Irresistible

Chapter Two

It's Monday. Monday means school.
I yawn and stretch before getting out of bed. My mind wanders back to the wedding and how that boy wouldn't stop looking at me during the after service.
I chuckle while putting on my school uniform.

I wish I would've at least gotten his name. Not that I would care, he kinda did seem a little bit annoying to be honest. With his numerous smirks and winks from across the ball room.
Plus, I only just broke up with my long term boyfriend of two, almost three years, about five months ago.

************************************

It is cold, and I wish I brought a jacket to school. I make my way to my English class and take a seat right at the front. Not many people seem to sit at the front, which is the reason that I sit here.
Mr Thompson is by far the nicest teacher I have. He banters on about some book that he picked up at the library, just when a familiar face walks through the door with our school principal.
And there he is. The boy who walked into me at the wedding.
I roll my eyes at the coincidence and sit further into my seat, hoping that he won't notice me.
What is he even doing here? It's mid-term, awful time to have to move schools.

"Class, this is Xavier O'Connor! Please treat him as you would like to be treated." Mrs Van-Raad announces and with that, she leaves.

"So, take a seat buddy!" Thompson smiles and I put my head in my hands.
Of course he spots me and I feel a tap on my shoulder.

I look up at Xavier and mentally groan. This is going to be great.

"Think you'd go unnoticed?" He smirks while taking a seat next to me.

"No." I roll my eyes again.

"Stop rolling your eyes like that or they'll fall out." He chuckles.

"That would be great." I sarcastically add.

When the bell rings, I hurriedly rush out of class to avoid Xavier. I make my way to the seats at the back of the school yard where Kate is already sitting.

"This is amazing, you have to try it Justine." She says through a mouth full of lasagna.

"It must be, if you're eating like that. " I laugh and gesture to the the bit of food in her hair.

Just as I am about to tell her about Xavier, her boyfriend walks up to us.

"Hey Justine." Tyrese cooly mutters while taking a seat next to Kate and wrapping his arm around her waist.

I can't help but think of Kayden.
A waste of three years. Three years, I could've been investing my time into something worth it.

You should've seen the shock on his face when I walked in on him kissing some random girl at some bar.
He hadn't been talking to me for the whole week and I knew that he'd be there.
I tried so hard not to cry that night. I tried so hard to not yell out harsh words at him in front of his drunk group of friends.
I cried for 35 days straight.

"Hey Justine!" I look up to see Xavier. He brushes his hand through his hair and if looks could kill, I'd be dead.

"Great." I mutter under my breath.

"Heard that." He smirks again.

"Wouldn't doubt it."

Xavier takes a seat next to me and sighs.

"What?" I ask him.

"It's a shame. A girl like you, so cold hearted."

"I am not cold hearted! You don't know anything about me." I defend and I can't help but smile.

"Mhm."

"Why did you move here anyway?" I feel the urge to know why he would move here at the worst time possible.

"My Father was transferred to a job near here so yeah." He replies with a small smile.
But the look in his eyes makes it seem as though he's hiding something.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Well, I'll catch you later, Justine." He says while walking off.

**********************************

When I get home, Mother is sitting at the dining table and is laughing at something on her phone.

After Father walked out on us, she had a hard time trying to be happy.
And although I was only seven, I vividly remember times when I found her crying at 2 am. I also remember the day Mother and Father were arguing and woke me from my sleep.

I remember waking up Janice and dragging her to the staircase so we could listen. Janice was 12 at the time and she had a better understanding of what was happening.

*Flashback*
"You are an idiot! I can't believe you would do that! Not only to me but to our kids!" Mother shouted at Father.

"Well what about you? For someone who never payed any attention to me, it is surprising that you wouldn't expect me to do that!" He yelled while picking up the cup from the table and chucking it at the wall.

"You were the one who never payed attention to me! Every night you come home, lay on that damn couch while I cook dinner and work hard around the house. Then when you wake up, you eat and you're off to that stupid bar!" Mother shouts again and I can see her crying.

I run down the stairs to give her a hug. I look up at Father and his eyes have grown bigger and he looks upset too.

"What are you doing awake, Justine? You need to go back to bed sweetie. " Mother says while guiding me back to bed with Janice.

"Are you okay, Mummy?" I ask her once she had tucked us both in.

"I'm okay, baby girl... Listen, I need you girls to understand something, alright? No matter what happens, your Father and I will always love you girls. Nothing will change that, okay?" She starts crying again but quickly wipes away her tears.
"What do you mean?" Janice asks with a small voice and I think she's going to cry as well.
"I mean that we will always love you but things will need to change a little bit." She says while placing a kiss on both of our foreheads.

Before we can say anything, she walks out of the room.

********

I quickly shake the memory out of my head and walk up the stairs.
We haven't seen Father since then.
I wish he would do is the slightest bit of justice by trying to find us and apologise for walking out on us.

Whatever. I untuck the blanket from my bed frame and lay down. I am mentally exhausted. Probably because I have been overthinking the entire day about things I only ever think about at 2 am in the morning.

I close my eyes and drift off into a dreamless sleep.

*Ring, ring*
I awaken to the sound of my phone ringing.
I quickly glance at the time before answering.
'4:27 am'

"Hello? Justine?"

"Who is this?" I groan at the unfamiliar voice. It's 4 am in the damn morning, what could someone who I apparently don't know, need?

"It's Xavier." My heart leaps for a moment but then I roll my eyes.

"What do you want? And how did you get my number?"

"Tyrese." He says, referring to Kate's boyfriend.

"What do you want?" I ask again, annoyed.

"Nothing, just wanted to see if you were awake. I'm bored."

"Well I'm now awake. And if you're bored, go entertain yourself. I'm going to sleep, Xavier. Good night."

"But I -" I hang up before he can say anything else.