Not-So Prince Charming

The Math Quiz

Rycio and I split up fairly quickly, since he had to get to Chemistry, and I had to get to Maths. Although, my pathway there was obstructed by the strangest thing. A group of twenty or so girls, all with love letters held tightly in their hands.

Reluctantly, I stepped closer, since my classroom was on the other side, and I was already late enough to begin with. There was no point trying to avoid them and walk around to the other side of the school.

A poor decision on my part, but a decision I made nonetheless.

Their eyes turned towards me like the evil seagulls from Finding Nemo, before they rushed forwards and surrounded me on every side. I could feel a few of them poking and prodding at my backpack, probably trying to stuff their letters inside whilst the others distracted me from the front.

"Ari! Hey! Are you still free for the party? We all wanted to make you these just incase you were still looking. Each one lists all of our greatest features, and what we enjoy on a day to day basis." Their leader, Tabitha, explained.

Sure, Tabitha was a pretty girl, and clearly she could control a crowd. But damn did she wear a lot of make up. Way too much makeup for my liking. Like seriously, I could grab a knife and scrape it off by the bucket load.

It was only then that I realised I had been staring with my mouth agape. Immediately, I straightened up and smiled sweetly. "Oh wow, well I guess I'll take them all then. Thank you so much. But, I'm currently looking at going with a girl named Cherry. She might drop out though, so I'll keep you all in mind."

The girls smiled and handed them all over, before dispersing like a crowd of ants and rushing off to their assigned classrooms. An impressive sight to see, if I'm honest, since all of them disappeared within ten to fifteen seconds.

Sighing deeply, I wandered further down the hallway and shifted the weight of the letters from side to side. Goddammit, I was always far too nice for my own good, and now I was lugging around over twenty bright red, heart shaped letters. Not to mention the ones that they had probably stuffed inside my bag as well. And it wasn't even February - it was June for God's sake!

Stumbling clumsily into my classroom, I walked in on a silent atmosphere and stared out across a sea of curious eyes and stressed out faces. Fuck. We had a quiz. And Rycio hadn't taught me anything the night before.

"Ah, Ari, it's nice of you to finally turn up," my Math teacher, Miss Fola, decided to say.

I shrugged nervously and rushed to my seat, dropping letters along the way before forcing myself to pick them back up. "Better late then never, Miss." I shot her a grin, but her glassy eyes were far from brightened by my humour.

She rolled her eyes and handed me a sheet of paper. "You have fifty minutes to complete your paper, you may only use a pen. So put all of those letters on the floor and you can sort them at the end of class."

I opened my arms and dropped the letters, staring her dead in the eyes as I did so. Most of them clattered against the ground below, but some fluttered off and skidded to the other side of the room, pissing her off even more. But at least with my hands free, I was able to reach out and grab the sheet of paper, then pull a pencil out of my coat pocket.

My last pen had broken yesterday, so a pencil was going to have to do.

A corus of laughter and muffled snickers echoed across the room, applauding my stupid act of defiance as Miss Fola sat back down and glared at me from a distance. It felt a little odd to be the centre of attention once again, but I wasn't all too bothered by it in the long run. I enjoyed messing with people in the most innocent ways possible, and dropping a dozen or so letters of the floor was more than enough to keep a smile on my face.