Chapter 63: Chapter 63:

As soon as biology came to an end, I dashed out of the classroom in a huff with my mind buzzing.

I head to the lunchroom and sit at my usual table listening to music and at the same time eating my granola bar. I feel so angry right now. How on earth would I do this experiment with Jake? We are obviously going to scream at each other and have an F! Seriously?

Someone taps me and I look up to see the monster I was just thinking about. I reluctantly took off my headphones and raised an eyebrow at him. He has an expression on his face which I cannot decipher.

He doesn't speak up. He looks like he is now forming a sentence in his brain. He looks hot standing there with a few bangs of blond hair in his face. I shouldn't be admiring him after all that he has done to me!

"Can't you talk?" I snap at him.

"You know very well I came to you because of that damn project! Unfortunately I got paired with...with you"he states disgusted and I laugh in his face.

" yeah  right! Do you think I am so delirious  that I got paired with you too?"I snap and he is quiet.

"I just care for my grades. Like I wouldn't be standing here trying to put up with your aggressive behavior" Jake states bluntly.

"Excuse me? You cannot just come here and insult me!" I bark at him gaining attention from students in the lunchroom.

"Whatever" he says rolling his eyes

"Meet me at the diner after school. We have a 'project' to discuss"

He walks away and I am annoyed with his cockiness. Oh why does this always happen to me?

"I have a project for all of you and I will be pairing you today. You will just write an essay about a place you love and would love to travel to with your partner! The essay should be detailed and interesting to read and they should be submitted on Friday " Mr Cartwright says studying our faces.

I was currently sitting in English class and Mr  Cartwright began pairing.

"So you! You will be working with her" Mr Cartwright says pointing to a jock at the back and pairing him with a girl in front.

"Miss Anderson"

"Yes sir"

"You will be working with Mr Winters"

I groan inwardly. What the fuck? Again? I spot Jake sitting at a corner and he smirks at me. I wanted to tell Mr Cartwright that I already got paired with him and needed a different partner but that would make him explode like a grenade and send him matching me to the Principal's office.

"Okay so, work together! It should be team work! I don't want any shoddy work done! You know me" Mr Cartwright warns before he begins to teach.

💜💜💜

Aaron pulled up at the diner. Where Jake said we should meet after explaining to Aaron I got paired with him. School is over and I'm still thinking on how I'm going to work with him as my partner.

"See you later sugar!" Aaron says when I get down and he drives off. Today was a practice free day for him so he was going straight home to relax. I infiltrate into the restaurant and see Jake sitting at the window reading a book.

I strut to him quite angry. This is going to be strictly educational! No confessing feelings and stuff like that. I sit in front of him and he notices my presence. He shuts the book and I look at the title when he places it on the table. He was reading Alls well that ends well by Shakespeare. He sees me looking at the title and shifts uncomfortably in his seat making me smirk.

"I never knew you were a fan of this book" I taunt him

He just glowers at me with his stern expression and cold eyes.

"I was just reading it for the sake of literature. Its not one of my favourites"he states firmly with no smile.

I shrug my shoulders knowing he wasn't telling the truth. I can tell when he is being honest.

"Okay so we got paired in two projects and we need to......(sigh) work together to get good grades" I begin going straight to the point.

"Unfortunately yes" he replies with a smug look.

"So let's start with biology" l say

"Do you have any knowledge in dissecting frogs?"

He remains quiet glowering at me with his beautiful grey irises. He doesn't answer and keeps on glowering at me for like an hour.

"Can you please answer my question? Glowering at me isn't helping" I alert him.

"No" he finally answers with a hint of anger in his voice and something else.

"Well,I don't too but we can research and read about it" l reply.

He looks at me pointedly with a stern face on. He hated being here with me doing this project! I can sense it but it wasn't only him who was feeling that way right now. I take my iPhone nervously from my satchel and start my search. After sometime, I look at Jake and he isn't doing anything. He was just staring outside absentminded.

"Hey Mr!" I alert him and his cold grey eyes meet my icy blue ones.

"Won't you research?"

"I didn't say I wouldn't?" He replies in a grumpy tone

I huff

"Why don't you just research now? We need to work together! I don't want an F on my project!"

"As if I want an F on my project?"he replies with the same snobby tone and glares at me. I sigh. We working together isn't going to work. Its just not going to with his attitude.

" Its just two projects we need to work on. Let's just make the grades and we will never see each other's ugly faces again"I preach to him and he gives me a glare.

"Fine" Jake finally says after ten minutes of glaring at me and takes his phone typing furiously into it. I also do same with mine and research too. After twenty minutes,we read a lot and shared ideas. Then we took some drinks and talked about the experiment for another round of ten minutes.

"You didn't bring your car along?" Jake asks when we get outside.

"Yeah. Aaron brought me" I reply and I see his expression darken a little bit.

"Maybe I can give you a ride?" Jake asks without looking at me and I shrug.

I sit in the passenger seat of his car and we drove off in silence. I thought I would never sit in his car again but here I am because of two projects.

"We would begin the English essay as soon as tomorrow's experiment comes to an end" I tell Jake whiles looking at my phone

"Alright"

I got down from his car as soon as he pulled up in my driveway thanking him and striding to my own house.

♥♥♥

"You got paired with Jake?" Trina yells when I tell her. You know my nosy sister always bothers me and tortures me with questions but I'm happy she is back to life and being the 'Trina' I used to know.

"In two fucking Projects?!!!" She adds with her eyes so big that I'm afraid they will come out of their sockets.

"Yeah! Sucks right?" I reply in a huff

"Well it doesn't suck for me! Cause, the two of you would finally be able to get along. Its like your fates are tied and the two of you cannot just stay away from each other" Trina preaches and I roll my eyes.

"Are you now a soothsayer?" I ask her.

"Maybe. But its obvious! Can't you see?"

"Whatever! We are not going back to what we were before! I'm gonna make sure doing this project will be strictly educational since he will stop at nothing to overthrow me"

"Hmm Rigid" Trina taunts with a slight chuckle.

"So you are dissecting the frog tomorrow?"

"Yeah with him and I hope he doesn't mess things up for us to get a low grade"

"I doubt that! Jake cares about his grades" Trina points out.

"And the English project, where do you dream to go to?"

"Paris! I want to see the Eiffel tower" I reply dreamily.

"So are you guys going to write about Paris?"

"I don't know. It depends on the place Jake dreams to travel to"

"What if he also wants to go to Paris?"

"Well that would make our work easier"

"Don't you have any clue?" Trina asks me.

"I don't really. He is mysterious you know. I don't know a lot about him"

"Too bad"

Mom calls us to come and have dinner and we exit my bedroom.

♥♥♥

My alarm cries out and I shut it down. I yawn tiredly and lazily climb out of bed. Today is Thursday. Biology experiment coming up. I sigh and head to the bathroom.

I get to the sink and take my toothbrush. I place toothpaste on it. I look at my reflection in the mirror just above the sink. The colour in my face is drained. I go back to my toothbrush and the paste has fallen off into the sink. Shit! I place another thick slice on my toothbrush and start brushing right away. I hope that wasn't a sign that today's going to be a bad day for me.

After that, I got into my bathtub and had a hot bath. When I was done, I went back into my room. I slipped some jeans on and a simple blouse that was rainbow coloured. My last touch was a pair of dark keds.

I did the same hairstyle. The one I did yesterday. Tied two ponytails. One on the left side of my head and one on the right. I got my peach coloured lip gloss and coated my lips with it. Then I slipped Aaron's golden bracelet on together with Kimberly's crystal watch just to check the time.

I glance at my reflection again and just add some blush to my cheeks. Then I exit my room with my heavy satchel slung over my right shoulder.

"Good morning" I chirped loudly. Today Dad was eating slowly and I snigger. Yesterday, he looked like he was in an eating competition.

"Morning" they reply and I sit  down.

"Nice touch Nicole" Trina says referring to my blouse.

"Thanks"

"I never thought my daughter could wear rainbow colours" Dad taunts

"yeah. Me neither" mom chirps in

"Always in navy or black or off white or red" she adds up sliding over a bowl of chicken potpie to me.

"I wore this today because I just wanted a different look" I tell them and they all say oh.

"Or there could be another reason why?" Trina says sniggering.

"Which reason?" I ask her and she continues to snigger giving me a wink.

"Anyways, it looks good on you" dad compliments.

"Thanks daddy"

"You should try wearing more brighter colours sweetie" mom adds up.

"Okay mom"

°~•~•°

"You wanted to look different for Jake right?" Trina asks when we are all alone in my car heading towards our various schools.

"Enough with the silly comments Trina! That isn't the reason why I wore this"

"I still think it is."

"Oh shut up" I reply and park at her school.

"Hey look! That's Mason going over there" Trina alerts and I look at him. Unlike his sister Kate, he had glossy black hair. He was tall and a bit lean but I could see he was really handsome from a distance.

"He is hot" I compliment.

"Yeah but......." Trina trails off

"I'll see you later! Bye" she quickly sang and alighted from my car. I watched as she walked towards the building with her satchel hugging a few thick textbooks in her hands.

Mason looks at her but she doesn't notice. He says something to his friends and it looks like they were advising him or something. He looks down on the ground and I see something like a....wait a blush! Trina has already disappeared into the building.

I smile. I think Mason likes her but he is shy to approach her or something. I need to tell her about this! That look he gave her and the blush afterwards surely meant something.

I drove out of there and straight to my school.  As soon as I got down, I walked straight into the building. Biology is the last period for the day so I have a lot of time to prepare.

"Hey Sunshine" a voice which I knew all too well says. I turn around to find the owner and its Alec with a huge grin on his face.

"Would you stop flirting with me?" I scold him.

"Why? Remember I have barely a few months to leave Washington. And I'll never see you again so I need to flirt with you for these last days until I leave" he states and I chuckle.

"You are nuts Russell."

"Yes I am. So how did you put up with my stepbrother? I remember you got paired with  him for the biology project"

"He was a bit cocky and annoying but I got to convince him and we were able to start something. But unfortunately, I got paired with him again for the English project"

"I hate it when you go near him! He is so insensitive"

"Don't worry. I told him after the 'two' projects, we wouldn't see each other's ugly faces again"

Alec chuckles

"I like that"

I took the books I need for my first lesson, Literature. Alec and I walked down the hall together chatting.

"So how is your relationship with Aaron?" He asks me and I smile

"Its growing and I am confident in it" I reply and he looks happy. We finally stand in front of the classroom.

"Aaron is really lucky to have you" Alec says with jealousy and regret in his tone.

"Are you jealous?" I tease him

"I'll admit yes. But Aaron deserves you and you deserve him"

"Yeah. That's right! So, have you and Madison decided on  where you are going to live as soon as the baby, I mean my goddaughter ....(Alec and I chuckle) is born?"

"Yes! Madison and I  have decided to live in Hawaii for a month and a half and then we will move to California and live there with the baby" Alec says and I smile back but then  I spot Jake behind him who had just overheard what Alec said and he is appalled with his jaw almost hitting the floor.

My eyes grow wide in shock.

"What is it Nikki?" Alec asks with Jake oblivious to him.

"You and Madison have a baby?" Jake blurts and with one swift turn, Alec sees Jake and his eyes grow wider than mine.