Chapter Five
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The next day, Jacob dropped me to school again. When we parked in front of my school, Xavier and his gang had already arrived. I saw them in the West Wing parking lot, laughing and chilling under the sun. I kept my eyes on the walkway that led to the main door and tried to avoid looking at them as I walked past them.

Leaning onto the hood of a car, Xavier cleared his throat and greeted me like a well-groomed Victorian gentleman, "Morning, Miss Lancaster."

A little surprised at that, I met his brown eyes and replied, "Xavier."

A calm, splendid smile appeared on his face before his eyes shifted from mine to quietly follow Jacob's car.

"Hey, Alina," the blonde-haired friend supplemented.

"It's Alana, asshole." One in deep blue t-shirt whacked him across his head.

"Right." He laughed while rubbing his head, "Sorry. Alana, I mean."

I couldn't help but laugh a little. Xavier stared at me as if he had never seen a human being laugh before.

"By the way," the one in deep blue shirt spoke up. "Your Ugly Narcissus just told me he saw you in his dream last ni. . ."

He stopped when Xavier gave him a hard whack on the back of his head, causing him to laugh. I walked away wearing a tiny blush. . . just a small, unnoticeable one.

*

When I opened my locker, I was greeted with one of the biggest surprises of my life. There I found a huge packet of Starburst with a yellow stick-note over it. 'For old time's sake' it read.

I pulled it out and stared at it for a good one minute, not quite able to stomach what was happening. A flood of warm tingles ran down my back as I thought of him, as I tried to picture his face. I was sure this was from Xavier. He was just there with his friends in the parking lot when Jacob dropped me and he hadn't even said anything about this. All he'd ever done to me was annoy and irritate me. To find this note all of a sudden was mind-boggling and even so sweet of him.

"Hey!" Kendra called as she came toward me with a book in her arms.

"Hey," I replied, still a bit dazed from the sweet surprise.

She came to stand next to me and when she saw the note in my hand, she asked, "What's that?"

I showed it to her and her eyebrows furrowed as she glanced at me confusedly.

"It's Xavier, I'm sure," I told her.

"But what does this mean?"

I pointed to the packet of starbursts inside my locker. She looked at it and then slowly broke into a huge grin. "Holy Butt-crack, this is so ka-yuttt!!!"

Kendra knew everything about my Starburst robbery, just as much as I did. Now that I think about it, it was rather funny how she used to get so furious and mad at Xavier for stealing them from me every morning. She and Xavier were the only two in school who knew exactly how much I loved them.

"This is so fucking cute. I'm gonna start shipping the two of you together. Childhood sweethearts. What do you say?" She turned to me rather seriously.

"Childhood rivals," I corrected for her.

"He would never – like never! – do this to anyone else, I swear to God. This isn't nothing."

"Yeah. Apparently, he's got a change of heart," I said as I sought out my books and closed the locker.

"No! That's not what I mean! This. . . this just isn't normal. Xavier doesn't do this sort of stuff. I mean, just look at him. Ugh," she sighed helplessly. "You don't get it."

I raised an eyebrow at her. She was making a huge deal out of this and she seemed close to passing out over it.

"Look. That guy is fucking reserved! He's not the kind of person who'd just, you know, talk to anyone. Hell, he doesn't talk to anyone except a very few of his friends. So it's a big deal."

"Well, he knew me."

"He also knows other hundred kids whom he doesn't exchange a word with."

I said nothing.

"Ahhh, come on. You get what I mean," she groaned in exasperation and I laughed it away. It was crazy. As far as I was sure, he simply wanted to give back the starbursts he stole. Nothing else.

We met Brittany on the way. She was the girl who smiled at me in homeroom. Turned out, she was friends with Kendra. With excitement and awe, she started chattering about the movie she watched last night. I was big into movies so I gave her my full attention.

We took a turn leading to another hallway. That was when I felt something hit the back of my head. With a small exclamation of surprise, I spun around. Narcissus' notorious grin stretched from East to West. He'd just jumped and caught the basketball as it bounced off to the side after hitting my head.

"You wanna die?" I seethed through clenched teeth.

"Oh right. I shouldn't have." He threw his head back and stared up at the ceiling, as if he had realized something extremely important. Then he looked back at me and asked, "Are you rabid?"

I fell my jaw drop and my eyes zeroed in on him in disbelief. His poker face barely lasted for two seconds before I heard a snort of stifled laughter escape from him. With the fact that he'd nicknamed me Mongrel, the relevance of Rabid was unquestionable.

Leaving his group, he walked over to us.

"Hey, Kendra. Brittany," he acknowledged them both as he came over to us.

"Hey," the two answered.

I, on the other hand, huffed and started to walk away. He moved ahead of us and spun back on his heels. Tilting his head slightly towards the right, he watched my face as he walked backward, a few steps ahead of me and not trying to hide in any way that he was enjoying the full view of me glowering at him.

"Hey, sexy." He smirked at me.

"Hideous," I returned.

It made him tilt his pink lips into a charming smile.

"Kendra, is it even possible for a canine to be this sexy?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes at him. "I want to insult you but your crappy little brain won't be able to comprehend it."

A gorgeous grin stretched across his lips and he watched my face for a while before he said, "Now that you know me, how about a date, Mongrel?"

I stopped walking at once. There was an instant buzz of muffled whispers in the area. I looked around me and everyone in the hallway was staring at us.

A date?

I gawped at him.

Has he gone mad?

I worked myself up and answered, "Now that I know you, I have acquired better reasons to start digging your grave. No."

He stopped walking too and simply stared at me. I glared into his eyes.

"Well, let's see how long that No's gonna last," he said.

"Forever."

"No. You're already in love with me."

I snatched the basketball from his hand and flung it at him. He ducked it in a clean move, breaking out into strings of laughter. He was really enjoying this.

"Whoa! Mongrel's got some moves! That's so freaking hot! Fire! Really." He faked amazement, shaking his head dramatically.

"Keep talking stupid. It suits your face," I replied sarcastically before I shoved past him.

"Aww. That's so cute. I'll see you around, sexy!!" I heard him chuckle and shout behind us.

God.

I didn't look back.

"He's totally into you," Kendra said under her breath.

"Please." I rolled my eyes.

Xavier never really got time to interact with me again during the day, except for the occasional kicks he gave me under the chair whenever he sat just behind me. Other than that, he was always with his friends and I was with mine. We just went about our business but, each and every time we met, he never failed to comment something just to irritate me.

Dad was supposed to come to pick me and David up from school, but when he called me up and told me that he wouldn't be able to because he was needed in an emergency surgery, I decided to take the bus.

By evening, I was running all the way to David's school, Kingston's elementary. I didn't want to wait for the bus. Who knew waiting for the bus might take even longer. I didn't like the idea of having him wait for me alone in the classroom when all the rest had left.

Huffing and puffing, I reached the school. Panic shot right up to the top of my head when I stepped inside his classroom and saw that it was empty. I ran out to the yard but, David was nowhere to be found. I asked the teacher and she told me that he was just here. She'd gone out of the classroom a minute ago for a glass of water only to find him gone.

I came out to the road and my eyes scanned the highway frantically, biting a fingernail nervously. I pulled out my phone.

Dammit! David doesn't use this useful stuff.

Which way could he have gone?

David had a habit of wandering around and checking out new places and I knew he had slipped out again. This wasn't the first time. My palms were starting to sweat. I wiped the rising sweat off my forehead with my hand and scuttled off towards the right, following my instincts, glancing continuously at both sides.

"David, David. Oh goddammit, David, where are you?!" I thought aloud as my pace began to pick up speed.

I stopped every now and then to scan the area and shops around the street for any sign of that boy, who was doing a very good job in squeezing the blood out of my wildly throbbing heart.

Maybe, I should call Dad. Maybe he had picked him up. But he would have called if he did.

Just as I reached for the device in my jeans pocket, my eyes landed on a boy with black-rimmed glasses sitting on a bus stop, at a distance of approximately ten meters and on the other side of the road, smiling away luminously as if he was planning for a trip to Disneyland . . . with a certain someone who was sitting right next to him.

No. No talking to strangers, David!

"David!!!" I shouted more than loud enough, attracting the attention of the people around me.

"Sorry," I mumbled mostly to myself and then began racing on toward him.

"David!!" I called again as I crossed the street because no matter how loud I had called earlier, he still didn't seem to hear me.

I raced on until I reached him and when I did, I practically face palmed myself the moment I made out the face of the stranger whom he was talking to.

God, please tell me it's not the Ugly Narcissus.

From then on, I slouched on my footsteps.

David jumped down from the seat and exclaimed in delight and amazement, "You're here! How'd you know I was here?!"

"David, you picked the worst time to play hide and seek. Why didn't you wait at school?" I groaned tiredly. "What are you doing here? How many times do I have to tell you to wait for me or dad?! No wandering about!" My elder sister mode came on.

He shrugged. "It was boring inside, so I came out."

"You know you almost gave me a heart attack, right?"

"I'm sorry," he said, adjusting his glasses.

Then I shifted my eyes towards Ugly Narcissus who was still sitting calmly and smirking away like a Diplomatic Smirker.

Do you ever stop?

"So this is your sister." He finally stood up.

"Yeah," David answered.

"And how come you're here?" I asked him.

"Let's say we're a match made in heaven, Mongrel."

I scoffed.

"You know her?" David asked him with wide eyes.

"Yup, buddy." He kept looking at me. "We know each other very well."

Our gazes locked.

God, those eyes.

I turned to David, trying to ignore Narcissus – well, more specifically his eyes – and chided David, "You're new here. You're not supposed to walk about alone in the street. You don't know anything. Something bad could have happened to you! Who knows, this guy here could be a kidnapper!"

"With due respect, I'm not a kidnapper," I heard Xavier mumble beside me.

I glared at him. "For example."

"I know the way home. I learned it when Dad drove me up," David replied.

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't."

"I do!!"

And he began reciting our way back home using houses and stores and electric posts – almost anything as landmark points – and the worst thing was, he was correct. In two days, he had learned the way all too well. I was not as smart as he was when I was his age, that made me feel so jealous and so damn proud of him.

"See?" he grinned proudly.

"It still doesn't mean you're allowed to wander alone."

"It's okay. I'm fine. Where's Dad?" David asked.

"He's not picking us up today. We're taking the bus."

"Ah . . ." he groaned. "You know I hate taking buses."

"Well, I'm sorry, bro."

"Come on. I'll give you guys a ride," Narcissus offered.

"Really?!" David's eyes lit up.

"Yup, buddy!"

"Great!" David stepped up to his side happily.

But for some reason, I didn't quite like the idea of having him drop us off at home. He was just too annoying sometimes for me to handle.

"No!" My right arm shot out at them in shock.

The two boys screwed back their eyes at me questioningly, eyeing my arm which did look a trifle too dramatic.

I awkwardly dropped it, having felt like some drama queen, and stated, "We're taking the bus."

"I'm not going to kidnap you. Not for now." Narcissus joked.

"It's just . . ." I rummaged through my brain, looking for a good excuse. "We can just take the bus."

"David's already rooting for me and I root for myself. You're alone. Majority wins so I'm dropping you guys off at home. Long live democracy. Come on," he beckoned, tilting the side of his lips wittily.

I rolled my eyes and held out for a while but, I was becoming far more than ridiculous. So, in the end, I agreed.

He led us to a gleaming black Dodge Charger Srt8 Hellcat parked on the side of the street. My eyes widened so very widely and I was left to marvel – Holy batman, he drives that?!!

David wouldn't hide his wonder. Even he gasped, "Whoa!"

He hadn't yet learned how to differentiate cars but he fell for this one. Narcissus opened the back seat and David jumped in. Next, he opened the front seat and I got in.

He rounded the car to the driver's seat. Settling in, he asked, "So, baby, which way is it?"

"Straight ahead."

Not realizing why exactly, I found myself smiling when he looked away.

This is so wrong, Alana.

• • •

Hope you enjoyed it.

XoXo, Hermyne