Chapter One

2019

Amaryllis Burton

"I feel like I've been backstabbed by life." Rosalie, my crazy best friend and love-of-my-life in a totally non-romantic way, said and released a long tired sigh during lunch.

"O..kay? Should I be worried? Why'd you suddenly come up with that?" James, a close friend of ours, voiced out my thoughts and she shook her black bouncy curls.

"Nope. I just felt like saying that so we could make this table lively again. I felt like I was sitting with lifeless people with no joy in their lifeless lives." There you have it, the reason for the adjective I use when referring to her.

"Sometimes I can't keep up with your insanity." Jade retorted and was rewarded with a wagging tounge. As much as my friends are on the crazy side of life, I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.

"Is it just me or was Mr. Longrich making googly faces at Samantha? I swear I saw him wink one time when she gave the right answer to a question." I stated my observation, and like a gas bomb, everywhere exploded. My friends weren't giving each other space to talk because they badly wanted to supply their input. All in all, it wasn't just me and Mr. Longrich was indeed into Samantha, a dear classmate of ours. Eww though.

"Well, well. If it isn't the gathering of the peasants." I mentally groaned when I heard the disgusting voice that penetrated our bubble. It felt like dragging metal on a glass board. It was irritating, disturbing, and murder-inspiring.

"Well, well. If it isn't the Queen of the coast. What is it? Thirsty for some attention?" I responded, glaring at her with all the hate I could muster. I despised this girl with every fiber in my body and I'm pretty sure the whole of Halloway High knew about it. Well, they can't exactly be oblivious seeing as my palm has kissed her dirty face a lot times than one.

"Attention from a bunch of losers like you? Oh please, Amari." She flipped her long bleached blonde hair and stared down at me with those doll eyes. Everything about her screamed fake, but in reality, they weren't. She had good assets but her personality kinda sucks the good of out everything she touches.......or comes close to.

"Then why are you here? Last I checked, I never ordered for something stupid to be brought to my table." I heard snickers from my friends and my lips curved into a small smile. I knew I had gotten to her with that one. All that's left was for her to finally decode the silent diss, but I highly doubt her brain had such capacity.

"Something stup......Amaryllis Burton! How dare you!" Tol' ya. The girl is just about as smart as an ostrich. I could bet all my money that an ostrich would still score higher than her in some tests.

"Carmel, do us a favour and rid us of your heavy stench of stupidity. My friends and I can't bear it any longer." Her eyes caught fire when I said that and she stomped away, but not before warning me to watch my back. Was I intimidated? Eww. Scared? Yuck. Curious? Heck, yeah.  She had been warning me to watch my back for about three years now, but some how Carmel Addisson hasn't exactly done anything spectacular. Rather than call me names. Boring.

"I wonder how you keep up with that girl. Doesn't she ever get tired of being insulted daily by you?" James said and I smiled. I doubt she had the mental capacity to think things through and arrive at such sensible conclusion.

Carmel has despised me since I was thirteen and I couldn't blame her. She is allergic to everything good and nice, which is why she surrounds herself with friends that are exactly like her. Empty heads, the bunch of them.

"Heyyyyyyyy, look who's coming towards our direction!" Rosalie whisper yelled and I didn't have to look before I knew who it was. Only one guy would make Rosalie whisper-yell at me with such an octave. Jordan Anderson. Everything I wanted in a guy.

Jordan is your perfect guy. Student body president, highest GPA in school, and a face that is to die for. He is absolutely sweet and always ready to lend a hand to anyone who needs it. He's not a popularity freak and would rather allow someone else to take the spotlight than to take all the glory for himself. Does that stop him from being the center of the spotlight? Nooooope.

"Hey guys. Jade, thank you so much for all the help with the choreography. I just watched the rehearsal and I was blown away." I paid every attention in the world to every word that escaped those gorgeous lips, as though the words were directed to me.

"Hey, you're kinda staring too much." Rosalie whispered in my ear, and I cleared my throat and looked away, grateful he hasn't noticed how starstruck I was.

"Ama, can I take this empty seat? I have to discuss some things with James." I swear I had an orchestra singing in my head. Partly because he wanted to sit beside me, and mostly because he KNEW MY NAME! Well, maybe it wasn't so surprising seeing as he's friends with everybody but I don't think I've ever heard him call my name before, talk more of a nickname only a handful of people call me!

"S..sure, definitely. By all means, take your seat and feel at home." From my peripheral view, I saw Jade facepalming and Rose's jaw was hanging. Feel at home? Really? Well, my effort didn't go to waste because this gorgeous guy thought I was funny and he laughed lightly, throwing me a dimpled grin. Yes!Yes!Yes!

He took a seat beside me and I felt all the hair on my body standing. The air suddenly felt charged and his cologne filled my nose and I wanted to hug him, but I knew that would be downright disturbing. Not for me anyway, but I wouldn't want to get slapped by the only guy I considered husband material.

He conversed with James about the upcoming games. Jordan wasn't a sport person, but when it comes to music, he is literally the best they have. But because he was the student body president, he was in charge of working with the quarterback in setting things up. Yeah, James is the quarterback and he still holds no candle to the flame of this my hot dude right here, don't get me wrong though, James is really cute.

"Ama, seems like you're the only one not signing up for anything? The graduation week is fast approaching." My breath hitched when I realized he was talking to me, and he had his eyes on me, definitely waiting for an answer. Yeah, the graduation week. A week full of various events leading to our end of Junior year!

"Oh. I'm more of a spectator. My talent lies with detecting which team is going to win and then rooting for them." He shook his head while laughing and for a moment, I was no longer in the sad cafeteria full of students I honestly didn't care about, and I was on a stage with the light on me. Everyone was applauding me as I was awarded a trophy! The trophy of being the one to bring out the smile of Jordan Anderson! Goodbye to war and natural disasters! Welcome,  world peace! Yeah, his smile could pull that kind of effect on the world, indeed.

"You are hilarious. You will do well in the drama team. Should I talk to the team leader on your behalf? I can help you pull some strings." He added a wink and I could swear I stopped breathing for about a second. That's not enough to cause brain damage, right? Not like I'd mind being brain damaged from him leaving me breathless though. Just saying. Since he was winking, I decided he was being carefree and I decided to let loose and throw in a shot to test the waters.

"Aren't you a little too excited to have me join the drama team? Why? You wanna watch me so bad?" His small smile turned into the most beautiful and heart stopping grin in the world and I just had to mentally slap myself to get my head out of the clouds.

"If I said yes, would that be a crime?" Ouuuu, me likeyy this bad boy sideyy!

"Not one punishable by law." I responded and threw my hair backwards a bit, not because I was trying to flirt but because it was getting into my eyes and scratching my face like a measles-infested child would totally ruin our moment.

"Then consider it done. I can't wait to see the role you'll play. Who knows, if you're playing Jasmine, I might as well try out for Aladdin." and with that, he stood up and bade us goodbye.

"OH. MY. GOD! I think he's totally into you!" Rose yelled and I had to slap my hand over her mouth because her scream was generating attention. Heck, even Jordan looked back and smirked. Damn you,  Rosalie!

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell but I'm so excited for you! All these years of you pining over him and then you realize he actually wants to get with you!" I ignored the faint warmth that pooled in my cheeks and I dismissed her idea with a wave of my hand.

"He doesn't want to get with me. He was just being nice." The words sounded dumb even to my own ears. I know nice, and that wasn't being nice in anyway. The thought filled me some sort of energy and I felt like I could swim the Atlantic without feeling any pain.....and I do not even know how to swim.

"Are you kidding me? That dude just told you he would like to be the Aladdin to your Jasmine, and you really think he was being nice?" Jade said and I shrugged with a huge smile.

"Girls." was all James could provide but I couldn't blame him. He made sure our sappy feminism didn't rub off on him in any way. It's bad enough that he prefers to spend lunch with us than with the rowdy boys on the table across the room. Well, partly because he wants to savour all the time he could spend with Jade. That girl had perfect physical vision but she was really blind mentally and emotionally. Sometimes, James would be so lost in his head just staring at her and she wouldn't even notice. I swear everyone in school knew the quarterback had it really bad for the ballerina, but she was just too blind to see, and he was too scared to voice it out.

"Shut up." The three of us responded and he raised his hands in a mock surrender. We spent the rest of lunch talking about random things, but Rose wouldn't drop the topic of Jordan and I was low-key enjoying all the ship names she was making up. Hell, I was already making some up myself. Personally, I think #Jorma or #Joama would make sense. As much as I loved my name, it was weird coming up with a stable nickname, talk more of a ship name.

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"Honey, how was school today?" Mum asked immediately I opened the door to the passenger seat, but of course, my annoying little brother was sitting there already!

"Fine. Mum, can you please tell Oliver to move to the back? I have called eternal dibs on riding shotgun." Mum sighed and looked at me with pleading eyes. Oliver is the most annoying kid brother in the world, but I loved him the most in the world.

"Loser." He giggled and stuck his tongue out at me. Even at thirteen, he manages to act like a kid. Well, his brain is probably taking some time to develop, hence the crazy things he does that makes you question his sanity. Like pouring wheat flour in my cereal!

"I really need my own car!" I grumbled under my breath, careful not to make mum hear me. My parents are the best gifts God gave to me and I would never want to make them feel like they've failed as parents. They tend to have this guilty look on their faces when they realize you want something so bad but they can't provide it. We are living quite fine but we had no extra expenses to spare for another car, and I understood perfectly.

"We're stopping at the mall close to the house. Mrs. Winfred told me to get her adult diapers. I figured it would be weird for me to do that, so I have decided to send you instead." Mum said and added an evil laughter to add to my misery.  This woman sends me ALL the most embarrassing errands in the world.  One time, she was asked to buy a box of protection so they could hand it over to students in the school where she teaches and this woman made me do it! Everyone in the mall had their eyes sticking out their forehead as I grabbed two big packets of Durex.

"Sometimes I wonder if you actually gave birth to me." I whined but mum didn't find my joke funny. Everytime I cracked this joke, she would pale a bit then release her signature fake laughter. I figured she didn't like when I said that, but sometimes it jumps out of my mouth before I can even think it twice.

"Shut up and get the adult diapers, baby girl." She said and I groaned. I laid my head on the window and I had no idea when I drifted off. I jerked back to life when someone hit my head with something hard. Of freaking course!

"OLIVER! I'M GONNA SQUEEZE YOU IN A MILKSHAKE!" I yelled as I grabbed his arm and twisted it. He groaned in pain and it sounded like music to my ears. Years before, I would quickly release him because I couldn't bear seeing him in pain but then I realized he didn't return the emotions, so there was no point wasting my niceness.

"Amaryllis! Please let him go. I told him to wake you, I didn't know he was gonna slam you on the head." I glared at my mum and I saw the mischief in her eyes. That's like the only thing I inherited from her, that attitude. Everything else, I probably got from our ancestors. Everyone in the Burton family was brunette, but somehow I was a golden blonde. I had like the blondest hair I've ever seen and I had greenish blue eyes while mum had grey eyes which Oliver inherited, and dad had icy blue eyes. Mum said I got my traits from someone in her lineage who is definitely dust and worms by now.

"Come down, Amari. You have to get the diapers." I growled at the duo and got down from the sedan car. I walked into the mini-mart and met the shock/crush of my life, Jordan Anderson. I wanted the ground to swallow me whole. I still had time to dash and escape but then mum would make me come back in here. I could only hope he wouldn't see me, but that was near impossible as this place wasn't even big.

To avoid roaming around, trying to locate where the diapers were and risk running into Jordan, I snuck past him and walked to the attendant behind the counter.

"Ma'am, please where is the adult diaper section?" She looked at me with amusement and I saw the laughter in her eyes. I wanted to punch a hole into her face but that would gather a crowd....plus Jordan. The lady stared at me for a minute and then did the worst thing that could ever be done on planet earth.

"Lexi! Come guide this lady to the adult diaper section! She can't seem to find her way there......same way she can't find it to the toilet." She cracked up badly at her own joke, and everyone else found it funny too.  I would have maybe laughed if we were in an empty mall and I didn't have everyone's eyes on me. Everyone had turned to catch a glimpse of the lady with the bad case of toilet incontinence and Jordan was one of those people.

I managed a weak smile when our gaze met and he acknowledged me with a nod, but I could see very well he was trying his best not to laugh but he eventually failed.....and I saw the hope of a relationship fly away with its newly found wings. #Joama was killed before it even saw the light of day, and it was no one's fault but this lady.......and the woman who birthed me!

I was this close to chucking the attendant's head into the cash register, but I wouldn't want to embarrass myself further. I grabbed the adult diaper, paid the bill, and walked out, cursing my fate.......and the attendant's too.

If only she knew I wasn't one to accept defeat and back down.

If only she knew I had no idea how to forgive without getting revenge.

If only she knew my husband-material man was standing right in the middle of that mall.

If only she knew she just killed all my hopes of being a prized possession in the eyes of Jordan Anderson, and not a girl who couldn't handle her toilet business.

Maybe if she knew she wouldn't have done what she did to me.

But who cares, there's always a punishment for ignorance and I was already thinking up ways to make her pay for what she did to me.

°°°°°°°°

Yours in sassiness and classiness,

Dee.