Genny and Annie are walking home after school and Annie is deep in thought.
"Annie?"
"Yes"
"What's wrong?"
"Huh?", She mutters now perked up.
"What's wrong with you? You've been quiet since we left the gym".
"Oh… well… I think I may have been the cause of the fight between Will and his friends".
"Oh don't bother yourself with that. It's something they do all the time to assert supremacy".
"No, this is not that".
"Why do you think so?"
"When you and Will went to class before gym, Bob and Dave came to talk to me. We had fun together, I mean they were pretty cool but Will caught us when he finished class".
"Caught?"
"That's what it seemed like when he came. They suddenly wore a guilty look and went really pale like they were not supposed to talk to me".
"Rick said they have a policy that once one of them is talking to a girl and she shows interest, the others have to give way. But that's not something he would fight over. Even when the guys had a big fight over Bianca, he didn't fight".
"Why did they fight over her?"
"She's really pretty. They all wanted to have her except Will so they fought and Bob won but Will decided he wanted her too. They then had a bet on would bed her first, Will won".
"Of course, he would", Annie comments grumpily. "So why does he do this whole player thing? A heartbreak perhaps?"
"He just thinks it's fun, Will has never really cared for any girl romantically, even Bianca".
"Okay time out, Who's this Bianca girl?"
"Oh… you have not met her yet, she has not been in school this week. She's Will's girlfriend, sorta".
"Sorta?"
"He never asked her out, she just assumed the position and he didn't say a word".
"But he treats her like a girlfriend?"
"Not at all, he even yells at her, especially when she tries to sit at their table".
"The same table he is inviting me to?"
"Yeah. It's really weird that he's inviting you, they don't let girls sit on their table"
"Why?"
"I don't know".
"Tell me more about Bianca"
"She's assistant head-cheerleader. She is kinda nice really but she's got a bad mouth, easily irritated and she can be mean, especially to those girls that Will sees".
"So she knows he's seeing other girls and still stays? He must be doing something".
"He just sees her when he wants her on his bed. He took her shopping once when Winni, his sister met her in his place which was last summer, but I don't really know. She's in love with him, I guess", Genny says and shrugs.
"She's so stupid".
"No, she's not. Aren't you looking at him even though you know he's a player?"
"This is different. She is practically forcing herself on him!"
"She doesn't mind"
"Will must not be as nice as I thought he was"
"Actually he is nicer than any girl in this school thinks he is".
"I doubt".
"You just don't know him yet, but hey, he's still not boyfriend material. He is content in being a player and hopelessly single".
"Tell me more about Will then".
"No way I'm doing that. I don't want you falling in love with him, very wrong step".
"Argh… not like there's anything you can say to convince me that he's not a disrespecter of females".
"They are the ones disrespecting themselves by letting him have his way with them. He barely talks to them for a day before he beds them".
"Whatever…. I would like to meet the Bianca girl though, to understand why she would do such and besides I want to join the cheerleading squad".
"Why?"
"To be popular perhaps? Or to make many friends? I don't even know, it's already part of me. I was head-cheerleader in my old school".
"Ah… the born and bred cheerleaders"
"Yes, you get it"
They continue conversing till they reach her house.
***********************************************
Annie walks to her locker sullenly after a class. Genny and Rick had class the next period so she was alone. She really needed to make more friends. She is slowly stuffing her books into her locker when she feels a breath on her skin. She tenses knowing who it was already, Will.
"What are you doing here?", she manages to say, sounding as if she was unaffected by his proximity but, it was all a facade. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her hesitance in replying was the most she could do to conceal how weak-kneed he made her feel.
"Well I don't have a class so….", he replies softly, speaking directly into her ear. She swallows and fidgets with her bracelet.
"Can you get off me?", she asks, sounding irritated irregardless of the fact that all she wanted to do at the moment was melt into his arms.
"Is it disturbing to you?"
"No, but hey, I'm a new student. You're creating a bad impression of me".
"I like the way you think".
She tries pushing him back but ends up falling into his arms.
"Whoa, careful there", he cooes and she immediately jumps out of his arms.
"What do you want?"
"You've been declining my lunch offer"
"Yes"
"Why?"
"I don't want to".
"Well it's lunchtime after this period so I may have gotten you already", he says and she hisses, rolling her eyes. "Hmm…I like it when you do that, sexy".
"You have two minutes to get out of my sight"
"What if I don't want to?"
"I could leave you here"
"Except that you'll be leaving your locker open", he replies and she curses in her mind.
She was unaffected by guys usually, why was it different with this Will guy? Now she had left her locker open and was chatting with him,why couldn't he just disappear after her threats? Some guys did that. She goes back to her locker and continues keeping her books under his watchful eyes. She was so flustered at his gazing and was quite slow in keeping her books expecting him to leave.
He doesn't though so when she is through, she starts to walk away but he follows.
"Will, I remember telling you to get lost".
"I don't want to, beauty Queen".
"Don't you even dare name me, I'm not your girl".
"You can be".
"And anger your girlfriend?"
"I don't have one".
"Then what is Bianca?"
"That's one crazy girl, I don't know why she sticks around but there's nothing I can do to make her leave. I'm so mean with her because I want her to leave but she is stubborn".
"Whatever, I don't care".
"You are stubborn too".
"I am not.You are the stubborn one, sticking around when you can see that I don't want you around".
"No, I just know what I want and work hard till I get it", he boasts and she hisses.
"Can you just get away from me?"
"Nope"
"Will!"
"No, you'll be bored. You forget that you're a new student".
"I guess I'll make that my problem",a new voice says and they turn to see a girl.
"Hey Carrie", Will greets.
"She's not interested, Will. Give her a break".
"Aww.... come on, don't be like that"
"Come on newbie, let's go", Carrie says and drags Annie away.
Carrie and Annie enter a class and seat down.u "I'm Annie, Hannah" "How's that a shorter version?" "Genny seems to think it is" "Well Hannah does seem like a handful, so old-fashioned" "Probably Genny's point" "Ah… you're hanging with Genny. Will is really going to be on your neck" "How?" "She's his best friend's girl, legitimate excuse to hang around you", she says and Annie laughs. "My full name is actually Carrielyn. Carrie came in around middle School and since Will and I attended the same middle School, he brought it here. Being as popular and hot as he is, everybody began to follow suit". "Oh I see, you guys must be
The bell rings and noise immediately erupts in the classroom. The teacher scoffs and continues her announcement ignoring the students who had began to walk out. She walks out when she is through talking and the rest of the class who had remained seated begin walking out also.Will remains in his seat as usual waiting for most of his classmates to leave before attempting to walk out. He still felt debilitated from watching Annie and Jake interact in the cafeteria. Why did she act so different with him? Two hands land noisily on Will's table and he is jolted from his thoughts. He looks up to see Jake staring at him with concern. Damn his silly look, Will curses internally and wishes he could punch that concern out of his eyes, but he knew Jake hadn't done anything wrong to him, yet. "You have something bothering you, don't you?", Jake asks but Will keeps quiet though resisting the urge to tell Jake that he was the reason for his mu
The bell rings and all the students in a class find their way out. It was now time for extracurricular activities. Annie and Genny come out too and walk to their lockers. Their lockers were adjacently opposite. Annie is keeping her books when Carrie walks up to her. "Hey Annie" "Carrie, what's up?" "I'm okay. So I told my sister about you..." "Really?" "She said she wants to see you first". "Oh well here I am", Annie says and shuts her locker. She walks to meet Genny. "Genny, seems like I may be joining the cheerleading squad. Carrie's sister wants to see me". "Oh…. that's nice. So what are you waiting for? You should be on your way" "Oh I wanted to tell you first" "Okay thanks, see you later", she says shutting her locker also. Carrie and Annie l
Annie recovers from her shock and realizes Will was dragging her out of the cafeteria. She immediately tries to resist his pull. "Will, where are you taking me?", she yells. "I don't even know", he says in a surprisingly soft tone and lets go of her hand. She realizes they were in the hallway. "I just want you away from that guy"."What is wrong with you? I don't remember ever agreeing with you or anyone that I couldn't talk to other guys except you" "How can you be laughing with that guy? You were even going to let him touch you!" "And so what? He's my friend" "What of me? Am I not your friend? Why don't you laugh with me? You don't even smile unless you can't contain it anymore",he complains and she stills. "You don't even want to have lunch with me. Did I do something to you?" "No. Get lost", she says and walks away. She returns to the
Annie and Genny walk inside the cafeteria after taking their orders, heading to Will's table. On nearing to Will's table, Bob sights them first."Hey Annie, come sit beside me", Bob invites."Come sit beside me instead", Dave offers."I'll just sit over here", Annie replies heading to the space between Kenneth and Harrison."Hey I'm the one who invited you to this table, shouldn't you sit beside me?", Will says."Umm… okay", she answers and finally sits beside Will while Genny sits in the space she intended to sit. Annie cringes as she sits beside Will. She hated the way she felt around him, all fluttery and befuddled. She just hoped she got through lunchtime without embarrassing herself. She later had no reason to worry as once they began talking, she quickly forgot about her discomfort. They had a great time together and l
Annie and Will are talking in front of her locker on Monday morning. Genny and Kendrick are yet to arrive at school. They are still talking when a girl walks up to them and hugs Will. Annie quickly turns and opens her locker like she wasn't just talking to Will. The girl is about to kiss him when he pushes her off. "Didn't you miss me?", she says. "Bianca, it was just like three days or something" "Two weeks Will". "Whatever, get lost. I'm talking to someone", he snaps and she turns around to give Annie a dirty look. "Who's she?" "Someone, just get going" "I will. My dad is not going to be home tonight, wanna come over?", she says flirtingly and Will pales. "What part of get lost do you not understand?", he queries and she grumpily walks away. "I'm sorry about that, Bianca tends to get clingy" "Oh p
Annie and Genny are talking on their way to school. They are strolling on the sidewalk."So Will took you home?", Genny asks."Yes", Annie answers with a groan as it was not the first time Genny was asking that question since she told her how she got through yesterday."Why are you sounding like that? You don't realize how surprising this is, do you? Will's car is only for showoff, he never gives anyone a lift except Ricky and by extension, me of course"."Even the Le cinq guys?""Very rare""Wow that's..…. I don't know, he's so sparingly nice apparently""Yes, that's the word for it""So why is he being overly nice to me?""I don't know", Genny answers just as Annie's phone rings."Hello? Who's this?""It's Will", the caller replies."Oh! I didn't sa
Will meets Annie on his way inside and she smiles at him. He smiles back though angry about Bianca and stops beside her."I saw you and your girlfriend", she taunts and he frowns."Annie""Someone's in a bad mood, fought with your girlfriend?""I've told you she's not my girlfriend""Fine, I'll stop", she says finally coming off her playful mood. "Why are you angry?""She's being annoying""Bianca?""Who else?""Come on, let's find an empty class. You look like you need to sit", she suggests and drags him off before he could reply. They enter a class and sit down close to each other. "Tell me about Bianca, How is she being annoying? How'd you get stuck with her in the first place?""You shouldn't bother with that""We always talk about me whenever we're together. It