SEVEN

       

     Rachel was making pancakes when Zoey returned from her late class. She was hungry, very hungry. She must have burned up enough calories from over thinking about Norbert's blatant nonsense. And what pained her the most was the fact that her fear and anxiety was beginning to drown her anger.

     She was angry, oh yes! He had contributed in welcoming her to hell, but deep down.. she couldn't help but feel this spark of anxiety. What would it feel like to be his girlfriend for even a day? To be with him twenty four eight? To suffer the shivers from his uncelestial touches and caresses? What would it feel like to be in his bed and endure his innate mastery at seduction?

She mentally slapped her self and sighed for like the hundredth time that evening. 

   "You've been sighing for like.. I don't know, FOREVER since I got back. What's up?"

     Rachel took out the last pancake from the stir pan into two glass dishes. She handed Zoey the twin dish, dropped into the couch and released yet another sigh.

       "And there it is. Another sigh. How many months gone?! Who's the father?"

     Rachel laughed. " What?! I'm not pregnant. You're what... Like, the second person telling me that."

     " So spill the milk and stop mulling over it."

The first pancake went into her mouth before she started talking. "I caught up with Norbert again today. He found me at the library and I was suuuuper hungry. So, he dragged me to the cafeteria where all hell broke loose-"

 " -What did he do to you?" Zoey interrupted, suddenly alarmed.

Another pancake. "Nothing... physical!" Except his fingers almost loosened a nut or two in my head. "He talked about me moving on from Allison's episode. And then he came up with a deal."

  Zoey's eyes widened. "That sounds really dangerous. Code red!"

Rachel rolled her eyes as she gobbled down another pancake. "Listen first. He said we should act like we were... dating for like a week or two, to confuse everyone and turn the hand of the clock anticlockwise. And THEN, he in turn gets..." She paused. " In my pants."

 The worst thing on Earth was silence. Zoey kept mute for like straight five minutes. "Say again!"

 Rachel groaned and slumped into the couch. "The more I think about it, the more appealing it sounds. That makes me stupid, right?!" 

 She held her head in her oily hands. 

"It sounded little considerable, that doesn't mean I'd consider it.. But it did sound like something until you said in your pants. You would be crazy if you let that happen.."

Rachel sat up like someone pulled the strings in her brain. "Unless I don't. I get him to do his part of the deal, and leave him stranded. Play the player!!"

 "The hell?!"

   She released a shaky laugh. "J-Just thoughts running through my head." She exhaled heavily. "I have to get to bed, got a looooong day!"

    Zoey just watched on as she drifted away. 

                        ~

   If there was anything Norbert lived for aside from girls.. it was sports, especially basketball. He was still captain of the Winchester's basketball team, and most of his time if not chasing skirts was always in the gym working out.

       So after the gym where Rachel got lucky because of his absence, Zoey persuaded Rachel to join her regular yoga session at the basketball court. 

     Persuaded didn't even begin to cover it, because Zoey literally manhandled her down there.

    Seemed like her luck ran out because first thing she saw as soon her eyes landed on the court was him. She was starstruck at the moment watching him throw the ball into the basket and roaring with victory. She kept watching... as he jogged over to where his towel and water bottle were kept safely.

     Every slightest move of every single moment, her eyes did not weaver. He hung the white towel over his neck, then gulped from the bottle. The water dropped dripped all the way down, only that Rachel saw hers in slow motion. He was wearing a grey tank top covered with sweat.

      And when he lifted the hem of the top as if fanning himself, Rachel literally drooled at the sight of those sleek abs.

       If perfection was a hot blooded alpha male!

        "Rachel!!" Zoey snapped beside her, drawing her out of her lucid dreams.

      "What?!"

   "Earth to Rachel! Are you gawking at Casavona?"

       Rachel was defenseless, completely defenseless. She opened her mouth, shut it, opened it again, but bit it back close.

      Zoey was laughing harder and louder. "See that expression on your face right now... Right there, PRICELESS!" Her laughter that sounded no better than a metal spoon against a metal plate, attracted eyes to them.

      Rachel didn't even notice when Norbert's eyes found her tiny frame. She was already out of the gym, laughing all the laughter she had muffled inside.

       The female restroom was just across the hallway, so Rachel stopped by. There was no one inside so she locked herself up in one of the stalls. Embarrassment would be an offensive understatement for how she felt now.

     She was attracted to him.. in an undeniable, very dangerous way.

       The deal made absolutely no fucking sense, but made sense IN A WAY. He was right! She did care a lot about what people thought about her and her every move.

     That was slavery, and this was the 21st century, not the medieval age. But it was hard not to feel that way when people just looked at you and the tag 'STALKER' popped up in their minds first.

          There was actually no difference between high school and college. 

        Allison had stabbed her heart so bad and left it gaping open. Did she just need a little hope to make it work? No! Hope was dangerous.

       But she was tired of keeping her head low. She was tired of feeling so low and caring about what everyone else thought of her.

      Why did fate have to be so cruel? Why did her dream guy turn out to be the one person who almost ruined her college life. Why did things turn out to be the reverse?

       Why didn't they bump into each other in her first year in a classic love at first sight setting. Hang out for a couple of weeks, flirt with each other endlessly, end up in a romantic college relationship, get married, have three lovely kids, grow old and grey together and be buried honourably together at the community's cemetary?

        She jolted out of her thoughts when voices and footsteps proceeded into the ladies' room. 

      "I am so done with college.." The first girl was saying. " I'm surprised I survived Professor Landon's lecture of God and science."

      The other two laughed while one murmured, "Pass me my makeup please."

        "Am I the only one who is going to die if I don't get Norbert Karter this semester. He literally never even looks at me. That nigga is hot!" The last girl's high pitched voice piqued Rachel's interest..

       "Little wonder Rachel Adams is all over him again this time. She's lucky Allison is no longer here.."

     Rachel gasped at that, frozen to her seat. She peeped out of an aperture of the door, and beheld a blonde, and two brunettes all wearing tank tops and jeans. She had never noticed them in school before.

      "I never really got the whole Rachel Adam's gist." The shorter brunette spoke up.

      " You sure missed the last season's scandal. Rachel was allegedly accused by Allison of forcing herself on Norbert, to a point of almost 'raping' him. And I believe her, Rachel is nowhere near Norbert's type. "

That one got her. It struck Rachel straight in the chest, causing a sudden ache..

The girl continued, "Unless the earth collapses beneath my feet, I don't think Norbert will ever have interest In such a... nerd."

   Oh Kay! So she was starting to get really pissed.

 The taller brunette who was busy lining her eyes cut in. "Unless he wants a fling... I'd be willing to do him come rain, come shine. Fling or not. However..."

  "He has his class.." It was the blonde again. "Even if it was a fling.. I'm not sure she fits it in at all. Makes total sense that she stalked him. Currently, she's everywhere he is. Some girls just won't learn their lesson. Norbert's not her class.. she should get it by now."

 "What if Allison lied?"

" When nobodies try to measure up with high classed people..that's what they get. The only reason literally every one believed Allison was because no one would ever imagine Norbert dating Rachel. " The blonde girl was so going to be the first person on her black book.

"I heard she's on scholarship not only because she's so smart, but because her parents can't afford her education."

A tear finally ran majestically down her cheek. Then another followed.

 "My point exactly is that I'm pretty sure Rachel is one of those gold diggers and hoes who stalk hot guys, especially in Winchester. I never really expected that from her but nothing is hidden under the sun.

"The quiet ones are the worst. Bitches should be put back in their cages. She couldn't even defend herself to prove to you. And even if Allison lied, Rachel's weak. There's basically nothing she can do. Her defence mechanism is zero. She should just continue keeping her head low like some weak wimp that she is. It suits her!"

They giggled and the symphony sliced through Rachel's heart. She was crying freely now, and her head suddenly ached.

   Tongue-tied, all she did was cry for the next ten minutes after the girls had left with their high pitched voices. She couldn't believe her ears.. no, it wasn't true..

 It was right then she understood that words were spirit and life. They tormented her, stinging her eyes and twisting her heart... She was more than angry, she was enraged but yet broken.

She wanted to explain that all Allison had said was a lie, but she didn't think she could even look at anyone at the moment.

 How could girls say horrible things about fellow girls comfortably? 

Why did it have to be her? The last statement hurt her the most. She should just continue keeping her head low like a weak wimp that she is. It suits her..

It was almost like a furnace lit up in her heart. Her heart heated up with anger, and she rose up from the toilet seat. It was Game On then!