Chapter 9

I exited the girl's locker room, and started walking to my next class. I was being cautious, looking for the familiar face of Luke, but he was nowhere to be seen. I concentrated with everything I had, to look for Luke, thinking I'd run away when I see him.

So, you can imagine how I jumped up at least a foot in the air when someone whispered "Boo" in my ear.

I whirled around, and came face to face with Ace. I gasped a little, startled at how close we were. He smirked at me knowingly.

"Where'd you think you were going?" he asked.

I gave him a weird look. "Where'd you think I was going, idiot? To class."

"Oh, com'on. You can be a little bit nicer," he whined, pouting. He looked so adorable, I wanted to pinch his cheeks.

"Nah, you don't deserve it," I reached up, and ruffled his hair. He glared at me, and reached out for my waist, with his index finger out, trying to poke me.

I noticed, and with a little squeal, I took off running. I must say I was a fast runner, even though I wasn't really that tall. I heard him shouting behind me as he chased after me.

People in the hallways parted for us like the Red Sea. I reached the classroom, and stumbled inside, laughing hysterically.

My laughter stopped short, as my eyes fell on the one person I did not want to see. Someone crashed into me from behind, and I stumbled forward, but quickly steadied myself. It was Ace. He hadn't noticed I had stopped abruptly in the middle of the classroom.

He followed my gaze, and his eyes landed on Luke, sitting on my seat, with a nasty smile playing on his lips. Ace put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed reassuringly.

By now, most of the students were already in the classroom. Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion hit me, and I felt cold all over, wanting to get this day over with. Right now, I wanted to do nothing with Luke, and so, fearlessly, I marched up to him, and stood there, glaring at him.

"You know, that's my seat. It'd be better if you go find someone who's willing to deal with your clinginess. Because I definitely am not," my voice was so cold, that Every. Single. Head turned towards me to look at me in shock.

After all, I was the good girl. Good girls don't talk rudely to new students. Even Luke was thrown off guard by my fierceness. Nevertheless, he stood his ground, and didn't move. Just stared at me defiantly.

I turned around to face the teacher, and my expression was furious. "Don't you think you should make him get up? After all, it was your idea to make me sit there. With my partner, might I add," I said furiously.

The teacher looked at me with surprised eyes. I've never in my whole life talked to a teacher like that. Though, today, I didn't care. I could get a detention and I wouldn't care.

"Uh...um, yeah. Mr...Never mind. I think you should find another seat. Everyone has assigned seats," his voice wavered slightly in the beginning, but he finished the sentence with firmness in his voice.

Luke got up angrily, and stood by my chair, looking around, with irritation clear in his eyes. I pushed past him, and got into my seat. He found a seat by a girl, who clearly looked afraid of him, and scooted a bit away from him. After a second, I realized Ace still hadn't taken his seat.

He was still standing close to the doorway, looking at me in bewilderment. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he snapped out of it. He quickly made his way through the classroom, and plopped down next to me.

As soon as we all settled down, Mr. Darlen started the lesson on Chemistry. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ace scribbling down furiously over his notebook. My eyes nearly bulged out of my sockets. Ace was taking notes?!

But then he ripped the paper from the notebook, and placed it on my desk. I sighed, shaking my head. Of course he wasn't taking notes. He may be smart (I have to admit, grudgingly), but I knew Ace would never 'stoop that low', as he'd called it, as to taking notes. After all, he had to maintain his "Bad Boy status".

I read the note he gave me, and sighed in irritation. It read;

Dude, you totally kicked ass! Wasn't expecting that from you. I was actually expecting you to cower away from him the minute you saw him. That was totally uncalled for! :O

A grin broke on my face. I shook my head at his comment - cower away in fear? What a sexist bastard. I did feel proud of myself, though.

I didn't write anything back to him, but I didn't need to. I lay my head in my arms, not paying any attention to the teacher. I was dozing off in the crook of my arms, about to fall asleep, when I felt something warm and soft on my neck.

I bolted out of my seat, and frantically rubbed my neck, trying to get the bug off. I thought it was a bug, anyway.

The whole class was staring at me, and the teacher's face was red.

"Is there something else wrong now, Miss Ewlden?" he said angrily.

"Oh..uh...there was a..bug on my neck," I said, still rubbing my neck distractedly. Then I realized that there was no bug on my neck. Then...what was it?

The class burst out laughing, and, to my surprise, so did the teacher. I thought he hated me? Well, I guess I thought wrong. To my left, Ace was trying hard to hold in his laughter.

He sighed. "Please take a seat, I'm pretty sure it's gone now, by the way you shot out of your seat," he said, and the class burst into laughter again.

I quickly took my seat, embarrassed. When I looked sideways, I noticed Ace, still trying to hold in his laughter. His face was completely red, his lips pursed.

I scowled at him. "You look like a constipated pig," I hissed through my teeth. He instantly bent over, clutching his stomach with one hand, and the other on his mouth, muffling his laughter.

My lips broke into a smile as I took in his adorable form, still bent over, laughing. My stomach was doing weird flips as I kept staring at him. I've never seen anyone look so cute, I thought, still smiling. He straightened up, his face completely flushed, and turned to look at me. I went still as he caught me staring at him.

His breathing was heavy, from laughing so hard. His smile faded, as a serious look consumed his features. The way he was looking at me, I thought I was going to pass out. He was giving me a ferment look, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't tear my eyes away from him.

"By the way, what the hell was on my neck?" I broke the moment by whisper-yelling at him.

He smirked at me. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you what it was."

I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously. "What was it?" I asked him cautiously. I already kind of had an idea what he was going to tell me, even though I didn't want to believe it. He was right.

"Hmmm....would you believe me if I told you it was my tongue?" He raised an eye brow at me and smirked at the same time. Damn, he looked hot.

Then I realized what he said. "No way! You jerk! You just l-licked my neck! Eww, that's disgusting!" I frantically rubbed my neck, feeling my cheeks turn red in embarrassment, causing him to fall into a fit of laughter.

Our dear, lovely teacher's voice broke our conversation. "I can't have two love-birds talking to each other every minute they get. Please keep your eyes on the front, Horris and Ewlden."

The class erupted into boisterous laughter at Mr. Darlen's comment. My cheeks were already burning, and his comment didn't help at all. I noticed that Ace's held a slight tinge of pink as well. The teacher had to ruin our conversation.

That Bastard.

"Excuse me? Would you repeat that, Miss Ewlden?" Mr. Darlen's furious voice interrupted my thoughts.

Oh crap. I said that out loud. I'm in serious trouble. Think....oh God, think, now!

"I said that I thought I heard music blasting outside this window. I-it's really distracting me". Good job Ellie! Ace smirked at me.

Mr. Darlen flashed a confused look at me. To my utter surprise, I realized there was music coming from outside the window. What a coincidence. Well, more like drums. I glanced outside, and I could see nothing. Then, out of nowhere, a-a-a thing appeared outside my window.

I screamed, and scrambled out of my chair, and away from the window. Several other students scrambled away from the windows. Everyone rushed past me, and stood in the back of the room. A few stayed in the front, most of them were boys, including Ace, who had a half-smile on his face.

The thing was all covered in black hair. Lots of hair. It looked like Chewbacca from Star Wars, in an even scarier way. It had shaggy long hair, with completely white eyes. The face was covered in pink, raw-looking skin, and where the mouth should've been, was a gaping hole, shaped in an 'O'. It had a drum slung across one of his shoulders, and at the end of it hung a drum, which the creature was continuously tapping on.

What the hell is that thing?, I thought in horror. Although, I couldn't help but think that the thing's face looked a little familiar. Suddenly, the creature (I'm gonna call him Chewbacca, I thought), pulled back his arms, and threw a huge rock on one of the class windows. Luckily, there was no one near the window, because the glass flew everywhere.

Chewbacca started running through the valley outside the window, and soon, he was out of sight. Everyone watched in stunned silence, and then, some kid, Daniel, I think his name was, started walking towards the rock. The teacher was still frozen in shock, and stood completely still, just watching Daniel walk towards the rock. Everyone watched as he bent over, and picked up the rock.

I squinted, moving a little closer towards Daniel, and noticed that the rock was covered in paper. Daniel removed the paper from the rock, and straightened it out. He took a minute to read, and then let out a blatant laugh. Everyone stared at him with anticipation.

"It says, 'Mr. Darlen, I really....like you, and...I hope we could...go out on a.....date tonight. After all, there's no difference between us', " Daniel managed to get out between laughter.

At hearing that sentence, the whole class, once again, erupted into undying laughter. Ace, I noticed, stood out the most, laughing his head off. Even I let out a few chuckles, and quickly tried to cover it.

Just then, the bell rang, interrupting our laughter, and everyone managed to get out of the classroom. Mr. Darlen's face was purple, and no one really wanted to stay in another moment, because he looked like he was about to explode.

I shot out of the room with my stuff, Ace right behind me.

"Don't you think that was mean?" I asked Ace, and at the same time, he said, "That was freaking hilarious, man!"

He burst out laughing, and I joined in his laughter, not able to stop it.

We had lunch now, so I followed him to the lunchroom, still talking about the incident, and who might have done it.

"You know, you can sit with us today," Ace said suddenly.

"W-what?" I spluttered, not able to believe it. Ace asked me to sit with him?! "I mean, um, I can't. I mean, I always sit with Beth."

He smacked his forehead. "Ow. I probably should've done that to you, not me," he said, rubbing his forehead. "Dude, your friend's not here, remember? I didn't see her in Darlen's class today," he said.

Ignoring his first comment, I replied, "Oh, right. I guess I can sit with you guys for today, then." My heart raced at the thought of sitting next to him.

We entered the lunchroom, and after grabbing our lunches, walked over to the table, where Angelino, and Zach were sitting, talking in low, excited voices. Zach's back was to us, as we made our way over there, and I suddenly felt like doing something childish.

I waved my hand over, and when Angelino looked up, I pressed my finger to my lips, indicating him not to tell Zach. He smirked, looking back at Zach.

I turned to Ace, and quietly told him not to make any noise. He nodded, his eyes filled with mirth. I grabbed the cold bottle of milk from my tray, and slowly tip-toed to where Zach was sitting, still whispering excitedly to Angelino. An evil grin made it's way up to my lips, as I slowly pressed the ice-cold bottle of milk against his neck.

Zach shrieked, sounding exactly like a girl, and toppled out of his chair. I doubled over in laughter, throwing my tray on the table, as Zach slowly got up, glaring at me. His face was extremely red from embarrassment.

I grabbed onto Ace's arm to support myself, and continued laughing. A few people had noticed us, and were also laughing at what they'd seen. Angelino was guffawing on his chair, and Ace was also chuckling loudly. We finally calmed down, and took a seat.

"Oh my Gosh, Zach! That was so hilarious!" I said to Zach, clutching onto my cheeks. They were hurting from laughing so much. Zach blushed furiously, and he looked so cute, that I reached out, and pinched his cheeks. "Awww! Zach, you look so cute when you blush!" I cooed.

He slapped my arm away, and huffed. He was sitting next to me, and Ace was sitting across me, with Angelino next to him. I suddenly noticed that Jayden was missing.

"Where's Jayden?" I asked curiously. All three of them shared a look with each other. "What?" I asked, annoyed.

"You'll see," Angelino replied, grinning at me. "Ah, there he is," he added after looking up.

I turned my face around, and sure enough, Jayden was walking towards us, holding his food tray in one hand, looking like a bad ass.

He took a seat on the other side of me. "Hey, guys. Hey El," he gave me a nod, grinning at me.

And then it came to me.

Chewbacca. Jayden. That's why that thing looked so familiar!

"You're Chewbacca!" I exclaimed.

"Chewbacca?" Ace laughed, and the others joined him.

Ace looked at Jayden once again, and burst out laughing again. I smiled as well. I was about to ask him if he's okay, since his breath was coming out in short pants, when he stopped abruptly. His shoulders stiffened, and beside him, so did Angelino's. They were both staring past me, on something that had obviously angered them.

I somehow had a feeling why that was. Zach and Jayden turned around, and Zach stiffened beside me as well. Jayden was probably confused.

My assumptions of who it was were proved right, as the cold voice behind me said,

"Missed me, Babe?"