Sweet Revenge

Chapter 9

I sit frozen in my seat, now in my first period class. I rushed through the halls and away from Brandon as soon as he said what he did. I can't have this be happening to me right now. It's exactly what I hoped not of.

Sadly, I sped away before getting a chance to compare schedules with Ashley. She's not in this class with me so who knows how long I'm going to have to wait to be able to see her again.

So far the only parts of this class that registered with me were being forced to do an icebreaker to get to know the rest of the students. Ms. Pham, my english teacher, insisted on having me spin a wheel and answer whatever question about myself it landed on.

Luckily, it wasn't just me who had to do it, everyone in the class had to feel my pain. It probably just made most of them despise me even more, pinning this whole thing on my existence here.

I got what to anyone else would be an extremely simple question, asking for your go-to hobby. But of course, I stumbled across my words when I had to answer. I mean, there's not much for me to choose from. All I really do is think about Poppy, visit her grave, try to erase those invasive thoughts and repeat.

The thing is, any normal person would just make something up and be done with it. Not me though, of course not me. What I did was stand still while an awkward silence cascaded through the room. The pressure to come up with an answer immediately was too overwhelming. Ms. Pham had to get my attention twice during the lull in the room.

Finally, I ended up blurting out "Dancing" as my hobby. I've never taken dance lessons in my entire life and I don't think I'd be any good at it. A few kids at the back of the class chuckled at that and basically everyone seemed to be on the verge of laughter. So yeah, I made a big fool out of myself on the first day of my new school.

Now my head is pounding, my ears are ringing and I'm not paying a single ounce of attention to whatever lesson is being taught. All of a sudden, I feel something light bounce off of my shoulder. I look to the ground, where a crumpled up sheet of paper rests near the leg of my desk.

I don't even have to look behind me, I feel Brandon's eyes boring into the back of my head. Of course, with my luck, I got stuck having him here too. So much for trying to escape him.

"You actually hit her dude, no way," I hear Travis, another one of Ryan's shitty friends, snicker from behind me. They literally all have the humor of a fifth grader.

Ms. Pham turns around from the whiteboard for what seems like the first time all lesson. She notices the paper perched near my foot and sighs deeply.

"Ivy, please pick up the paper at your foot, I don't know why people litter in here," She says exasperatedly. She must be tired from scribbling words on the whiteboard without taking a breath. I comply, bending down and throwing it on my desk.

"You know what, this will be it with notes for today, I'm probably as tired as you guys are," Ms. Pham announces as I exhale in relief. I don't think I could go another minute taking notes. She goes around to pass out the homework and then we're on our own.

I try to get some of it done in the last few minutes of class but the obnoxious sound of someone clicking their pen stops me. I press my hands to my ears and put my head down, hoping it will drown out the disturbing noise. I write one sentence on the top line of the sheet and it's back.

No luck with that. Looks like I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands. I turn to face the boy to my right, leaned over his paper. In his hand was the blue pen that he couldn't stop pressing and twisting in his fingers.

"Ugh, stop clicking you're pen, people are trying to focus here," I shriek at him. He looks up slowly and his eyes lock with mine. I wait for a response when suddenly, he runs a hand through his deep brown hair and laughs. I feel my face heat up.

"Nice to meet you too," He jokes, to which my face reddens even more. Why did I decide to say that? His hand is raised in a formal greeting, waiting for me to shake it.

"What is this, a business meeting?" I tease, nodding towards his free hand. He smiles at this and starts to laugh again. I catch a hint of a dimple when he does it, and I have to admit it's kind of cute. I immediately admonish myself for even thinking that for a second. I'm not here for this.

"Well, what would you rather have me do?" He asks, continuing his teasing, "A fist bump, like Brandon?" Now it's my turn to laugh. I tilt my head back with a genuine smile, relishing in the fact that I'm getting along with another person today.

"Whatever, just know that you're pen clicking is still annoying," I say, trying to fight the smile on my face but failing miserably.

"Fine, I'll stop the pen clicking..or not," He says with a grin. I roll my eyes, a smile still evident on my lips. I look at this boy for a second, realizing then that I still haven't got his name.

"I'm Jesse by the way, and I already know you're Ivy," He adds, as if he read my mind. Finally I'm meeting an actual good guy in this school, I didn't think it was possible.

"Nice to meet you, Jesse," I reiterate his words from the start of the conversation. Once he re-directs his attention to his work, I sneak a quick glance at him. My eyes wander over his side profile, noticing his semi-prominent dimple again. His hair is dark brown with slight waves, and it looks as if he's been playing with it all morning.

All of a sudden, Jesse catches me staring at him and I snap my head forward as quick as possible. I need to play this off and act as if I was just focusing on my work, not stupidly admiring the side of his face. I can feel his eyes on me, but I keep mine locked on the paper on my desk.

Right in that moment, the bell rings, what a perfect timing. Saved by the bell, I think while rushing to put all my supplies in my backpack. The balled up piece of paper from earlier tumbles in on accident and I just leave it there, too lazy to throw it away now.

I sling my light purple backpack onto one shoulder but just before I walk the door Jesse whispers something to me, so quietly I almost miss it.

"I'll only stop clicking my pen if you stop staring at me," He smirks as he says it, his lips only a couple of inches away from my ear. I freeze, now I know I was definitely caught. Before I could think of a way to respond, he puts his hand up in a wave and walks out the door with his friend beside him. Looks like I'm making a fool out of myself more than just once today.

heyy guys! for some reason it's been taking me longer to write chapters now, so sorry about that. this chapter was lighter on the mystery aspect but I hope you all enjoyed still!

- mari 💜🩷