I stood casually at the side along with the other girls as we watched the boys from the different sports team push the lunch tables together in order to have enough space so that at least half of us could sit down.

Gray appeared next to me and pointed to the lunch line, "Let's go buy our food while they're doing that."

Instead of going at the end, Gray quickly dragged me to the very beginning of the line right after I got a tray for the both of us. Warning bells were ringing in my head and I saw the other students, you could easily tell that they weren't pleased, but they didn't actually have the courage to say no.

"Gray," I whispered so that the others couldn't hear, "No."

He turned back to me and gave me that good old charming smile of his, "Don't worry."

Sighing, I just followed him. He wasn't going to be easily swayed and everyone knows this, I should just save my energy for later and let him do what he wants.

He stepped right in front of this lanky boy, not even bothering to look at him. I lifted a brow and he gestured for me to stand in front of him. When I stayed glued to my spot, he easily sensed my hesitation so he stretched out a hand, "Come on."

The others behind the line were growing impatient so I finally gave up, walking pass his hand, I found my spot at his front and I could practically hear him screaming out victory. He should know that he's only one who can do that without getting a nice slap.

Cafeteria food will be cafeteria food – meaning it sucks. Bland chicken, withered lettuce, soggy burgers, and the usual stale pizza. It had been this way long before I even got into this school, the thought of it changing is just a faraway dream.

"Tuna sandwich," I ordered to the cafeteria lady. She nodded and plopped a paper plate with the sandwich and an apple on it. This is as good as its going to get.

I'm internally cringing already just looking at it as I paid for the meal. If you're one of those girls like Vivian, you would go for the withered salad, but if you care more about the energy, go for the sandwiches or the pasta, it's probably the most decent thing you'll get.

When we came back to the long table, it was already filled with the usual group. The jocks, the girls from the other sports team and of course, the unwavering cheerleaders.

I cleared my throat loudly and the girls turned to me. Some from the lower years quickly stood up, getting the message and I easily slid in to the spot they were previously sitting on.

Turning to my side, I recognized my seatmate as a junior from the basketball team. Giving him that smile that I've practiced well enough to know that no one can deny it, I took out some bills and gave him that sweet look, "Can you please buy me some water from the vending machine, I forgot to get some."

And if you want, I can bat my eyelashes for extra effects.

Without a second thought, he took the money and stood, going off to do the task I've given.

See? If you're given this position, might as well use it for your advantage.

That was the usual scene at lunch. Aside from those powerful ones seated at the middle, we will always take the attention just because of our numbers and how rowdy this can be within a minute of sitting down.

Let me correct myself, because of how rowdy this can be with just fixing up the tables.

Just as I was about to bite into my lunch, Vivian suddenly squeezed herself in-between Gray and I, making me drop my sandwich and let out a groan of frustration.

When in the world is she going to accept that Gray will never look at her?

She's so dead set on snatching him, but what she has no idea is that he's more interested in that stale pizza on his tray than he is to her.

"I heard something," she said, resting her elbow on the table as she turned to me, "Someone saw you and that guy, Ryan Matthews or something, talking after school yesterday."

Ryan Matthews? Is she serious? If there's anything more annoying than gossip, it's inaccurate gossip.

"His name is Evan not Ryan," I corrected, "And yeah, so what?"

This gained interest of some other people at the table and infuriated me more. I was still not completely over of what I heard yesterday at the locker room and they are well aware of this fact. Aside from the cold treatment they got from me this morning, I've been openly giving them dirty looks all day.

"Is he your new target?" she questioned, a mischievous smile forming on her lips.

New target? She has been by my side for practically four years and she's asking me that. Didn't she notice that I never gave any other guy the time of day after I met Gray and now she's questioning if Evan was my 'new target'?

Surprisingly, Gray lightly pushed Vivian to the side to give me that curious look, "All I can understand from this conversation is the back of your head."

"Hey, what does this Evan look like?" a cheerleader asked, her eyes sparkling with amusement, "If Clara doesn't want him, I can take him."

I should probably warn the poor guy that a viper is about to get him.

"Oh so you're talking about boys again," Gray rolled his eyes, sitting straight once again. His tone wasn't really the most pleasant one and he was obviously displeased by the conversation.

"Uh oh he's jealous," one of his teammates jokingly accused, "Don't worry man, you're still the number one for Clara, just got to watch out for number two to ten."

Can he not see that I'm sitting right here?

Gray took offence to this as well as he grabbed his apple and chucked it towards his direction, hitting him square on the face.

"Anyways, you still haven't told me what he looks like," the one earlier complained.

"I think he's the one who always have this chick, his sister, by his side. You know, the one who bumped into us earlier this week," Vivian explained.

"Erin?" Gray muttered.

There it is, he remembers her name. He was like me, he easily forgets the names of those not worth remembering and so this already sets an alarm inside my head.

"How do you know her?" Vivian questioned.

That's it, this conversation is getting out of hand.

"Enough!" I demanded, slamming my palm on the table, rendering everyone speechless. Looking behind me, I noticed that I also managed to silence this half of the cafeteria.

Oh great, another wonderful thing to add to my ever growing sweet image.

Thankfully, this group is used to my little outbursts and they know that when I don't talk for a full minute, it's safe to assume that everything can go back to normal. And with that, they started chatting about another topic, dropping the talk about Evan and his sister all together.

Learning my lesson, I kept my mouth shut for the rest of the period, slowly eating my meal so I had an excuse to not join in on the conversation. The minute the bell rang, I stood up and grabbed my bag, walking away with at least a few of my teammates obediently trailing behind me.

This is why I projected the cliché, it's like I'm the freaking mafia boss with my gang members always forming a little triangle behind me,

The only advantage here is that nobody would dare to approach us and at this moment, I'm quite sensitive enough to crack if someone even utter a single unpleasant thing about me. At this state, I'm just a fuse ready to explode.

I was so frustrated about Gray. It was impossible for him to just remember Erin's name because he overheard Evan say it during that first accidental bump in.

When I reached my locker, I dismissed the other girls and told them head on without me. I was quite surprised to find out that the person who was occupying the locker next to mine was the main reason why I snapped earlier.

Erin was too preoccupied with the music jamming out of her earphones as she took out some binders from her locker to notice me step beside her.

I tried to make myself look busy by grabbing some books, but when she still failed to pay any attention, I had the intent to yank out her earphone. But just before my hand made contact with her, I stopped myself, listening to my better judgement.

She, on the other hand, found this as the perfect moment to close her locker and when she turned to me, she surprised to see me with my hand midair, ready to pull out her earphones.

"Clara," she gasped, taking an instinctive step back.

I dropped my hand to the side before wracking my brain for an excuse, "I'm looking for your brother."

Her brows shot up at my statement and I'm pretty sure the girl behind her also heard this. Great, what a way to get rid of those rumors.

"He had lunch with his friends," she said cautiously, "He might be at his classroom by now."

"Thanks," I mumbled, slamming my locker shut before walking away.

I breezed through the day, completely ignoring most idiots who dared talk to me. I did get some energy to fake some cheer into me during practice. Thankfully, I learned that it was only the pyramid that will be the troublesome part to get, because after I finished that, we were smooth sailing.

"Good job, girls," I clapped, willing myself to let out a cheeky tone, "Now let's pack up since we're having pizza with the boys."

They cheered as they practically skipped to the locker room, trying make themselves look decent. Let me tell you, when I entered, I was blasted with the smell of varying perfume. The girls were bombing themselves in it, trying to get rid of the sweaty odor they got during the training.

Well, I'm not the one to talk.

After I got changed out of these gym clothes, I took out my perfume bottle from the side pocket of my bag, spraying it all over my body, hoping that it did overpower the sweat. I ran comb through my hair pulled it up into a ponytail so it wasn't obvious that I made it go through a rough practice.

We wiped off the makeup that was already drooping and retouched it. Just so you know, you wouldn't recognize half of these girls if you saw them without the coverings so most of us endure doing training with them on.

Getting ourselves dolled up and back to our original state, just like what we looked like when we arrived this morning, we walked out of the locker room.

That was a record, if I do say so myself. Twenty minutes wasn't that bad.

Checking my phone for any texts, I told the girls, "The boys are waiting at the parking lot."

And as promised, they were there. All looking sexy as hell coming out of football training.

"Mouths closed and drools checked, girls," I muttered to them as we approached.

Damn, reputation and queen of the gossip mill aside, I love my position if this is what I can get.

"There they are," one of them grinned.

We all broke into groups, I have told the girls ahead of the plans and so, we carpooled to school instead of bringing our individual vehicles.

Well, I called up Gray for a little pick up for two reasons. One, it's Gray Martyn we're talking about and two, this is the perfect was for me to assure that he went to school on time.

I'm only looking out for him when I bug him about his excessive tardiness.

"At least you look chirpier," he commented as he paid attention to the road.

"What do you mean?" I inquired though I already had a pretty good idea.

"The thing about lunch," he reminded, "It had been quite some time since you've burst like that outside of your usual training."

Technically, it was half your fault.

When I kept my mouth shut, he got the signal that my mood had gone under once again. I heard him let out a sigh before calling out my name, "Clara."

Nope, still not budging.

I'm being stubborn again, but this was me being my melodramatic self. Gray doesn't have the slightest idea what was wrong and I know that it was bothering him as much as this situation bothers me.

To my surprise, he turned the car and got us to the side of the road. I was about to ask him what happened when he unbuckled my seatbelt and pulled me to him, "What's wrong?"

I avoided his gaze even though I was already practically sitting on his lap. I felt him smirk when he realized that I was starting to get affected by our position as he wrapped his arms tighter around me, "Come on, Clara, tell me."

Pursing my lips, I shook my head.

"You know we could skip the pizza," he muttered, resting his chin on my shoulder so I could feel his hot breath on my ear, "And just go straight to my house."

I reached down and pinched his arm, making him loosen his grip on me and that was enough for me to break free of his hold and slide back into the passenger seat, going back to my silent treatment.

Well, that lasted up until I saw him looking at me with those begging eyes. Damn it, he knows I can't resist that look.

"It's just that... the person we were talking about earlier," I muttered under my breath.

I didn't want to admit it because he would think that I'm jealous – which I'm not going to deny that I am – but he knows that we're not an item.

He, on the other hand, didn't like my reasoning as he, himself, gave me a grumpy face, "Forget about that."

Oh, so he was the probing me and now he's the one who wants to drop the topic?!

"Why?" I snapped, "You were the one who brought it up."

"I saw it, you know," he grunted, "Yesterday I saw you talking to that exact person."

Is he afraid that I'm going to do something horrible to Erin? Is that the reason he suddenly became this mad?

"Take me home," I demanded, strapping on my seatbelt, "I'm done."

He was fuming when he pulled back into the road, probably exceeding the speed limit but I wasn't even phased. I've become accustomed to his reckless driving and no amount of warnings will make him change his mind. This time, the sooner I get to that retched house, the better. For once, I prefer to go home than to stay with Gray.

We kept bickering along the way and I sensed some relief when I saw that dreaded house come into view.

"Why are you so mad?" I almost screamed.

"Because I don't want you talking to him!"

Oh great, now he's so out there that he's getting his pronouns mixed up. Erin's a her, not a he.

"So you have the right to say that," I said, "Then don't talk to her!"

"Her?" he asked just as we stopped right in front of my house.

"Erin!" I yelled in exasperation.

His mouth turned into an 'O' shape as he paused. I let out a groan before unbuckling my seatbelt, reaching behind to grab my bag, "Goodbye, thanks for the ride."

He reached out and circled his hand around my wrist to stop me from leaving, "I think we have a big misunderstanding here."

My eye was twitching but I allowed him to continue speaking, "I was talking about that Evan guy but you seem to be talking about Erin."

Freezing at my spot, I then realized. Is he jealous? Was that his form of getting possessive? Can I hope just a little bit?

He released me before falling back against the back of his seat, "Never mind."

"You know what? Fuck you," I told him, though my tone was already getting lighter.

"You can do that all weekend, babe," he winked. Ah there we are, back to the ever-so flirtatious Gray that I've become accustomed with.

Letting out that somewhat effective giggle, I shook my head, "No can do, I'm visiting my dad."

"So after getting me confused, you're just going to leave me," he pouted.

Giving him that amused look, I opened door and got outside, "Bye."

"See you next week," he grinned, "Have fun at your dad's, I think you need the break."

Smiling, I closed the door and watched as he slowly drove away. Well, I certainly hope that I'll be able to get some rest there, but knowing my father and his side of the family, it's going to be far from that.

-------------------------

I have this huge note in my phone about the story and every time I open it, I just laugh while comparing it to the comments. Nonetheless, thank you for keeping me entertained.

I'm in a role here! I actually updated within a week, haven't done this in a very long time, but I did swear that this story is now priority.

Question: How will her father be?

Obviously, she doesn't have the best relationship with her mother, but how will she be with her father? Leave your thoughts and guesses!

Now see you soon, I love you all and I'll be posting an announcement (well, more like update) on my profile so if you're not yet following me, please do. That is all, don't forget to vote and post a comment! 'Till next chapter!