Chapter 10

I sat nervously in the period before lunch. Class was being let out in 2 minutes and my leg was shaking faster than Usain Bolt. I glanced back at Christy who gave me a sympathetic look. I turned forward and glanced at the clock. The bell had finally rang, sending me bolting out of my seat along with the rest of my impatient classmates. I was the first out of the door.

I slowly walked to the lunch room, trying to waste as much time as possible. I arrived at the full cafeteria and stood in the doorway, scanning for the table. As soon as it came into view, I groaned. It was all the way in the back, making me have to walk past every other table to get there. I walked to the lunch line and paid for the slice of pizza, can of Pepsi and bag of Cheetos before beginning my miserable walk towards the back of the lunch room.

People gave me weird glances as I bypassed their tables, with my usual calm yet blank expression slapped on my face. When I finally reached the table, Cyrus looked up from his food and gave me a crooked grin. I sat down across from him, hearing the whispers erupt as soon as my bottom hit the chair. I placed my head in my hands when I heard him chuckle. Honestly, his happiness kind of made it worth it.

"You're not serious about this, right?" I questioned.

"As serious as Chuck Norris." He said, smirking.

"But..." I started.

"But what? Afraid of what people will say?" He voiced. I shook my head.

"No, it's just... I don't know." I shrugged. Truth was, he'd hit the nail right on the head. And me sitting here with Cyrus, Miranda's crush, wasn't going to dull the fire between me and her.

"Don't worry about what they say. Think about it, in 10 years- will those things still affect you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, but in 10 seconds they will." I replied, looking up to see Miranda walking over, more like 'strutting' over to the table that me and Cyrus were currently occupying. She took the empty seat beside Cyrus. If the seats weren't cemented to the ground, she probably would've slid it beside him. By the look in her eyes, she could probably rip it out of the cement.

"Hey Cyrus; I see you're finally letting people sit with you... or should I say dogs?" She said, leaning closer to him. He looked at her and then looked at me, a playful look in his eyes.

"Hello Marissa." I waved, spending some time remembering her name.

"It's Miranda." She spat, eyes venomous when she glared at me. Her eyes softened when she looked back to Cyrus.

"My name is Miranda, honey." She said. Honey? If anything, Cyrus was death... in a hot human body. He raised his eyebrows when he looked at her again. She grinned at him, flaunting her glowing smile.

"So how are you today, Cyrus?" She asked, smiling even wider at him. He just spooned pasta into his mouth. I wanted to snort.

"Cyrus, what class do you have next?" I questioned, leaning back in my chair before he responded.

"I have P.E." He said, catching on to what I was doing.

"Cyrus." Miranda said, pouting. He just continued ignoring her.

"He only talks to men." She replied again, glaring at me.

"Then why isn't he talking to you?" I asked, feigning confusion.

"I'm pretty sure that I am a woman, I've seen my parts." She said, sticking her nose up.

"I'm pretty sure that 90% of the male student body has, too." I replied. Her face reddened in anger. Cyrus snorted, nearly spitting out his pasta. He tried to muffle it with a cough, but failed terribly.

"At least I'm proud of what I have, I hear that's the reason that Dean left you." She said, crossing her arms.

"I may or may not have done anything with Dean, but at least I didn't lose my virginity at age 13." I replied, scoffing.

"Stop trying to ruin my chances at true love." She said through gritted teeth.

"You've ruined them yourself; I'm just digging the hole a bit deeper so your plastic boobs can fit along with you." I replied as she fumed and Cyrus put a fist to his mouth, attempting to stop his laughter.

"You're just trying to show off for Cyrus." She snorted, visibly tightening her grip on Cyrus's muscular arm. 

"Show off? Yeah, okay." I snorted, raising and dropping my eyebrows.

"If you're not showing off, then why are you sitting next to him today?" She asked, huffing. I could see her trying to create a sarcastic and ironic comment but failing.

"Because... we're friends and he invited me to sit next to him." I replied daringly. Were we friends? He said we were friends, right? Yeah, he did. I glanced at Cyrus and he wriggled his eyebrows suggestively. I grinned and rolled my eyes. Miranda seemed to have noticed this and scowled.

"You obviously like him. But he doesn't like you. Right, honey?" She asked, turning towards him with a sickly sweet smile. He ignored her and bit into another bite of pasta.

"Right, Cyrus?" She inquired with her tone a bit more threatening.

"If you are too stupid to realize, he's giving you the silent treatment." I snapped, answering Cyrus's pleading look.

"He's probably just choking on his food from looking at your ugly face." She defended childishly, rubbing her hand on his smooth, stron- back. Ignore my previous statements, I'm delusional. I burst out laughing at the uncomfortable look on Cyrus's face.

"What? Did he say something funny?" She asked, touching his hair. He gritted his teeth, annoyed. I saw him clenching his fists. She noticed this too.

"Don't laugh at him, you're making him angry." She said, placing her small hand on his. He moved his hand from under hers and muttered something under his breath.

"What was that, sweetie?" She asked, leaning closer, if it's possible.

"I said, 'leave.'" He hissed, still staring at his food.

"Well, listen to him." She replied, glaring at me.

"I meant you, Miranda." He said angrily. She didn't seem to notice the anger in his voice.

"I have to go, anyway. I'll call you later, Cyrus." She said, standing up and tossing him a wide smile.

I looked at Cyrus as he physically relaxed, shaking his body like he was just picked up out of a cockroach pit. I laughed at his angry face.

"I hate her, so much." He said, gritting his teeth. I smirked, nodding my head in agreement. Finally, someone who shares the same hatred as I do with her; maybe it's for different reason, it doesn't matter though. Hate is hate.

"Why?" I questioned, sipping my soda as he shook his eyes as he gave me an exasperated glance. 

"I give her the silent treatment all of the time. She just doesn't get it at all. She's so dense." He spoke.

"Why don't you just tell her to eff off?" I questioned, shrugging. He raised an eyebrow at my word of choice, 'eff.'

"Because... you're not supposed to be mean to people who like you." He spoke, looking at his food. I bit into my pizza.

"What was that?" I asked, confused. Does Cyrus have a soul? I could've sworn he died his hair from ginger to brown.

"You're not supposed to be mean to people who like you." He said, a bit louder.

"Aww... so you do have some kind traits in you, Cyrus." I cooed, earning a glare from him.

"Yeah, whatever." He growled.

"Don't be so mad." I said, rolling my eyes. He's acting like he just professed his love to someone who said they're in a relationship.

"You're always mad!" He said, pointing at me.

"Yeah, I have reasons to be mad. You just seem like you hate the world all of the time." I retorted.

"I don't hate the world; I just hate this school and most of the people in it." He said, shrugging.

"You hate most of the people?" I quizzed, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, most." He said, shrugging.

"Who does Cyrus the Great not hate?" I asked, rhyming. I nodded smugly at my rhyme.

"I don't hate you, or Sean and Avery." He said causing me to frown.

"You hate my friends?" I asked. He shrugged, continuing to eat.

"You don't even know them!" I replied.

"So? I don't know a lot of people." He responded.

"You're judging." I stated, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I know enough to say that they are annoying." He expressed.

"Yeah, but my friends aren't!" I spoke, crossing my arms.

"Okay, then I don't hate them either, you happy?" He hissed. I gave him a smug smirk.

"Sure, whatever floats your goat." I replied, grinning happily. He looked confused.

"It's whatever floats your boat..." He explained, raising an eyebrow at me.

"I know." I replied.

The end of lunch was nearing and Cyrus looked nervous as he fiddled with his fork.

"Hey Maverly?" Cyrus said as I looked up at him. "Yes Cyrus?" I asked, mocking how he called me by my name formally.

"Want to hang out... later?" He asked, smiling hopefully whilst nervousness took over his expression. He looked so adorable like that; I'd take a picture if I could.

"Sure." I replied, grinning. He sighed in relief.  

"Where?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, you asked. I sort of thought that you had it planned out already." I said.

"I didn't know if you'd say yes. So, my house... videogame war?" He asked, tilting his head.

"Yeah, sure," I said, challengingly smiling. "I hope you practiced."

"I did. Great, well... class is starting soon and I uh... have to go. So uhm, see you later." He said, smiling. I smiled as well, waving him off as I walked back to the hallway that I had a class in.

___

"He asked you to hang out?" Christy said, her eyes wide. I nodded at her. Her eyes widened even more.

"Is he going to kill you?" Riley asked, raising an eyebrow. I laughed, shaking my head no.

"So... what are you guys going to do?" Christy asked casually.

"COD, maybe a bit of Minecraft and Madden." I replied, shortening Call of Duty. I also added a few other games that I'd played before and had a bit of skill in. Christy wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"That's disgusting! You should at least wait until the 4 month mark. I'm ashamed of you. I thought you'd be the one to wait for a guy to earn it, not just give it up to him after a few days." Christy said, shaking her head. Riley and I looked confused.

"What? COD is Call of Duty." I stated, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh... well, have fun then." Christy said, waving 'bye' to me and Riley as she caught up to Warner.

"I'm the only single one out of the group." Riley frowned, sighing in discontent.

"Hey, I'm still single." I snorted, crossing my arms.

"Not for long." Riley muttered, kicking at the linoleum floor.

"Hey, Riley. Don't worry, a girl will come along and you'll love her." I said, patting his shoulder.

"I wish she'd come sooner." He replied, huffing out a breath like a horse.

"She'll be coming around the corner when she comes!" I started singing and Riley gave me an annoyed look. I slowly stopped singing as we continued walking.  

"Maybe you'll find her at my party." A girl's voice said, turning me and Riley around.

I already knew Riley was grinning stupidly, she was totally his type. She had long, red hair that was straight and had big brown eyes that gave her the innocent look. She was shorter, about 5'3"', but Riley was only 5'10".

"I'm Leila." She said, smiling widely. I recognized her from a few classes of mine. She was a new student, definitely.

"I'm Maverly, and this is Riley." I explained as Riley drooled over the girl. She seemed amused as she smiled at him.

"I'm having a party this Friday and I'm inviting everyone. I've only got one person left to invite. I think his name is Cyrus?" The girl said, frowning.

"Yeah, let me deliver that invitation. Cyrus doesn't really talk to anyone and I wouldn't want him snapping at you." I replied, frowning. She nodded, handing me an invitation.

"So far, everyone said they're coming. You guys want to come?" She asked, her eyes widening even further.

"S-sure." Riley stuttered while nodding his head quickly.

"Great, I'll see you there." She said as Riley ran to catch up with her. I laughed as I examined the invitation that I'll be giving Cyrus later on after I beat him at every videogame that we play.

I continued my journey, now alone. I felt a small hand jerk my shoulder backwards. I viciously turned toward the offender, glaring immediately.

"I don't know what you and Cyrus have going on. But it needs to come to an end. Friendship or not, what you and Cyrus have is fake! I told him to do it; he loves me and we're in a relationship. He probably won't tell you; because I told him not to and he wouldn't do something like that to me. We actually have love. Unlike some people..." She said, scoffing towards the end. I shrugged.

"Why should I care?" I asked, carelessly. I've never seen them talk in class, smile at each other, talk anywhere in school, or Cyrus even give a second glance in her direction, never mind making out.

"Just remember, Maverly. Cyrus is mine. He doesn't like you and I don't know any human being who'll truly like you for you. Just ask him, he'll tell you." She threatened, stalking off.

"You know what? I will ask him, when we're hanging out later." I shouted towards her as she was clacking away with her extremely annoying heels.

"You what?" She spat, turning around slowly.

"Cyrus and I are going to hang out." I shrugged carelessly.

"You'll pay Maverly, I warned you about going around my man- not once, but multiple times." She growled before stomping off, this time- without interruption. I slightly laughed to myself as I replayed everything that just happened in my mind. What was this? Scooby Doo?

One thing, she was super annoying and clingy. She was also obsessive- I wouldn't be surprised if she waited outside my house until I drove to Cyrus's.