The NEWBIE

Chapter 25

***25***

JACK

"C'mon, Jack. It's just a dance. Please go with me!" another one pleaded while her arms were clinging to mine.

I quickly removed her hands off me and replied with a stern and cold voice, "Don't you understand that I don't want to?"

"But Jack," she tried catching up with me as I walked briskly along the corridors.

"I said I don't want!" I yelled, annoyed at how hard-headed this girl is. All heads turned to us, the corridor fell silent. "What are you people looking at?" I yelled once again. I stormed out, my fists just beside me.

I headed to the cafeteria, my anger still with me. My nostrils flared when someone looked my way in a manner that I am not so fond of. Ignorant people, everywhere! I'm sick of people looking at me as though I was some kind of a new guy. I want to throw my fist somewhere. Last year was far better, less girls asking me out but now they've just gone worse.

Everybody knows that I don't like the Winter Dance and still they force me into attending one. Every year, that is.

"Jack, chill down, won't ye?" Merida said in her usual cool tone but it's not working with me.

"You're used to this kind of people, right?" Hiccup added. I didn't say anything, I just stayed quiet but my silence doesn't mean I've calmed down.

"I guess those girls got to him, don't they?" Rap muttered while she sips in to her drink.

"What's so special about that dance, anyway?" I suddenly spoke, grimly.

"I thought of it as magical." Rap responded, quickly. "But now that I forgot about entering the dance committee, I guess it would be less magical."

"And so what?"

"Even so, I'd still go." She said rather crossed with my mood. She frowned and then moved, angrily.

"Yer getting' in my nerves sometimes." Merida bellowed, glaring at me. Her red hair covered the side of her face as she bit in to her lunch. "I badly want to strangle ye if possible."

"So be it." I replied, placing my head on my palms.

Merida's face turned red. I can see her soda can, tightly wrapped in her right hand. She slammed the soda on the table and then aggressively ate the burger in her fingers. My eyes widened when I saw the can was already crammed in the middle, it was dented. Angry, she was. I sat still and then became silent again. My eyes wandered around the cafeteria, hoping that nobody catches my eye. I stopped right at the middle when I saw Elsa, alone in her table, busy eating. I just smiled.

"What ye lookin' at? Smilin' like an idiot." Merida said, still looking at me angrily.

I said nothing and shrugged at the statement.

***

ELSA

After lunch, I went down the hallway to get my stuff from my locker for my next class. I looked rather miserable, being almost the only one who still hasn't got asked. By the looks on the girls who pass by, they got asked. Everybody was talking about the Winter Dance nonstop. Well, it is the right time to plan what to wear or who to go with since the ball was just a week away. I want to go to the ball. I don't want to stay inside my house thinking of things through enough.

I became more anxious, paranoid, queasy. Every time a guy passes by, all I think about is them to ask me. What if the next guy to arrive might be my date? I don't know. The same scene that happened in Spanish class. I even thought Hiccup was going to ask me out but I guess not.