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Chapter 1: Oh Look, My Favorite Snob

Has anyone ever suffered from an extreme case of . . . idiotism?

Idiotism: when one consistently makes stupid decisions and takes foolish actions (due to peer pressure, in my case) that leads to his or her downfall.

In simpler words, you screw yourself over.

The three friends of my older sister were taking revenge for her.

"You can't even help?"

"You're not gonna take revenge on the guy who broke your sister's heart?"

"Helen, you're a bad sister!"

They screamed at me. I couldn't even differentiate between who yelled what.

So, that's how I fell in the trap of peer pressure as I got out of the car, got handed the last two trays of eggs, and pushed closer to the now spray painted house. My sister's friends were vandalizing the property of our school principal, unknowingly. I let them. In my defense, his son did break my older sister Hestia's heart.

No one was home. They had been gone on a vacation to the Caribbean since beginning of winter break. From there, on the phone, Jason broke up with Hestia last week. It was now the day before New Years'.

The girls shouted at me to do something.

"I can't believe this," I mumbled as I picked up the first egg and threw it at the front door. It was just our luck that no one was home . . . and the house was isolated from the rest of the neighborhood with all the trees around, acting as guards.

Moving closer, I knocked over something near my feet. A garden gnome. Not just one, rather a whole lot of them around. Walking clumsily, I accidentally knocked some more over on my way.

Darn!

Nevertheless, the three other girls kind of pushed me and forced me to keep egging the place. By the time I started the second tray of eggs, I was getting carried away. It was Zeitgeist or "spirit of the age." It was the spirit of the moment that I was doing what I was doing. 

Wait, I really shouldn't be using terms that once described the period where people in Germany were becoming Nazis and killing innocents. 

"Selena! Give me your tray!" I shouted as I threw the last egg I had.

Selena Pecks was a tall blond, with the biggest green eyes in the neighborhood, and the loudest voice. She was my sister's closest friend.

"Helen, Selena, Jane! Stop! We need to leave," said the other blond--Percilla Graten, my sister's second best friend.

She was one of those goody-goody people in front of adults, but behind the scenes, she was a different person. One minute, she is super excited, full of energy, and just over the top daredevil, and the next minute, she turns back into the goody too shoes. Make up your mind, woman!

Percilla ran to her car and got inside along with the two other girls. They were tired and exhausted from the screaming, egging, and spray painting. I was still adding on finishing touches. Knock over more gnomes.

Fantastic.

For some reason, something felt odd . . . different.

As if I was being watched.

Ignoring, I stood up with a satisfied grin and heard calls from the girls to get moving. Enough damage had been done.

I hurried over to the car and we drove away.

Hopefully, no one gets caught.

¤》¤《¤

Yay first day of school after New Years.

"Alli!"

Students were calling out their friends' names.

"Kelly!"

"Alexis!"

"Raúl!"

I held my head high and walked into the school hallway as students around me hugged each other and showed their excitement. For god's sake people, you saw each other not even two weeks ago. Even though I showed no interest in all this hugging and crying and laughing, I couldn't help but feel jealous.

These kids had their close group of friends. I had acquaintances.

Shaking away stupid thoughts, I headed straight to my first period class: AP European History.

School. College. Princeton.

No need for distractions.

Speaking of distractions, the biggest idiot--Nolan Milesblue--stood at the end of the hallway holding an unlit cigarette. His chestnut brown hair fell across his forehead. I saw his light green eyes roam around aimlessly. He would have even been attractive if he ever bothered with his personality. Nolan was a hopeless case. People said that after he lost his girlfriends, he had never been the same.

Please.

A thing called learning from your mistakes or other people's mistakes exists. Some of the young music stars were great examples. Not saying any names.

As I walked past him, I smiled inwardly, thankful I couldn't smell any smoke. Second hand smoking? Death at seventeen? No Princeton?

No, thank you.

I entered my classroom and took a seat. Class started in ten minutes. The other kids were chattering about their break. I pulled out my textbook and started rereading the chapters we had for homework.

"Oh look, my favorite snob is studying."

I turned to find Nolan making his way to the seat next to mine. He always called me a "snob" for no reason. I hated it. As he sat down, he intentionally turned the cover of my textbook, slamming it shut.

I reopened it and realized I now had his germs. Quickly, I pulled out my pocket hand sanitizer and cleaned my hands.

"Really?"

"I saw you with a cigarette earlier. I don't need any of those kind of germs near me. Disgusting."

He eyed me. "You were watching me earlier?"

"Yes, that's what people do in a zoo."

"No kidding," he said eyeing me up and down. I hated him. He leaned back in his chair and asked, "How was your break?"

I was beyond confused. This kid hardly ever communicated me this much. Sure, we worked on projects together and all but a polite conversation about personal stuff?

Nah.

"Why do you care?" I asked.

He looked straight forward. "Did you know I took up photography?"

"No. Nor do I care," I told him. Nolan was beating around the bush now. He slowly pulled out something from his jacket and slid it on my desk. My eyes almost popped out my head when I saw the photo of me kicking a garden gnome. My face was so clear. "Sweet picture huh?" I picked up and immediately tore it in half and then into thirds and so on. "I have more."

"How?" I calmly asked even though I was in a panic inside. "And why do you?"

It was creepy. I knew I had a weird feeling when egging that place and ruining it. Oh darn.

"Meet me after school today and we'll sort it out," he said.

I kept nagging and asking him for explanations, but he ignored me. I hated jerks like him. What was he even planning? We hardly knew each other even if we started high school at the same time.

Oh gosh, stupid peer pressure resulted in this mess.

¤》¤《¤

"I just happened to want a picture of some garden gnomes" he trailed off. "You fit the scenery pretty well."

We were sitting in the school library on a table in the back. Nolan glanced around continually as if looking at me hurt his eyes.

"Bu--but why do you only have my pictures?"

"Your other friends were in the car," he said.

I slammed my head on the table. Germ threats begone. Worse worries came about. Why did I have to be the one getting caught? Life wasn't fair.

"What's the point of this, Nolan?"

"I'm going to use those photos against you," he replied. I frowned at him and opened my mouth to argue when he added, "You have two choices."

"Of course," I said sarcastically, leaning back in my chair. He was going to blackmail me. I knew I should've stayed away from idiotism.

"Choice number one: you can help me save lives. Choice two: if you refuse choice one, then I anonymously hand the photos to the principal."

If the principal sees those, then I can say goodbye to Princeton. Vandalizing private property can lead to criminal charges (again learning from some celebrities). Princeton surely wouldn't take me then.

"Elaborate on choice one," I told him finally.

Nolan leaned forward on the table. "Help me break up couples."

"Excuse me?" Break up couples? Had he completely lost it?

"Look snob," he started and changed his tone upon seeing my raised eyebrow, "Hel-en, we can save lives by breaking up couples. Only seven couples. And you can have the photos back." He always tore my name apart for no reason.

"I don't get it," I told him. "Break up couples? Do you realize how stupid that sounds? Meddling in other people's personal lives."

"Oh please. Hypocrite. You were egging that house for your sister's broken heart!" He did his research.

"I was pressured into doing that!" I snapped. "And that was my sister! I have no interest in helping your selfish plans."

"I'm trying to save those guys from ending up with broken hearts!"

Save guys? "So you're against girls--oh my god, please don't tell me this is some revenge scheme," I said horrified by the thought.

He smiled bitterly. "Seven girls who crushed my heart. They won't hesitate to do it to other men. So, are you helping me or not?" So that was the case.

People who said his breakups affected him were right.

Move on, dude.

"Why don't you ask your friends for help?" I asked. He pursed his lips and crossed his arms. I suddenly realized that I was talking to the school loner. "I'm not helping."

"Giving up Princeton that fast?" He knew about Princeton? "Teacher's pet, a dork, a snob, straight A student, and an 'angel' of student is giving up on her dream college that quickly? All because of your sister's heartbreak?"

Someone clearly did all the research. And called me names meant as an insult.

We argued for a complete hour until I finally surrendered.

"Fine. I'll help."

He got up from his seat and grabbed his backpack.

"Fantastic. Meet me at the Garden Valley Park at four tomorrow."

With that said, he walked out of the library.

"Happy New Year," I muttered under my breath.

¤》¤《¤

A/N

How was the chapter? What do you think of their names?

Was Helen's decision right to help him?

I would really appreciate the support! I'm entering this for #JustWriteit and the Wattys. Meaning this book has to be finished by July 30th.

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