PlayDate [#wattys2015]

No-Win Situation

* CALEB *

"Did you hear about the golden couple non-existent?" my best friend gossiped, fond of the juicy details he grabbed for his 'Spread-The-Word' Blog. The blog entries went skyrocket when he changed them from announcements about school events to the latest news about students. It all started when he mentioned a student possibly having an affair with one of the art teachers (By the way, it turned out to be a fact). The best part about his early writing career was that he's anonymous, except I'm the only other person that knew his secret identity.

"Hm. That explains why I noticed Tucker's girl crying in... in the hallway," I carefully told him without mentioning the bathroom incident. I may be a jerk sometimes, but I wasn't going to ruin her life. No matter how much I despised her.

"I don't know why any guy like Tucker Armstrong would do such a cruel thing to an amazing person like Aves." He had a deep admiration for the 'Queen Bee' since their practice first kiss when they played Truth or Dare during a recess in the 3rd grade. Ever since, he dubbed it "Love at First Kiss." He knew she was his muse. However, her popularity ruined their friendship.

"Dude, she rejected you... five times. She nicknamed you "Four-Eyes" since middle school, and she threatened to put a restraining order on you after you tried talking to her at the park before believing you were a complete stalker," I knowingly pointed out her feelings for him. He shook his head disbelieving the fact Avery was, and will always be, a total female dog. Correction: bitch.

"You don't see her the way I do. Someday, you'll believe me when I say this: Avery is not herself right now." Not herself? One out of a million chances she wasn't herself because from what I was seeing, she was acting exactly who she was.

She whined to her history teacher about her unfair grade. With a little white lie, her grade converted to an A. That grade made my class rank go down to the runner-up. If there was one thing I never wanted to be compared with a graphite pencil, it was being number two. Not only that, she had her father falsely write a community service letter detailing that she spent 250 hours during the summer of her sophomore year volunteering at his company following instructions from his assistant. News flash, she was a party animal at Tucker's yacht parties throughout that summer. Meanwhile, I spent my summer interning at law firms for preparations when I apply to Ivy League universities. My eyes are on Princeton, and I wasn't going to let her take it away from me.

"As riveting as this conversation turned out to be, I can't be late for the best class in the school," I somewhat lied to him.

"And Brad?" I called out to him.

"Yes?" he responded.

"Don't try to ask her out the sixth time with your poetic note cards," I urged him to not make the same mistake again.

"Heh... right... you got it..." he hesitantly concurred as he slowly placed something, he was carrying in his hands, inside his technologically handmade backpack. Oye, Vey!

"Brad... what were you holding?" I raised one eyebrow suspiciously knowing exactly what he had.

"My poetic note cards..." he eventually murmured, hoping I couldn't hear a word he was saying. I did.

"Hand them over," I commanded for his own good before seeing him pout as he gave them to me. "Thank you. It's for the best."

We exchanged our goodbye handshake before I left the room getting ready to go to the class next door. The teacher of the computer lab room happened to be his uncle. Therefore, he allowed us to hang out at his room during prep time whenever he wasn't around.

"Morning Mrs. Mayflower," I heard a voice coming from the room I was about to go inside. Turned out the voice belonged to the 'perfectionist' herself. I couldn't stand her sucking up to the teacher again this year. She was always a teacher's pet. Today, she decided to try appareling innocent in her ruffle dress and flats while having her silk-like blonde hair straight. Take notes gentlemen: It's always the pretty ones you've got to watch out for.

"Mornin' Ms. Hastings. My golly, what's that purdy dress you're wearin'? I'm guessin' Dior?" Mrs. Mayflower smiled happily, seeing one of her favorite students in the class. She never smiled at any of her students unless they were 'highly ranked' in her class. She was known for favoritism featured in her personality, but she was truly one of the most intelligent people you could ever have for a teacher.

Her IQ scared many folks back at her hometown that they sent her to Stanford. However, she decided to change her major from Law to Psychology before receiving her EdD in it. She could've worked at one of the greatest law firms nationwide, but she had more passion for teaching students like us psychological terminology with famous psychologists that inspired her to go for her major.

"It's customized by my mother. She wanted to design something for me to show off for school today," Avery answered grinning back at her. I rolled my eyes hearing similar statements about her attires; for instance, it's a one-of-a-kind Chanel handbag. Since my mother got to interview the CEO in Paree, they gave her this fantastique product. Don't touch. Just because her mother was a famous fashion designer in Paris didn't mean she had to act like a poser. I didn't understand what Brad saw in her.

" Well, lookin' fit as a fiddle. Good mornin' to ya to Mr. Sterling," Mrs. Mayflower greeted me with that gracious smile widened on her face. Avery narrowed her maleficent, chocolate brown eyes directly at me. Her eyes spoke only one thing: This is awkward.

I couldn't agree more.

"Y'all better take ya seats, based on first come first serve, from the front row to back row. Since y'all are here first, take ya seats over there at the first table," she instructed us politely.

Avery continued gazing at me awkwardly. I glared execrating at her. For once, since we met during freshmen year, we were thinking the same thing: This was a terrible notion, and we couldn't agree more.

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Hey, readers! Here's the entire chapter. I kept my word, and I couldn't thank you all enough for voting.

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