I stood staring blankly at a blushing Joy and Annabelle standing next to her teasing her endlessly.

"Is everything okay?" Joy said.

I nodded, driving away my negative thoughts, and smiled at Joy.

I pulled out a smile. "Congrats on finally getting a boyfriend."

Despite my efforts to bring out my best smile, I could tell it was probably the fakest-looking thing on the planet.

"Who is it?" Annabelle said looking at Joy with bright eyes.

Joy nervously glanced towards me. "It's Blake Harrison."

I gasped and nearly fainted from shock and Annabelle reached an octave I didn't even think existed.

Blake Harrison

My mind slowly drifted into thought. I wasn't jealous of Joy getting a boyfriend or of Blake Harrison and his male-lead-worthy good look. Heck, even though it pained me to admit - Jayden and James fit most of those categories. My problem was the fact that he was perfect.

I may have sounded like a jackass, but I didn't believe that anyone could be that perfect. Joy had the attention of a newborn, Annabelle couldn't keep her mouth shut, Karla kept a lot of secrets, Jayden had anger problems, I had a sometimes snobby attitude and I didn't even want to start with James. But Blake, Blake was way too good to be true.

"You'll look even older with the way you're frowning," Joy said.

I loosened my face trying not to be so obvious. "So when did this little romance start?"

She blushed and dragged me over to a seat where Annabelle was already waiting for the gossip.

"Welll. he just started flirting with me a few days after school started and when he asked me today I said yes." Joy said.

Annabelle enveloped her in a bear hug. "OMG. He must have been thinking of you through the holidays."

"Or scouting for his next murder victim." I muttered.

Joy playfully slapped both of us on our backs and laughed, but I wasn't laughing. "I really like him Astro. Am sorry for not telling you but I hope you'll like him."

I tapped my leg furiously as I gritted my teeth. "Fine. I'll give him a chance."

She squealed and hugged all of us. "Thank you so much. You won't regret it."

I scoffed. "If you don't want to visit me in jail for murder, you better not make me regret it."

They all laughed and I got up, allowing them some girl time.

"And don't be ghosting me. Lily misses you." I said holding the door handle.

"I won't." She said laughing. "Later noodle."

"Bye Annabelle." I flipped Joy off. "Later whale."

I closed the door in a hurry as a notebook came flying towards me.

**********************

It was one of those rare days. Those days I loathed everything. School, animals, nature, and most especially people. And it was on that faithful day during a boring English class that the heavens decided to bless the drama lovers with one last piece of chaos before the SATs tomorrow.

I stared blankly at the front as Mrs. Peterson droned on and on about verbs, adverbs, and a bunch of other things I wasn't in the mood to care about. I sighed and I looked at the couple's ring on my finger - my Valentine's present for Karla. When I asked my dad if they were okay, he literally started to roll on the ground shouting Hallelujah, that I wasn't going to be forty and alone in my room with anime characters.

The chaos was ignited by a man who walked through the school gate, he was plainly dressed and didn't stand out much. But as soon as he removed his sunglasses and lifted up his face, everyone staring out the window went cold. A high-ranking member of one of the most notorious biker gangs had come in through the school gates.  I immediately felt my heart drop, the reason why James was known as a bad boy just strolled in.

The gang has no visible emblem, no leather jacket, and only a little tattoo at the back of their necks that was usually covered by hair or a shirt. It even became a joke that if your parents loved you, they would show you the pictures of the gang members and make you commit them to memory.

We backbenchers were so engrossed with gaping out the window that we didn't hear our names being called until I felt a book being slapped across the back of my head.

"Now, could any of you tell me what could possibly be more -" She stopped midsentence and I instantly saw her face flush of all color.

Her hand immediately punched her phone and within five minutes I saw the principal standing outside. Mrs. Peterson stared at us, silently warning us not to cause a panic. But it was too late, one of my classmates had already seen him and immediately posted it on all the social media platforms. It didn't take more than ten minutes until I could hear screaming and teachers trying to calm students down.

I heard the squeaking of chairs moving, and as I looked I could see the chairs were moving away from me. I didn't blame them though, I was dating the girl whose best friend was the cause of this mess. Luckily my emotions were on vacation due to being milked dry, so I couldn't care less, after all, it wasn't like Karla was involved in anything shady. Right?

"I SAID WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!" The man said.

As soon as those words filtered in through the window, Mrs. Peterson command over the class jumped out the window and everyone immediately flocked towards the windows to get a full view. I inched my way through the sea of bodies and got to the window, wishing to see the scene for myself.

The Principal stood straight in front of the courtyard, blocking Marshall- the biker from entering,  Marshall stood a few feet away glaring at the principal. My eyes moved frantically across the courtyard looking for any security guard to at least assist the principal, but it looked like they were all scared.

"Who are you referring to?" Principal said acting innocent.

At this Marshall laughed while turning in a small circle before coming close to the principal. "Where the fuck is James?"

"He didn't come to school." The Principal lied.

His lips became a thin line. "My boys said they saw him."

Unfazed the principal continued. "Your boys saw wrong."

Marshall then sighed in frustration. "Just let me in old man."

"I can't do that."

He started to pace in front of the principal. "It's just one fucking student am after, not the whole school."

"My job is to make sure every student has a safe learning environment. That includes James."

Marshall looked fed up at this point and moved to push the principal out of the way until his phone rang. He paused and moved a distance until I couldn't hear anymore, but I could tell by his facial structure that it seemed to be good news. After he received the call he turned and without uttering a word walked out the school gate.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief and moved back to their seats. Before Mrs. Peterson could say anything, I rushed out of the class to the ground floor. The principal was an old man and I most certainly wasn't comfortable leaving him alone after such an experience.

"Astro wait up."

I lifted my head to see Karla running to me.

"The principal right?" Karla said.

I nodded and without another word, we dashed off toward the ground floor

My head was aching me as I ran. My brain was in overdrive and it wasn't exactly good thoughts.

Why did Marshall show up now

Even if I told myself that Karla wasn't a complete bad girl, there was no denying the fact that her friends were far from being called saints. I felt nervous and warned myself against going done this road.

Why didn't Karla and her friends behave badly anymore?

Had they changed ....

Or was she doing it behind my back?

Karla Johnson, you called me your North Star shining on the deep blue ocean that you were. But I realized that I only shone on the surface of that vast ocean, I had no idea what lurked deep down underneath.

******************************

AN

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