" Next!"

The lunch line swiftly moved as Lunch lady Doris slapped her spatula full of overcooked pasta on our lunch trays. Her bored expression and blank eyes revealed her lack of motivation on being stuck in a crappy job like this. Serving hundreds of students everyday was one of those nightmares you wished to never experience and my pity towards lunch lady Doris was significantly amplified once she slapped the soggy noodles on my tray, some splashing onto my shirt .

The mole sprouted on her left cheek made me shudder as I walked over to the ketchup dispenser over by the far end of the cafeteria. Zac, my best friend trailed behind me before setting his tray down next to mine as I pumped ketchup inside a tiny cup.

" I can't believe you asked my mom that improper question," He scowled me , watching as I filled the tiny cup with the thick red liquid. " She's my mother for pete sake!"

" Like I didn't know that already?" Setting the tiny cup inside my tray , I made some room for Zac to fill his tiny cup too.

" You keep hitting on her as though she's one of the girls in our school ,like she's your age mate or something."

I wouldn't hit on her if she was my age mate that's for sure!

" It's all a joke ,Zac, lighten up will ya?" I defended.

Zac shoots me one of his death stares , signifying the fact that he didn't believe that it was all a joke before grabbing his tray as we made a direct beeline to our usual table.

" Besides," I continued. " You're the one who said you loathed the fact that your mom is a teacher in this school, how she's cramping your style and all."

" Because she is cramping my style and what does that have to with you constantly hitting on her?" he exasperatingly went.

Ever since Zac's mother started teaching Pinecreek High , he's been livid about it. I never understood why because his mom was feisty, voluptuous woman and it's not surprising that most guys swoon at her. I practically worshipped the ground she stood in without Zac knowing.

And Zac being the gullible individual that he is , he never suspected that I had a crush on her. I'd convinced him that all was a rouse and he bought it, like a dumby.

Better keep the ball rolling.

" Well , if I keep hitting on her, sooner or later , she'll get tired of it and quit her job here," I half reasoned with him." then you won't have to worry about her cramping your style since she won't be teaching in this school after my plan succeeds."

We both simultaneously set our trays on our table before plopping down on the seats.

" Is that really your plan?" A hint of doubt lingers on Zac's face as he stabs his meal with his plastic fork.

" Hey, it's the best material I got, okay?" I follow suit before bringing the fork to my mouth , shoving a mouthful of pasta inside.

Nico and Tyson , some of our closest friends , join us in our welcomed company before a boisterous chatter ensued. Emerald and Jackie would soon invite themselves at our table as our friendship circle grew further. Even after breaking up with Zac, Emerald still stayed inside our friendship circle. At first, I'd assumed that it would be uncomfortable for both Zac and Emerald but they still maintained a healthy relationship which was totally amicable.

" Hey , Max," Jackie called out from across the table. "Wanna hang out after school today?"

" Can't, I have detention,"

" Again?" That was Emerald exclaiming. "Isn't that like the fourth time this week?"

" Are you new here?" Tyson interjected. " He gets detention almost every week , it's become a habit. A concerning one at that." He spiced that up by corking his eyebrow with a reprimanding look, one that parents give their pubescent kids when lecturing them on the Dos and Don'ts of sexual experimenting.

" What did you do this time?" Nico smirked.

" Nothing,"

" Oh yeah?"

Zac and I share knowing looks before I turned my stare back on to my tray of food. It doesn't look as appetizing as I'd envisioned it, I mean, aren't all school lunches? Unfortunately , Emerald caught onto our telepathic conversation which would explain the assumption she made afterwards.

" Does it have something to do with Zac's mother?" She gave a devastated sigh, folding her arms ahead of her , seemingly satisfied with her accusation. I wonder if she ever got tired of being right all the time.

" I can't lie to you , Em, but you do deserve a gold star for your remarkable guessing," I sarcastically put in.

" So yes?"

I shrugged in response. I watch as her eyes darken with disdain ,as she pursed her lips contemptuously. For some reason me hitting on Zac's mom always seemed to place her at a disagreeable mood. I really think she's overreacting . It's just a harmless crush with no dire consequences whatsoever. I'd be over Zac's mom as soon as Fall approached , or maybe until I graduate high school.

" Maybe you should tone it down with her ?" Jackie advised . " besides, she's twice your age."

" Oh come on, " Nico chimed in. " where's the fun in that?"

" Are you seriously encouraging his behavior ?" Emerald exclaimed. " Zac, are you okay with your best friend constantly hitting on your mom?"

" Well..." Zac carefully picked his words, swirling his fork around the pool of casserole on his plate. " It's just a joke. Not for real, it's not like Max is going to start dating my mother ." That resurrected a wave of laughter on our table, except Emerald who still approached the topic with disgruntlement.

" But that's the fifth time this week that he's done that," She rationalized .

" Look Em, you need to chill," I said . " It's never that serious."

Abigael walks by our table , her knitted sweater still pulled down to her thighs and I can't help but chuckle at this. Nico catches the action and nudged me to spill that which was the source of my current amusement. Pointing my fork over to the brooding Abigael , Nico smirks back and soon everyone is talking about Abigael.

" You should cut her some slack," Zac threw a kick from under the table, hitting my shin in the process which made me grunt in pain.

" It was a joke!" I cried defensively.

" You seem to be good at lowering other people's self esteem," Came a grumble from Emerald as she stabbed her pasta repeatedly. She was still soured on the fact that I kept hitting on Zac's mom. I don't know why that bothers her, it's not like I was hitting on her mom. Besides, Emerald's mom is ....how do I put this gently...overweight and overbearing.

Zac's mom, on the other hand, is the opposite. Curvaceous and sexy.

" She does look fat in those jeans," I hear Tyson comment and a few snickers followed .

Our friend group was full of rotten individuals , but we had some kind of morals. We'd sometimes smoke weed behind the school building, skip some classes, we had detention sometimes , but I did seem to be notorious when it came to detention. I have them on a regular basis because of one reason or another so much that I feel as though I have this committed relationship with detentions.

Even Miss perfect, AKA Emerald , bends a few school rules. But come to think of it, she was a victim of circumstance. She was one of those individuals who were always at the right place, at the wrong time if you know what I mean. All the trouble she'd gotten herself into had some kind of rational reason behind it. Not to say that she's not trouble herself, I've seen her sneak alcohol in school among other things.

Ironically, she's the least rotten of our friend group.

So you can imagine the kind of trouble the rest of us get into.

I watch her as she ignores our rude comments and harsh judgement directed towards some unsuspecting loser or weirdo in the student body as we cackled shamelessly at said comments. Sometimes I wonder if she ever regretted being friends with the rest of us. If we tainted her reputation even though her reputation wasn't sparkling. Or maybe she's still furious at the idea of me objectifying Zac's overly attractive mom.

Tyson nudges me in time to see him chuck his half drunk slushie towards a table littered with freshmen before it splutters onto the head of a red haired , freckled cheek girl with comically large glasses. I don't hold in my laugh as it spills past my lips like diarrhea and soon the rest of the cafeteria catches on to the butt of the joke. The laughter was thunderous, fingers were pointed and mocking looks were thrown her way.

The timid girl roughly pushes her seat back causing it to crash on the stain covered linoleum floor before darting towards the exit, tears glistening her eyes , her hair dripping with mixture of shaved ice and dark red liquid which seemed to match her red velvet locks. That only fueled the laughter around her, even her friends who had sat at the table with her couldn't hide their amusement to the prank. I never knew how satisfying it was to torment someone who doesn't have power over you.

But then again, I'm just a rotten testosterone filled boy who has zero manners, no morals and nothing to lose.

*******************

"Max! Max ,wait up!"

It took me three seconds to shove whatever books that I had cradled in my hands inside my locker and dash for the nearest door in an effort to escape the owner of that voice that was repeatedly calling out to me.

Charli Dawson. My Best friend's younger sister.

"Max!" She kept shouting, drawing unnecessary attention towards her and me. Every head in the hallway turned to face me as I frantically walked further away from her. My eyes beheld the boys' bathroom sign and relief washed over my body ,like icy water quenching a thirsty pedestrian. That was my saving grace.

But the universe had other unforeseen unfortunate fate waiting for me as I bumped into someone during my desperate attempt of dodging Charli.

"Watch it, ass hole!" The victim to my unexpected bump cursed at me before reaching down to grab her books that had sprawled all over the dirty floor after our harsh body contact.

And that's when it happened;

"Max!" Her voice was like nails getting dragged across the chalkboard and I felt my skin crawl at this.

Standing not a feet away from me, was the gothic looking girl.

"Kill me now..." A silent curse escaped my lips as I slowly turned, coming face to face with that annoying brat.

"Yes , you called," I send her one of my fake smiles and she returned it with her remarkable eye roll. "You know, I heard that if you keep rolling your eyes like that, they might some day get stuck in the back of your head."

"Save it," She spat.

"Okay, what do you want?" I was impatient. I didn't want people seeing me talk to her , she was what most people in highschool call a freak . And I'd be labeled a freak by association.

Goth kids were feared. They always had an air of spookiness and macabre to them, they were obsessed with dark poetry and humor and they always look as though they stepped outside a cemetery catalogue.

Standing here next to this five foot tar colored freak, I couldn't stop my rampant thoughts from imagining how she'd one day work in cemetery. I have a feeling she'd qualified to work in one seeing how obsessed she was with death.

"What did you do to my poetry journal?" She barked, holding the aforementioned journal in her pale hands.

"I left you my autograph," I nonchalantly replied watching as her jade eyes shifted into dark orbs of fury. "I know you're a fan of mine. "

My eye folded into a cunning wink .

"Wink at me again,and I will pluck your eyelids off!" A cold threat that made me chuckle ludicrously.

" I'll take that risk," Another wink before she scoffed in annoyance.

"You will pay for what you did to my poetry journal even if it will be the last thing I do in this life or the next!" She was declaring war and I found that hilariously adorable. She was adorable sometimes, which is usually once in a blue moon. Most of the time she was a stick in the mud.

"I just drew a picture, why are you overreacting so much!" I gave a derisive laugh.

"A picture of a dick? " Having flipped furiously through  her journal , Charli displayed the page where my drawing of a penis embraced almost half the paper , showcasing my artistic brilliance. I should drop out of school and become the next Pablo Picasso.

"And you think I'm overreacting?!" She glared back at me, holding her journal so close to my face, I was afraid she'd poke my eyes out with it.

Snatching the book from her dainty fingers, I pretended to be enticed at the image adorning said page, exclaiming exaggeratingly, eyes widened slightly.

"Wow!" I remarked. " I'm getting really good at this, don't you think?"

Facing Charli, she looked as though she would burst into flames. I was annoying, that I knew. It's not an entirely successful day without ruffling some few feathers here and there.

"You are the biggest ass hole known to mankind!" She declared angrily before grabbing the book back.

"I'll take that as a compliment,"

"Go to hell!"

"Where do you think I come from , sugarlips?" I winked.

With one last glare, Charli stormed away and I couldn't stop myself from smirking at her angry frame as she sunk inside the crowd of highschool students.

Another day, another victim of my ruthless pranks.

****************

Another chapter y'all!

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