𝑫𝑰𝑨𝑴𝑶𝑵𝑫 𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑫𝑺

[ CHAPTER FOUR ]

[ G A M E  S E T M A T C H ]

✧

The Uh Girls stood at their lockers the next morning five minutes before the first period bell, chatting aimlessly about nothing until Tasha blurted out that she had to tutor Brandon Walsh. Monika and Neva snapped their heads to stare at Tasha in surprise after she revealed her news to them.

"Brandon Walsh the quarterback?" Neva questions.

"No, Brandon Walsh the fly."

The trio shut their lockers before they made their way to first period. Monika catches the sight of Kingston and Brandon laughing along with the rest of their clique in the hallway, Monika turns her head to Tasha to give her a warning look. "Well, I wish you good luck, girl."

Tasha kisses her teeth, waving Monika's statement aside. "Please. If he tries me, he's got another thing comin' for real." Tasha stated matter-of-factly.

"Okay Tasha, just try not to fall in love with him." Neva jokes, earning a fiery glare from Tasha.

"Not in a million years."

✧

The moment Tasha had been anticipating finally came. The lunch bell rang like a siren in her ears as she grabbed her things and left fourth period along with the rest of her classmates. Tasha rushed through the frenzied crowd of kids to reach the library, relaxing her shoulders once she entered the relatively quiet space. She greets the librarian, Mrs. Tuff (who only gave her a grunt in response), before she took a seat in the open space of the large school library.

Tasha pulled out a thick U.S. History textbook that Hornet let her borrow and her composition notebook, reviewing her own notes over as she waited for Brandon to arrive.

Ten minutes past by and Tasha suddenly finds herself in the fiction section of the library, entranced in Stephen King's Gerald's Game, a book in which the titular character is arrogant, a rapist, and exudes toxicity.

As if Tasha's views on men weren't firm enough before.

"YES, HE DIES!"

Tasha starts dancing, ignoring the stares of those around her. She stops when Mrs. Tuff appeared out of nowhere to glare at her. "Sorry, Mrs. Tuff." Tasha apologizes shyly, and in return only got another grunt in response before the librarian disappeared. Tasha put the book away before she checked the time on her watch. "Oh hell no."

She strides over to the front desk where Mrs. Tuff sat behind, inspecting the library with narrowed eyes. "Mrs. Tuff, do you mind watching my stuff for me?" Tasha points to the table where her things are, "I gotta go find somebody and kick their ass real quick." Tasha explains, her expression dour.

Mrs. Tuff grunts in compliance, giving Tasha a thumbs up while suspiciously watching the students in the library. "You need a switchblade?" The librarian asked lowly.

Tasha blinked at the librarian, surprised at the question.

"No...I could go to jail for that, Mrs. Tuff."

"Jail isn't the worst thing in the world."

Tasha's eyes widen, slowly stepping back from the desk. "Okay then...I'll be right back." Tasha says, feeling slightly weirded out as she left the library.

The library wasn't far from the cafeteria so Tasha had entered the colossal lunchroom two minutes later. The cafeteria, like always, was brightly lit and bustling with energy with the large number of students and faculty utilizing it. Most of the student body occupied the cafeteria, sitting in their clique-based tables as they ate and chat with their comrades.

After much strain, Tasha found Monika and Neva sitting with their boyfriends among others at the "Potential NBA Players And Their Future Wives" table, Monika and Neva looked up in shock at the sight of a poker-faced Tasha.

"What happened? We thought you were at the library." Monika spoke worriedly as she and Neva stood up to face their other best friend.

"I was, but Brandon didn't show," Tasha crosses her arms, "I'm sorry to interrupt your lunch but have you guys seen the jackass?" Monika and Neva share a look of uncertainty with each other before they stared back at Tasha. "You promise you won't overreact when you find him?" Neva questions.

Tasha rolls her eyes, sighing. "Guys, I'm sensible. I won't do anything that isn't necessary."

Monika and Neva share one last look before they both gesture to something behind Tasha. Tasha turned around to find Brandon at the "Varsity Footballers And Their Cheerleading Groupies" table, laughing his head off at something someone at the table said. Tasha stood frozen, growing more and more irritated the longer she watched him.

Before Tasha knew it, she was walking over there, shrugging off Monika and Neva's attempts to pull her back.

Tasha approaches the table, earning most of the table's attention. Kingston was the first to speak.

"Aye, what are you doin' here, Tash? If you finally have the balls to talk to me, I'm free between 2:00 to 2:05." Kingston spoke out, smugly kissing the cheek of the white cheerleader who his dark arm was around. Tasha only blinked at Kingston once before she turned her head to Brandon, who miraculously didn't notice her presence as he flirted with another cheerleader.

Tasha walked over to where Brandon sat, tapping his shoulder twice to get his attention. Brandon casually scans her up and down, his gaze lingering on her chest where Tasha's clinging t-shirt had the word Baby printed in bold-italic red letters. Brandon finally meets her eye. "May I help you?" He asks, nonchalant.

"We're supposed to be studying in the library, remember?"

"Uh, no. I don't remember agreeing to that." Brandon took a sip of his strawberry milkshake before he placed it down on his tray, amused by Tasha's irritation. "But I'll tell you what, Baby," Brandon starts, calling Tasha by her t-shirt since he forgot her name, "I'll let you know next time when and where we can study so you don't rudely interrupt me in my time of peace. But for now, you can quietly take your leave if that's not too hard for ya." Brandon finalizes, sending a wink Tasha's way before he turned back around to face the table, secretly and patiently waiting for her to outburst.

Everyone else at Brandon's table starts oohing, snickering at Tasha's rejection. Kingston laughs the loudest.

Angry and tired of being tried by dumbass boys, she grabbed the strawberry milkshake off of Brandon's tray and dumped all its contents on his head, drawing gasps from everyone else sitting in the cafeteria.

Tasha put the milkshake glass down before she sauntered out of the lunchroom, ignoring all the whispers and stares she received as she did so.