16| How The Tables Turned

It has been 15 minutes since Maya was waiting for Zachary and he was still not here. They had decided to meet in the school ground because according to Zachary, he wasn't used to studying in quiet places like a normal person, much to Maya's irritation.

When he finally decided to grace her with his presence, Maya passed him a narrowed glare.

"What? I had some important thing to do first." Zachary smiled at her in his typical boyish manner but Maya was resistant to such charms.

"More important than passing Calculus?" She raised her eyebrows.

He just shrugged in response and looked around for an appropriate place to sit. "Let's not waste any more time, shall we?" He walked forwards while Maya silently followed him as they made their way to a giant tree behind the stairs.

They both sat down beneath the tree and pulled out their notebooks.

"So how much have you prepared?" Maya asked, opening her notes. Her neatly kept notebook was complete opposite to the mess of a notebook that Zachary brought.

"Um... Well..." He fumbled with the pages.

"Don't tell me you haven't done anything at all." She widened her eyes and Zachary once again shrugged.

"I had a practice match." He reasoned.

"Oh God, you are lagging far behind. Making you pass the exam is literally impossible." She said and hid her face in between her palms. She could've done anything else to earn the credits but she was stuck doing something impossible.

"Don't be overdramatic, Maya. I'll cover everything. You just have to teach me once." He said and rested his back against the bark of the tree.

"How exactly will you cover it?" She asked.

"Try me." He passed her his signature smirk that had the ability to make every girl of Majesty High swoon.

Shaking her head in disappointment, Maya opened an empty page and started solving the question. Zachary stared at her in amusement as she wholeheartedly tried to explain the problem to him. She tried to teach him in the easiest way possible but when he still failed to get his answer right, a huge frown appeared on her forehead and her nose scrunched upwards, amusing Zachary even more.

"God, it's like you are not even trying." She exasperated, clenching her eyes in annoyance. "I'll explain it once again. Focus this time." She said and once again solved the problem. This time, Zachary decided to actually listen to her instead of just noticing her quirky ways of moving her hands in exaggeration.

When it was his turn, he easily solved it this time because in reality, he was a quick learner, the only thing he lacked was focus. "See, told you."

"Don't get cocky. We still have eight more problems." Maya smirked this time and Zachary groaned.

They were busy in solving the questions when suddenly, they found Blaire Willows walking towards them. Maya watched as Zachary's face contorted when Blaire sat beside him, leaning slightly onto him. "What are we doing?"

"We are studying." Zachary pointed at Maya and himself.

"Why? Exams are still months away. The semester has just started." She said as she ignored Maya completely and continued talking to Zachary.

"I'm failing Calculus." He said and slid away from her a little.

"So what? You'll catch up. Come on, let's go eat something." She said and stood up, extending her hand for him.

"But---"

"Come on, the whole team and all the cheerleaders are going for pizza. My treat. How can we go without you?" She said, pouting a little.

Zachary looked at Maya, asking for her permission. Maya didn't want to suffer Blaire's wrath by refusing him so she said, "We will continue tomorrow."

"Ok." Zachary said and put all his books in his bag. While he was doing that, Maya felt Blaire's eyes on him. Being centre of the mean queen's attention made her feel a little uneasy so she turned her face away immediately.

••••••••••

Zoey, Althea and Olive, all three were sitting by the pool of Harper mansion. This was their favourite spot to spend a good evening together. The pool was huge and the mocktails made by Daniel Harper's personal bartender was the best drink to kill heat.

They had just done swimming and now all three girls were sitting peacefully on the chairs by the pool. It was Althea who broke the silence by a question. "So who are you bringing as a date on the gala?"

Althea's mother Isobel throws a gala every year which is attended by many high profile guests. Many celebrities, models, actors, socialites and businessmen join the gala in their fanciest outfits and it's always Althea's priority to look the finest among them, since she was in middle school.

"I don't think I'm bringing anyone." Zoey said without opening her eyes. She was far too comfortable to let anyone disturb her at that moment.

"Me neither. My parents would be there." Olive said. In her parents' presence, she couldn't bring a girl as her date and they all knew that.

"Well, my date is surely going to turn some heads." Althea smirked proudly and both of them turned their heads to look at her.

"Who are you bringing?" Zoey asked.

"Sean Winston, the son of an old friend of Dad. I have met him once and he is so handsome. Plus, he is in Harvard so he is already ten times cooler than all the desperate highschoolers." She sighed dreamily.

"What about Ethan?" Zoey asked.

"What about Ethan?" Althea repeated her words.

"I mean, you both keep flirting with each other every now and then. Shouldn't you ask him first?" Zoey suggested.

"He flirts with me, not the other way round. Keep your facts straight, sweetheart. And well, I would have given it a thought if I hadn't witnessed him man-whoring his way through the whole cheer squad." Althea blurted in exasperation and Zoey knew not to ask further.

"Okay, let's change the topic. What are we wearing to the gala?" Olive interjected before Althea had a meltdown about Ethan's lifestyle.

"I haven't decided yet. Mom has asked her stylist to bring some of the best gowns of this season to help me decide." Althea said and sipped the mocktail.

"I don't know either. Guess I'll be going to mall tomorrow to buy an evening gown." Zoey mumbled.

"Well, I'll be wearing something simple. These long ass gowns aren't my thing." Olive added.

"Just don't wear sneakers." Althea requested.

"Really? Watch me." Olive passed a huge grin.

"Don't force me to make you wear one of my stilettos in the party." Althea warned her.

"I'll rather eat poison than wearing one of those death traps." Olive retorted.

Zoey listened to their argument with a smile on her face but her smile died down when she found out that her father had sent his driver to bring her home.

Yesterday when she went home in Travis' car, she had expected him to be waiting for her in the lounge but he had went to Chicago for a business meeting instead. Now that Richard Crawford was back, she had no idea what her next punishment would be.

Once the car stopped in front of her house, she braced herself and made her way inside. A maid told her that he was in the dining room so she silently trudged inside while speaking, "I know what I did last night was wrong but it wasn't entirely my---"

"Good evening, sweetie. How was your day?" Her father stopped her in the middle of the speech and that's when she looked around. He had two guests sitting with him, both had salt and pepper hair and were wearing business suits.

"It was fine." She said.

"Gentlemen, this is my beloved daughter. And Zoey, these are my new investors." Richard said in the sweetest tone possible and Zoey's stomach churned in agitation. She hated when her father acted like this in front of his colleagues and investors and she hated being part of his drama.

"I'm feeling a little low. I should go sleep." She said and excused herself under his calculative gaze.

Once she reached her room, Rose followed her inside with a tray of food in her hand. The tray contained some fried rice with chicken stir fry and tomato salad in case Zoey was in mood of eating something healthier.

"I hate Mr. Richard Crawford sometimes." Zoey said, completely dismissing the fact that he was her father.

"He is your father, Miss. Zoey. You shouldn't talk about him like that." Rose said politely and set everything in front of her to eat.

This reminded me of how Travis had more or less said the same thing. Zoey chuckled sarcastically and took a bite of the rice. "Both mother and son love to push my buttons." She muttered under her breath and took a long sigh.

Once she was done eating and had changed into her pyjamas, she shifted under the bed with her mobile in her hand. She checked her messages after the whole day of not using the mobile and when she found a message from Travis, confusion filled her.

TRAVIS: Do you remember how you told me I owe you one and you will pay me back if I needed your help?

Smiling, Zoey texted back

ZOEY: And then you said you won't need my help.

His reply came sooner than she had expected. Curiosity filled her and she immediately checked her phone for his response.

TRAVIS: Well, I do now.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Do you think I should change the name of the story to something more fun and comical?

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