CHAPTER 2

Beep!

Beep!

Why does the damn alarm have to ring this early. I snooze it off and snuggle back to my warm bed.

Shit!

Is it 7:30?

I throw the blanket and glance at Pepper's bed. She has already gone to school. So it's 7:30!

I'm so late! Mr. Henry will eat me alive!

I hop off the bed and have a 2-minute shower. I wipe off my hair and pull on some jeans and a tank top. My hands are shaking as I pull back my massive curls into a bun. I take a quick glance at the mirror before I step out.

Mr. Henry will kill me. Literally. 

It takes me about 30 minutes to get to class. The whole class goes silent as I scamper in and fall to my seat. I can feel Mr. Henry's glare on me, so I try my best not to look up at him.

I sigh when he continues lecturing. I quickly take out my notebook and a pen from my backpack. I smile at Troy who is seated next to me, acting like I don't exist.

"Your friend is an ass," I whisper, the pen dangling between my fingers.

He responds with a scowl before he shifts his attention to Mr. Henry.

I bite the end of my pen as I lean closer to whisper.

"He doesn't like my eyes..."

Troy looks at me absurdly then chuckles.

Bruna, who is seated on my left side lightly pinches my thigh under the desk. I turn to look at her then realize she's looking at Mr. Henry who is scowling at me.

"Ms. Sterling, mind to share your views on the topic with the entire class? Seems you have a lot of knowledge to share. "

I don't even know the specific topic he was discussing on. But my big silly mouth finds itself saying,

"Yes," I say somewhat confident. "The media acts as a global ground for people to collect and analyze data."

E.g when I googled Trent...

Mr. Henry smirks. "You are one of my best students. But, I wish your ears were bigger than that mouth. Maybe then you would be my best student. "

The whole class roars with laughter.

Troy and Bruna, who are my best friends since last year, seem to laugh the hardest. They are doing it on purpose to annoy me and I feel like punching them in the face.

When the laughter starts to die down , a familiar deep male voice mumbles behind me.

I don't pay attention but Mr. Henry does.

"What was that, Mr. Clyde?"

I spin to look at Dax.

His beautiful chocolate brown eyes meet mine and I quickly glance away. I don't know why I still feel like this when I look at him.

"But what she said is right," Dax repeats as Mr. Henry looks at him through the rim of his glasses.

"So you are her lawyer now?" he snickers. "You don't want to be a broadcast journalist anymore, do you?"

Dax is about to talk back at Mr. Henry but I quickly look back. and throw him a cold glare. He huffs and sinks back in his seat.

I look in front and smile at Mr. Henry.

"Can we carry on, Sir?"

Believe me, I love broadcast journalism. I have wanted to do this ever since I was a little girl. When I got a scholarship to join The University Of Liverpool, I was beyond thrilled. Grammy even cried. I wish my mom was there when I got the letter. She would have been beyond proud...

Bruna pulls me from the sea of thoughts when she whispers.

"You should give Dax a second chance, you know..."

****

We are having a little break at the school cafeteria.

I can't help but drool at the muffins placed in front of me. I bite into one as I sip some hot black coffee. This is exactly how I love my coffee. Hot and black.

"How was your first day at work? Heard you were late," says Bruna, raking through her brunette curls.

"Work starts today," I groan. I had almost forgotten about work. And Trent. And the stupid rules...

"Why were you late?" Troy asks sternly.

"Because I'm always late," I reply. "And I'm trying to work on that..."

"Trent hates it when people are late! Do you have any idea how much he nagged me last night?"

I heave a sigh. "About what?"

He rolls his eyes. "About you being late. About you being young. About you not meeting the maid criteria."

Maid criteria?

"What does he mean by 'young' and 'maid criteria' ?" I ask in bewilderment.

"I don't know..."

"You are his friend. You obviously know..."

Troy does not do coffee. Instead, he's having hot milk. He sips and says,

"All I know is that he has had a couple of young maids who have ended up doing some crazy shit."

"Like what?"

"Like coming from work and finding a maid lying butt naked on my bed and when I refuse to fuck her, she screams that I'm raping her. That kind of crazy shit!"

I choke on my coffee. Bruna is as shocked as I am.

"Are you sure that's not a scene from one of those cheesy telenovelas?" Bruna giggles.

Troy sighs. "So yeah, girls throw themselves at him all the time. He was  tired of hiring maids. I was even surprised when he called me the other day asking for someone to hire as a maid. He wanted someone he could trust..."

Girls throw themselves at him all the time...

That line is still stuck in my head.

No wonder he's so full of himself. Thinking every girl can fall for him. Well, not this one... Not this one...

"Why didn't you tell me he's a famous footballer?"

"What!" Bruna gasps. "What's his name?"

"Trent Aston."

"Who is that?"

He's a big deal! I feel the urge to tell her but I don't. So I turn to Troy waiting for him to answer my question.

"I didn't think it was important," Troy explains. "Plus, the less you know about him, the better. Trent is somebody you do not want to know. He is... twisted."

Twisted?

We talk about Trent and work for a couple more minutes. I tell them every little detail including the "I don't like your eyes" part and the ridiculous rules. Bruna can't stop laughing. Troy, on the other hand, does not seem surprised by Trent's behavior. Which means he is used to his friend's arrogance and egoistic nature. But Troy's words still linger at the back of my head.

Trent is somebody you do not want in your life. He is... Twisted.

I'm dying to know what he means by that. But for now, I'll just let it go.

"I need you guys to walk me to the mall," I request. "I need to buy my new uniform."

Right that minute, two guys join our table.

One I talk to.

The other I don't.

Dax Clyde.

****

I go silent.

Bruna is more than thrilled to see her one-year boyfriend, Josh.

Josh is this cute bad boy that has tattoos on his arms and neck. I'm not a tattoo fan but his tattoos really look hot on his caramel skin. My best friend is always giggling when he is around. Her dark eyes tend to sparkle and her smile widens and brightens when she's talking with him. They are undeniably the cutest couple in college.

I'm sipping on my coffee, trying my level best to avoid Dax.

Dax is staring sharply at me. I can feel his gaze on me. He obviously wants us to talk. But I don't.

"For real!" Bruna shrieks, flirting with Josh. "You are such a sweetheart..."

I'm glad these two are making this moment less awkward. It's been long since Dax and I sat at a table together like this. And I feel like running. My legs are kind of wobbly and my heart is racing...

"Troy, Becca," she stands from the table. "I have to go. See you tomorrow..."

"But you were supposed to take me to the mall!" I squeal.

She feigns a frown. "I'm so sorry... Will make it up to you."

She winks at me as she walks away, holding hands with Josh.

Troy clears his throat and stands from the table too. " I have to get going. I need to finish up on my assignments."

What!

They are leaving me alone with Dax? I should have known. This is a set up. I'm sure Bruna is the mastermind.

"But... The mall?" My voice comes out as a squeak.

I can't believe my two best friends are ditching me.

With a deep frown on his face, he throws his sling bag over his shoulder.

Troy forces a smile.

"I'll make it up to you," he says dryly and walks away.

Now I am left with Dax.

A nightmare come true.

I never once thought we would sit at a table together like this.

But now we are.

He smiles at me.

God! That smile. And what makes it even worse is that he has this cute dimple on one cheek. Lord! Why does a demon like this have to look like an angel?

"I missed you..." he says softly.

Crap!

"I mean it..."

Oh God! Did I just say crap out loud?

I bite my lower lip. He's making me nervous.

"Damn! Those lips! There's nothing I miss more than kissing them..."

Jerk!

He just said he misses me? Now he misses kissing my lips! Ugh! This guy just disgusts me.

He's seated opposite from me. I lean my hands on the table and look into his eyes.

"Dax, what do you want?"

He looks at my lips for a swift moment then looks up at me. I really don't understand the jittery feeling I get when his eyes meet mine.

He takes my hands into his and squeezes them.

"I want you."

I'm taken aback for a while. I didn't expect him to say that. And to say it with  such intensity. It's like... He meant every word he just said.

No!

The memories of what he did flood back like strong waves. The pain of his betrayal comes back in intense waves. I swiftly pull my hands from his. This is not the real him. This is the man he's pretending to be so he can win me back again. I don't think he's even sorry for everything that he did. He's just sorry that he got caught.

I'm an actress in the drama club at school I know when someone is putting on a play or being truthful. Dax is putting on a play right now.

I look into his eyes and smirk.

"You lost me."

I grab my bag and walk out on him.

****

I check my watch as I alight the bus.

I'm on time!

I stopped at the mall earlier to buy a white shirt and black skirt.

The black skirt is so short and fitting. I don't like buggy skirts. They make me look ridiculous. I just hope my uniform is okay with my arrogant boss.

I stop at Trent's doorstep and press the door bell.

"Come in."

His deep husky voice.

I push the door open. He's standing in the open kitchen, slicing some onions. I don't know if I've ever seen a man look that sexy in my life!

Ugh! I should focus!

He looks up at me, scanning me from head to toe in a distasteful manner. As if I'm disgusting to look at.

He suddenly blurts out,

"You are fired!"

****