Bad On Another Level

° S E V E N T E E N °

C H A P T E R      S E V E N T E E N

The idea of my mom speaking to Stefan and accusing him of being my boyfriend was so petrifying that I stumbled on my foot and ended up face planting on the grass, luckily not on the foot path. Otherwise that would've been brutal.

"Great. Just great!" I muttered to myself as my slightly dizzy vision witnessed my mom walking up the Chase family's driveway in her yellow salwar kameez matched with her brand new light-blue sports shoes. But we'll talk about her fashion sense another day. Or perhaps with Tony instead, since according to him, I am not very fashion 'sensible' either.

Anyway, that is not what's important! Tears threatened to spill as I watched what I could not stop whilst laying on the grass in defeat, until I caught a tall figure walking on the opposite footpath at the corner of my eye. I turned my head — and it was like I saw my favourite person of all time, Michael Jackson.

But in reality, it was even better — it was Stefan Chase.

Everyone calm down, it's only for the circumstances! Only for the circumstances!

He had his bright red headphones on as per usual, his head slightly bobbing to the music, completely oblivious to the tragedy he was about to walk in to. Swiftly, I jumped to my feet and ran as fast as my 'never-been-to-a-gym' self possibly could, before finally epically tackling him down just as he reached the driveway. Very conveniently, there was a bush situated right beside it, effectively hiding us from my dear mother's sight.

"Raiya?" Stefan called, taking his headphones off and rubbing his head. "What are you—"

"Shhhh!" I hissed as I placed my hand over his mouth. "Trust me, you don't wanna know."

He raised his brows at me, just as my mom knocked on the door. My lips formed a tight-tipped smile, my eyes shut tight, and my insides were cringing. Oh, the things I'd do for him to not witness this... When I noticed his red headphones on his lap, I swiftly grabbed them and place them back on his head. He continued to raise his brows, whilst he calmly removed the headphones off of his head. I calmly placed them back on. He gave me a look, before calmly taking them off again.

My mum knocked on the door again.

"Like I said, Stefan Chase," I hissed, placing the headphones back on his head. A little less calmly this time. "You don't want to hear this."

"Well, Spicy Acharya," Stefan grinned as he playfully remarked, calmly removing the headphones. "Whatever you think I don't want to hear, I won't hear. Because no one's home."

A huge smile spread across my face, as I jumped in bliss. "That is the most wonderful news I have ever heard in my entire life!" I exclaimed in a loud whisper.

"That bad, huh?" Stefan chucked softly, before placing a hand on my knee. "Whoa calm down, your mom will see you."

And with that simple, warm touch, he externally froze my body and had internally set it on fire.

I eyed his hand on my knee for a moment too long, before meeting his eyes again. Slowly, his eyes travelled to his hand and he hastily pulled it away. "Sorry." He said in a low voice.

"It's okay, I liked it." I blurted out before I could even stop myself.

Brains.... Did I even have one? At this rate, I could almost say that even the third-ranked Jasmeet is smarter than me. Almost.