Picture Of Michael by the side played by Dylan O Brien

Chapter 3

The moment I sat down, Grace practically leaped on me to tell her the color that Brandon and I had decided on.

"Black" I said while digging into my cheeseburger with relish.

I could literally feel Grace drooping beside me with disappointment . I knew she was hoping for a more vibrant colour like pink or royal blue. Yawn.

"Black? Why black? Black is like the most common colour. You are going to prom, Rebel, not a funeral or the Oscars. Choose something bright and unique.

"Well it  matches  his heart which is just as black, if not blacker." I said with a shrug.

"Really Rebel, are you back to that? I know you don't like Brandon but he is the only one who agreed to take you to the prom without trembling or afraid of you punching him. Now suck it up and go and decide on an appropriate colour."

Before I could tell her about the making out session between Brandon and Daisy, there was a loud noise from somewhere behind us. We looked around and saw Brandon standing there with a smirk on his face while Michael was covered in spaghetti. Michael's face was red with anger but he calmly started picking the spaghetti out of his hair.

Brandon's smirk vanished when he saw me glaring at him. His hands went unconsciously to his cheek, which had already started taking an unattractive black color. Daisy, who was standing beside him followed his gaze and saw me. She must have forgotten my warning a few minutes ago because she wrapped her hands possessively around Brandon's waist and looked at me with a sad look.

"Oh Rebel honey, are you looking angry because I stole your prom date right from under your nose and there was nothing that your sneaky tricks could do to stop me?" she said with a pout.

Since she was standing quite a few distance away from us, her words echoed throughout the cafeteria. Which was exactly her intention.

Beside me, I heard Grace give a gasp of outrage. Well, it seemed Daisy had saved me from explaining why Brandon wouldn't be taking me to the prom. Two points to her. Along with a bucketful of slime.

I looked at Daisy's hair with pity.

"Such beautiful hair." I said, with a sad look.

Daisy clutched her blond hair and tried to appear brave and mocking.

"Well, don't worry Rebel, even with purple hair or no hair at all, Brandon would take me to the prom instead of you, wouldn't you baby?" she purred at Brandon.

Brandon at least had the sense to remain quiet. His throbbing cheek would be a reminder for him to keep his mouth shut. And if not, what was his other cheek for?

"You know you are just giving me ideas don't you Daisy?" I said with a smile.

She must have realized that I was right and dragged Brandon away and towards their own table.

I calmly started eating my burger only for it to be snatched from my hands. I looked up with a scowl and saw Grace looking at me with an incredulous look.

"You are eating?? Brandon just dumped you for that she-devil and you are eating??"

I made a grab for my cheeseburger but Grace held it out of my reach.

"Give it back. For your information, betrayal makes me hungry okay? Now give me back my lunch." I said, reaching for my burger again.

I made another grab for it when Daisy's artificial laugh rang out from her table.

I looked at Grace. Her eyes were snapping fire and her hands were clenched. She looked at me and said quietly

"Get Out."

I knew what that meant and immediately stood up. I saw that Michael was still fishing spaghetti out of his shirt. I sighed. Something told me he wasn't going to like what was about to happen next. The poor guy already had enough mischief for a day. I walked towards him and calmly grabbed his hands and led him towards the cafeteria food. He started yelling in protest.

"Hey, let me go lady. What do you think you are doing?"

I calmly purchased spaghetti and a cheeseburger and pulled Michael towards the door leading outside the cafeteria with his protests ringing close to my ears. Michael and I had barely crossed the cafeteria door that led outside when there was a shout from behind us.

"FOOD FIGHT!!!!"

And a chunk of mashed potato went flying close to Michael's hair.

By the time Micheal's shock had worn off, we were already outside and I calmly sat under a tree that faced the cafeteria. I couldn't miss the show, could I? The cafeteria was made of glass so we could see what was going on inside. And it was not pretty.  Daisy's blue top, for example,  wasn't blue anymore and her hair had chunks of meatballs on it. Served her right.

I had expected that Michael would go and sit somewhere else but I was surprised when he sat beside me.

"I am surprised." he said, curling his spaghetti around his fork.

I looked at him questioningly.

"From what I have heard about you, I expected you to be in the thick of that, not outside of it." he explained pointing his spagetti wrapped fork at the cafeteria.

"And you would be right. But according to the school records, of the thirty fights started in the last three months, twenty seven of them were started by me,so I have been warned that if I am seen even near  a food fight, I would be in trouble." I said with a sigh.

"Oh" he said, nodding his head.  He went back to eating. I looked at him for a moment.

"You are welcome, by the way." 

"Huh?" he said, confusedly, his mouth full of spaghetti.

"I saved your ass twice today and you haven't yet said thank you. So I am doing my part and saying you are welcome."

"Oh, that. Sorry. Thanks. And sorry again." he said, while his cheeks turned light red. His face did that quite a lot.

We went back to eating with the live telecast of American Food Fights playing in front of us. I could see Brandon bravely trying to shield Daisy from any food headed their way but he couldn't see James, who was throwing coleslaw at Daisy from behind. That sneaky little devil.

"Why'd you hate me?" I asked, suddenly remembering his glare this morning.

"What? That is insane. I don't hate you. Why would I hate you?" he sputtered. 

Seeing my antics since morning, the guy probably didn't want to admit that he hated me in fear of finding a dead rabbit in front of his house. Oooo, that's a cool idea.

"Oh please, I saw you. This morning when Mr. Jones asked me that question? When I answered it correctly, you were glaring at me. What was that all about?" I said, rolling my eyes.

"Oh, that." he said, resignedly. He looked at his plate and sighed.

 "Look, I don't hate you. It is just...... Well you might not know this but I was the star student of  class in my previous school. So I am used to being  pretty competitive. When I came to this school, I started inquiring about the top student here to assess my competition. I found out it was you and also by a large margin. So obviously I expected a quiet, shy girl intent on consuming every knowledge she can get her hand on. But when you entered the class with your I-don't-care look and also late, I knew that a girl in normal circumstances wouldn't get such good marks by being you. So I came to a conclusion."

He looked at me and asked "Photographic memory?"

I smiled winningly.

"Thought so. That's why I glared. Here I was, studying my ass off whole year round and you were spending your days in your bad ass ways, playing tricks on others and still getting better grades then me . But I apologize for glaring nonetheless."

He smiled for the first time that day and his whole face changed into a handsome one. It might have been my imagination but my heart swiftly skipped a beat when he smiled. Whoa, what was that about? Must have been the cheeseburger or that brown eyes twinkling at me. Nope, definitely the cheeseburger.

As we were smiling awkwardly at each other, the bell rang, signaling the end of the break. Both of us stood up.

"Hey, what do you have next?" I asked, suddenly.

"Let me see. History." he said, checking his time table.

"Cool, me too. Let's go together." I said with a smile.

"Okay?." he said nervously. 

"Don't worry. I come unarmed." I said, bowing my head. He just shook his head with a smile.

Suddenly he yelled. " Wait!"

I looked back at him and saw him fishing money out of his pocket. At my look of inquiry, he said,

"You bought my lunch for both of us. Here's my share," he said, holding out the money.

"Don't worry, it's on me. As a sorry for having a photographic memory." I said, teasingly.

I turned back and started walking and I heard him chuckle quietly behind me.

I smiled.

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So, do you think Michael was cute. I thought so.........

Comment below :)