Once Upon A Love Story

Chapter 4

I wasn't able to sleep, tossing and turning the whole night and when I did sleep, it was already six in the morning and my alarm went off promptly at six fifteen. I hit the snooze button and slept for a few more minutes before I was awakened by my mother saying that it was already seven, I woke up with a start and almost fell out of the bed in my haste to get ready for another day of hell called high school.

I put on my usual jeans and a black hoodie, no makeup and wind my hair into a ponytail, grabbing my car keys I went downstairs for breakfast. "Where's dad?" I asked Mom she was quite for a moment with her eyes downcast and I had a really bad feeling about it "Mom?" I urged her to answer and she finally looked up at me with sad eyes "Honey, your dad lost his job yesterday and he's really disappointed so he's not really feeling up for breakfast" she says. This is bad really, really bad my Dad is a very proud man and he won't take it easy. Recently he's shut down completely and always has this sad aura about him. My mom is quiet for a minute and I know there's something else she's not telling me "What is it, Mom?" I ask her warily "Nothing Paige, you better run now if you don't want to be late for school" she says brusquely and follows me to the door. I briefly pet Cassie before opening the garage door to retrieve my car. I cautiously place the painting I painstakingly made yesterday in the backseat and turn the ignition, it sputters for a moment then starts up. I reach school at record time and pull up in the parking lot. I'm having trouble removing the painting from the backseat when Ryan came around in his Range Rover leaving me in dust. I sputtered and coughed in the wake of his departure. What a jerk! He can't help but he'll surely create more trouble? This was kinda expected from him. For anyone looking from the outside it'd seem like I'm playing tug of war with a painting and frankly looked quite ridiculous."Need a hand?" I was surprised by the deep baritone of someone's voice close to my ear and I spinned around. I didn't expect it to be him again. Ryan. I didn't reply to his question so he took that as a yes and nudged me aside to remove the painting from where it was stuck in the backseat. He was pulling it quite aggressively and I was afraid that he'd ruin it but thankfully, after a little while he was able to remove it in one piece. "Where do you wanna dump it? I'll help you carry this thing" he said squinting at the theme. "Thank you for your help but I'll take it from here, Ryan" I argued. "I would've believed you if there was some truth to that sentence" he said giving me one of his disarming smiles. And appraising me from head to toe. I gave him a withering look and stormed towards my locker. The bystanders watched this scene unfold with their mouths hanging open and few of the girls were whispering and openly staring at us. Oh God, I don't want this kind of attention I'm sure Grace will gouge my eyes out of the socket and enjoy every moment of it if she thinks something is going on with me and his precious boyfriend although I'm pretty sure they broke up at Eddie's party last month

I don't understand, Ryan never once noticed me and now here we are twice in two days, when all I wanna do is keep my head down until graduation and get the fuck out of this school and eventually out of Delaware after I get accepted to one of the Ivy league university I've applied for, including Harvard and Yale. I have a pretty decent GPA of 4.5 and almost straight A's in every class plus I've enrolled myself in honors classes. But if I have any chance of getting in those universities I gotta land a full ride scholarship otherwise the tuition fee is unaffordable by me and I don't want to spend my whole life paying the student loan. Once I entered my combination on the lock I turned towards Ryan
"Here, let me put it in my locker so it would be easy for me to get it back once I have my arts class" I said to him. He carefully kept the painting inside my locker and bowed dramatically. "You're welcome, Ma'am" I stood there saying nothing, as if on cue the bell rang and we were off. "Which class do you have first?" He asked "English" I said figuring it was better to answer him in one word otherwise God knows what I'll blurt in front of him. He nodded at me and went towards his homeroom class we had world history and Mathematics together, not that I noticed. Oh who am I kidding I groaned internally.
English had been alright but next we had gym and boy, was it tiring. I've never been more happier to see a plate of greasy burger and fries on our usual table. "Willow, you're a life saver" I said "I know, right" she said and laughed at something Drew said to her. Drew used to sit among the usual football jocks along with Ryan, Noah and some other buddies and of course the cheerleaders but after Willow and Drew started dating he ditched their table for ours. Drew was the linebacker and Ryan, the starting quarterback. I went to see a few of their games their agility was impressive and those tight vests, let's just say I'm glad they were invented. I glance across the cafeteria towards the jock's table and see that Grace is trying to wedge herself between Ryan and Nathan one of his mate. Ryan looks annoyed and frustrated when all of a sudden his gaze snags mine. Busted. I quickly avert my gaze but not before seeing his cocky grin and Grace who's glaring daggers at me. Well guess I'm already under her radar it will scarcely matter cause the way Ryan was annoyed at her I'm sure he'll do all he can to prevent her from getting back together with him, even go as far as hooking up with some new chick, so I will be spared, hopefully. This time she screwed up, by cheating on Ryan and he won't take it lightly anyways, it's none of my business. I turn around to face our table and realize Willow had been watching the entire time
"Care to explain, what's happening?" She asked. I shook my head "Nothing, he just helped me this morning to carry my painting and yesterday I sort of crashed into him" I say with an embarrassed laugh. She cocks an eyebrow at me but then her expression softens and she takes my hand in hers "Please be careful, Paige.." she says glancing at Ryan and then at me she starts to say something then glances beside her at Drew who is watching us with a perplexed expression then she hesitates "Meet me after school at your locker, yeah?" "Sure" I answer her.
The lunch time ends and we hurry towards our respective classes. My next class is arts so I first had to take the darn painting out of the locker and then speed walk towards the classroom. Thankfully Miss West hadn't arrived yet so I take a seat beside Amanda. She's cool and her art is exceptional "Hey, you didn't come yesterday. Were you sick?" She asks. I smile at her "Actually no, I hadn't completed the project so I had no other choice except to ditch school at half day." She gives me a cheeky grin "Okay I promise you, your secret is safe with me" she says with a wink. At this moment Miss West entered the classroom. "Good afternoon everyone, so today we'll try three dimensional design." She glanced at me "Paige, have you brought your project?" She asked me "Yes Ma'am" I answered her and took the painting from the seat beside me to her. She stared at the painting and smiled "Well, it's good but not excellent, I expect something better next time around Paige. You've got potential and I'd like to see you try your best.
I was happy that she approved but I didn't want to study art. I wanted to study law. More specifically to be a defense attorney. I took arts cause it was necessary for me to take it this year as I didn't take it my junior year.
After my last class ended I was patiently waiting for Willow at my locker scrolling through the screen of my cell phone. She came bounding down the corridor after about five minutes "Hey, sorry I was late" she said "No probs, you wanted to tell me something?"I asked her. She grimaced "Yeah, actually I wanted to warn you that there's this bet going on among the jocks for Ryan to hook up with some girl they're betting against. It's kind of a dare for Ryan." I was skeptical why would Willow say this to me. It's not like I'm his type, like at all, he usually goes for tall, curvy and blondes who look like a supermodel not plain Jane like me. "There's no need to worry Willow, I'm sure the girl they're betting against isn't me. There's no chance in hell, anyways I appreciate your concern Lowe." she seemed distressed "I just don't want you to get hurt, so promise me you'll be careful Paigey."
"I promise, and anyways even if something does happen you're always here to dry my tears and eat gallons of ice-cream with me, aren't you?" I laughed "I'm always here for you Chica" she said and together we went towards the parking lot. She unlocked her Subaru and waved at me from the window before driving away.