The next day, I reverted to my proper school uniforms. I felt better in them. If my body had caused so much commotion, it definitely wasn't beautiful. Yeah, I knew what Tavy said. I understood how she classified my looks but that wasn't my idea of beauty. All I needed was to be a tad bit taller or slimmer, and I would be happier.

I also decided not to stalk Tony anymore. I wanted him out of my love life and vicinity. I stopped watching his basketball practice. After all, there was no cheerleading squad in Madeline, and I wouldn't dream of starting one.

Luckily for me, he wasn't acting interested. He only stared at my body when I passed by. Then his head would snap up and his lips would spread into a half smirk when I glanced at him.

Since Tony was no longer available, I started my search for another lover. I picked a paper and wrote down different options.
  

OPTION A - GUYS THAT LIKE ME

Sam - A quiet, drooling geek that's always staring at me.

Peter - A class jester.

Joe - Does he like me or not? I'm not sure.

They were all ineligible boyfriend material.
  

OPTION B - GUYS I LIKE

Brian - Part of the in-crowd, arrogant, proud and never looks at me.

Audrey - Smiles at me only when his friends tell him to ask me out as some sort of joke.

Ben - Has a girlfriend.

Ramon - Has a girlfriend.

Tony - No longer available.

I couldn't date any of these too.
  

OPTION C -

Make new friends with Tavy's help.
  

I asked Tavy to help me but she shrugged me off and always gave excuses. She replied in several ways. Amongst them were: 'Wait', 'Riley, be patient', 'You'll soon see someone' and 'Hold on'. At times, when these didn't work, she started telling me a story.

So, I dug into my book. We had lots of things to read. Teachers gave us assignment upon assignment and hectic projects to handle.

On top of that, I had the competitions and the exams I needed to read for. The competitions started in the new term in January while the exams began almost immediately. The principal said I would write six exams, two per term. The class would write three exams, one for each term.

That wasn't a problem for me. Academics was easy. I loved the subjects. I understood most of them and I didn't think my workload was too much. I was sure I would breeze through the exams.

But Tavy kept on complaining. While I could pass all my subjects with exceptional grades and had a particular love for Maths, Tavy hated every subject with a passion except English.

Meanwhile, the principal started a project called 'Make Madeline Green and Beautiful'. He imported trees and flowers from different horticulture centres and planted them. He bought Christmas decorations and trees in September and put them in different halls and hostels. The environment was now a plethora of green and red with a little bit of yellow in the mixture from the sunflower.

"Why is Principal Gerald importing flowers into Madeline?" I asked Tavy while reading in our room, one day.

She arranged her body scrub, exfoliation gloves, peel-off mask, exfoliation cream and other skin-care products on the bed. She shrugged and smiled from ear to ear. Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "It's a secret."

I grunted. "You could tell me without acting high and mighty."

"The principal's office is not far away. You can ask him if you want to."

I looked around in confusion. "But you can tell me."

"Under one condition."

"Okay."

"That you tell me everything the principal told you in his office."

I shuffled my feet and looked at the empty beds in front of us. Kat had refused to park in. "I have told you everything."

"Then why have you suddenly lost interest in Tony?"

I wondered what was making Tavy connect the dots of what happened that day.

"I already told you," I said. "Trying to make Tony love me was what made us go to the principal's office in the first place. I don't want a repetition."

She sat down and drummed her fingers on her thighs. "When you lie to me, you can't look into my eyes. You're telling lies."

My voice rose. "Are you calling me a liar?"

"Something does not add up and I want to find out what it is. Did you ask him about Mr James?"

I breathed in sharply and turned. "Why will I do that?"

She put her hair in a shower cap and peered at me. "I'll ask him myself."

I held her shoulders, shaking my head. "Tavy, don't do that. It's dangerous."

She looked at my shaking hands and wide eyes. She smiled. "You found out something in Principal Gerald's office. Does Tony have anything to do with?"

I knew what she was doing. She was reading my body language. "Why are you trying to put words in my mouth?"

"I have my answer," she said quietly.

My hands balled into a fist. I felt like breaking her tiny waist into two. "Why do you always do this? You act like I'm a criminal in a court of law and proceed to pry answers out of my emotions."

She picked up her skin-care products one after the other. "What do you expect me to do when you're hiding stuff from me?"

"If you were so eager to find out what happened in the principal's office, why didn't you tell the hacker to show you a video feed?"

She rolled her eyes. "He didn't give me."

"I hate it when you cross-examine me. Please stop."

There was hurt in her eyes. "You keep important stuff away from me. Everything in your life is a secret, yet you don't want me to ask questions."

She looked away. Her voice became a whisper. "When will you fully trust me?"

I was speechless.

She stood up and walked towards the bathroom.

"I..."

She stopped.

"I..."

The principal's droning voice resounded from the hostel speakers. "All students are to report to the school hall by 6pm for a briefing on Make Madeline Green and Beautiful. Our school is moving unto higher standards. Our environment should be at the peak of its beauty during this process. This General Assembly is compulsory. Any student who misses it will be severely punished."

She turned. "During the general assembly, you can ask the principal why he wants to make Madeline green. He won't keep it a secret."

She turned back to her previous destination.

"Are you not going?"

"No."

"But you'll be..."

"Severely punished," we both said.

"That's what I want," she said. "It's a chance into the principal's office and his secret room."

I looked down to hide any fear she might see in my eyes. "Tavy, listen to me."

The sound of the bathroom door opening got to my ears.

I rushed on. "I am sorry. I'm keeping all these secrets to protect you."

I looked up. The bathroom door was already closed. I didn't hear it closing. Had she been listening to me?

I peeped under the door. Her feet was beside it.

"It hurts when your best friend doesn't trust you," she said.
 
 

*******
 
  

Tavy never got punished.

She soon became her chirpy self again. She asked Mr-James-related questions; I artfully dodged them.

On a particular Saturday, I made her sit down with her books during our afternoon study prep time. She had begged me to write her Chemistry homework. So, I was trying to ensure she completed it herself.

She hummed and nodded to an imaginary beat instead of writing.

The sound of sirens disrupted us.

I rushed out of the class with my classmates.

Tavy walked majestically out and put her hands on my shoulders.

"Finally, it's happening. He has arrived," she said.

Other students were coming out of their classrooms. We clustered around the windows of the long passageway.

Three sleek black cars in a convoy drove into the learning area. The principal's blue car was in front. They halted in front of the school hall. The ambulance-like, red sirens on top of the cars' roofs stopped beeping. The principal jumped out and hurried to the passenger door of the car in the middle. A tall, pale boy came out.

The principal motioned to a guard who brought out some luggage from the boot and rolled it to the hostel.

The boy walked towards the classroom block, his shoulders squared. He looked around with an air of importance, like he was used to all the attention. His smile was plastered on his face like he was willing to wave to any of his fans who were willing to wave first.

When he got to the stairs and I saw his electric-pole figure and spaghetti arms, I realised who he was.

He was the Charles Philips Wilson, son of Senator Philips Wilson.

He was always on television, involved in a philanthropic activity or community building project. He had helped build orphanages around Bramergy. He had started the 'Save the street children' and 'Green the environment' campaign. Politically-inclined teenagers and young adults hung on his every word. Rumours had it that his words could greatly affect the votes a candidate got. In fact, he was a political celebrity.

By this time, students were whispering among themselves and parting for him as he walked amongst them. Tavy's eyes were directed at him. Her body slightly leaned forward as if she wanted to reach out to him. She was smiling and he was smiling back.

His smile looked practiced, the type that seemed genuine at first glance. However, at closer inspection, the eyes were too calculated and cold as if he had seen too much of life to let a smile permeate his whole being.

His clothes were tailored, long-sleeved shirt and black jeans. He took silent steps towards us with his high-class, limited-edition designer shoes. He stopped in front of us and put his hands in his pocket. The scent of expensive French cologne wafted to my nose.

"Hey," he said to Tavy.

"Hi. Riley meet Charles," Tavy said.

He looked into my eyes and smiled slightly.

"I finally meet the Riley I've heard so much about," his silky voice said as he shook my hand. His hands lingered on mine.

A feeling expanded in my chest. I smiled looking at anything but him.

The students were dispersing to their previous locations. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Tavy nodding approvingly.

His thrillingly soft palms pressed mine firmly. He lifted my arms up and pecked the back of my hands. His dark brown eyes bore into mine. "I'll be privileged if you help me settle into school."

A cough forced itself out of my mouth. "You....you're talking to me?"

I pointed to my side. "She should do it."

He smiled and cocked his head to the side. "Who?"

I turned. Tavy was no longer beside me. She was talking to one of her numerous friends.

At the far end of the school passage, I could see Kat and Tony. Tony was glaring at Charles. Kat was smiling. Her eyes shone victoriously.

"Okay," I said.

At this point, a guard wheeled some books into the classroom.

Charles walked into the classroom with him and brought out a few notes from his pocket. He gave it to the guard. "Thanks."

The guard smiled and put the money in his pocket. "Anything you want, I'm here."

Then he walked out.

I helped Charles sort out his books and brought out my notebooks for him.

"Can I sit beside you?" he said when his desk was brought in.

"Sure."

He put his desk beside mine.

The days passed by and I became Charles' unofficial private tutor. We sat in the classroom for hours as I taught him all he had missed. He excelled in Arts, Languages and Social Sciences. I helped him brush up his Maths and Science; he helped me not to suck at Languages.

Each time we studied together, he smiled and said, "Thank you very much."

My heart fluttered a bit at his words. I always smiled back.

One day, he said, "You know, we don't know each other very much."

I stopped reading mid-sentence. "What don't we know?"

His eyes squinted in an alluring way. "Do you know my likes and dislikes? I know you like reading."

"And watching sport. What sports do you play?"

He looked around. "Nothing you have here."

My eyebrow raised. He had not answered the question.

"I play golf."

Golf? Which teenager would enjoy golf?

"How old are you?" I said, nose flaring up.

He moved his head up and down in an I-don't-care attitude. "Old enough to play golf."

"Alright," I said, "but that's not what's important."

His voice was smooth and honeyed as he said to me, "Why don't you show me around the school compound? I want to see the nooks and crannies, the different halls, the places students like to hang out. We could learn more about each other and become very good friends."

"We could become good friends," I said.

In that moment, Option C came alive to me.

*******

Alright my lovely readers,
A new person has been introduced - all thanks to a silent reader who reached out to me.

So, what do you think about Charles?

Will he be good?

Will he be evil?

If you want to chose what he'll become, let me know in the comments here.

Keep voting and commenting; every action you make counts. Even if you're a silent reader, your input is important.

The book cover you see up there was made by May_Flower123
If you're a writer and you like her cover, send her a private message to make one for you.

Talk to you later. 😊😊