The next day at school, I entered English Lit to notice that Michael's seat was empty. Since I was late to class as usual, his empty seat meant that he wasn't coming today. I was surprised to feel disappointed by that. But immediately I reassured myself that it wasn't because I would miss him. It was because our plan to embarrass Daisy had been postponed by one day.

I silently made my way towards my usual seat at the back of the class and looking up, I froze as i noticed the person sitting on my other side. Michael. Looking at me innocently.

"What are you here?" I whispered to him as I reached my seat.

"Well I decided to see, how it would look from the back of the class." Seeing my look of disbelieve, he laughed silently and said, "One of Daisy's minions is in this class. Grace thought it would be better for our plan if she saw me sitting here with you. Leaving my usual place to sit with you apparently will be considered as a big deal."

I looked at Grace and she was looking at me all smug. She whispered, "You are welcome" and looked back at Professor Dave. I rolled my eyes at her and looked at Professor Dave too.

Michael leaned towards me and whispered, "I noticed you, you know?"

"Excuse me?" i said, frowning confusedly at him.

"When you entered the class and didn't see me in my usual spot. You went all disappointed." Michael smiled cockily. "You would have missed me, wouldn't you?"

"Oh get over yourself. I was just worried our plan had been postponed. I don't care if you came or not." I sputtered.

Michael immediately stopped smiling. He leaned back and started listening to the lecture. "Okay then" came the sulky answer.

I felt kind of guilty after that. I should have admitted that I would have missed him. He was my friend after all. It made complete sense if I missed him.

Michael ignored me for the entire class and immediately left for his second class, AP Mathematics, after the class ended. I was sad but in a way it was going according to the plan. Miny, Daisy's minion from our English Lit class, noticed Michael storming out and sneered when she looked back at me. She skipped out of the class happily, obviously to inform Daisy about the whole debacle.

Grace looked at me resignedly and asked' "What did you do now?"

"Something bad. But trust me, I will fix it this time." I promised her.

Michael eluded me the whole morning. I caught him on the fourth period. But the sight that met me made me absolutely furious.

Michael was standing in front of the AP Biology class. But what made my blood boil was Daisy. She was clinging to him and laughing huskily. Michael was smiling at her too. All I could think then was that he had never smiled at me that way. It took a few moments for me to remember that this was the plan. Michael was supposed to flirt with Daisy.

Then I hesitated. Was Michael really acting? Or was he falling under her trap just like Brandon did. Maybe he really liked her. He was also angry at me so that could have been an incentive too.

Daisy suddenly looked up and noticed me. She pretended to gasp and moved away from Michael. Michael saw me too. He looked embarrassed. That made me more furious. Why should he look ashamed? He was going according to the plan. He shouldn't look ashamed. Unless he had actually liked talking to her and was actually feeling guilty.

"I am so sorry Rebel. I was just talking to Michael about his new look. I wanted the address of the place he got his haircut. It looks so sexy. Maybe Brandon can try it out. His hair looks so weird sometimes. Michael's hair just makes me want to run my fingers through it. You must do it all the time right?" Daisy said, bright. That pretentious ho.

"Actually I do. Who do you think suggested the hair cut? One look at it and I couldn't get enough of him. Right, sweetheart?" I said, sliding my arms around Michael's. He was looking at me strangely. This was not the plan. I was supposed to be all breezy about the whole matter and then pretend to be angry with Michael.

"Yes, she runs her finger through my hair all the time." Michael replied with a cocky smile.

Daisy looked at him sultrily. "Well who knows, maybe I will get to do it too someday." Looking at me, she said innocently, "If Brandon gets that haircut of course."

Saying that she left while I stood there fuming.

"Nice acting. Even I was fooled that you were jealous." Michael said, wrenching his arm free from my grasp. Leaving me standing there, he went inside the classroom.

I looked to my right and noticed Daisy still standing there with her friends and they were all laughing quietly as they looked at me. I narrowed my eyes at them and entered my classroom. Michael was sitting in our place. I approached him and sat beside him quietly. He remained grim and studiously ignored me.

"I am sorry." I whispered. No response.

"I am really sorry." I said a little loudly. Still no response.

"Fine. I looked disappointed when I saw your seat empty was because I would have missed you. A lot. Happy now?" I grumbled.

Michael looked at me with a smug smile. "You are so easy to manipulate."

"Excuse me?" I said, outraged.

"I knew why you were disappointed. No one looks like that just because a plan was postponed. You missed me. I just wanted you to say it." He grinned .

"So it was all an act?The whole grim-because-I-am-hurt thing was an act? You jerk" I said, furiously. Now I was pissed. I had been worrying the whole morning, trying to find ways to apologize here and the moron was playing with me the whole time.

"Oo come on, don't be pissed. There was an ulterior motive to this too. Our fight was more realistic. You were angry, jealous,hurt for real. It would make Daisy believe in us more."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Lets make one thing clear buddy. I might have been angry, I might have been hurt but I definitely WAS NOT jealous. I don't care if you cling to that ho-bag Daisy. You can get married to her for all i care." I huffed.

"Really? So what was that whole 'i slide my finger through his hair all the time' part.? He asked.

"That was just acting. I was playing a part." I argued.

"What part? Definitely not ours since that wasn't in the plan. You were supposed to be angry with me not possessive."

"I was improvising." Came my piqued reply.

"Improvising after you got jealous you mean." He said, wagging his eyes.

How did I never realise how irritating he was.

The rest of the class continued quietly. We were dissecting a flower so Michael must have decided to not piss me off anymore since I had a scalpel in my hand and he knew how handy I was with it.

This time I was the one who stormed out. Only difference was Michael chased after me. We must have been giving enough fodder to any of Daisy's minion to appease her that nothing was right in our paradise.

I kept my books in my locker, slammed it shut and walked angrily to the cafeteria. I noticed James and Grace already sitting there. How did they always arrive first? Did they bunk classes to sit her before recess?

I bought a piece of pizza, completely ignoring the spaghetti. I was in no mood to be reminded of the day when I met the hateful boy that was Michael. I looked at my side to see the bane of my existence and the subject of my thoughts run to my side huffing and puffing. He must have rushed to keep his books in the locker to join

and James,who I could tell had been observing us for a while, looked at us quizzically and said, "Trouble in Paradise, Real or Fake.

"Real."

"Fake."

Michael and I both looked at each at our different responses.

"Trust me buddy, its real like a heart attack." I said, with a grim look.

Michael looked scared for once.

Daisy passed us and winked coyly at Michael. I didn't even glare at her. The bitch was welcome to him for all I cared. Michael tried to talk to me during recess but I just ignored him. After recess was over, I walked to my locker and opened it, to take out my book for the next class. There was a piece of paper stuck to the locker. I took it down and opened it. It was a drawing of me looking at a TV screen and laughing. The loose strands from my hair could be seen flowing around my face. My eyes were twinkling and i had a popcorn in my hand, halfway to my mouth. But the most incredible part was the boy's outline that was drawn. It was drawn in such a way that it looked as if the picture was from his vantage point. And he was staring at the girl.

It was signed 'I am sorry' with a sad emoji. I smiled with misty eyes as I saw it. Nobody had ever drawn me before. And never so beautiful. I looked up to see Michael standing there. The moment he saw me he looked all sad, imitating the sad emoji. I smiled and stuck my tongue at him. He laughed quietly and headed towards his class. And I headed to mine, my heart a lot lighter.

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So things might be hitting up between these two idiots. What do you think is going to happen next?

Comment and let me know....