I know it's been long since I updated any of my story. So here is one. Nothing much happens in this chapter but I am sure you would like it. I hope so badly. Leave your love and comments. Take care and May God bless you all. ♥

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Chapter 11 - It Started With A Coffee

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‘Cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in

So shame on me now, flew me to places I’d never been

Till you put me down…

I don’t know why I was singing this song in my head, but ever since I left Trystan watch my back in awe, this song kind of pinned in my head. If you see it technically, it was me who had walked in here, but I was surely not a trouble, now was I? Although, if you leave out the ‘walked in’ part, Trystan was surely a trouble for me, so yeah, shame on me.

“Kiera, what was all that about?” Jennet asked me while she jumped her way beside me. “For a second there, I thought you gonna kiss him.”

“Sad you actually considered that.” I shrugged. I couldn’t blame her for considering that. After all we just met, so it was possibly nothing that she knew about me. I could blame no one if they thought I would kiss Trystan.

Well, now they knew and in a way that they would never forget.

Just as we took a turn at corner in the corridor, I remembered I had to collect my swipe card.

“Listen, Jennet.” I turned and held her shoulder. “I gotta collect my swipe card. Um… so why don’t you go ahead and I will join you there. Huh?”

“Okay.” She nodded once and went ahead. I took the other way towards the office of counselor, Ms. Catherine.

“Kiera?”

I wheeled around with a ‘Huh’.

“You sure, you will be fine alone? I mean-”

“Don’t worry, Jennet. I can handle it.” I knew why she looked so unsure of letting me wander in the corridor alone. At this stage there could be only one threat, Trystan. Not that I was scared, remember that.

I flashed an assuring smile and started my way towards Ms. Catherine’s cabin.

I collected my swipe card and registered all the information Ms. Catherine gave me about the swipe card in her polite yet robotic voice. She spent six minutes just to tell me how and where I could use it. In short this card held all the details of the student. Dude, she could have wrapped it up in short! And do you know the funny part? She asked me to handover the locker key to her after transferring my stuffs from ‘temporary locker’ to ‘permanent locker’. Yes, you heard it right. She told me that the locker was given for a temporary use and now I could use a permanent one. She gave me the locker number and spent another minutes on the details of using swipe card to open the locker.

Ta da! What a waste of money. I mean, come on, I could live a day without a locker, you know.

I swiped my card in the slot of my new locker and punched the pin code. After transferring my books in it, I headed towards the cafeteria. God, I was darn hungry!

But lesser I knew I would starve till the lunch break.

“Don’t think you have achieved something big.” Bianca blocked my way, menacingly towering over me. Oh, yeah! She was wearing around six to seven inches heeled Platform Shoes. No doubt, she towered my five feet six inch height while I wore kitten heeled boot.

I smirked and shaking my head, passed without acknowledging her. I knew that would work just great to anger her.

“No one walks away like that when I am talking.” There was a tinge of annoyance in Bianca’s voice which I loved to hear for many good reasons.

“Well, days change.” I turned to face her, lifting my shoulders in a shrug. “It would be better if you accept it sooner.”

“Nothing is going to change. No one can change what have been going on for years, certainly not a new comer like you.” She looked down at me with distaste while she spewed each word venomously.

What that supposed to mean? Uh-hm. I guess I knew the answer already.

“Hey, what’s that?” I scooted closer to her and raised my feet on tiptoes. I didn’t want to look small in front of her and I really didn’t want to crane my neck to look up at her. When we were practically nose-to-nose, I pointed my finger at her face. “What is that on your face?” I stared at her with mock fear, whilst she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and annoyance.

She almost reached out for her bag, perhaps to grab a mirror, when she got startled with my sudden squealing. “Oh my god! Is that- is that… really?” I continued my act, enjoying every bit of it. “You are scared, aren’t you? ‘Cause I can see it.” I flashed a victorious grin which seemed to be permanent and took a step back, admiring effect of my act.

Her face turned red in anger while her minions shared an anxious look. They would be wise if they were considering backing away. But Bianca was stupid enough to take a step forward.

“Scared?” She scoffed. “Scared, my foot! You think wearing some out-of-trend clothes and making a foul seductive move on JSA’s Popular boy would gain you some advantages, then you are mistaken.” She crossed her arms with her handbag hooked and continued with a self-important voice. “I wasn’t lying when I said I can make your life hell. My father is a Chairperson of the school committee. He can buy this school anytime. And since I am the only child, I always get what I want. My dad can do anything for my happiness and he very well knows where my happiness lies. Anyways, you targeted the right person. I must give you that!”

“Wait, wait. Take a deep breath, will ya? You talk so much, you actually look dumb!” Bianca pursed her lips at my remark, but I ignored her, waving off my hand. “News flash, Bianca: Trystan was the one who asked me a kiss. In fact, he was more than willing to kiss me. And if I tell you a secret,” I lowered my voice to a whisper, “it wasn’t the first time he asked me to kiss him.” I winked at her with a wicked grin. I had never thought I would say this anytime, but the words actually looked good when it rolled out of my lips. I would have never appreciated the whole ‘kiss’ drama until now. I was upset, even angry, but now I was happy that I could use it against someone. Trystan was such a looser! I knew he wouldn’t mention the airport incident to anyone and Bianca would be the first and last person I told about it.

I could see confusion on her face as she pinched her eyebrows together. I bet she was trying to recall my every encounter with Trystan which as per her knowledge was only twice or thrice, if you consider us sharing literature class and him sitting in the last seat while me in the first. I smirked knowing exactly what she was thinking. Time would tell me how Trystan reacts.

“Anyways, what’s with this ‘my father this’ and ‘my father that’?” I continued nonchalantly. “Don’t you get bored ranting it all the time? No one is born without a father. As it’s said, it takes two to tango. Even I can boast about my father. You know, he is a Superman and sometimes he turns into a Spiderman and he even owns a dragon. And yeah, do you know that three-faced dog from Harry Potter? It’s actually ours. Oh, such a cute dog he is!”

And that was an obvious lie.

Once I stopped my rant, it looked like Bianca and her minions had frozen in time, but when they recovered, they looked down at me incredulously.

“Are you crazy?” she asked.

“Exactly!” I replied, flashing my toothy grin. “You see, I looked like a crazy. Do you think you look any different?”

“You don’t know my father.”

“Yeah, I know I don’t. So? What’s the big deal? You don’t know my father either. We are equal.”

She laughed dryly. “Equal? You must be kidding me. You shall only dream about it. You can never be the person I am. I am the queen. I have been elected as Miss Popular by JSA itself.”

“Until the right time,” I muttered, half-expecting she heard it. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. I wasn’t going to give her any competition, but surely somebody would? “And no kidding this time,” I continued. “I thought talking to you would be fun, but I am disappointed. You bore me.” I let out a yawn and seriously, I didn’t need to pretend it. It came out naturally.

“This is a last advice to you. Stay away from Trystan.”

“You like it a lot, don’t you? Giving advice, I mean? Why don’t you put an advice booth at the entrance of the school? Trust me, you will earn a lot and tell your minions to put a condom booth.” I glanced at both the minions whose names were unknown to me. But I liked to call them minions. That’s what they were- minions. I stared them for fleeting seconds, before fixing my gaze back on Bianca’s face. “They seem like they are solely made for condom ads.”

She gritted her teeth. “Shut up.”

“Pack up.”

“You have no idea; I am the champion of the game you are trying to play.”

“Game? If you put it that way, then game it is. And I am not an immature player either. Good luck to you.”

We had already grabbed the attention of the crowd. I wanted to end this before any Professor pulls us to the Principal’s cabin. I didn’t want to meet my dear new Principal on my very second day of school for the reasons like girl’s fight.

I gathered my patience and took a deep breath. “Let me be perfectly clear, Bianca. I know what has been going on in this school for years, to be precise, between you and Trystan. You can try to get him back all you want. I am not really interested, but the fact is, Trystan will never love you back. So a word of advice from me? Don’t embarrass yourself,” I said, not even realizing what I was saying until it was already out of my mouth. I was not even sure of what I said about Trystan… or was I? I know I wasn’t surprised or may be a little when Jennet told me about Trystan and Bianca’s relation which was a history now. All I could conclude was either Trystan had a bad choice or he was the type who could get boner for anyone with boobs or else there was no way he would date a girl like Bianca who was downright vile.

She sucked in a breath. For a second there, I wondered if I had gone too far. I didn’t mean to mention anything about Trystan and come out as ‘obsessed-with-popular-guy’. It was just a slip, an out-of-body experience. I had no idea how she was going to react or just how far she would go. I prepared myself for the worst.

“You have no clue of the stuff around here,” she hissed. “And you certainly aren’t going to dictate me whether Trystan loves me or not. At least I have not put myself up in the list of people he hates. In fact, no one is capable of turning those feelings off he has for me. Because this school is mine and I rule it. And nobody tells me what to do.”

Somebody tell her I do not care?

“Psst… Bianca, I really should get going. Why don’t you relax till we meet again? Anyways, you have few days until your downfall. So just chill and have fun, darling.”

I was about to turn when she hissed, “Bitch.” Her minions held both her arms to keep her from lunging on me.

I moved my lips in a twitched smile.

“Aww… Touchy! You know, you gotta work on your communication skill.” Showing her my special take-that-bitch grin that I reserved for equally special persons, I turned on my heels, shrugging my curls off the shoulder. Oh wait, I needed to make an exit. I looked over my shoulder and said the stopper lines of today’s argument between me and Bianca.

“Take it from someone who defined the popularity, Bianca- it’s not about who you are, it’s about what you are. And yeah,” I turned fully towards her, “if whatever happened today wasn’t a big achievement, then we wouldn’t have been talking about it, would we?”

Do you know what I liked the most in a drama? Exit! Exit always leaves its print in people’s mind. One would hardly remember what happened between entry and exit, but they would always remember the exit if it’s done the right way, with a bang. No doubt, an entry is equally effective but exit is something that ends the game. The one who ends the game is the winner.  I always wanted to be that, the one to make the exit, irrespective of who made the entry.

And I had always been that, the one to make the exit.

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Break time was not yet over. I could grab a coffee and some words from my new friends. I already missed that jumbo bacon sandwich. I had tried it the day before and loved it. Hell, I needed it but time wasn’t my best friend at the moment. Coffee would do!

I rushed towards the cafeteria and as soon as I stepped in, I got these screaming meemies, bringing the inevitable images in my mind.

Just few more hours…

It was full. I quickly scanned the area and spotted the table where Jennet and her, I mean our friends were sitting. I threw my bag in the empty chair next to Jennet.

“What took you so long?” I heard Jennet ask as I made a beeline for the beverage counter.

“I missed my guide,” I replied.

Jennet rolled her eyes and resumed eating a burger. But there was a faint smile on her lips.

“One Espressino Freddo please.”

The blue-eyed counter boy smiled and nodded. “Right on its way.”

I shifted impatiently on my legs as I waited for my delight.

Within a minute, he returned with my order. “Here you go,” he said, pushing the large plastic cup towards me and then steadied his red cap.

Yum… It smelled delicious!

The counter-boy smiled at me and it was then I noticed he was actually quite good looking. The smile caused small dimples appear in his cheeks. There were few freckles on his nose. If he was on this side of the counter, rather than behind it, he would have easily passed for a student. I returned the smile, gave my swipe card- which he returned after swiping it on the billing machine- and punched the code in the machine. I took the billing slip he gave me and turned around in haste.

“Oh shit!” Two voices said at the same time- one was mine and the other one was… Oh my god! How could I be stupid to do it again?

I froze- eyes wide, jaw dropped, hands raised with now half empty cup- staring at the plain white tee, designed with newly put coffee stain. Of course, the designer was none other than me!

I stood motionless. A feeling of déjà vu embraced me. I wanted to apologize, but I didn’t trust anyone anymore in this place to take apologies nicely. Been there, done there!

I didn’t dare to look up, afraid of seeing another smug face which I did not want at the moment. I watched the light brown liquid form its natural coffee-blot-pattern. Few drops were tracing its way down towards the hem of the t-shirt, eager to jump off.

Lucky bastards!

They would be gone before the bomb blast. I wished I could jump too. May be I could. I could simply turn, pretending nothing happened and run towards the school terrace. Oh wait! Why would I jump off the building? I did not do it purposely, but it surely would be better than hearing his cocky comments. If necessary, I would even help him get rid of that t-shirt… by ripping it? Ugh! That sounds pervy. No, running, simply running would be better idea before he opens his mouth and spill the shit and now I was mentally ranting incoherently which did not make any sense and I should shut up, yeah, I should.

“You okay?” I heard him say. Was he talking to me? Shit! I am visible!

Of course I was, and I was probably going to pay for it. I should have been running, but I was standing there, trying to ignore the person right in front of me by trying to figure out the shapes of the stain on his t-shirt. I decided to do anything but acknowledge him.

Hey, it’s a map! I exclaimed mutely, narrowing my eyes further. It’s Australia! No, Canada!

“I am sorry, you okay?” His voice edged a bit louder. No! I wouldn’t look at him. Whatever he does, I wouldn’t. I closed my eyes, willing myself to fade away, but then he opened his mouth which made me snap my head up dramatically.

He said, “Did I freeze you?”

Ugh! So much for avoiding another drama. Screw it!

I looked up at him with all the annoyance I could muster up. But then something stirred up in my too lousy brain.

Should have I really counted it as a cocky comment? Because the first thing that I noticed were his hazel eyes, staring down at me. But they weren’t staring down with contempt or amusement or arrogance. Surprisingly, those eyes looked at me with concern, a more like cautious-concern, if you understand what I mean. He was having that did-you-just-run-off-from-the-asylum look.

I blinked my eyes several times. “Yeah, I am fine,” I said, dazed, musing over what I was supposed to say.

“You can take your hand down, you know.” He smiled coyly, giving a sideways look. It was then I realized I had my hands frozen in air. I took them down and looked around sheepishly. I felt a relief when I noticed people were oblivious to my ongoing stupidity.

“I am sorry I wasted your coffee. I’ll grab one for you.”

He almost turned towards the counter when I stopped him.

“No, it’s fine.” I peeked into the cup in my hand for a second- the traces of Nutella clung to its wall- before tossing it in the nearby trash bin. The liquid spilled in the bin and words ‘Good Day’ written on that cup in bold brown letters faced me. Yeah, right, good day!

I shook my head and continued, “It was my fault anyway.” My gaze trailed down at his ruined t-shirt and grimaced instantly, seeing my work of art.

He followed my gaze. “Don’t worry about that,” he said, giving me what I would call an assuring smile. He grabbed a tissue and started his not-so-successful attempt of wiping off the stain.

“I am sorry. I don’t know how I managed to do it again.” Oops! Slip of tongue.

He instantly looked up at me, cocking his brows. I closed my eyes again to calm down and taking a deep breath, I started, “Look, I- I didn’t know you were standing behind me and you see I was already late and I was hungry, so I thought I should grab a cup of coffee, but then I bumped into you and I didn’t understand what to say and I just stood there and I-” I felt his hand on my mouth, shutting me up.

“It’s okay. You may breathe,” he said softly and removed his hand off my mouth, the warmness leaving my lips immediately. He smiled at me when I finally did breathe in-breathe out. I smiled back and looked around awkwardly.

Adjusting in this place and understanding these people may have been difficult for me, and as far as I could say about this guy, he was nice… at least he was being nice to me. But with my nature that I inherited from my mum, I always doubted the sugar coated Scone (Long story!) and so I couldn’t help but doubt his too sweet voice. I had ruined his tee for the fudging son of the devil and he was like, ‘You okay?’ Fake, totally freaking fake! But maybe… maybe he was honestly good?

“I,” I started at the same time he did and the awkward laugh followed it.

Just then I heard somebody calling me. I turned towards Jennet assuming it was her, only it wasn’t. She was sipping on her drink, while nodding at what the others were saying. The one who had called me was one of our buddy, Ama- no, Amia- no. Ugh! Forget it.

She was gesturing towards her wristwatch and I wasn’t dumb not to know she was trying to tell me that it was time for the class. History class!

I turned back to the guy, but he was already gone. I searched him among the crowd and finally spotted his retreating back.

For a second there I thought of calling him, but then I didn’t know his name. I shrugged and made my way towards my friends. While going, I dared to look in his direction to meet his staring eyes, filled of amusement and interest. At that moment, I realized I had seen him somewhere, but didn’t remember where. I gave him a non-committal shrug and went towards Jennet.

“Spread the word, I am gonna run into every guy here and spill coffee over them,” I muttered with a huff.

“What?” Jennet looked up confused, absentmindedly spinning her phone on table.

She clearly didn’t hear me.

“Never mind,” I said and pulled the chair out, lifted my bag off the chair and sat in it, holding bag on my lap.

I stared around at the guys, who were now my new friends and I needed to spend time with them in order to know them better. The girl, who had called me-- for now I would call her A and might stick with this name forever--, was packing her bag. The other girl was saying something, while Jennet simply nodded her head. One of the guys was eating or I can say shoving a hamburger in his mouth and other one was busy on his phone- texting perhaps. How was I supposed to start a new school life with my new friends when I didn’t even remember their name? Would I look stupid or careless for not remembering their names, if I ask them to introduce themselves again? Would they understand me the way Med did? Choosing the safe route, I decided to note their name when someone addresses them.

Till now Jennet had been good to me. I was still not sure if I could trust her, but I had already put her to test once and she had passed with flying colours. I could certainly give her a second thought. I watched her as she was strangely quiet, holding that faraway look on her face.

“What’s the matter?” I asked her, slightly nudging on her arm.

She shook her head with a faint ‘nothing’.

“She is thinking about the place to run to,” the guy who was busy on his phone said, smirking.

I frowned as I didn’t understand what he meant.

“Shut up, Deon,” Jennet snapped at him and then turned towards me. “Kiera, there is nothing like that. I would never think about running off, leaving you alone. And anyways, why would I even do that when you didn’t do anything wrong? I told you, I would stand for you.”

I realized what… Deon meant and instantly guilt engulfed me. Did I pull Jennet in this mess, against ‘It’ group? She didn’t need to. It was my decision.

“Kiera, your face tells me you are thinking about all the crap you shouldn’t. Believe me, it was the bravest thing anyone could ever do here.” She smiled at me. I wasn’t sure though if she was being kind or being stupid to support me.

“Speaking about it, the stunt you pulled there was brave,” said Deon.

“Yeah, I agree,” A said. “Otherwise it’s hard to see any girl not throwing herself over this opportunity.”

“Thanks.” I smiled, finally feeling somewhat relieved that my new friends showed their approval if not support. “But I wouldn’t call it an opportunity,” I added and took out my phone, checking if there were any miscalls. And… there wasn’t any. Dejected, I put the phone back in the bag and listened what they were saying.

“Me neither,” said the other girl. “And, dear,” she continued putting too much stress on ‘dear’. “Your new look is awesome. It suits you. I already see you as a competition to Bianca.”

“Shh! Slowly, Mia. You don’t want Bianca to hear it,” A teased her but Mia (I noted) shrugged indifferently.

“Let her. Oh, I am already feeling the vibes.” Mia clapped her hands excitedly.

“Mia,” I called her. “Don’t jump to any conclusion just yet and as a fact, I don’t want to compete with anyone. I have come to study and would like to do that, thank you. But yeah, that doesn’t mean I won’t snap my fingers at those who bears a potential to turn on my bitch switch.”

“Dear! I like you already.” Another fact about Mia, she said ‘dear’ a lot.

“You guys are worst kind of friends, you know that?” The other guy from the circle exclaimed, glaring at Deon. “I lost my pocket money of this whole week on the fucking bet! Do you at all realize what does it mean?”

“You played the wrong card, man,” Deon replied with a shrug and then slipped his phone in his jean’s pocket.

“But the day is not over. She hasn’t completed her task. She has to choose one, so the bet is still on. You can’t take my money!”

The way they talked, the words they chose were a clear hint they were talking about me. But I still asked them what it was about.

“Kiera, they are jerks. Don’t bother about-” Deon interrupted Jennet, “We betted on your move.”

What-the-heck!

“We betted on what you would you do, kiss Trystan or not,” he said as if he was talking about the weather.

Seriously, they were unbelievable. They just met me and I thought we were supposed to be friends, but here they were betting on me? I was feeling annoyed, but not angry. I should have been, but I wasn’t feeling angry. Perhaps, that was because nothing could possibly level the anger I was feeling towards Trystan. After all whatever that was happening was because of him.

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared steadily at Deon. “And?” I asked.

“I lost.” The other guy whined. “And it sucks that I am already cut down on my pocket money.”

“Aww… my poor Blakey, better luck next time.” A ruffled Blake- the whining guy’s hair. He slapped her hand away, annoyed. “If there is any next time,” he said grimly.

Everyone went quite for a while, not entirely because the cafeteria was still buzzing with other students, finding their way in and out.

I let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t believe, you guys just bet on me.”

“You should be thankful that someone in the crowd considered you wouldn’t kiss him,” Deon stated nonchalantly.

“And may I know why would you consider that?”

“It’s simple. A little study and some logic?”

I stared at him blankly. “Whatever. That was just so…” I racked my brain to find a perfect word.

“Applausive? I know. And if I want to be truthful, you are in big danger, dear girl. It’s time you put on your big girl bra and choose his path.”

“Kiera, don’t listen to him. You will find yourself in a closed cell of asylum if you keep on listening to his crap.” Jennet got up and expected me to do the same. But I wasn’t going down on it.

“You sound like a coward, Deon,” I shot back. “Why don’t you stop appraising Trystan? Ah! May be unless you stop dreaming about him at night. And thank you so much for being so helpful.”

 “Anytime,” he said with a smirk. He seemed indifferent to my words, just like Trystan.

I shook my head and got off to leave. Just then my gaze met with that counter boy who served me the coffee. He smiled shyly at me. At first, I furrowed my eyebrows, but later in that moment I realised how to carry out my next plan. I smiled back.

“Um- Blake?” Blake, who had his head pressed down on table, looked up at me in surprise and confusion. “You might want to win the next bet. I won’t fail you.”

I winked at him and walked towards the beverage counter, leaving him confused more than he looked before.