BLAIRE's POV

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to...I mean if you are against these then won't do it anymore. Everyone has a belief system and I respect yours, I'm extremely sorry," He fumbled out and turned to leave, while I clutched his t-shirt from behind. 

"What?" He said, his eyes confused and sad.

"Dumbo...," 

"...Don't kiss me until your lips heal or you could get hurt," I finished.

I was looking at him, observing him from very close. I could even notice the black pupil in his eyes watching me perpetually. Slowly I leaned in and pecked on his lips. A feathery and light kiss that lived for only a second. His lips turned upwards and then stamped a tight kiss on my forehead, grinning at me sheepishly.

Honestly, I don't know why I said that or did it. It's not like I hated the feeling. I won't deny but even I wanted the kiss to go on. I mean, of course, I didn't get the 'slut' feeling radiating off while I kissed him. But was it just his glistening, enthralling eyes that made my stupid sentence or the emotions and the emotional attachment?

The next day as I stepped in the school, I received odd glances all through the hallways. I glanced at Chris and Sophia and they shrugged. I didn't expect them to know either because we arrived there together. I saw Jasmine running towards me from the other end of the hall. Meanwhile, Aaron, who was a friend of mine both from the literary club and English class, grabbed my arm and dragged me inside an empty classroom. The rest of the bunch followed inside.

“What's going on?” he asked.

“What are you talking about?” I was not able to catch anything on my network.

“This. He is talking about this,” Jasmine walked into the classroom and placed a poster on the bench with a loud thump.

It was a photoshopped picture of mine. Someone photoshopped my face on a dirty frame and captioned it with ‘Let's welcome the new slut, #Woods’. I swear, by then my face was red, heated up in anger. I grabbed the paper and curled it into a wrinkled ball.

“This is going around the whole school for god's sake,” Aaron alleged.

“I know who did this,” I muttered slowly.

“Who?” everyone asked in unison.

Without any answer, I walked out of the classroom with my friends when Jason came face to face.

“I said I'll get back to you,” he smirked.

While I ignored him and made my way out, Christian grabbed his collar and punched him. Soon they were on the floor, fighting. Duncan and James tried to stop Christian when the other football players jumped in, kicking and punching each other. Soon it turned into a street fight match between basketball team Vs football team. The hallway was a mess. While some students enjoyed watching them and shooting video, some got injured just being in the middle of the fight for no reason. I didn't waste my time stopping them. I headed towards the Principal's cabin. 

“This is what is going on in the school Ms Campbell,” I said as I kept the posters on the desk.

With a raised eyebrow, “Sit down please” she said.

“I'm not here to sit down, Ms Campbell,” I said, anger radiating off my voice.

“I know who did this,” I continued.

“and who is that?” she asked back.

“Jason Walker,” I said bold and loud.

With that, she cleared her throat and her voice was meek again,“ can we please sort it out Ms.,”

“ Willy,” I finished.

“ Yes, Ms Willy. I will tell him to apologize for this and remove all the posters,” she offered.

“ And you think that'll do?” I squared my shoulders.

“ It should because there's no more I can do for you. His father is a member of the school trustee board,”

“So?” I asked cutting her off 

We couldn't finish our conversation when an alarm went off. Maybe the fight got worse and someone hit the emergency alarm.

“Sorry, I have to go,” she said responding to the alarm as she walked past me.

“Alright, if you can do nothing then I'll do it myself,” I shouted behind her and went the other way.

I reached up the hallway, running and saw the principal and school counsellor standing with all the boys. The fight was stopped but their faces looked horrible. Blood dripped down their lips and eyes. A few people might have their noses broken too. I bet even Jason hadn't even imagined this consequence. 

“Mr Woods, you're suspended for two days along with your team,” the principal announced after hearing out.

She turned around and was leaving when Marcus asked, “ what about the football team?”

“They're the important members of the school Marcus. Don't you know their captain is the son of one of the trustee members of the school,” I taunted back.

“I'll see who'll stop me and my team from coming to the school tomorrow,” Christian announced in the presence of the principal.

“ Alright,” she said, frustrated dripping off her voice,“ all of you, basketball, baseball, football and soccer teams are suspended for three days straight,” she announced and left furiously.

There was a silent eye battle still going on between the teams. If not for the counsellor, they would have started the fight again at any moment. While Mr Weatherford rushed everyone off to the medical room, Christian turned to me and asked what the principal said.

I left him unanswered with his question and said, “ follow me. I know what to do next.”

“Aaron,” 

“ yes,” 

“ Are we ready with all the news and articles for tomorrow's issue of the school newspaper?” I asked him.

“ Yes, but why?” 

“ Can you shift the material of the front page somewhere else?” I asked looking up at him.

“ Sure, we can,”

“ You guys carry on with your classes and Chris and Duncan, please go and have the first aid,” I said and turned to Aaron.

“ But...,” Christian started.

“ I'm having some work, Christian,” I said as I left with Aaron.

“ Where are we going?” he asked without any clue.

“ Any guess?”

“ Andrews?”

“ Right you're,” I said, smirking.

Well, Michael Andrews was the top photographer of the school. He and Aaron Green worked together in the school newspaper and I was the newbie who joined them. We knew where we could find him. So, we walked up to the photo lab aka the darkroom and pushing the door open, we walked straight up to him. He was busy developing photos. 

“Hey, new girl,” he greeted.

“I have an assignment for you,” I declared.

but, we are already ready with tomorrow's issue,” his brows furrowed.

“Well, this one's a little personal but very important for tomorrow's issue,” I urged.

“Well, anything for you,” he said, giving a sly smile.

“I love it,” I smiled Patting his shoulder.

“and Aaron, scratch that. We don't need to do anything with tomorrow's issue. They are suspended for three days so we have three days,” I added.

“So, what's the plan?” Aaron scoffed.

“So all you have to do is head up to Jason's house...,”

“You mean that Horrific Hillcrest Mansion?” he cut me off.

“of course,” Aaron shrugged as a matter of fact.

“Come on, get ready. I need you to fetch me something from there. Up for tomorrow night?” There was a kind of excitement and thrill sounding now.

We write about things going on and around and we aren't afraid of anything. Risk and adventure are what we love the most. So we were on for getting what we wanted. Nobody can stop us as a matter of fact.

“I just can't wait for the issue to come out,” I smirked looking at them,“ The front page of The Blossoms will see something iconic and unforgettable,” I said walking out of the lab door.