Sorry for the radio silence folks I promise I am back for good now. 

Chapter 7.

The next day, I went to school with great expectations. I hadn't told Grace about 'the plan' yet since I had a feeling she would take the whole thing as a conspiracy made by Michael and me to ditch the Spring Dance as partners. I hoped that when I explained it to her face to face, she would understand.

We were sitting in English Lit class when there was an announcement from the intercom. Anna Channings, the head of the newspaper article of the school came from the speakers.

"A special and exciting announcement to all the students of St.Xavier's!!!!The name of the contestants for the Spring King and Queen are in. The Spring King contestants are Jacob Harrington, Siddharth Chopra and Brandon Davis. The Spring Queen contestants are Grace Watson, Daisy Pennsworth and Clara Konstankis. The votes are starting from tomorrow people. So select your Spring King and Queen and put that crown in their heads. Woo!!!!!!!"

I looked at Grace who was looking excited. Last year, Grace had been elected Spring Queen while Siddharth Chopra had been selected as Spring King. Daisy had spewed for a month that I had tampered with the votes to make Grace win. As if Grace needed my help to win. She was the most loved person in the whole school. Daisy, on the other hand, was the witch that parents scared their kids with to eat green vegetables or she will turn them into rats.

"You know what this means right?" Grace turned to me excitedly.

"No, wha------Oh no, Grace, please not like last year. People love you here, we don't need to make cupcakes and posters and stuff. You made me stay back at your house until five last year to put glitter on the posters. My ass was glittery for days. Nope, not gonna happen."

"We will see," Grace said smugly.

I looked at her and gave a huge sigh of resignation. She and I both knew that I was fighting a losing battle. All Daisy had to do was call me on her cell all weepy that there was too much to do and she was definitely going to lose and I would be at her house like the Road-Runner. The bitch had me wrapped around her perfectly manicured finger.

"Do you think Professor Dave will be the chaperone this year too?" I heard Xiang, a girl sitting beside me whisper to her friend Sara.

I smirked as I remembered last year. Mr. Dave, for all his heartfelt passion for anything Shakespearian, was a complete spoilsport when it came to the kids. Last year, Mr. Dave had instigated a five centimeter distance between couples on the dance floor. He had even paid some of the staffs to patrol 'romantic spots' like the bathroom and the different classrooms to catch the horny teenagers.

"If he is, then I am leaving the moment I come in. Nothing is worth watching him glaring at the students through those glasses of his. Do you know he called the parents of all the students who he thought would get sneaky with their dates, to ask if they had reached home after they left here?" Sara said.

"Really? He didn't call mine. Did he call yours?" Xiang whispered curiously.

Sara's silence was answer enough. Now that I think about it, Sara had been behaving strangely after the Spring Dance last year. Something told me that she had been AWOL when Mr. Davis had called her parents.

Mr. Dave looked at the classroom and announced' "I hope the students will maintain better decorum then last year. I will make sure of it since I have been asked to be the chaperone again this year."

The whole class gave a collective groan of despair on those words. Mr. Dave just wore a smug look.

Grace looked at me and giggled. She had never had a worry on that count since she was never frisky with her date. Grace had a surreal air around her that made her dates fall for her but never try anything untoward. James had been her date last year. Before that, we had never talked to him but now we were basically the three stooges. James always said that Grace was as much an angel as I was the devil. That sweet talker.

After English class, while we were walking out, Michael joined us. I looked weirdly at him since he had never done that before.

"What? We are supposed to be all lovey-dovey, remember? To rattle the rattlesnake?" Michael said.

"Oooo nice wordplay. And appropriate too." Grace said as she high-fived Michael.

We ran into Daisy on her way.

"Hey look at that. It's the ex-Spring Queen and her Satan worshipping minion." Daisy sneered. She was accompanied by her three ardent followers.

"Hey look who it is. Eenie, Meenie, Miny and Ho." I said excitedly.

Daisy decided to ignore me. Wise. You can't contradict someone when they are right.

"Hey, Michael. I don't understand why you hang with them. You should hang with us. We are much more fun." Daisy said pouting.

"I'll bet." Came the wary reply. I kicked him discreetly.

"Daisy why would you want to hang with the nerd? I mean come on, look at him. His shirt is all wrinkled and glasses all askew. And don't even get me started on that hair. Don't you ever comb it?" Eenie sneered.

"Well, he must have slept on them. With a giant book on his face." Miny snickered.

The Hate Queens weren't exactly quiet so we were drawing quite a lot of attention. Michael went red as his hands went unconsciously to his hair.

I was strangely furious as I noticed Michael looking embarrassed. I looked at Meenie and snapped' " Oh yeah? At least the book will do him some good. You look mussed too. What was on your face? Or might I ask who?"

The kids standing nearby laughed. Meenie blushed angrily. Good for her. That good-for-nothing ho.

Daisy's eyes widened as she realized that flirting with Michael wasn't making her any popular to her group.

She improvised quickly and said, "Well, I am not attracted to him. I just felt sorry for him. His life is so sad. I felt staying with them will make it sadder. I am doing more of a charity if you ask me. But you are right. He is a lost cause."

I narrowed my eyes at her as I imagined tearing her from limb to limb and feeding it to her beloved Chihuahua.

"Oh and Grace, keep that crown all shiny for me. I want to look pretty when I wear it during the Spring Dance."

Saying that Daisy sauntered off with her Hate Squad leaving us standing in the middle of the corridor.

I was fuming as I watched her go.

"We need to talk about Daisy. I think a change of plans is in order." Grace said with a thoughtful look. I glanced at her. Grace having that look on her face always meant she had a plan. And it was usually good.

"We will talk in the cafeteria. Meet me there, both of you." Saying that Grace walked off to her class.

Michael and I walked together to Chemistry class. We took our usual places. Suddenly Michael spoke up,

"Thanks."

I looked at him all confused.

"For what?"

"For standing up for me out there. Nobody has ever done that for me before. To be honest, it seems like you have been watching out for me ever since I came to this school. So, thanks for that." Michael said, while studiously arranging the cylinders and avoiding to look at me.

I stared at him as I felt the first hint of a blush covering my face. Wait, blush?

I had never blushed before. At least not when a guy said thanks. Many of the guys in school had thanked me in the past when I came to their rescue if I noticed anyone bullying them. But it never made me blush. Made me feel good about myself? Sure. Felt like Superwoman? Duh. But blush? Never in a million years. What the hell? I shouldn't feel shy if a guy said thank you. It wasn't good for my reputation.

"Um thanks," I mumbled. I looked at my hands which suddenly seemed useless. I didn't know what to do with them. Dammit, I should have grabbed those cylinders before he had.

"Anyways, umm, when are you coming to my house?" Michael said, keeping one of the cylinders on the table.

"What?Umm-Why?" I said. Maybe a little bit louder. The students standing nearby looked at me, curiously. I raised my brows at them.

"To help me get into the Einstein Club, remember?" Michael said slowly like you talk when you speak to a dumb person. Or Daisy.

I suddenly remembered about the other part of the deal. Of course, that's why he wanted me to come over. Not for anything else. Stupid me. Stupid idiotic dumb me.

"Of course, I knew what you were talking about. I....was making....sure...you remember too." I replied lamely. My subconscious that eerily looked like Grace grabbed a Talking to Humans for Dummies book and hit me on the head with it.

"O...Kay?" Michael replied with a frown.

I tried to recover quickly, "Anyways, let's meet tomorrow. It's the weekend. We can discuss the Club then."

"Done," Michael said, excitedly.

Our conversation came to a halt as Mr Chang entered the classroom.

Entering the cafeteria, we noticed Grace and James already sitting there. They were talking excitedly to each other. It was either about Michael trying to attract Daisy or defeating Daisy in the Spring competition.

Huh. Come to think of it, our lives revolved strangely around Daisy. Scary thought, that.

My eyes zoned in on the subject of my thoughts. She was sitting at her popular table of course. Daisy, unlike yesterday, was completely ignoring us. She must have felt my eyes on her since she looked up and her eyes met mine. She sneered at me and when her eyes fell on Michael, the sultry look she had worn yesterday was gone. Instead, she wore a pitying look. She whispered something to her friends and they looked at Michael and started laughing quietly. It seemed Daisy was trying to do some damage control after she realized that flirting with Michael had been a blunder. She was stuck to Brandon's side too.

It seemed my plan was falling apart even before it had begun.

Michael and I headed over to the food section and bought spaghetti and meatball each. I noticed Michael smiling as the lunch lady plopped the spaghetti on his plate. I smiled secretly too as I remembered the last time we had spaghetti. With the plates on our hand, we headed over to Grace.

"I think all we need is a makeover."

That is the first thing Grace said as she noticed us.

"Of course you do. If you want to win the Spring Dance, you need to look more gorgeous then you already are." I said shrugging, as I sat down.

"Thank you but I was not talking about myself. I meant Michael should have a makeover." Grace replied indulgently.

Michael who hadn't yet grabbed a seat beside us took his plate and started hurrying towards another table. Grace caught his shirt tail and pulled him to sit beside her.

"You are not going anywhere. I am serious. Daisy had been ready to put her claws on you until her minions pointed out your looks. We need to change that. We need to change you in a way that flirting with you doesn't prove to be a threat to her social status."

"Please be a nightmare. Please be a nightmare." Michael said as he closed his eyes and started praying. I grinned at him.

I leaned towards him and whispered, "Once you are in Grace's clutches, you are stuck for life. She is like a spider. Enjoy the ride."

I wasn't sure but I think Michael whimpered.

"So this afternoon after school, we go to Lola's. Its a great parlor for men. Its close to the mall so we can buy you some clothes too and some contacts."

"NO!" I yelled. James, Grace, and Michael turned to stare at me.

"You don't want him to buy new clothes? I am just helping you with the plan you made." Grace said confusedly.

"The clothes and haircut are fine. Ahh, just forget about contacts. His glasses seem better." I stammered.

Michael smirked at me. "Dig my glasses do you?"

I sputtered, " No, I don't. Wha---. No. I—umm---the glasses.....stay.....because" I racked my brains hunting for reasons, "THE CLUB!!!!! Yes, the club. I feel his glasses will help him get into the Einstein Club. He looks nerdier in them."

"The way your glasses helped you get into the club? Oh wait, you don't have any." Grace said sarcastically.

"Who is the member of the Club? I am. Who is prepping him to get into the club? I am. So I say the glasses will help him get in. The glasses stay on." I said stubbornly.

"Ok fine. Tell you what. Lets compromise. When he comes to school and in contact with Daisy, he wears contacts. When he is at home and in the Club, he wears glasses. Deal?" James, the self-assigned mediator said.

"Fine." Grace and I said in unison.

"I have a question?" Michael piped.

We all looked at him.

"Since when you do two take decisions for me? Last I checked, I decided what to wear and dress right?"

Grace looked at him indulgently and said, "You are so cute." Facing us she said, "So anyway, the mall. What time shall we meet?"

Michael groaned. "Do I have to do it? Hey, can't James do it? He doesn't have a date right?" Michael perked up and looked hopefully at James.

"I wouldn't want to anyway. But also, I can't." James winked.

Michael looked confused.

"He would much rather take you to the Spring Dance if you know what I mean." I said, wagging me brows at him.

Michael's eyes widened as he caught my meaning.

"Oh, Oh i am sorry. I didn't know. Okay then, guess it is me." Michael visibly drooped beside me.

"But, I forgot to mention the catch," Grace said wickedly.

"I need to grow bangs too?" Michael said with a deadpan look.

Grace narrowed her eyes at him, "You think you are so funny."

"I try," Michael replied. James and I snorted. It wasn't often that anyone could reply intelligently to all of Grace's sarcasm.

"Anyways," Grace emphasized looking at us, "The catch is, since I am helping you guys with your plan, you awesome people are going to help me with my campaigning. For the Spring Dance."

"And the nightmare continues," I said looking at Michael. Turning back to Grace who had heard my words was wearing a not-so-amused look, I said, "You know I am in. You don't have to blackmail me into it."

"Me too. I already started preparing the poster in my head when the announcement came in this morning." James chimed.

Next, the spotlight fell on Michael and he looked at us innocently.

"I don't need to do it, right? I am not part of your group." He said hopefully.

"Honey, you were part of our group the first day you sat beside Rebel in the cafeteria." Grace laughed.

Michael groaned again as I looked at him and said, "Welcome to the group champ."

"But at what cost?" came the defeated reply.

And that's how Michael became one of us.

**********

Please please please comment on what you think and don't forget to vote.

Also, who do you think will make a good James? Comment below.