5.
It was just my luck that the boy I was running from, was the one I always ran into again and again.
It was just my luck that the boy I was running from, was the one I always ran into again and again.
“Now, I have no doubt that you are a frickin’ criminal!” Alex growled, while I twisted my arm to free it from his hold.
To be honest, his voice was spine chilling cold, as was his gaze but, it was pretty hard to take him seriously with that sauce covered face.
When I realized, that he had no intention of releasing my arm, and might as well choke me within a few seconds, I sighed and looked up at him.
“Look, I am sorry, okay!” I said, not sounding sorry at all because I was trying hard to stifle my laughter.
Hey! I couldn’t help it! His face was so funny at the moment.
“You can keep your fake apology to yourself,” he bit out through gritted teeth.
I could see it in his eyes. He was so close to killing me. I didn’t plan on dying amidst a food fight after everything I had gone through for surviving. So, I attempted to change the topic.
“Oh, come on, Alexander, don’t be so lame!” I said dramatically, and then pointed around the chaotic cafeteria, “this is the time when you put your bottle of baby formula to use! Go and join the food fight!” I encouraged him.
I yelped when I was jerked forward by a forceful tug on my arm.
“You will never mention about that baby formula in front of anyone, ever again,” he enunciated each word slowly in a warning.
I rolled my eyes, “You should have known by now that threats don’t work on me, Alexander.”
He opened his mouth to say something further but lost his chance when, the cafeteria doors opened and the principal of the school entered.
Everything was okay till that part, but, things went downhill when a cake slice flew out of nowhere and hit him square in the face.
Boy, was it a sight!
Silence resonated throughout the cafeteria and everyone paused midway in whatever stage of food fight they were in.
I was so lost in taking in the whole sight, that it took me by surprise when Alex brought my arm to his face and used the sleeve of my hoodie to wipe away the sauce.
I shrieked in surprise and pushed him away.
“Jerk!” I glowered at him.
He gave me an I-don’t-care shrug and looked away. That’s when my eyes wandered and I realized that everyone’s eyes were on me.
What was I missing now?
I turned again to look at Alex, for some reason. He was already smirking at me. I narrowed my eyes at him, while he cocked his head in the principal’s direction.
I glanced at the principal in confusion to find him already glaring at me with a red, angry explosive face. I winced, stepping back.
“Man, you are a bigger troublemaker than me,” Blake commented with a grin, coming forward, “even I hadn’t dared to call him a jerk till this day,” he said, pointing at the principal, “though it was always on my mind, I must admit.”
I blinked in shock, trying to digest what Blake just said.
That’s what everyone was thinking? That I called the principal a ‘jerk’?
Oh no, no, no!
Before I could rush to correct the misunderstanding, the principal opened his mouth.
“DETENTION!” he barked, his voice ringing through the silence of the cafeteria.
And, that’s how I landed into detention on the very first of joining a new school.
It turned out that the detention was for everyone who was present in the cafeteria during the food fight. We all had to spend rest of the classes after lunch break and an additional five hours with the school counselor, who was on detention duty. And, this was going to happen for a week.
Why was I still alive?
I dragged my feet sullenly to the detention class, cursing my luck.
“Kris Noodles Mendes?” the teacher asked, as soon as I entered.
I nodded, cheerlessly, showing him my detention slip.
“What kind of name is that?” Alex called out, from the last bench, while most of the students started snickering.
“You are the one to say, Alexander, the great!” I mocked.
This time everyone’s jaw dropped to the floor as if I had just informed them, that pigs could fly.
I rolled my eyes. I was damn sure that Alex had everyone under his intimidation spell. They were too scared to even laugh at a joke concerning him.
“Miss Kris, take your seat please,” the teacher ordered.
I searched around for a suitable seat, away from a certain grumpy personality. There were only three empty seats. One was next to Madison, the queen witch. She scowled at me as soon as my eyes met her. I flipped her the finger, very discreetly.
The next two seats were behind Alex who was sitting with Blake, and the one remaining was beside Millie. Without thinking any further, I took the seat behind Alex because, I already knew that Millie was friend material, and there was no chance that I could make friends here.
Not only would I be involving them in something they don’t deserve, but also, I would be risking their lives and my identity.
So, I was better off sitting alone…
As soon as I plopped down on my seat, my eyes landed on Blake who was in front of me. He had a packet of chips open under the table, and was stuffing his mouth with those chips from time to time. I shook my head.
Blake was something else entirely.
Just then, the doors opened to reveal two boys and a girl.
“Ashton, Cameron and Hailey,” the teacher called out to them, “I don’t believe I have your names on the detention register.”
“We are on a self inflicted detention,” the boy called Ashton said casually, walking in and sitting down next to Millie.
He placed a quick kiss on her cheek, making her blush and push him away.
Ah! So, they were dating!
Wow! Ashton must really love her, if he was ready to face detention for her.
The girl called Hailey smiled at the teacher, “I think you already know that, all of us stick together, even in detention.”
The teacher sighed, “I am not even going to argue with you all. Go, find seats for yourself.”
Hailey was about to seat beside me, when Blake opened his mouth, “Yo, hellcat!”
She huffed and went to sit beside Madison, who was on the seat parallel to me. Cameron shook his head at Blake and sat beside me.
All of their teasing and affection was making me homesick. I decided to divert my mind from them and focused my attention on the back of Alex’s head.
Not a very good idea, because his hair was reminding me of the shampoo which he still hadn’t told me about. The shampoo somehow, reminded me how he had called me a ‘criminal’ many times now. And, this made me very angry.
So, I did what I was best at: I took out my sharpie, pointed it at the back of his head and convinced myself, that I was actually stabbing Alex’s head with it.
I heard Cameron chuckling beside me.
He shoved my hand down in the direction of paper. “It’s better to take it out on the paper,” he said with a smile.
I considered his advice. Maybe, he was right! This way at least I could release some up of my pent up negative energy.
After that, there was no stopping my fingers, I doodled whatever I could come up with it. And, let me tell you, they were some really nasty things. Things which could get me killed if seen by either Alex or Madison.
But, the bottom line was that it actually made me feel better!
Though, this feeling didn’t last long, because, suddenly Blake turned around, took a sneak at my drawing and started laughing loudly.
And, before I could tell him to keep it low, the paper had been snatched from my table.
Uh oh.
I looked up to see a familiar scene: a very pissed off Alex.