How To Be A Player

</3 Chapter 2 </3

"Ava . . . Avaline . . . wake up man-woman, Avaline . . ."

I didn't know who exactly was calling me but I knew it was annoying the shit out of me and I wanted it to go away. Like now.

Slap

"What the fu- What the hell, Ava!" I heard someone cry out.

I robotically jolted upward, startled from the noise. I was still on the couch, where we'd fallen asleep last night, and I looked over to see Zack on the floor: his hand plastered to his cheek. I looked at him bewilderedly. "What are you doing over there on the floor, Zack?"

'What am I -?!" He yelled while looking lividly at me. “You slapped me in the face, you moronic . . . duck!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Duck? Really Zack, I'm a duck." I always knew Zack didn't like to swear too much, but seriously, a duck? I had had a bit more faith in his creativity.

"Shut up! I was just trying to wake you up to tell you we've got to get ready for school, you duckly man-woman." He growled before rising back to his feet, his hand still on the red mark I'd left on his cheek.

"Karma's a bitch..." I muttered triumphantly and lumbered off the couch.

* ~ * ~ *

While I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom, with a spare toothbrush that Zack gave me, a realization dawned on me. "Zack!" I yelled my mouth still full of toothpaste. A moment later Zack poked his head into the bathroom, a scowl etched onto his face - he was still mad about this morning.

Ignoring his not-so-cheerful expression, I spit out the remaining toothpaste and said: "What am I going to wear? I didn't bring any uniform!"

He waved off my worry. "I'll just loan you one of my sister's old ones. They all went to Thornwood, too, so don't worry about it." I nodded, relief washing over me. Zack disappeared from the door and called out: "Forty-five minutes left! Jump in the shower and I'll do your hair." He paused. "Because of Cameron you’re going to have to go to school looking a little . . . different." I groaned and slumped over. This was the party I hated most about missions.

I hopped into the shower and enjoyed the wake-up call of the cold water pouring over me. I ran over all the tricks of being "girly" nervously in my head. Out of all my missions, this was by far the worst.

* ~ * ~ *

"At least let me wear the one inch pair!" I pleaded desperately. Zack just shook his head stubbornly. "Then a knee-length skirt!" Shake. “Less jewelry?" Shake. “Less makeup?" Shake. I groaned while throwing my hands up in the air. "Work with me here Zack!" shake. At this point I wanted to just tear his head off and feed it to the ducks.

"This isn't a democracy, Ava. I'm club president and what I say goes." He said slyly and then paused while looking at me thoughtfully. "Unless you wanted to resign . . ."

"No!" I said a bit too quickly. "Um . . . no. I'll just endure this, I suppose." I knew he was just messing with me but just hearing those words send a wave of anxiety through me.

"I thought you'd agree." Zack said smugly.

He had already gotten ready and stood there five foot eight, with his usual Thornwood Academy uniform: khakis, a white button up, and a black V-neck over it that had the Thornwood logo embellished onto it. Guys had a small variety to pick from to wear, but Zack kept it simple so he stayed just another face in the crowd. His brown over-grown hair that constantly fell into his eyes was unkempt a tousled - as always. He examined me dubiously with his chilly chrome stare that was still atmosphere-freezing, even through his black frames.