, a bit aloof even. His eyes travel right pass the crowd, as if no one in this room is worthy of his attention. I’ve never seen him like this before. As far as I can recall, he’s never been scanty in showing his emotions around me. I wonder if he has always been like this in school.

There’re six or seven students behind them, including that red-haired boy James I met at the party. They walk towards the only empty table and sit down, while the others admire them in distance.

“Wow.” Katherine gasps besides me, “Intimidating, right?”

“I’ve seen worse.” That would be partly lying. But I don’t want to cave in just yet.

“Ok, enough of them,” Katherine snaps her fingers in front me to get my attention. “Now, the top one priority for you is to find a date to the ball. If you pull that one successfully, there’s still chance for you to salvage the situation.” “My date to what?”

“The homecoming ball! I can’t believe you forgot. Please tell me you have shopped for that?” “Oh.” I mutter, “Yes. I bought a dress.”

Which was paid by the very person sitting next to Valerie right now.

“OK one problem solved. Now you just need to find someone to take you to the ball.”

I groan in frustration, “Can’t I just go alone?” I’m already the target. Things can’t get worse than that.

“Oh my god, no!” Katherine gasp in complete shock, “That would be so sad. And pathetic.”

I want to laugh at her comment, but my smile turns out to be wry. As far as I can see, my survival is at stake here. The last thing I should worry right now is some stupid ball and a date. “I’ll think about this,” I tell her dutifully, “I think I’m about to take off. See you later?”

I haven’t touched my food. But my appetite is completely gone now. I pick up my tray and wave Katherine goodbye. Out of habit, I take a quick glance at Eason’s direction, and that’s when our eyes meet in the middle air.

I have no idea how long he has been staring at me. He’s resting his chin on his right hand, while holding Valerie’s hand with the other. As we lock eyes, he raises his brow at me and smiles.

I was fine with him walking in with Valerie and everything. Not jealous at all. But why does he have to smile at me? He must be so proud of himself. Having a popular girlfriend and messing with me at the same time. Way to go, fuckboy!

I groan a curse and escape the café immediately.

Nothing special happens during the rest of my day. Fortunately, the schoolwork isn’t so hard, so I can easily keep up. And as for my mean classmates, as long as I keep my eyes down at all times and watch my ways in the corridor, I’m fine for now.

I spend a lot of time during class thinking about the homecoming ball. I know I have absolutely zero interest in this event, but Mr. Ramirez is an alumnus. He has already told me this morning that he’s invited to give a speech, so he’d definitely notice my absence, which is the last thing I want.

So I will go to this thing. But what about my date?

I groan a curse. I bet there’s not a single person in this school who’s willing to come with me. I’ll be that pathetic loser sitting on the bench the entire time. Maybe a school faculty will invite me to dance out of pity, making it even sadder.

I suck in a deep breath and sign. My life would be so much better if Eason wasn’t in it.

***

Finally, my horrible first day is coming to an end. With the bell ringing loudly, I’m out of my chair immediately. I can’t wait to escape this hell and go back home, scoop a bowl of ice cream and call Jenna.

I miss her so much. It feels like a generation since we part.

Once out of the classroom, I pick up my pace heading out. The sidewalk is packed with exciting teenagers, talking enthusiastically about their first day, so I have to push my way through the crowd. I was so close to the front gate, when suddenly someone calls my name from behind. “Hey, Natalia!”

And that’s when the atmosphere changes. Joyful chattering fades away, the crowd becomes quiet, and, almost instantly, people start looking at me, as if they’ve just found out there’s an outlier among them.

I’ve got nowhere to hide. The only option was to turn around. So I did, slowly, and then met eyes with Eason.

He doesn’t need to push through the crowd like I did, as people just make ways for him voluntarily. With everyone staring at us, he walks up to me with his lips curved up and asks,” How’s your day?”

I look at him warily, pulling my guards up. “Fine. What do you want?”

“Nothing, just checking in on you,” a harmless smile appears on his face. “And you what’s that on your neck? Looks like a sting mark or something?”

His long index finger quickly brushes through my neck, as he slightly lowers his head, whispering with a voice that only the two of us can hear, “or did someone kiss you and you just loved it?” I slap his hand away. “A mosquito. A disgusting mosquito with serious boundary issue.” He chuckles. Somehow my words didn’t put him in a bad mood, and on the contrary, he finds my reaction very amusing.

Now just seeing his smug face bums me out. I want to walk away, but Valerie suddenly appears from the crowd. Does she follow Eason everywhere he goes? “Hey,” she fakes smile at me and leans her body against Eason, “what are we talking here?” Eason’s smile fades away a bit. “Nothing much. You ready to leave?” “Just a sec. I was just about to ask Natalia, are you ready for the homecoming party? Have you found a date yet?” This’s way to obvious. She’s gonna make me say it out loud, that I have no one to dance to at the ball, that I’m a pathetic loser. I roll my eyes at her. “I have it all planed out.” “Oh really?

Then who’s the lucky guy? Tell us. We’re all dying to know.” She’s just sick. I’ve seen mean girls and school bullies before, but no one has irritated me this much. Makes me want to slap her perky face and knocks her on the ground. Just while I was quickly weighing the consequence of turning this into a fist fight, I spot someone at the corner of my eyes. “Hey Alex!” The boy walking down the sidewalk turns around. He’s surprised to see me, but then quickly walks over, “Wow Natalia, Nice to see you again!

What-umm-what are you doing here?” He looks around the three of us, a little confused by the situation.

Eason’s face instantly grows cold at that. Apparently he’s not so fond of Alex, whatever reasons it may be. Now he’s quietly gawking at Alex, with piercing and hate-filled eyes. And right at that moment, an idea strikes me.

That might a terrible idea. A reckless and inappropriate idea. But it’s also the only idea I’ve got. So before I think it through, I’ve already turned to Alex and asked him: “Hey Alex. Do you want to go to the homecoming ball with me?”

Persouneen