Remember that quiz Emily and I were studying for when Cole Brown asked me out for lunch?
We took that quiz yesterday.
And boy, was yesterday a whole mess and a half. All I could think of were the following existential crisis questions: When did Alexander become a hunk? Why is every girl in school falling under his feet and convulsing on the ground? Why does it bother me that he saw the bruises? Why did it bother him that I had bruises?
You see, a crush progression is like a long long train, it starts out too slow to notice until it's moving too fast to stop. And because I'm the type of train that likes to know where it's headed, I asked myself ; am I developing a stupid crush on a stupid idiot?
Here your answer; hell no, I'm not!
After I realized I missed a couple of question on Mister Henderson's quiz. I went home with a mission. A mission to identify the source of my feelings. I grabbed my period calendar and analyzed it carefully.
Turns out, I was right at my PMS window.
This, my friends, explains exactly why that ditzy dumbass became a hunk in the span of a week and why it was easy for him to get me all flustered.
I almost thought I liked him. Mother Nature is a sneaky bitch! I was grazing a slippery slope. Thank god for the solid, life saving rail that is menstrual awareness.
Now that I know that I'm being a basic teenager going all hormonal on the one and only hot guy I deal with on a daily basis, I can go back to shifting my focus on school. After my hormone levels drop, he'll go back to being the usual dumb gorilla he is in my eyes, so I'm good.
We're good here!
And with that little preface, here's how the next day went on :
"Alexander, that's stage three of cell..."
"I know the stages of cellular mitosis, thanks.." he interrupted me harshly while writing in his paper and I frowned.
Looks like he's approaching his PMS window as well.
"Alright, Jeez!" I answered raising my hands,"...don't bite me" I continued while grabbing the microscope from him and he twitched at that expression.
Although we all love a good period synch up story, I was just trying to help; he was starring at the paper just looking at it and not even using the microscope.
Fuck him then!
I didn't see him at all after he freaked out about my bruise and walked out in the middle of class yesterday. This morning, he came in looking pissed and growling at everybody, me included.
He took a deep breath, ran a hand trough his hair like he was frustrated by me and then his blue eyes found their way to mine.
"You know you can be nicer to people..." he groaned while leaning towards me.
"I don't need people therefore, I don't need to be nice to them" I shrugged while placing a slide on the microscope and my eye over the lens.
"People who didn't need people still needed people around to know that they were the kind of..."
" "people who didn't need people" from the book Maskerade by author Terry Practchett, whoopty doo!!" I shake my fingers slightly in an ironic dance without moving my head from above the microscope, "now move your stupid book-quoting ass out of the light.." I continue annoyed that he chose that quote, insinuating I was a hypocrite.
I actually wasn't irritated at him blocking the light, I was annoyed at him inching closer to me and it got me a little nervous.
Dumb Gorilla, Dumb Gorilla! Come on, chill!
I told him to stop quoting random books in our conversations but he won't listen. So now every time he does it and I catch on, I cut him off.
Suddenly, it felt like his anger went through the window while his lips twitched in a sly smile. His whole aura shifted.
He suddenly inched even closer and I tensed.
"You're the only girl who's caught on to me doing this with her..." he started, "you know what this means?..." he tilted his head with a smirk.
"It means I'm one book quote away from stabbing you in the eye with a cellular mitosis slide.." I shoved him away from the light with a hand while keeping my eye on the lens.
What the hell phase was this one anyway? I still couldn't tell, it was all blurry in there and being distracted didn't help!
" it's Telophase.." he answered like he read my mind, unbothered "and it means we virtually like the same books..." he continued while leaning on our lab table, resting his head on his hand and starring at me like I was a TV screen, which made my cheeks go slightly pink.
"Big deal.." I raised my head from the microscope and grabbed another slide, ignoring him.
My eyes caught his in a split second and my cheeks went slightly red. He noticed but just turned his head towards Mister Henderson who was calling on the whole class to let us know we had homework due tomorrow.
In less than a week, I'll finally get my stupid period and he'll be an idiot again. Just ignore how adorably cute he was looking off in the distance right now.
Urg, focus!
If we don't identify all of these slides by the end of the hour, we're going to get another shitty lab assignment grade.
"If we like the same books, it means we think alike.." he suddenly turned back at me and started tugging at my hair scrunchie and I slapped his hand away.
"back off..." I hissed.
He succeeded at getting my hair slightly lose and my low bun turned into a ponytail that fell along my back to my waist.
My hair was still damp. I just showered and walked out of the house this morning trying to avoid Markus who woke up earlier than usual. Didn't even have time to dry it because I didn't want to run into him.
"I'm going to strangle you.." I elbow him in the arm and he leaned closer while running a hand through my hair.
"I'd love that..." he swirled a few hair strands around his finger and my face turned pink again.
Jesus Christ, we're in a classroom!
I tried to shove my face back into the microscope but I felt him run his hand softly from my wrist to my elbow and tingles sparked everywhere he touched, then I realized what he was doing;
He was sneakily pushing back my lab coat sleeve to take another look at my bruises.
I quickly pushed his hand back again and put my sleeve back down, a sudden feeling of shame creeping upon me to the point where I couldn't even look at him anymore.
What a disgraceful situation. The poor and abused little scholarship student who comes from a broken, problematic family has bruises on her.
Great!
This doesn't feel good a position and I don't want him poking his nose in my shit.
I think he felt that because he looked like he was going to say something but he simply broke eye contact to turn towards his own paper.
Neither of us spoke to each other again until the bell rang.
And it was awful.
Lunch break couldn't come soon enough because it meant I could meet up with Emily and bitch about Alexander for thirty minutes. She seemed very interested in seeing how he behaves with me. Like she was trying to figure out a piece of puzzle. Although she mainly just laughed at my disturbing lack of luck.
But right as we were in the middle of a conversation, a girl plopped next to us on our table and put her tray down.
"Is it just me or is Mister Henderson approaching a mid life crisis? He's been an asshole to the whole senior class lately..." the girl took a fork and dug in her plate while throwing her Iphone on the table. Her phone case was black and had a Baymax drawing on it from Big Hero 6 which looked so cute.
I just stared at her while Emily smiled.
"he's actually been quite lenient with us" Emily started and then turned towards me "Alexa, this is Victoria, my cousin, she's a senior here at Eastwell..."
"Hey!" I smiled at her while she shoved a forkful of food in her mouth.
She was so pretty and boy did she stand out. Her hair was dyed purple and was falling in loose curls on her shoulders. She was dressed like hot topic had a sale on the gothic section. White crop top with black ripped jeans and black studded heeled boots. Her nails were black too and she had a dark blue flannel shirt tied around her waist.
So..the hall monitor didn't notice she wasn't wearing the uniform as long as she was wearing white on top and black on the bottom? Cool. I almost got burned at the stakes the other day for putting a cardigan over my uniform because it got chilly.
She turned towards me with interest and swallowed her food.
"Oh, I know you, you're Xander's new human toy.." she raised her eyebrows and I frowned while Emily pursed her lips and starred at her.
What the hell did she just call me? His "toy" ?
"I'm not anybody's toy.." I started, offended.
Actually, I was more offended at the term "new" like she was implying there was someone else before me and at the time, I didn't even notice she said "human".
"I don't mean that in a condescending way, I just meant he enjoys messing around with girls.." she explained and I breathed out.
"oh he's doing a great job with her alright!" Emily teased and I glared at her.
"That hurts my feelings..." I sarcastically responded and Victoria shook her head.
"You better watch out, new girl, don't get too attached or you'll get hurt for real..." she warned and I felt those words physically stab me in the heart.
Wait, why am I so bothered by this? And why would she say that? There's nothing between me and that gorilla for me to get hurt and there never will be so..
"Victoria..." Emily narrowed her eyes and Victoria shrugged again while opening her soda can.
"what I'm just warning her" she raised her shoulders at Emily "even if he doesn't do anything, I heard a lot of girls don't like you already..."she took a sip from her can and I shrugged.
"I actually noticed some girls giving you the side glance earlier" Emily narrowed her eyes.
"Me too, I just assumed they were Cole Brown's groupies who saw me having lunch with him" I nodded and Victoria frowned.
"No, it's because you're...different" Victoria continued and Emily shot her a glare.
I get it, I'm different. I'm poor. I'm a peasant! I'm a country bumpkin. I accepted it. Jeez! This school is so freaking elitist.
"So...you guys going to the autumn festival Friday night?" she looked like she was changing the subject simply because Emily was about to shot laser beams at her with her eyes.
This was a festival that's held every year during fall in Chinatown here in Melrose, and I couldn't care less to be honest.
"No, I'll do what I always do on a Friday night, stay in and study" I answered, "This is like any other night for me"
My dad used to take me when I was little but once he left, I never went again and by the time mom remarried, I was a grumpy teenager who hated everything.
And it's not like I would've gone with Markus anyway.
"Are you serious? Your whole junior class is going..." Victoria exclaimed and I shrugged.
"Why? Is everybody here into Asian culture or something?" I inquired and she shook her head.
"It's the one day a year where the moon is at its fullest and brightest, and it's believed that on this day; your...bond...with your...soul mate is at its strongest." she was stuttering while talking, like she was trying to give me information without giving me information and I chuckled.
"you gotta be kidding me, soul mates? are we in 5th grade?" I mocked and she frowned.
"We take this very seriously, some girls in my class are planning on renting kimonos" she continued and I scowled.
Kimonos for the Chinese Festival ?How I wanted to say something but I kept my mouth shut.
"That sounds fun actually..." Emily took a bite off her sandwich.
No, it's sounds extra.
"I'm already going, I'm meeting Jay there, you guys wanna join?" Victoria asked and Emily shook her shoulders.
"Sure, I'm free this Friday!" she then turned towards me and pointed her chin at Victoria "Jay's her.. -b-boyfriend" She kind of stuttered too when she said that, like she started to say another word and then switched to "boyfriend" mid-way.
What ? Is "boyfriend" code for something else?
"you in, Alexa?" Emily asked, "Victoria's definitely going to ditch me to be with Jay and I wouldn't want to third wheel anyway..." she continued and I dreaded saying no.
"I'm won't ditch you, I'll gently leave you behind" Victoria corrected and Emily grimaced.
"Oh yeah, that's much better..." Emily rolled her eyes.
"I'm in." I answered.
Let's be clear; during my first week of school; nobody wanted to be anywhere near me, and I get it. It's fine. Like she just said. I'm different. Everybody already knew each other here. All the friend groups were formed. I'm the new girl and my poor ass I can't relate to them. I'm not exactly the social butterfly either.
However, Emily came along one day and sat next to me during algebra; since that day, our friendship catapulted into space and in the span of three months, we went from doing projects together to having sleepovers at her house when we wanted to cram for upcoming tests. We related over being honor roll students and liked working together.
She opened her home to me and I would have invited her to my house as well but I was too ashamed and with Markus there, I don't think either of us would be comfortable.
I would honestly call her my bestfriend, if not my only friend. Even though I hardly know anything about her except the fact that she believes she'll definitely find her true love at the age of 18.
I have a few old friends but we don't hang out that often anymore either. We keep in touch though.
You can't really afford a social life in my situation.
So even thought I didn't want to go, I still said yes because Emily was the one asking.
And so, Friday came around pretty quickly and my bruises finally faded.
I got to know Victoria a little bit more in the span of the previous days. She's very pushy, obsessed with her boyfriend and fashion, rebels against pretty much any authority figure that tells her what to do. She spoke her mind very loudly when something bothered her and didn't care if she got into fights and arguments. She listened to very edgy hipster bands. But she still was not a mean girl or anything. She is genuine and very present when someone needs help. I couldn't pin point it actually. Is her personality awful or awesome? Is she kind or horrendous? I don't get it.
But one thing was on my mind while standing in front of my open dresser.
I don't have anything to wear to hang out with her.
I never cared usually with just Emily, but if it's going to be Victoria, she's going to comment and whine.
No matter what I put on, I'll be the poor scholarship student with no fashion sense anyway, so there really is no point in trying.
I shrugged.
C'est la vie!
So I did what a normal person would do in my situation: I kept my school uniform on. White blouse and black pants.
...and didn't think it'd be a big problem.
I was exiting the subway with my phone to my ears talking to Emily. The whole mall was insanely crowded you could barely move ahead. I haven't been to this part of town in years. I was supposed to meet them at the mall in the Chinese district so we'd grab a bite and then head for the festival right after. It was about 7 PM and already dark out.
"I just got off, where are you guys?" I asked taking the escalator up.
"There's a Vietnamese restaurant on the second floor....yes, thank you, can I have a side of chicken Nems as well and a straw?..." she asked and I assumed she was making her order "...after you exit the elevator, it's called "Café Phá» Cá»" and has a red banner, you can't miss it..."
"Gotcha, I'll be right there" I hung up.
When I finally made my way to the restaurant, I spotted Victoria's purple hair from the crowed; she was sitting at a table outside with Emily. I went towards them and hung my bag on the back of a chair at their table.
"you made it!"Emily smiled and I breathed out.
"Why is it so crowded today?" I whined and Victoria frowned.
"I have a better question, why are you still wearing that god awful school uniform?" she stopped eating and looked like I just presented her with four dead puppies.
Ding! I knew it.
"Didn't have time to change.." I lied, hoping she'll give up but she leaned against her chair, visibly bothered by my attire.
She had a twelve hundred dollar Chloe bag on the table. If you're going to be bothered by my clothes, we can't hang out.
"I'm guessing the crowed is due to the festival nearby" Emily looked around her at some cheongsam wearing girls and children. She didn't seem to care about my outfit at all.
This is why I love her.
"..I'm glad you guys chose Vietnamese, I'd kill for some steamed rice rolls" I started to head for the counter to order, I turned towards them before leaving, "you guys want anything else?"
"More napkins and can you get a diet coke for me on the way?" Victoria asked and I nodded.
When I was waiting in line, I noticed Victoria talking to Emily while looking at me and I grimaced.
Should I have just put an old t-shirt and a pair of pants then? I'm sure Victoria would say nothing since she'll figure out that's the only thing I can actually afford but I guess she would still be bothered.
I've been out with Emily plenty of times for lunch and coffee. She never even cared.
Emily's the fucking MVP.
I guess I stood out since they were both dressed to the nines.
Victoria had a mustard colored polka dots blouse that tied at the waist with black high wasted jeans and a pair of mustard colored heels as well. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail and her handbag was black with a golden chain.
Emily was more casual but still put together. She had a blue striped halter crop top with dark washed boyfriend jeans and vans. She had a black Luis Vuitton backpack with her. Her hair was braided on the side.
I got my food and sat back down with them. We talked for a while but Victoria seemed out of it. Almost annoyed.
Jesus Christ! I'm sorry. I'll try next time! Ok!
As I finished my food last, Victoria stood up and checked her phone for the time.
"let's go!" she grabbed her bag and my arm and started dragging me towards the elevators. Emily trailed behind us with an exasperated look. We got into the mall elevator and instead of pressing down the parking lot button, she pressed the fourth floor and I scowled.
"Victoria, why the hell are we going up, isn't your car down at the parking lot?" I asked and she shot me a dangerous look.
"We're not gonna prance around the festival with you looking like a Sunday school teacher!"she answered and Emily sighted.
"wait what?" I asked confused, the elevator door opened and she started walking me fast to the closest clothing store which was Chloe's.
Is she insane?
"No, Victoria, I don't have money for shopping and especially not at Chloe's" I argued and she shrugged.
"fine, if that's your excuse, I'll handle the expenses. No big deal!" She walked me through the door and a heavy scent of cosmetics and perfumes hit me.
Yes big deal! Yes very big deal! The cheapest thing in this store is worth my rent. I'm not gonna make her spend it on a crop top.
To be clear, I never go into these stores. Not even in this 21st century consumerist culture. I just shop online on sales days or thrift with my mom, and only if we have money to spare. My closet is sad.
She started grabbing items left and right and I turned towards Emily.
"Do something, this is your deranged cousin.." I yelled and she smiled.
"Jay's not answering her phone calls and she thinks he's going to stand her up on their little festival date. Just go with it, she's a control freak and shopping helps her vent her anger.."
"I can hear you both..." Victoria grabbed a pair of denim short "I swear to god once he answers I'm going to give it to him!" she shook the poor item in her hands angrily.
So..okay.
Let me explain.
I wouldn't normally accept this, and I would never ask for it.
But Victoria's the kind of pushy person who'll do something good for you without you asking, and if you reject her kindness, she'll either get offended or call you an idiot.
I didn't want her to be insulted and she looked rather happy putting together a needlessly expensive outfit for me, so I reluctantly tried on what she gave me and Emily was encouraging me to just shut up and go with it. So I did.
Needless to say, she picked up clothes that fit her style and not that I had one, but I wouldn't wear this on a normal day.
In the end, I found myself wearing a black lace bralet with dark denim high wasted shorts and a black belt. She picked a brown cardigan because I wouldn't go with just the bralet since I felt naked. I strictly refused to go with the pair of fourteen hundred dollar nude heels she was trying to pick out and she just gave up and picked normal white sneakers. I didn't want a bag either but did she listen? No.
She got me a gold chain dark brown Chloe bag just like hers and I was so confused at this type of kindness in this type of person. She was either really passionate about fashion or just stupidly rich and didn't care. She didn't let me look at the receipt.
I've been to Emily's house. Her parents are also quite wealthy. Since they're cousins, they might be into the same business.
I can Google the prices of everything when I get home anyway so it's useless to hide it from me, but I think she didn't want me to feel burdened.
I thought nothing of it and we walked out of the store with my clothes on and my uniform in a bag.
...and with that, we were finally in her car, on our way to the fall festival in the Chinese district.
Finding parking space was hell. Finding the entry of the festival was a whole lot easier because once we exited the car, there were just so many people heading the same way that all we had to do was follow.
Before I could even take on step forward in my new outfit, Victoria stood in my way and just started me up and down then shook her head.
"What is it now?" I whined.
"Let you hair down" she ordered and before I could even do or say anything, her hand was on my topknot tugging at my scrunchie.
She let it lose and my hair fell on my shoulders in wavy curls.
"Oh yeah, that's so much better!" Emily poked her head at the side of Victoria to look at me.
Honestly, I felt pretty. I mean I don't know. Wouldn't anybody feel pretty in expensive ass clothes?
To say the least, my outfit was on the revealing side, yet still casual. Does that make sense?
I don't know but it wasn't all too ugly. Props to Victoria because I looked dope. She's good.
We walk through the masses of people and finally get to the festival. We could see the merry go round on top of the hill that was beautifully lit and children all around everywhere. There were so many food stands and a combination of different smells filled the air, from cakes to incense. Everything was so colorful but the dominant color of course was red. The lights. The people. The smells. The sound of fireworks going off in the distance. It all brought back semi-painful memories with my dad and a weird feeling crept into my stomach.
"What should we try first?" Emily looked at the stands of food on her left while rubbing her hands together.
"I'm still full from the Vietnamese" I answered while approaching the stands to see if something peaks my interest.
Victoria was another story. She was on her phone. Texting Jay who wouldn't answer. And she was getting pissed by the minute.
"Come on, try some mushroom, that'll loosen you up!" Emily teased while handing Victoria a brochette of food from the stand that she purchased.
I got some too and they were so hot my tongue was on fire and eyes started to water while I coughed my lungs out.
"I need alcohol not mushrooms!" Victoria took the brochette from her and started munching on it angrily while typing on her phone. You could only see her blue messages on her Iphone screen and the other side was just dead silence.
"Maybe she gave you a Shroom brochette..." I ironically responded, catching my breath and Emily chuckled but Victoria breathed out.
"I'm serious, let's find a Wine or Sake stand! I can't take this anymore!" she eyed the area around us while moving forward in the crowd.
Kimonos kept catching my eyes along the way. Aside the fact that it was a japanese clothing worn to a chinese event. They were so beautiful. Some girls had cotton candy and I wanted some too. I kept looking at the beautiful trinkets on the stands. Dream catchers, jewelry, face masks, traditional Chinese ornaments. Everything was so sparkly and glittery.
The amount of people here was annoying though.
"I don't think they'll let us have sake, we're underage" I moved next to her and she smiled smugly "My sweet innocent Alexa, let me introduce you the beautiful world of fake IDs" She said while passing me an ID of a girl that kind of looked like her but was named Jessica Brew and was from Houston, Texas.
"Why am I not surprised?" I asked Emily and she chuckled.
"She's had that since she was, what, 14 years old?" She laughed and I shook my head while giving it back.
"Victoria, why did you need to drink at 14? And how did no one notice you were 14? "I asked and she just shrugged.
"My boobs came in very early..." She answered and I couldn't help but smile "I don't know I guess peer pressure and all..."
"Acute intoxication reduces levels of growth hormones.." I started.
"..And can cause elevated liver enzymes in some teenagers."Â Â Emily continued.
"you two might be the worst drinking buddies ever..." she sighted and we both grinned at eachother.
It's kind of fun to poke a bear.
"Did you ever need to fake a Texas accent while using that ID?" I asked, curious.
"I actually did" she chuckled.
"Oh my god!!" Emily jumped, catching our attention "Mooncakes!" She continued and we followed her to the stand where she was headed.
Yeah, I was hoping we'd stumbled across a Mooncake stand too. If you're not familiar with an autumn festival, these are the cakes to have on this holy night!
"They have so many fillings! What do you want Alexa?" she asked with stars in her eyes.
"Definitely Green Tea!" I leaned forward while eying the beautiful shapes and designs.
"I'm having Lotus Seed past!...wait..."Emily stopped and looked at the person behind the counter "does that one have ice cream filling?"
"Yes, this is Ice cream, red bean paste and this one is sea food" the seller answered in a heavy Chinese accent and Victoria inched closer, "do you have any with champagne truffle and Ganache ?" she asked and Emily pinched her nose while I narrowed my eyes at her.
"Jesus Christ, Victoria, we'll get beer on the way home and I'll drive!" Emily exclaimed while handing her credit card to the seller.
We tried our cakes and I'm pretty sure that's what heaven would taste like. Just pure bliss.
Victoria purchased a whole box of cakes. She said it was for Jay.
Funny thing is, Jay's ignored her messages all night and she was pissed yet still thinking about pleasing him.
See what I mean? Is she nice or is she rude?
I don't get her. But I like her regardless. We finished our cakes and moved through the festival looking for a place to sit and enjoy the parade when suddenly, we spotted them;
The girls from my class.
All wearing kimonos.
...and they spotted us too because one locked eyes with me then turned towards a girl to whisper something. They were standing at a stand across from us, trying on hats.
Remember the girl who got offended I called Alexander a "jerk" the other day?
That was the one being whispered to, and once she looked my way, they suddenly were coming towards us with purpose and I didn't like it.
"Who the hell summoned the shrew?" Victoria frowned at them and Emily sighted.
Oh, so they both didn't like her either? I thought I was the only one.
When the girls finally got to us, Emily and I just stood still while Victoria took a step forward to face the leading girl.
"Victoria." Said the girl with a defying look and Victoria just stared at her unbothered.
"Kendra.." Victoria smiled bitterly.
That's her name? She's in my class and I had no idea.
Kendra turned my way then eyed my outfit up and down before turning back to Victoria.
"I see you're doing charity work now?" she smiled and I wanted to shove her face in the brew that was on the stand next to me.
"Don't preach about charity, the reason anybody hangs out with you is to be viewed as supportive of the mentally challenged," Victoria flipped her ponytail and Emily put her hand on her face, I widened my eyes, awaiting the drama to go down and the two girls behind Kendra looked at one another in outrage.
This just can't end well.
Kendra's face tightened up and she raised her hand to slap Victoria but neither one of us had time to move when Kendra's wrist was grabbed mid air from behind her by a tall, blond haired and blue eyed guy who looked at her annoyed.
"You touch her, I'm ripping you arm off" the guy threatened.
"Jay!" Victoria beamed and Kendra just shrunk in her kimono.
That was her boyfriend, but at the moment, I didn't care to even acknowledge him, because right next to him stood, with his arms crossed, the devil in the flesh.
Alexander Miles.