CHAPTER 11

If I had thought that seeing Malcom in the restaurant and having to serve him was hard, then watching him park his car every morning from the window of my classroom was harder.  And to make things worse, his seat was just meters away from mine. Even if I couldn't stare at his impossibly perfect face all day, it was all etched in my head.

"Please don't tell me you are one of them" Sharon says to me with a raised eyebrow as we walk down the hallway after school.

"One of who?" I ask  immediately as I wasn't expecting that sort of question.

"One of those girls who fall head over in heels in love with the literal alpha male in the whole school" she concluded with her hands gesticulating as much as possible.

"Alpha male? Who on earth is that? And is that even a thing?  I was now a bit tad confused.

"Of course it's a thing Chantel, I see the way you gaze at Malcom like you wanna see his soul or something. Trust me it would not do you any good and you are certainly not the only one who looks at him in that manner "  There was an edge of finality to her tone and I knew the subject wasn't to be continued. Her voice was slightly raised too. Like she  didn't like me staring at him.

I couldn't believe he had a name now, the alpha male? Was that why he was ignoring me? Had he forgotten that I knew him before he even got into the puberty stage? Alpha male my foot! 

Sharon must have noticed my change of mood because she now had a different look on her face too. "Chantel, I wouldn't want you to see it in that manner okay, I just don't want anyone else getting hurt"

"Anyone else?  Has someone been...."

"Yes,  he's my ex. And he's the biggest jerk  of the century"

I felt heat flood through my face. I didn't know what to do with the piece of information Sharon just gave me. Now I know why she had to raise her voice, she still had feelings for him. I mean, who wouldn't? He was such a beautiful creature after all.

I couldn't help but be a little pissed  at the fact that while I was struggling to make ends meet because of what his family caused us, he had been sleeping with everything in skirt. I felt anger boil through my stomach. And a little bit of jealousy too.

"Oh..." I eventually muttered as I was a bit short of words but the look on Sharons face  made it clear that I should have said more.

"Well, I wouldn't say I've been giving him those kind of stares that they all give him, I actually know him from when we were kids. We used to be buddies. Like we visited each other and stuff" I said with a  what could be called a smile on my face.

Sharon stopped right in her tracks and the look on her face would have made me pissed if I wasn't already pissed at Malcom.

"You are kidding right?" She asked as she blinked multiple times.

"No I'm not Sharon, Malcom Blackwood and.I used to be friends when we were younger" I said very loudly and rolled my eyes at her.  She swallowed hard  and pointed at my back.

"Er.... you might wanna say hi to him then"  She said and I almost choked on my spit.

I heard someone clear their throat and I felt heat rush up my cheeks. He was standing directly behind me !

"I really don't appreciate you saying that around about me , except there's another person with that name which I'm sure there isn't" I blinked hard at the first words he had said directly to me in years as he walked away like I didn't mean a thing or never meant a thing.

"You sure you knew him?" Sharon asked again and I felt hot tears  sting my eyes.

"I'm not sure anymore " 

"You know I'm fine with whatever bad character anyone has, but lying? Come on Chantel. We are past this" 

Lying? She thought I was lying ?

"Y'all rich folks can go to hell! Alone!!"  I screamed as tears streamed down my face.  As I ran towards the restaurant where I worked in my school uniform,  I realized I should have kept the  insults away from Sharon. She got me the job I was running towards now. But she called me a liar for goodness sake, was she so hung up on the guy to notice he was just been a jerk? 

I started walking instead of running. I shouldn't have insulted Sharon no matter what, at least I would have hitched a ride with her. Now I had to walk all the way to that place. I hugged in expersation as I trudged along .

I could just get a bus when I got to the bus stop. I don't always have to get a ride with a rich bitch who's hung up on the same guy I've been in love with since ..! Since  when I fucking  knew I could get feelings!

"You know next time you wanna be a lying bitch, make sure you've got your own car parked up front" Sharon said and pulled up in front of me.  I hadn't even been aware she was driving behind me.

"I'm not a lying bitch okay. The fact that you still want to screw your ex doesn't mean you have to be so mean about it.  I knew him and we were friends. He's a completely changed person now and he's a jerk so don't you dare make me feel worse about it than I already feel. I'm not getting into your car. I'll rather walk!" I screamed as I walked past her car  

"Fine! You need the walk to burn the extra fat anyways. Do whatever'you want!" She screamed back and sped off.

A part of me didn't like how that turned out. I was her only friend and I knew that, but she  shouldn't always get what she wanted . Especially not after she got Malcom. I wonder how many other girls he has slept with during that time when I was out working my nails off. Men  sucked! And I hated the fact that I loved this one!

*******. ********** *********** *********** ***********

"He said that to you?" Mario  asked  with worry on her face. She knew how much I had adored this guy even in his abesence.  She knew he was part of the reasons why I never gave it much thought that I never had a boyfriend, because I didn't think it was possible for me to love anyone else and so I had so much hope somewhere in my heart that we would meet again.  It was a terrible thing that the first thing he said to me was that.

"Yes he did" I finally responded

"In front of Sharon?" She asked again. 

Honestly, it might not have hurt that much if he had said it in a private place. But in front of a rich snob who just recently became my friend and I was simply trying to fit in  and not act so poor around her ?  Could he be more mean?

"Yes , in front of her "  I muttered.

"What did she say? Did she stand up to him?"

"He's her ex" I simply responded. I didn't want to go into the gory details of how she called me a lying bitch.

"Oh shit. That's bad"

"And she still likes him" I added

"That's worse"

"Yeah, very worse."

"But then, I think it's ridiculous fighting over some guy though. You gu than talk it out. After all, it's not like he's gonna be in a relationship with any of you." She said and I felt a pang of pain in my chest. I couldn't believe I had kept  my hopes up for this long.

"I'll talk to her in school tomorrow "

"Better. So. Is there anything else to discuss? We can't discuss your crush and nemesis all day after all " she said and giggled.

It might be easy for he EGL mention it that way because she hadn't been in love with just one person all her life but then, I had to let go and not ruin present friendships because of an old friend.