What did he say? Join the student council?
I threw my head back as I laughed. "Sorry. I thought you said to join the student council."
His face remained expressionless. "I did."
I stared at him to see if he was perhaps kidding about his invitation but he's not. Handsome or not, I glared at him. "Really? You chased me all day just to invite me in-" I gestured towards them and made a circle with my finger. "-your group?"
"That and to keep an eye out for you." Added Sheen and I glared at him to shut up. He did.
I returned my gaze back to Leo. "No."
This time, it was Sandy who spoke up. "Please, Hailey. Think about it. I would love to have another girl in the group." She said and offered me a friendly smile.
"Sorry but no." I said again. "Joining the student council is not my style. I'm not like you guys. I don't care about this school nor the students to spend my time joining this group." I got up and place the teacup back on the table. I grabbed my bag and swung it over my shoulder. "If you don't mind, I'm leaving. You guys just wasted my time for nothing. I already assured you that I won't tell anyone about your secrets and I will keep that promise." Having said that, I headed for the door. Feeling nervous and excited at the same time as I neared for the exit.
But just as I was about to head towards freedom, someone grabbed my arm and pinned me to the wall so quickly that I hadn't had the time to react. Xander's arms now serve as some sort of cage, locking me between him and the wall behind me. It took all of me to suppress myself to show any emotion except annoyance. I swear, all those rumors about him being nice are false.
"Wrong." He suddenly said. I then raised an eyebrow at him. What is this fool talking about? Wrong about what? "You're wrong, Ms. Collins." He said again. "You're just like us."
What?
"What are you talking about?" I asked, trying not to pay any attention to our closeness.
"Punch me." He ordered.
Again....What?!
"Xander." I could hear Leo getting up from his seat. His tone was hard and commanding, just like how a leader should be.
Xander only gave him a side glance. "Let me handle this, Pres." He told him before snapping his attention back at me. "Go on. Punch me in the face. If you do, then I'll let you leave and we'll never bother you again."
"Dude, that's too much, don't you think?" I heard Sheen’s worried voice behind him, but he doesn't seem to pay him any attention. Instead, he was looking at me and expecting my next move.
All I have to do was punch him and they'll leave me alone? As tempting as the offer sounds, I couldn't. My hands balled into fists and I looked at him. Seeing the determined look on his face, I looked down and bit my lips. I couldn't do it. I won't hurt him. I won't hurt anyone for my own benefit, except when they're the ones who hurt me. Physically.
"What's wrong? Why won't you punch me?" He asked again.
I raised my head to look into his eyes. "I won't." I said.
"You won't or you can't? There's a difference between the two." I didn't answer. No, I couldn't answer him.
As if noticing my hesitation, he smirked. "I knew it." He said and inched closer to me. "You can't do it because you’re not really that kind of person who we think you are, aren't you? Why don't you just drop the act?"
"What are you talking about?"
He snorted. "You're a great actress, I might say. Hiding behind that cool girl mask when, deep inside, your just a sweet little girl."
My breath caught as my heart palpitated. My hands started to sweat and shake on their own that I had to dig my nails into them to keep them steady. How did he know? HOW DID HE KNOW?! Well, except for the 'sweet' part, but how!? No one was supposed to know about my secret.
Xander must have seen the question in my eyes because he grinned. "I saw how you reacted when you kneed me in the gut. If you were really the rumored girl that we heard about, you would have taken that opportunity to run and won't stand there looking at me with a guilt-ridden look on your face. And the way you accepted the tea from Sandy? You could have just let her hanging and not accept the tea at all since you don't like it but you did. You even nodded a thank you."
"That doesn't even make any sense at all."
"Doesn't it? Well then, explain to me how my deductions aren't all that true." There was an arrogant smirk on his face as if he already knew that he won.
At that exact moment I thought, I hate him. I.HATE.HIM!!!
Putting my arms on his chest, I gathered all my remaining strength and pushed him before I ran out of the room. But I didn't stop, I was still running. Trying to keep my mind out of everything.
It was like I was back to the beginning where I had just started my freshman year. Afraid. Afraid of being judged and afraid of how people would treat me. I was panicking. That feeling when all those fears you have are suddenly clouding your mind and you just get paranoid of what will happen next. I just can't take that kind of feeling. That was why I was thankful to have my cool girl character.
To hide my inner self so as not to be judged by others.
It was alright even though people wouldn't know me for being me. At least I can avoid fights and dramas. It was my safe haven where I could sit back and just be the audience. All those years, that's what I always do.
Hide.
But now that someone has uncovered my secret? It feels like having someone rip out your blanket at night and having all the evil monsters come at you and eat you. That's how I was feeling right now as I made my way to the school's exit.
Screw the afternoon classes. It's just our first meeting. It's not like he’ll give us a quiz or something. For all I know we'll just have to and introduce ourselves yet again.
I brought out my phone and texted our driver to come and pick me up on the next street far from our school since I don't want anyone seeing me ride our car. Normally, I would just walk, but not today.
Today is an exception.
A silver range rover stopped just on the opposite side of the street to where I was standing. I didn't waste any time as I headed towards it and got inside.
"Is everything alright, Miss Hailey?" Greg, my butler/driver, a man in his 50's, asked as he looked at me worriedly in the mirror.
I gave him a small smile. "Fine. I just wanna go home. I'm not up for school today."
I could tell just by looking at Greg that he knew that something was up, but he chose not to push through it. He can always tell whenever something is bothering me. After all, he had always taken care of me ever since I was a wee little thing.
The car started to move at an easy pace. I leaned back on the comfy seat as I watched the scenery going by in a blur.
I was starting to feel gloomy as I reminiscence all the years that I have spent as the school's cool girl.
But despite all that act? I was contented with that role. I mean sure, most of the time I'm lonely because it was always just me.
Then it came to my fear.
Fear of finding out how everyone would accept me as me. Would I gain friends and be happy or would I be labeled as a loser and a phony?
But this is really strange. Why am I being overdramatic about this?
It's not like Xander had spread the word yet, right? And it's not like I confirmed it yet. I can still lie my way through it. WHY THE HECK AM I FEELING DRAMATIC!?!
Ohh..that was why I was feeling gloomy.
I leaned forward on my seat so I could talk to Greg in the mirror. "Um..Mr. Greg? Can you please turn the radio off? The song is kind of affecting my mood here." I asked him politely.
Mr. Greg met my eyes in the mirror and let out a laugh. "I'm sorry." He said, but there was clearly a hint of amusement in his eyes.
"Hey, honey. Why are you home so early?" My mom immediately asked me once I got home."Nothing. Just tired and not in the mood for school.""Are you alright?" She asked me worriedly.I nodded. "Nothing like a good bed rest can't fix." I gave her a small smile and let her place the back of her palm on my forehead.She tsked. "I'll take that excuse for today, but you better not be doing that regularly, okay? You have to keep your grades up for college."I smiled. "Of course. Can't wait for college after all." And be done with this drama. "I'm going to my room, okay?" I said as I kissed her on the cheek before heading up."Oh wait."I sto
I just stared at her and at the wig in disgust. "Ew. Why pink?"Then I heard a loud slap as she facepalmed. "I just gave YOU an IDEA and the first time that came to your mind is about the wig’s COLOR!? Are you being serious right now?!”I flinched at the tone of her voice. "I know. I heard you so...yay!!! FELISHA HUGHES!! THE DAUGHTER OF SHREK AND FIONA WAS BORN!! But pink? Really?!" I shivered. When I looked up, I almost screamed in fright when I saw the look of fury on Kaila's face. You could totally imagine a fire in the background by how she looks. I gulp.She stormed to me and grabbed my arms. She hauled me up. "W-wait! What are you gonna do to me?""Relax. I promise you this won't hurt you.""You&rsquo
Yesterday, I told one of the staff to burn to wig.That stupid thing was the root and cause of my downfall. I am pretty sure of it. So to say, I think it deserves a bitter end.I was walking along the hallway with my bag slung over my should as usual. I made a stop at my locker and grabbed the needed books for my first period. Then, I headed for my classroom.Once I opened the door, my eyes scanned the area for a bit to make sure the pests - a.k.a the student councils - weren’t around."Morning, Hailey!!""Hailey! Hi!"The student greeted me but I took no interest in them as I continued my search. When I found no sign of them, I smiled on the inside and headed fo
Lunch came. As usual, I was the last one to exit our room and head for the cafeteria. As I got there, I saw that there was a commotion going on AT MY TABLE.Two first-year students, both girls, were carrying their tray of food and were seemed to be blocked by a few groups of girls that I recognize. Alexandria, Courtney, and Wilma. I don't want to brag or anything but those three girls are the head of the Hailey May Collins fan club.I'm not bragging at all because I don't like it. Basically, they are just a group of Hailey wannabes that try to act like me but ended up looking like total b*tches. Plus, they are a wee bit aggressive. They tried to befriend me once, but I wasn't interested.At first, I thought that it would be the end of that stupid fan club but it only grew more. Alexandria even dyed
My blood started to boil at the sight of them. "What the heck are you guys doing here!?" I busted out. Honestly, I wanted to have some alone time.Shouldn't they be in their room or something?Hearing my voice, they all turned and smiled, except for Xander who still had his back to me. "Hi, Hailey. Would you like to join us?" Sandy asked as she brought out different kinds of sandwiches and cakes that made my mouth water.But not enough for me to join them. I still have my pride!I averted my gaze to their food and glared at them. "You haven't answered my question."Sheen got up from a sitting position and grinned. "We basically followed you here. And when we saw where you went, we decided to have
Sunday morning.I was in a cafe, drinking a cup of coffee as I waited for my mom to pick me up. Today we have a meeting with the board regarding mom's new fashion catalog. There, they will judge mom's works and will decide whether to sponsor the runlway project that mom has or not.As for me, I'm just going there for moral support.Mom and I were supposed to head there together, but since I woke up late, she told me that she'll pick me up around 8 AM specifically at this cafe.Through my sunglasses, I checked my phone to see that it was 7:56 AM. Four minutes till the said meeting time.With a sigh, I decided to check my Twitter account to see that I have 254 new followers. I scrolled them over to see that these new foll
I paid for the cab as soon as I arrived outside of my dad's restaurant. I went to the back and used the back door to head to the kitchen where I know my dad is.Once I entered, I quickly got a whiff of the chef's cooking. My mouth started to water but I need to find my dad first. The staff didn't really pay any attention to me as I entered since they already know who I am. I gathered my hair up and put an extra hairnet on top of my head from the counter.Now we don't want to ruin my dad's business when the customers find a hair on their dishes, don't we?It wasn't long until I found my dad with some of the chefs. He was guiding and instructing them what to do and how it's done."Use these tomatoes instead of those. We only want the finest ingredients for this." Ordered my dad.
My dad closed the restaurant early today so that he and I can go home together. We talked on the way about things that happened earlier at the restaurant. We laughed and joked about the customers and our work.I actually enjoyed the ride home considering that I don't always hang out with my dad this much because of his busy schedule.As soon as we got home, we found mom and Kaila on the couch talking in hushed voices. When they saw us, they both got to their feet. Mom beamed and came to hug me before she went to dad kissed him on the cheek.Not wanting to see more of their PDA, I went and sit on the couch with Kaila. You'd think that 20 years of marriage will help cease the lovey-dovey affection of my mom and dad with each other but no. They’re still had over heels for each other.