Chapter 4: Tragic Reality Part: 1

Jo

My eyes were glued to the equation I had copied from the textbook. The combination of numbers, alphabets, and symbols in front of me could not help but make me smile.

My maths teacher, Mr Honey, gave us fifteen minutes to solve this equation.

Ha! piece of cake.

*****

I am nowhere near solving it.

I've done this question at least three times, there's no way my answer could be wrong.

The anxiety increased, I felt sick. There was not enough time.

I felt taunted by the clock. Time was ticking away with no solution in sight.

Tick tock, Tick tock.

Argh! Maybe the answer key is wrong.

The school bell rang, signalling the end of the period.

The lunchtime rush prevented Mr Honey from giving me a chance to ask him about this question.

I made my way to the cafeteria with a heavy heart.

The room was packed with students of all ages and a hum of conversation could be heard throughout the room.

Although the chatter was loud, my thoughts were louder.

I feel distraught. I never had trouble with maths in the past.

Where did I go wrong?

Having been caught up in my thoughts, I didn't see Lyla coming until I slammed into her.

Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic!

Note the sarcasm.

It's just not my day today.

As a result of the collision, Lyla dropped the plate she was holding.

Upon dropping the plate, all the contents of it spilt onto the floor.

A piercing noise was made by the shattering of the plate, attracting the attention of the entire cafeteria.

“ OH MY GOD!!!!” yelled Lyla dramatically, as some of the plate's contents splashed on her clothes.

Overdramatic much?

“You little wench!! How dare you ruin my brand new top!? Ralph Lauren just delivered it to me yesterday! Do you have any idea how expensive this is?!” shrieked Lyla in fury.

I was thinking of helping her with the mess, but the moment she referred to me as a ‘wench’, that thought evaporated.

“My top would not have been ruined if you had watched where you were going, bitch!” Lyla seethed.

The fact that I don't like her doesn't make things better. I've already been in a bad mood since maths, and she is making it worse.

I'm on the verge of losing my patience.

She is lucky we're at school, or else I would have lunged at her already.

You see I kind of have a bit of a short fuse when it comes to people like her.

"Watch it," I said in a deadly calm voice.

Her eyes seemed to flash with fear for a moment.

But she was quick to mask that emotion.

As I mentally roll my eyes, I feel annoyed.

As soon as she began dating Aiden, she behaved as though she were the future Queen Luna, expecting everyone to blindly respect and obey her.

Well, she should know that respect is earned, and she has not earned mine.

I will never, and I mean never, submit to her. It is pretty obvious that she is using Aiden to gain attention and prominence.

The entire cafeteria is watching us with great interest.

" Initially, I was going to apologise, but as I thought about it, it seemed like you deserved everything that happened," I said with a shrug.

Her face flared up with anger and embarrassment.

It's 1 point for me and 0 for Lyla.

“You bitch!” she roared.

"You say that as if it's a bad thing," I replied.

“Moreover, I think you need a bath since you smell like what I presume is tuna,” I added as I walked past her to my table.

And that is two points for me and zero for Lyla.

Upon sitting down, Ann raised her hand for a hi-fi, which I happily accepted.

“Good job Josie, someone needed to show that tramp her place,” Ann exclaimed.

“Thanks” I chuckled.

“So Jake, how is college life?” I asked.

"I can't wait to graduate and leave" Jake dramatically signed.

“That bad huh?” Ann giggled.

“You don’t know the half of it!” Jake exclaimed.

“Why Jakey? Don’t you have any girlfriends to keep you entertained?” I wiggled my eyebrows.

“Nope, I am genuinely looking for my mate. Wherever she may be, I will wait for her for however long it takes,” Jake replied sincerely.

“Wow, that's really sweet, Jacob,” I exclaimed.

“Yes, your mate is going to be so lucky to have you!” Ann replied afterwards.

“Thank you” Jake muttered with a smile.

After talking for a while, we sat in comfortable silence.

While savouring a bright red apple I picked off Ann's plate, I glanced around the cafeteria and noticed those familiar golden hazel eyes staring right at me.

His hair was even messier than it was in the morning. He looked as if he had run his fingers through his hair several times.

Damn, I wonder how it would feel if I ran my hands through his hair...

Wait what-

No Jo, do not think about him...Think about something else.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to clear my mind.

Upon opening my eyes I see those mesmerising golden hazel eyes still looking at me with amusement in them. He wore a small smirk on his face as if he was saying, ‘I know you were thinking of me.’

Isn’t he full of himself?

“But he isn’t wrong you were thinking about him” My subconscious butted in.

"Oh my gosh! For the last time! No one asked your bloody opinion!” I exclaimed.

As I turned my attention back to Aiden, the school bell rang, signalling the end of lunch break.

Time for the next class.

Sigh.