Chapter Thirteen: And Here we Go Again!

"What the f--"

I woke up & sat on the bed with a start finding my face, hair & shirt heavily drenched in water. Mark was standing besides my bed grinning widely & a jug in his hand, the contents of which had just been emptied on me.

"What the hell was that for??" I yelled at him in anger.

"Well, you had told me to wake you up at sharp 5:15 am this morning, so here we are!" he shrugged.

"But that doesn't mean you pour water on me. You could have first tried to wake me up in a normal way." I shot back.

"Water is the best method to wake up anyone in a jiffy & it actually works! You're the living proof!" he gave me a wide grin again.

I rolled my eyes, wiping off my wet tresses.

"Hold on a sec!"I suddenly remembered something, "I just realized you don't have football practice on Mondays. So how come you're up so early?"

 Let me tell you that football is the one and only thing that can wake up a deep sleeper like my brother very early in the morning.

 "I have an additional test on History today cause I flunked, all thanks to you for being so "supportive"." he accused me.

"I didn't know its a crime to stop your brother from cheating." I said sarcastically.

He gave me a look & left the room. So yes, I am going for jogging in order to lose the extra weight that I don't even carry in my body!

On my way to Joggers' Park, I tried calling up Laura but she didn't pick up. After giving her the fifth call, I came to the conclusion that she ditched me at the end moment. Soph confirmed the same when I met her at the park.

"Are you then Ready To Run?" Soph asked me excitedly..

Yeah! She was trying to brace me up with a One Direction song from their latest album. When we started jogging on the tracks, she was the one who was more optimistic of the two of us,

"We're gonna complete our running target for today, no matter what. I will not give up. I will fit into that dress. The extra weight has to go. We can do it, we've just got to run, run and run & not sit until we reach our target. With a bit of willpower & determination, we can achieve our goal."

But after a while, well....it was the other way around.

"Come on Soph! You can do it!" I urged her when she was slowing down her pace, "We've hardly run! You can't give up so early!"

"I'm....I'm tired." she said breathlessly, "I think....its best we.....complete our running target tomorrow."

"But you told you would not give up!" I told her.

"I won't....give up tomorrow, but....today I need to give up...lets sit somewhere..my legs are dying.." she spoke out of breath.

I sighed, following her as she made her way to an empty bench nearby.

"How come you're not tired?" she asked me when her breathing turned normal.

"Maybe because I play football? Mark used to train himself a lot to learn football. I used to join him as well." I told her.

"That's so good. Its high time I stop being a couch potato & try to be a lean French fry!" she sighed, drinking water from her bottle.

I laughed at her remark, "Soph, chill! don't exaggerate so much. You're not fat."

I had spoken the truth. Just because you don't fit into a dress doesn't mean you are a case of obesity!

Soph was looking at a distance somewhere when her eyes suddenly grew wide & she spilt out the water from her mouth.

"What happened?" I was startled.

"Look Look Look!" she urged enthusiastically.

 I followed her line of vision & saw Drake who was speaking to a curly brown haired guy.

"Did you see the guy with Drake? He is Mr X, my crush! Isn't he good looking?" she gushed.

"Whoa! Nice choice there." I nodded, "Finally I see your mystery guy."

"And I guess Drake is friends with him. Yes Yes Yes!!" she almost skipped in excitement.

"I don't see what is there to be happy about in that." I raised my brow.

 She didn't answer me, instead caught my hand & dragged me along with her. Next, I found myself hiding behind a bush with her. We were now conveniently nearer to the guys but we couldn't hear their talks.

"Er...why are we hiding?" I poked her.

"Okay, so here is the plan." she whispered to me in a confidential tone," I have to get into talking terms with Mr X. So you will sort of introduce me to Mr X by pretending to be Drake's very good friend. "

"I will pretend to be what?" I asked her, shocked.

"Drake's very good friend." she repeated as though stating the obvious.

"No! No! Never! That sounds disastrous on the first place." I revolted.

"Andy please! I would have wanted you to pretend as Drake's girlfriend but since you're my friend, I suggested you to act being his good friend."

 "Not happening. And anyways, there is no chance Drake will play along."

"Andy please...." she looked at me with puppy eyes.

"Fine." I said, rolling my eyes. And she smiled ear to ear.

***

"Hey Drake!" I called out to him. The guys turned to Soph & me as we approached them.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming here this morning? We could have come together!" I spoke cheerfully to Drake, "Yesterday I had been to the place that you had told me of, I can't wait more to tell you everything about it! Your suggestions & choices are really good!"

Did I just do over-acting by any chance?

Drake looked at me as though he had just been notified that New York City is in South Africa. Can't blame him actually! This situation is weird.

 Drake didn't speak a word. He was still reeling under shock at my sweet behavior. Works well with me since I get to carry out the next stage of the plan.

I looked at the curly haired guy,

"Hi! I guess I'm not familiar with all of Drake's friends yet." I said.

"Mike Simmons here." he introduced himself.

 So Sophia's Mr X is Mike Simmons.

"I recollect now! You're an Arts student, right? Drake had mentioned about you. She's my friend Sophia." I introduced Soph to Mike, "She is extremely fond of art & sculpting!"

Soph & Mike shook hands. Stage Two complete.

 Now for the third & last stage of the plan. 

I saw Drake was about to speak but I spoke before him,

 "Well, you two carry along as Drake & I have a lot of things to discuss about." I told Soph & Mike.

 "Come on Drake!" I said, holding Drake's hand & tugging him along with me. Soph gave a thanks-a-lot look to me. I nodded silently before moving away from there with Drake.

 ***

"What was that Nosey?" Drake asked in an amused voice, jogging beside me.

"You don't have to know. It wasn't real anyways." I told him nonchalantly, moving ahead of him.

 "By the way, I didn't know you're my girlfriend." he smirked, catching up with mr.

"Excuse me?? I was pretending to be your good friend!!" I snapped at him, stressing on the word 'pretending'.

"Oh so now I get it! You found it easier to be my girlfriend rather than just a friend." he said in a husky voice.

"Can I just kill you?" I glared at him furiously.

"Good Nosey girls don't murder their boyfriends." he taunted me, smirking even more.

That's it!! Now he's gonna have it from me!!!

I bet I was looking like lava of anger. Drake must have sensed my intentions, that's why he raced ahead of me. I chased after him.He has messed with the wrong person & I will make him realize that.

"Nosey, your nose has turned red like a clown. Calm down your anger." he taunted me as he ran inside the kids garden.

"I will not rest until I turn you black & blue." I threatened him.

We were running in between slides, swings, horse rides, see-saws & what not. He kept on teasing me & I very well replied back. I was inching nearer to him & finally when I was able to catch him....well, tragedy struck. I tripped over a pebble which I didn't see earlier, dashed him & we both fell over a heap of mud with him over me....!

Yet again, a foreign feeling had invaded me when my eyes had locked with his. He got off me but I still was in a haze as I realized much later that I was covered with mud from hair to toe!

****

 "I'm so so sorry Andy! I couldn't wake up early!" Laura apologized when we met at the school canteen that day.

"Don't worry, you didn't miss anything great, except for some stupidity ofcourse." I sighed.

"Andy, Guess what, guess what!!!" Soph came rushing to us, "Mike & I are kind of friends. We exchanged numbers. And I'm so happy right now that I can even forgive Laura for not turning up to jog."

"Uh...Thanks.." Laura muttered sheepishly.

"That's good Soph. So your boat is sailing." I told her. Soph bobbed her head.

The bell for the first period rang soon after. We three parted ways to go to our respective classrooms.

I first went to the locker room to retrieve my books. My locker was in a mess....lets not talk about how unorganized I am. I was then hurrying to the Science class since Mrs Kelly, who was teaching in place of Mr Smith for a week, was very strict & doesn't really ushers late comers in the class. Soph decided to give the first period a miss. I reached a turn in one of the corridors when I came face to face with Drake. I tried to move past him but he came on my way. I once again tried to leave but he blocked my path once more.

"What the hell is your problem???" I yelled at his smirking face.

"The class is not in Room 302, its in Room 415." he said.

"Yeah right, I believe you." I said in a sarcastic tone, "Care to move out of my way."

"I'm just trying to help."

"If that's the case, why aren't you in Room 415 yet?"

"Cause I am not attending class today." he shrugged casually, "If you don't wanna be late, you should be rushing now to Room 415."

Drake walked away.

Yeah! As if I believe him! He is just trying to play one of his pranks on me but this time I'm not gonna fall for it.

I confidently walked to Room 302 but reality struck hard on my face to find it empty....

Oh No! Drake was perhaps right! I'm late I'm late I'm late!

With lightening speed, I made my way to Room 415. Drake was speaking the truth. Apart from the stern looks of Mrs Kelly, I even earned myself raised eyebrows from all my classmates when I walked into the class, looking as if I had run a marathon race.

i was heading to sit on one of the last benches when Mrs Keely's stern voice stopped me,

"We don't want to see you do a ramp walk upto the last bench Ms Wilson."

The class snickered at that. I felt so mortified, I tell you! The Science teacher spoke again,

"Sit on the first bench with Mr Spencer." she indicated the empty seat next to Drake.

"But I don't want to sit with him." I blurted out instantly.

"Ms Wilson, if I were you, I wouldn't judge this to be the right time for arguing." Mrs Kelly eyed me sharply.

I was suddenly interested in admiring my footwear. I walked back & sat next to Drake. He was smirking slyly at me.

He played a prank on me without really playing a prank on me. Arrgg!!!

~*~*~~*~*

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