I struggled to reach my hand past the bed to turn off my alarm. I always set an early fifteen-minute alarm so that I could sleep a little more. The alarm hit again before I could even blink. 

"Ugh. Ten more minutes." I mumbled to myself.

"Maya, get up! You need to get ready for school." My mom's voice called from downstairs.

"Ten more minutes, Mom. I am too comfy on my bed." I whined.

"Get out of your bed, young lady!" She called again, now in a more strict tone.

There goes my sleep. I sighed.

"Geez, I'm up!" I yelled, rolling my eyes.

"I can sense you rolling your eyes from down here."

How does she know everything? 

I rolled out of my tiny yet comfy bed and walked towards my bathroom. I hopped into the cold shower to wake myself up.

I stepped out after a few minutes and quickly changed into my school uniform and my perfectly ironed tie. I tied my hair into a high ponytail and put on some cherry lip gloss.

I fetched my bag and headed downstairs. My mom was busy settling the dishes into the cabinets, and my dad was busy reading newspapers, sipping on his morning coffee. I took a moment for myself as I watched them. I really loved my family.

"Good morning, old folks." I wished playfully.

"Good morning to you too, Birdie." He said, raising his two eyebrows, implying that he won.

I didn't exactly like to be called Birdie. I didn't have the fondest memory of a particular incident. I was six when my parents took me out to a park for a picnic. I saw this really beautiful bird up there in the trees and I started calling for her "Birdie, come down!" She flew away and I followed her, only for her to poop down on me and ruin my pretty new dress. Thereafter, I never liked birds or the name Birdie in particular.

I pouted at him and he chuckled.

Shortly, my mom joined us and we talked about anything and everything, laughing and giggling.

I looked at the time on my watch.

"Shoot! I'm going to be late for school." I gasped. “Dad!”

"Coming honey." He said, sipping his last ounce of coffee.
                                  ~

I went up to my locker and started searching and shuffling my books. I had searched for my math notebook everywhere in my room this morning but no luck. I thought I might have left it in my locker but it wasn't there either.

I scratched my head, pondering about where I might have kept it but my thoughts were interrupted by a too well-known voice.

"Sup, Matthews?" The voice spoke, banging his back on the locker next to mine.

Bradley Williams. I hissed internally. We had been in almost the same class until middle school. Now, we just have Math and History classes together.

To be more specific about my annoyance, Bradley had been clinging to my back since freshman year. He had been trying to ask me out on a date for years.

"Hey, Bradley," I answered, trying to force a smile.

"You seem too busy nowadays. We don't even see each other much!"

Trust me. That's what I want.

"Yeah, I'm just busy doing... stuff."

"So did you think about what I asked you last time?"

"What was that again?" I replied, pretending to act clueless.

"You're funny. I'm talking about the date."

"Oh! About that, uh... I don't think I can make it." I apologized sheepishly.

I know I may sound like a prick for constantly blowing him off like that all the time. But-

"Oh come on, Maya! It's just one night. I only want one night with you! I won't bother you after that."

And there it is.

 That was the reason I avoided him. I wasn't interested in one-night stands and I certainly did not want to lose my first time to some jerk who wanted nothing more than just to get inside my pants.

"I told you I'm not interested." I disclosed, exasperated by his constant nagging.

"You're being pathetic, you know that right? With this attitude, you will go nowhere in life and would probably die alone." He said and stormed off.

Before I could even think about what just happened, I felt a light tap on my shoulder.

"You okay?" A genuine, concerned voice asked me. Shawn.

How long had he been watching us?

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered.

"Okay, well." He took out a very familiar notebook from his bag and looked up at me, "You accidentally placed your notebook inside my stuff while we were packing." He informed me.

"Oh, thank goodness! I've been searching for it for hours!" I exclaimed, finally sighing in relief. 

"You're welcome, by the way." He said, making a disdainful face.

"Oh! I'm so sorry.  No! I mean I'm- thank you... No! I mean to say I'm thankful and I thank you." I stuttered.

Ugh.

He chuckled. "Calm down. I was kidding, take it easy. See you later, Tinkerbell."

"Say what?" I questioned, my jaw half-opened, my eyebrows raised.

"What? I said I'll see you later." He replied, trying to hide his laugh.

"What did you just call me?"

"What? Tinkerbell? It's a sweet name. Your personality matches with her. That's what I've saved your name as in my contacts. It suits you." He said in a defiant voice.

"Wha..."

"See you later, Tinkerbell." He said walking off, waving up the 'V' sign claiming that he won this.

Oh, I'll definitely get back to him for that.

Before I could continue to mentally bite off his head, I heard Veronica calling on me from behind.

"Oh my God! Was Shawn freaking Daniels just smiling at you?" She asked incredulously.

"Unfortunately, yes! That son of a bitch!" I muttered, cursing him.

"Girl! Do you have any idea what that makes you?" Her eyes were wide open in excitement.

"No idea. And not interested."

"Girl, that makes you the hottest piece of gossip in high school." She walked a few steps ahead of me and positioned herself in her default dramatic mode, and her signature dramatic pose, resting both hands on her waist and leaning sideways in a strange position. "The New popular guy crushes over the prettiest nerd of our school!" She emphasized in her classic style.

"New popular guy, huh?" I said, giving her a disbelieving look.

"Yeah. Haven't you seen it yet? All the girls have been swooning over him and have been following him everywhere, like, literally."

"Well kudos to them since I am not interested," I informed, even the mere thought disgusted me.

"We'll see about that." She said with a smirk, raising an eyebrow, and walked off.
                                  ~

I walked up to my favorite seat on the last table in the cafeteria, along with some classmates. The girls kept blabbering about their dates and outfits for the homecoming dance. I completely forgot about it to be honest, until they reminded me.

"Hello, ladies!" Shawn greeted and slid swiftly next to me.

"Hey, Shawn!" The girls sang in unison.

I rolled my eyes at them.

Typical cliche high school drama.

"What are you girls talking about?" Shawn asked, lifting and sipping my untouched cold drink.

I stared at him in bewilderment. Is he for real?

"We were just talking about the homecoming dance." Lisa, the captain of the cheerleading squad, informed him with chirpiness. 

"Yeah! And do you know there are many pretty girls who don't have a date yet! Can you believe that?" Another girl from the cheerleading squad spoke.

"Well, that's a shame! No pretty girl should be left without a date for the homecoming!" He answered truthfully, while he now took my other untouched burger.

I wasn't paying attention to whatever they were chatting about. I kept staring at him as he mindlessly kept nibbling MY food like it was normal.

I am this close to slaughter him!

"I know right! Well... if you do not have a date for the dance, then I could be your date." She offered.

"Shoot! That's a bummer as I already have a date." He informed nonchalantly.

"Who are you going with?" She inquired, abashed by the straight rejection on her face.

"Yeah, who is the lucky girl, Shawn?" I asked sarcastically, my eyes still fixated on my food.

He smirked at me for a second before turning his attention to others.

"Maya." 

All the eyes were on me. My jaw dropped. My eyes darted and gawked at him for a few moments, unable to comprehend what he just said.

"Excuse me? What do you mean, Maya?" I question in incredulity, my voice screaming opposition.

"Do you have another Maya around here, in high school?" He asserted, now sipping my freaking drink.

"I never agreed to it. You didn't even ask me!"

"Didn't I?" Running his hand through his hair, he shrugged. "It might have slipped my mind. Well, I am doing it now. You are my date for the homecoming dance."

"Are you for real? I'm not going to the homecoming dance with YOU! Also, that's not really how you ask someone for a dance, Shawn!” I whined in disapproval.

"Well… you see I have permission from your beloved mother so technically, yes you are."

"Wha...” I did not believe the words that just escaped his mouth. My mom wouldn't do that to me. Right?

“When? When did you even ask her?"

"When I was at your house last night. When you went upstairs to change."

"You were at her house last night?" The girls asked in unison, their eyes seemed to bulge out and rolled down any minute now.

"Yeah! We spent hours in her bedroom last night. What a night!" He snickered, now provoking my tolerating limits.

The girls gave me a staggering look.

They've got it all wrong. That bastard.

"Studying. We were studying in my bedroom. Helping him in his assignments as asked by Mr. Johnson." I clarified, pursing my lips.

Their expressions screamed relieved. They sighed heavily for what felt like they had held it in for too long.

The awkward silence was broken when a few guys from the football team called out to Shawn.

Is he that popular now?

"Well, that's my cue to leave. I'll see you girls around. And..” Turning to me, he resumed, “be ready for the dance. It's just in a week.” He smiled, winking at me. 

He got up to leave but suddenly stopped and again turned to me. 

"I forgot to inform you. I won't make it to your house today. I have a tryout for the football team today." He said and took off.

As soon as he disappeared out of our sight, the girls fired questions at me ceaselessly.

"Girl! What was that?"

"Was he really at your house yesterday?"

"What is he like?"

"Did you guys do it?"

"Is he good?"

"Oh my God, stop!" I shrieked, agitated. "Nothing happened okay! I was just doing what I was asked. To help him with his studies. That's it!"

"You're going to be his freaking D-A-T-E for the dance." The girls squealed.

I hate this so much.

"And he went and took permission from your mother. How adorable is that!"

"You better start getting ready to blow his mind. You're going to be the talk of the school!"

The girls kept chanting about how lucky I was to get such special treatment from him. I was annoyed, to be honest.

Who does he think he is? He cannot just walk in and impose whatever he likes and expect me to oblige as he wishes.

I will get him for this.

Hey guys, thanks for reading.
Drop a vote and comment if you liked this chapter.
Drop your thoughts on Maya and Shawn's interaction.
Who do you think won in giving the most annoying nickname?

Sneak peek: It's time for the homecoming dance. Get ready for the start of something new.

Stay tuned♡.