Cupid of Hurt

chapter one

"Quit it." I swat my desperate friend's hand. "I recommend you taking a shower because you reek of desperation."

I would not have known she had heard me if it wasn't for a sharp pain she had delivered. Adrienne rose from the ground, picking up the pencil she had oh-so-carelessly dropped. She rotated her body so it was facing the front towards our teacher, but her eyes never left what was behind her.

I turn my head inconspicuously to who she was talking about. And boy, he would put Harry Styles to shame. Just kidding. As if there was anyone who was better than Harry. But this adonis did make competition.

"Focus on your grade first rather than boys. They distract you too much," I confess, rolling my eyes at her naivety. Adrienne went for guys who were white, blond hair, with blue eyes. Since we grew up in a predominantly white community, we were placed in a box at a young age to like a certain type of person. Adrienne never tried to venture out of the box.

She cooed at me, "that's why I have you, my smart, loving, tutor."

After I transferred to this school about a year ago, I did not make an effort to make friends. The only reason my mother placed me in this school was for school. She placed little seeds of doubt in me and it blossomed. To her, if I made friends the world would be crashing down. Piles of books would suffocate me and soon I wouldn't be a star student.

For months I did not have anyone. I never needed anyone, never felt the need to seek approval from another person. My self-sufficient ass lead me into trouble. My AP CALC BC teacher saw my standoff-is behavior and decided to play matchmaker but with friends. She convinced me to tutor over ten people, ranging from different math skills. In return, she would let me continue napping in class and being on my phone. 

I took the opportunity, being the lazy sophomore I was.

I saw myself in the first girl I tutored. Headstrong, didn't want to be here, brown skin, and hazel eyes. All she did during those two hours was ignore me trying to teach her algebra two and pestered me with her problems. We developed a system of her trying one problem I made up on the spot and if she got it right, I would in turn tell her the solution of her problems. 

The other nine people I tutored did not stick to me like Adrienne did. She was relentless; Adri always found me at lunch, no matter how many times I tried to hide from her. She found me in every classroom, bathroom, library, and table I hid in. Adrienne had some weird location device to find me every time, like she could smell me if I was nearby. 

She was more than a friend than if I was in a crowd of a million people. Adrienne was my person whether I liked it or not. She understood my reluctance towards making friends with a ton of people and worked around it.

Maybe that's why I have not noticed him before. Apart from tutoring boys, working with them on assignments, and giving them my homework, I was incapable of love. No boys here were worth my time. I would rather obsess over some character in a fiction novel than get hurt in real life. But, he looked like he came out of one of my novels. The light, hazel eyes of Adrienne's baby daddy contrasted his perfect golden skin. A mop of curly brown hair fell in his eyes, seemingly blinding him.

"I almost forgot what it feels like to have a crush. After Dean, I vowed not to venture off with any boys. But God, look at him Aspen! He seems so nice." A sweet, blazing fire of mischief was behind her pupils. "You know," her voice came out as high pitched, almost sing-songy, "my birthday is coming up."

"Would you like me to wrap you a floatie so you can swim in the puddle of drool you're making?"

Whack!

I turn my head towards Finn again. A sense of discomfort pricked my skin watching the two make eye contact. Every day during Spanish class, they make googly eyes at each other and do not do anything about it. She closed her eyes and slowly inhaled in before continuing softly, "Please try for me."