Accidentally on Purpose

Chapter Five

I managed to annoy the hell out of Jonah during the rest of the period.

His expression didn't give away too much to let me know that I had successfully annoyed him, but it shouldn't be too hard to notice the ticking of his jaw, the impatient taps of hit feet on the ground, and the hard glare that was permanent on his face until the bell rang, announcing the lunch period. Once it really rang, Jonah shot out of his seat as if his ass was on fire, and he was out of the room in a blink of an eye.

People were still staring at my hair by the time I arrived at the lunch room and met up with Gina and her girlfriend, Bey. I just flicked them on purpose and strut toward our lunch table, my lunch tray in my hands.

"So, how's it going with OBA?" Gina asked slyly, but I just scrunched my forehead in confusion.

"OB what?"

"OBA," she sighed, as if she was speaking to a child. "Operation Bite the Apple."

"Ohhh." I nodded, but now it was time for Bey to look back and forth at the two of us with a mix of confusion and amusement on her face. "It's going great, I guess. Still going strong."

"I suppose this is a secret that I'm out of?" Bey asked pointedly, and both Gina and I chuckled.

While she was always a good friend of mine, even before she started dating with Gina, the latter had always been my best friend. It felt weird to tell my secrets to Bey because I didn't know her all that much, and besides, even though I didn't mind Gina laughing my ass off at my supposed experiment on Jonah, I didn't really want to get embarrassed in front of Bey.

"If that's alright with you," Gina said to Bey. "I'd tell you, but telling you her 'secret' out loud might give me a secondhand embarrassment."

I smacked my best friend in the arm before turning to Bey. "Sorry, it's stupid. It's kind of like a super secret mission, honestly. I'll let you know when I succeed."

She smiled. "Of course. It would be weird if I intrude. Anyway, Hannah, I have to tell you that your hair," she paused to let me know how much she admired it and I grinned, "I'm so in love with it."

"Thanks," I said happily, playing with the curly ends like I'd been doing all day. I just couldn't help it. This was the first time I'd done something drastic to my hair and I was happy to know that I didn't completely ruin my look.

"I wasn't here yesterday, but I heard that you dyed it because of some accident?" she prompted curiously.

Gina started laughing her ass off and I just rolled my eyes at her. "Some guy dumped his drink on my hair, and the color won't come out so I just decided to dye it altogether." I sighed. "Let me tell you, that soda brand should be banned because can you imagine what the dye is doing to our stomach?"

"Well, at least now your hair looks amazing. You should've dyed it that color a long time ago, I think it represents who you are much better. You always looked like a preppy girl with that blonde hair." Bey cringed. "No offense?"

"Right? That's what I said too," Gina agreed. "Okay, while I do think your new hair is the bomb, I'm getting tired of hearing about it. Everyone is talking about your new hair."

I laughed. "Okay, okay. So, what's up?"

Lunch was going as normally as it would; the lunch lady's overly mushy mashed potatoes was still a bit too salty as usual and the veggies a little bit too dry but the homemade meat sausage was practically a little taste of heaven on my tongue and the sight of Regina Anderson and Beatrice Nakamura sitting in front of me with those matching smiles on their face had never failed to make me feel the urge to coo a loud "awww", so I guess lunch hour wasn't all that bad.

That was, until both Gina and Bey froze at something over my shoulder.

"What's wrong?" I asked, because the way they just simultaneously stiffen was starting to make me want to freak out. "Um, guys?"

When I saw that they weren't going to answer, I just narrowed my eyes and turned around. And when I did, I almost jumped out of my seat in surprise.

"You forgot my pen," the guy who was basically standing there towering over me spoke calmly, but from the way those gray eyes glinted I could see how much it irritated him to be here claiming his pen back. Of course, I still sensed that he was still annoyed with me, but that was expected.

"Um, hold on," I said, holding up a finger and began rummaging through my bag. When I handed him the pen and looked up, he was glaring at me intensely. "Okay, what's with the glare?"

He tsk-ed and shot his hand down through my bag, and pulled out my pencil case, staring pointedly at me. I widened my eyes in panic, but tried to control myself. Okay, just pretend that you just found it somewhere or something; that shouldn't be too hard, right?

"You had a pen with you all this time," he said through gritted teeth.

"So?" I said back. "It was just a pen. Besides, I just took it back from my locker. What's the deal with you?"

He chuckled, but he didn't sound amused.  It was a combination of disbelief and, of course, irritation. "Okay, you got your revenge for me ruining your hair, I get it. But can we just stop your immature nonsense because I actually want to pay attention to the class without having to hear your voice every five damn seconds?"

Whoa. That had got to be the longest speech anyone had ever heard coming from Jonah's mouth. "Geez, Jonah. It was just a pen. Hold your shit together."

"Hold my shit toget—" And then he began to curse under his breath in anger, his hand flying up to his head to run through his dark hair. As I glanced at my friends questioningly, I heard him murmur something to himself, then I saw him grab a bottle of mineral water on the table—it was Gina's—unscrewed the lid, and then poured it all over me.

I gasped, standing up in an instant. Now I was really, actually, honest to god mad. Okay, I deserved the soda yesterday because I started it. But this? Getting soaked just because I borrowed a damn pen? Seriously?

"Now you're just the immature one!" I kind of yelped, trying not to yell even though I was already gaining attention.

He leaned into my face, and then spoke in a tone that only Jonah Gibbs could pull off, "Next time I hear your annoying voice again, it will be hot coffee, Hannah Taylors."

For the second time today—and the third time in the span of two frigging days—he walked out with ease, leaving me dumbfounded. I was starting to think that there would be a lot of dumbfounded moments when it comes to Jonah.

"Oh, and maybe you should change out of that white blouse. Your red bra's showing through," he called out without so much of a glance, before sitting down at his own lone lunch table and started eating his lunch as if I wasn't about to explode.

Motherf—