Four

ADRIENNE'S POV

Still standing in the midst of a thousand eyes, all I could wish for, was the floor to open up and take me in. I make eye contact with Mr handsome giving him a pleading eye to bail me out, but I guess I got what I wanted as he walks up to me leaving a little space between us.

I could bet he could hear the sound of my heartbeat as he grabs my hand and shakes it.

"One could never forget a beauty with a smooth brown hair and strawberry scent," he says obviously flirting with me. 

Gosh not now.

"Anyway, I'm Nicholas. And you're..."

"Adrienne," I say boldly giving him a cool smile.

But my fucking hand couldn't help but quiver at his touch.

"Calm down Adrienne, I won't bite you."

His friends laugh quietly at those words.

"I'll love to see you around so we could finish up what we started," he says grinning to himself as if he had just won a lottery. 

OMG! Why did I say those words then? And now I have to account for it. Damn me and my mouth. 

Still saying nothing he continues as he repositions his leather jacket that looks fucking expensive. Who are these guys?

"Well, lover girl knows how to aim higher than her standard. I'm out of here" the devil says and storms off.

"Chill Alec. It's not like you're going for a lecture this early. Calm your ass man," Nick says but Alec is off already.

That guy and his damn anger. He really pisses me off.

"I'm Halsey. And trust me, you just stole my heart. Seeing how you spoilt Alec's mood just brings joy to me. One of the guys with blonde hair says, as his sapphire eyes flicker in amusement. Bringing his lips closer to my left ear, he whispers "he could be a pain in the ass as you've so well experienced. But my advice for you is to avoid him. He could be quite dangerous." He steps back and winks at me as he strolls off. Well, that wasn't so bad.

The last one of them says nothing but follows after Halsey leaves.

"Let's meet up later," Nick says while running after them.

It was then I released a breath I never knew I had been holding. Just then, the late bell rings.

Great. I was fucking late.

I bend down and pick up the rest of my belongings before walking to Aileen's locker to see her and Kate with shocked expressions on their face.

Please no questions. I begin to pray in my head. I've had quite a stressful morning. If they could just be helpful and ignore all that just happened, I'll be really grateful. But girls being girls, gossip is one of our things and we're always curious.

"What was all that", Kathy starts.

"I don't know either" I reply as we all walk to English class.

"When did that Cappuccino incident occur?" Aileen rides on as we enter the class and settle down. I was so happy we all had the first period together.

"Last week"

"And you didn't say anything?" Kathy asks sounding disappointed.

"Really? Does that sound important? I mean am I supposed to give you every detail of my life? See I'm over this" I say as the professor walks in.

I could be a stuck-up bitch at times and I hate myself when I act as such. Especially to Kate who means a lot, but I was just frustrated and the only way to end this discussion was by being bitch or so I guessed. 

"First of all, all phones switched off and submitted to this box," our professor says motioning his fingers to the box on his desk.

We all stand up and do exactly as he instructed.

"Secondly," he continues, "your assignment on my desk."

"I slept late doing this fucking assignment," Aileen musters under her breath.

I couldn't help but smile.

"Me too," I say as I search my bag for it.

No! No! No! Could this day get any better? I must have probably not seen it on the floor and ignored it. 

Everyone submits theirs, so I prayed the prof won't take notice but being professor John, he uses attendance to find out those that didn't submit theirs.

"Adrienne?" the prof calls out my name.

"I thought I brought it along but" he cuts me off.

"Save your explanation for detention from five to six," he says to me and those who didn't submit theirs before starting the class.

What am I going to do? I have swimming rehearsals by six and I'll have to get there 20 minutes before six, if not, I'm in trouble. 

I hate today.

ALEC'S POV

I pull up my Hyundai SUV at the parking lot in my usual space. No one dares to park their cars there except they were looking for trouble.

Especially one who already has my trouble. Adrienne or whatever she's called. How dare she stand up to me talk less of making eye contact. She should know better who she's dealing with. 

I walk up to the building that has both a basketball court and a swimming pool where the swimmers of our school practice.

Being the captain of the Blue dragon basketball team really isn't my thing so most times I make Christian do all the work, like not attending rehearsals till I feel like it. And when I feel like is when I'm alone so I can set my head straight. I don't like things weighing me down but family issues can't help but become burdens to their children.

I enter the building and notice everyone is gone, so I head straight to the locker room to change my outfit. I put on sweat pants, a 'Go blue dragon top I got for the team and a black canvas.

I walk back to the basketball court and grab a ball from a basket holding quite a lot of balls.

I bounce the ball to the floor and make a nice shot. I grab the second one and take another shot.

"I love someone else Gabriel," my mum's voice echoes in my ear.

I grab the next ball and throw it hard against the wall, this time not directed at the net. 

"You don't mean that," my dad's voice quivers knowing how much he loves my mum.

Fucking women. They get all they want then the next thing is to cut ties with you, not caring what you went through for them.

I fucking hate that woman. I hate my mum. She's selfish and materialistic. How could she leave I and Aiden all by ourselves just to follow some stuck-up lover of hers who seems to be living in wealth?

She was never really there for me or my dad, always seeing one man or the other. 

I grab another ball and throw an angry shot still not at the net but a wall.

A few minutes later, I'm all covered in sweat, my top is sticky to my wide chest. 

I walk towards my bag to get a bottle of water when something grabs my attention. I stop midway but everywhere becomes silent. I continue walking then the sound continues. It seems someone was swimming because the sound I could pick up had to do with water splashing.

Not caring, I continue walking and finally reached my bag, grabbing the water I badly needed. I sit on the floor to catch up on my breath but the sound of water splashing increases rapidly. Without thinking, I walk up to the swimming pool area and notice someone struggling in the water.

ADRIENNE.

As expected, I got late for practice and the coach was really pissed off. She instructed me to stay behind and practice for the next one hour, having Emily our captain, watch over me.

Those annoying jerks. Who the hell are they to turn the school upside down. Thanks to them I've been swimming for half an hour now.

"Adrienne, I guess it's your lucky day because I've got something important to do. Don't worry I'll tell the coach you practiced for more than an hour." Emily says as she adjusts her blonde hair and tugs it behind her left ear.

Kate hates her a lot, though she's nice but because she's Christian's ex.

"I've really got to go," she says once again as her phone starts beeping. She stands up smoothing her turquoise blue gown as she leaves the environment. 

"I'll just go for two more rounds and I'm out of here" I encourage myself.

Entering back into the water, I start swimming until I begin to feel pains in my leg. Oh crap! The pain becomes unbearable as I begin to feel my muscle pull thereby making my movements harder in the water.

"Arrgh!" I scream no longer having control over my movements as I'm unable to keep myself floating. I begin to take in a lot of water which slows down my breathing but still, I don't give up. I've faced hardships tougher than this and here I am today. One muscle pull incident cant be the end of me. Or will it? 

Gathering my last bits of strength, I try screaming for the last time before my body becomes numb. 

Lucky enough for me a figure appears at the entrance running in my direction. On getting to the water, it stops.

I try picking up the facial attributes. Though my sights were already blurry, I couldn't possibly deny how handsome the person standing in front of me his. His jaw was perfectly angled and the smile on his face not hiding the dimples just made it easier to admire him.

But wait a second. That cute wicked smile is something I can never forget. 

I'm in big trouble. Not again.