“You were saying?” She asked, casually crossing her arms. Bianca seethed angrily.
“You’re really becoming a pest crawling under my skin.”
Natalia’s poker face suddenly became lit as she burst out laughing! Everyone else remained dead silent, watching the drama unfold with mixed emotions.
“Sorry! Ex… Excuse me??” She stared at her in amazement. “Honey, I could’ve sworn it was the other way around.” She paused and appeared thoughtful.
“On my first day here, I was expecting mutual socialisation and civilisation but that didn’t happen. Rather, you and your band of…. that thing going on over there….” She gesticulated towards the B. R. A. T. S with utter disgust.
“…. decided to ruin my day by spitting empty threats and silly rules at us! And oh, not to also forget spoiling my drink with your over polished nails… As if that wasn’t enough, ”your highness” took her precious time coming to me and my friends barely two hours ago, threatening what again??… I guess ’twas about some boy or something.” She flicked her fingers nonchalantly.
Then the entire hall turned into a carnival!
“Yet, you claim I’m the pest crawling under YOUR skin? Like…. how do you manage to pass the English Language class by the way??” She feigned genuine curiosity.
The noise reached cloud nine!!
The B. R. A. T. S were shocked to their bones! Nicky gaped, realizing her new friend had it in her to be bitchy while Elva simply stared, loving the Phoenix but dreading the outcome of the battle…
***
Tiffany couldn’t believe what was happening!
For the first time in history, some bitch was sassing at Bianca! THE Queen Bee! And she stood rooted to the ground, too stunned to speak??
“Do you know who ya whoring little ass is talking to?!” She finally exploded, backing up her best friend.
The Princess stared at the intruder, then sized her over with cool eyes before doing the same with Bianca.
“I’m talking with a fellow student.” She pointed out and cocked an eyebrow. “And what are you? Her side kick??”
Tiffany couldn’t control the gasp that choked her! Her caked-up face flushed red from embarrassment hearing the giggles coming from the crowd. The phones which were suddenly redirected her way only made her humiliation worse!
Bianca slowly found her voice. “You… I might be a fellow student…”
“Not ‘might’ sugar, ARE! It’s an obvious fact.” Natalia corrected. Bianca glared venomously, attempting to garner what was left of their rapidly declining dignity.
“…. but don’t forget I’m still the queen! It’s a win for you today but don’t count on tomorrow. A little heads up? You never know what might happen!” The hateful threat was obvious.
“A queen, right?” Natalia snorted, and shook her head quite pitifully. “Have fun fooling yourself! A common title doesn’t automatically makes a person something they’re not. However, being more of a human and less of a beast, would be a VERY good start.”
“Bitch!” The wounded redhead barked and turned to leave.
“Oh! And one more thing about your uhm…. Useless heads up?” Natalia stopped her.
“Learn to put your action where your mouth is, and not the other way round!…”
***
“Woah!” Jeffrey breathed, his eyes stuck on his laptop where the drama at the cafeteria was streaming.
Jeffrey was still on the couch with Arian but with Ricky on his other side. Two boxes of pepperoni pizza and a pack of coke sat on the table before them.
It was Rick’s idea to have lunch upstairs today.
Those two? Jeffrey inwardly sighed and shook his head.
“Yeah, no kidding. Watch her roar!” Ricky smirked.
“I think I’m in love already.” The blue-eyed hunk stared dreamily.
Arian, who’d been lunching silently, suddenly sneered at him, wondering what his problem was with falling in love so frequently!
‘No wonder you easily get dumped.” He mentally scoffed and took a large sip of his coke. ‘That’s even if you progress there.’
“What?!” Jeffrey and Ricky chorused, gazing at him in disbelief. Arian froze midway from dropping his hand.
Seriously, this has got to end! He silently growled and looked away, mumbling nothing coherent under his breath.
“You know we heard that clearly.” Jeffrey pointed half heartedly, expecting an apology which he knew had a negative possibility forthcoming.
“Dude, just drop it!” Arian stood up and walked away. But as he walked out, he didn’t miss Ricky’s amused voice taunting him from behind.
“What’s eating him up?…”
***
Natalia breathed out in frustration stomping out of the cafeteria. She needed the fresh air outside the tension in there.
The princess did some breathing exercises as she walked along the empty corridors to nowhere in mind. Her appetite was gone in just a few minutes!
How could a person think they were better than others, and have the audacity to bully them just because they had a couple of cash to their name??
That’s just stupid! She was breathless.
And absolutely immature.
Natalia wondered just how many students at the academy thought the same and shuddered at their style of reasoning.
Gosh! She needed to relax. Elva was right. High school dramas could get on one’s nerves!
Natalia wasn’t even aware she’d bumped into someone. She kept on storming away, seething in emotion until she was aggrievedly pulled back! The princess lost her footing and tripped!
But he caught her.
Natalia’s delicate face crashed into a hard chest, severe enough to leave a bright red spot. But she let it stay that way, still trying to control her breath. Inhaling the stranger’s scent helped a lot. It was a peculiar blend of exquisite cologne and…. sanitizer?
His grip on her back was firm. Yet, it was soft at the same time. His breath sifting through her hair was mesmerizing, soothing, as if willing her to fall asleep in his warm hold.
And for a split moment, Natalia felt herself get loose. Her nerves relaxed and her tensed breath dissipated.
“Are you okay?” His sensual voice, beautifully accentuated by an accent, wafted into her ears. The princess made to nod, until realization hit her like a rock, HARD!
She jerked away in a flash to see those green eyes, as clear as emeralds, staring down at her. Natalia almost tripped again, seeing the depth of worry in them.
Muttering words which made no actual sense in place of an apology, she turned on her heels and walked away. Natalia remembered her promise to Elva despite the irregular beats in her chest.
She hugged herself closer, suddenly feeling cold. With her jacket gone, friction was her only source of warmth till she got home, which was hours from now.
As Natalia took the last corner leading to their homeroom, a thick warm jacket was placed around her shoulders, filling her senses with the scent she was unconsciously starting to fall in love with…
***
“I can’t show my face in public ever again!” Rihanna yelled in anger and slammed her fist next to her on the bench. The B. R. A. T. S were getting ready for cheerleading practice in a girls locker room which was strictly for cheerleaders.
“That was so humiliating.” Allison added and Stephanie nodded sulkily.
“I’m gonna make that tramp pay.” Tiffany seethed, gripping one of the sinks with vicious eyes. Among the girls, she was seemingly the most vengeful one.
“I can’t believe you easily let it slide after what she did!” She turned and angrily accused Bianca whose entire focus was on primping herself.
“You girls are just being pissed for no reason. Spending a whole summer in a model’s training camp in Paris has it’s experiences. So, trust me. Getting back at that puny is no biggie.” She finished brushing her hair into a ponytail and smirked at the result in the mirror.
“What I need right now…” She smacked her lips after applying lipgloss. “… is a naughty distraction.”
The rest of the B. R. A. T. S sneaked confused glances at one another as other cheerleaders came into the locker room to change, slowly bustling up the place.
“What distraction?” It was Rihanna.
“Any hunky newbie on the football team?” She purred. The girls rolled their eyes in realization and chuckled, drifting away from the previous tension.
“A couple, yeah. But aren’t you giving up on Arian a bit too soon?” Steph asked with a pout, twirling her pretty blonde hair thoughtfully.
Bianca clicked her fingers and the B. R. A. T. S sashayed majestically to the door, in their badass formation.
“Chill, bitch. I said distractions….” She smirked, trailing her eyes after a squad of boys in the school’s football jersey down the hall. “…. not commitments.”
They chuckled evilly again…
***
Nicky and Elva were done with lunch and had a take-away pack for Natalia because she was too upset to eat.
They were heading over to find her when they spotted Jeffrey leading a couple other boys in the school jersey over to the football field. Jeffrey sighted them from afar and waved.
Elva cheerfully waved back but Nicky took her eyes away. She didn’t mean to be rude on purpose. It was just her ‘getting-over-him’ therapy. Actually, it was quite the second.
Since her first, which was to vigilantly mininise the chances of them bumping into each other, was an epic fail as they attended the same school, therapy two came into place.
And that was to be as cold as ice.
It was no secret at the academy that the popular blue-eyed beauty, Jeffrey Campbell, had an awfully nice personality which shone through the more when he was with people with the same trait.
So, poor Nicky figured that being the complete opposite would do her aching heart some good.
However, how wrong she thought!
Nicky didn’t realize that if ‘Mr. Nice guy’ could be best friends with the world’s coldest jackass for over a decade, why would nice Nicky who was attempting ‘Ice Queen’ for the first time be so different?
Back to the present;
Jeffrey said something to the group which made them hoot some kind of cheeky noise before going ahead of him, laughing their asses out!
He paused to scowl at them before sprinting over.
“Hey, girls!” He beamed his legendary charming smile. And FYI, it was cuteness overload!
They returned…. or rather, Elva…. returned a smile while Nicky nodded curtly. Jeffrey turned to her slowly like there was a thousand hesitant words to be said and she cocked a cold brow in response, with Elva looking to and fro getting the silent message.
She cleared her throat.
“I’d love to stay and chat, Jeff, but I’ve got to take lunch to Natalia. You see, she must be totally famished about now.” She sighed and he nodded.
As she left, she turned to Nicky with a wicked look and mouthed something that was quite similar to ‘talk-to-him!’. It was easy because Jeffrey had his back to her.
Jeffrey noticed Nicky’s distracted gaze and turned with a puzzled look. But Elva was already cheerfully waving to some weird student who looked extremely cautious as he faltered a smile back in greeting and scurried away in haste.
Nicky giggled silently, temporarily forgetting her act. She knew the poor soul. He was Eden, the smartest, oddest genius in school who could barely look girls in the eyes!
Meanwhile, poor Jeffrey was absolutely lost!
“What’s up?” She asked bringing him back from the labyrinth.
“Y… Yeah, nothing much. I… I jus’ wanted to ask something.” He uneasily chuckled and raked his hair, reminding Nicky just how hard it was not to have fallen.
She shook her head back into focus.
“Okay?” Nicky urged, silently praying he’d be quick and leave other than putting her in that kind of torture.
But Jeffrey’s question caught her off guard.
“Are you mad at me?” He quietly raised his eyes to meet hers…
Chapter 19