Chapter 1

16 years later

Chicago, Illinois.

"I'm sorry Miss Gates but I have no choice but to give you a C-minus," says the bald man as he looks at the black girl in front of him with what many may term as sympathy, but anyone who knows Mr. Goldstein well will know that he doesn't do sympathy.

"But Mr. Goldstein, I worked on this with all my God-given energy," Mia repeats for what seems to be the gazillionth time that morning. "You and I know without a doubt that I deserve an A for this."

"I will be honest, your essay was an A-plus material," he replies as he gets up from his seat to start searching through the books on his shelf for nothing in particular. Truth is, he just really wants to do something, anything to get away from the murderous stance Mia has assumed since she arrived in his office that morning. "However, the fact also remains that the instruction clearly stated that the assignment was to be completed by two students," he reminds her. "You didn't bring a partner here this morning, which means that you didn't have one. I don't think that students should be rewarded for breaking the rules, Miss Gates do you?"

"But there was no one who wanted to partner with me!" Mia returns angrily but all she gets is a raised eyebrow from Mr. Goldstein. It's a lie that no one had wanted to partner with her and Mr. Goldstein knows that. Mia herself is the one who didn't bother to ask them in the first place.

But what will be the point of asking when I already know they'll say no? she asks herself, sighing inwardly.

Thing is, Mia's someone that can be referred to as a 'pariah' in the school; and it has nothing to do with anything about her physiology. No matter how friendly or genuine they appear, she just never seems to be able to connect with people; and after so many years of trying to change her, everyone appears to have finally accept her for who she is.

Unfortunately, that acceptance can be problematic sometimes, like when an assignment requires a partner for instance. They'll never risk themselves to ask her and she'll never risk herself to accept them. That's the way things go and there's no changing it, even if it always results in complications like her present situation with Mr. Goldstein.

"Can you at least give me a C for all my efforts?" she asks in a last-ditch attempt to get the man on her side.

"I'm sorry, Miss Gates," he replies, resuming his seat with obvious relief in his eyes that the girl has finally taken the hint and decide to leave him alone, "the rules are the rules."

"I'm sorry for wasting your time too then, Mr. Goldstein." Mia tucks her short bob hair behind her ear the way she does whenever she's desperately trying to the mask her anger and takes her leave.

She's still struggling with her anger, and hair- the latter always falling back to cover her eyes because she insisted on keeping her bangs with the bob- when she suddenly smacks right into a mountain of flesh. "Hey, watch where you're going!" she snaps at the body as she walks round it.

But the flesh blocks her path again. "Miss Smarty-Smarty done beggy-beggy?" it asks and she looks up to see the one person alive in the world- maybe the universe too- that's capable of making her bad day get drastically worse: Andrew Cameron.

Mia can't explain it but in spite of her pariah status, she and Andrew have always had a social connection; not the good kind though.

For starters, Andrew has always been known as everything Mia isn't: the school's beloved quarterback, everyone's best friend. He'll probably be the very life of the universe if that sort of thing becomes a thing later in the future.

But for reasons unknown, his favourite pastime since time immemorial has been to get on Mia's nerves. He loves when she's angry, happy when she's raging; and he always looks for every opportunity to make that happen.

As everyone can already guess, their nemeses status isn't any fun for Mia, and not just because she hates social connection in any form.

Thing is, aside from being the upper opposite of their whacky chain, Andrew also happens to be more than a head taller than her and more muscular too, and somehow always has the support of the entire school behind him whenever he confronts her. It doesn't take a psychic to know that she'll never win their rivalry with those factors constantly piled against her.

"Please not today, Cameron," Mia says as she tries to step round him again but he still doesn't allow her.

He rests against the wall and effectively blocks any future attempts by Mia to get away before he's done. "So, did Miss Smarty pants get an A?" he asks in that mocking tone that always wants to make Mia just want to smash his face in.

"Not that it's any of your business, no," she replies. "Now, please move cos you reek." 

Actually, she's lying. The football team just finished the after-school practice session, which means a mandatory shower before coming out. But she needs something to stab Andrew with and that's all she has at that moment.

Unfortunately, that isn't enough. "Actually, I just took a lovely bath now with an even lovelier soap," Andrew points out in a whisper before suddenly shouting loud enough for the entire school to hear him. "If you want, I can share it with you later in the shower!"

Mia's cheeks turn tomato red as she feels all eyes zone in on Andrew and her at his statement. She can tell just by the looks they're shooting them that their minds have already begin to spin over a hundred tales concerning them; and none of it is in her favour. 

That's it, she's done, Andrew's won again. She groans in anger.

"See you later, honey," he says in a deceptively sweet voice before giving her a peck, roughing her hair as he always does, and sauntering away like the whole world belongs to him.

God please, overlook murder for just one second, Mia prays as she quickly takes her exit before things gets worse with the other students, then I'd show that son of a gun Andrew the stuff I'm made of.