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I internally groaned again as I flushed involuntarily upon seeing the 34th message from Candy.

I mean I didn't even want to blush. But my blood had decided to maintain its permanent residence in my cheeks.

What had I ever done to bear this?

"Now you're telling me what you're up to. You've been red ever since you fell in the fourth period," Sam whispered as she examined my face.

"It's nothing."

"Yeah and I'm a pig with horse's tail," she deadpanned, making me laugh.

We were sitting in the library, trying to work on our physics assignment together. The old sadist had given us three assignments which were due in two days.

"Now, tell me what's actually been bothering you. You've been jumpy all week," Sam said, leaving no choice but to tell her.

"Well, even I don't know what's been happening to me for the past few days. But one thing I know, is that Candy is making me flustered a lot. Hell, even I don't know why I'm getting flustered, but ugh! I don't know."

I expected Sam to be shocked or at least be surprised. But what I didn't expect was to see her smirk with a knowing glint in her eye.

"So he's been making you flustered. And what's his reaction when he sees who blush?" Sam asked, the smirk still plastered on her face.

"He enjoys it a lot," I spoke with a 'hmph' at the end.

"Hmm. He didn't see you in shorts, did he?" Sam asked.

I shot her a confused look. What was she up to?

"Uh, I don't think so. Why?"

He smirk grew. "Awesome. Now just answer these two questions. First, do you want to make Candy flustered?" She ignored my 'why' and asked.

I didn't like how she called Aaron, Candy. Only I could call him that. But I didn't object. "Yes."

My answer was immediate. He had a lot of fun sending me messages and doing things that made me enter my 'Tomato Phase'. I wanted to take revenge.

"And second, where is his jersey?"

"At my locker. What are you up to?" I asked suspiciously.

"I'm naming it 'Mission: Tomato Love'," she stated, proudly.

"Mission: Tomato Love?' Are you kidding me? What is that supposed to mean?" I asked, amused at the name she chose.

She smirked. "You'll know."

"Come on. Tell me," I whined.

She simply shook her head, chuckling. "How much time do we have until the competition?"

"About half an hour, why?"

She once again ignored my 'why' and pulled me up by my hand. "We don't have much time. Let's go!"

She pulled me out of the library and dragged me down the hallways at an inhuman speed.

Or maybe I was just that slow.

Once we reached our lockers, she made me open it. She quickly pulled out Aaron's Jersey and grabbed my hand, pulling me down towards the washrooms.

By now I was having a hard time breathing. She was way too fast.

She stopped outside the washroom and spoke-

"Wait here. I'll be right back."

With that, she ran away.

I didn't take much notice since I was busy gasping for air, with my hands resting on my knees.

After a few moments, once I'd regained my breath, I looked around. There weren't many students out since some of the classes were still going on.

I wondered what Sam was up to and how she was able to run in her wedges and her dress.

After wandering for a bit, my thoughts came to a pause when I realised something. I wasn't as conscious of wearing shorts as I was before.

The thought made me smile.

Maybe it wasn't that bad.

I heard footsteps coming towards me, and I looked up to see Nate rushing towards the lockers.

"Hey! Nate?" I called out, making him stop.

Once he spotted me, he waved.

"Oh, hey Ali. What a- wow." He paused as he examined me from head to toe.

I fidgeted a bit. Okay, maybe I wasn't that comfortable.

An amused grin crawled up his face as he spoke-

"No wonder Aaron went berserk when he heard the boys talk about 'how hot you look', today," Nate mused.

At this, I forgot my fidgeting. "What?"

"Yeah. You haven't seen him yet?"

I shook my head. "Just caught a glimpse of him around the fourth period."

"That's odd. After the fifth period, he went looking for you," Nate told me.

I gaped at him.

"Have you seen Sam, by the way?" He asked as if remembering something important.

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, nothing. Just brought her some leggings," Nate said holding up black leggings in his hand.

I stifled my laughter before I asked. "I don't recall her asking for any kind of leggings. So why did you bring those?"

"She needs to cover up those legs of hers. She's showing too much skin and before I forget, I have two. Which one do you want, the black ones or-," he paused before removing his bag from his shoulder and pulling out another pair,"-I also have these navy-blue ones."

After this, I couldn't control my laughs.

"What makes you think that we're gonna wear them?"

Although the offer was tempting, I couldn't take these from him. If I did, then I'd let myself be controlled, which wasn't going to happen.

Nate narrowed his eyes. "Do you have any idea how the boys were describing you."

I raised my eyebrow at that. "Do you mean that just because of some hormone-driven wild species of Gorillas, we should cover ourselves?"

He tried to reply but I cut him off.

"There are going to be so many occasions when we might dress like this. Do you plan to carry leggings everywhere?"

"N-No but-"

"Now if you say this to Sam, imagine her reaction. What if she decides never to talk to you again?" I teased but Nate's eyes widened. Ha! He was considering it.

"S-She wouldn't do that," he stuttered.

"And what if she decides to never consider you anything more than a friend?"

"No," he immediately spoke. Once he realised what I'd said, his eyes widened even more. "I-uh mean I don't want us to be anything more than friends. Where'd you even get that absurd idea?"

I grinned mischievously. "Okay. Then say that Sam is like your sister."

"Sam is like your sister," he replied, grinning at me.

"What-no. I meant that you have to say 'Sam is like my sister'," I told him.

"Ali, I know you consider her as your sister. I don't get why you want me to say it again and again," he replied, his eyes shining with mischief.

I groaned. "Not what I meant."

He chuckled. "I-"

Before he could say anything, footsteps were heard nearing us.

I saw Sam carrying a bunch of things and coming towards us.

I looked at Nate and grinned devilishly. "Oh Sammy!" I called out.

Nate's eyes widened like saucers and he quickly pushed the leggings in his bag. Before Sam could reach us, he ran away.

Seeing him run like that made me double over.

"Why are you laughing like a hyena on drugs? And was that Nate?"

I managed to nod as I tried to cease my laughter which didn't seem to stop.

"What was he doing here?"

"Apparently, Nate and Candy heard some boys talking about 'how hot' we looked so he brought leggings for us to wear."

At this, Sam joined me in laughter.

After a few moments of laughing, Sam sobered up. As if remembering something, she spoke. "Come on. We don't have time. Let's put Mission: Tomato Love into action."

"Wha-,"

She pulled me into the washroom and locked it. Oh boy. What was she planning?

***

"Who is that?" I asked pointing at poring at the girl in the mirror who was copying my actions.

Sam rolled her eyes beside me. "That's your ghost saying hi."

"Hilarious," I deadpanned.

I examined my reflection in the mirror. My hair were given soft curls at the end and my eyes made even more prominent.

I was wearing Aaron's Jersey which fell a little above my mid-thigh. I still wore the shorts underneath because I felt uncomfortable at the thought of accidentally flashing someone.

My lips were painted a light pink colour. I didn't have to do anything else since my morning makeup was still there.

"It looks as if I'm wearing nothing underneath," I spoke, observing how the jersey hid my shorts.

"Good. Now to put the plan into action, we just have to wait for the bell," she said and we both fell into silence.

I let my thoughts wander. I didn't know what was the purpose of making me play dress up. How were we going to make Aaron flustered? Did Sam know something that I didn't?

A shrill sound pierced through my thoughts, bringing a ball of nervousness along with it.

"I can't do it," I told Sam, who groaned.

"Uh-uh. Remember all the times he made you go all red?"

The images played like a movie and slowly my confidence increased. He was playing a game with me and I wasn't going to back out.

"So, let's go!" I started my way towards the door of the washroom when Sam pulled me back.

"You're not going to do that now."

I pouted. "But why not?"

"Let him concentrate on his game. Otherwise he'll be distracted all the time."

"But I need to wish him good luck. It's like our personal Lucky Charm thing to do whenever we go out for competitions," I replied and remembered the time when I'd missed this good luck tradition when I went on stage.

"FaceTime him."

It was a good idea. I fished out my phone and dialled his called him on FaceTime.

"Hey Muff-wow. Your face looks nice!" Aaron's face appeared on my screen.

He was a little surprised, I could tell.

"Just nice?" I teased and pouted playfully.

"Uh-yea-no, I-," he stuttered as his eyes fixed on my pout.

"Candy, I need you to speak in English," I laughed.

He averted his eyes and muttered something like,"Great! Now I'll have to take a cold shower."

"Why will you have to take a cold shower?" I asked, confused. What did cold shower have anything to do with this?

"Uh-because I smell?"

"But you can also ta-," I tried but was interrupted.

"Forget that. So are you wearing my jersey?" He asked.

I grinned and nodded. "I'll see you after your performance. Just wanted to wish you Good Luck!"

"Thanks Muffin," he smiled, genuinely.

"Break a leg. Though not yours," I encouraged him.

"Haha. Yeah I'll try. Hey now I'll have to go. My competition is going to start. Meet me after?"

"Obviously, your moron," I rolled my eyes.

"Ok. Then see ya Cupcake!"

"I thought I was your Muffin?"

"Well, you are my Muffin. Always will be," he answered and I heard the coach call out for him.

"Go." I said and with a last good bye, I ended the call.

The moment I ended it, Sam lunged on me. "That was so CUTE!"

I frowned, confused. "What was cute in that?"

She rolled her eyes at my response. "Let's just go. I don't want to miss the game."

***

"Aaron! Aaron!" Everyone chanted as Candy gained the control of the soccer ball.

He was swift and dodged any opponents that posed as a threat to the ball.

We were in the school stadium, where the competition was being held. The competition was to be played in pairs.

Candy had been paired with a guy named Kevin who was proving to be a really good partner. The game was simple. There were a total of twenty pairs, ten in one team and ten in another.

Each pair got a chance to compete against another pair from the opposite team. One pair had to try to try to goal while the other defended. For this, they only got a quarter of an hour (which in reality is a fancy way of saying fifteen minutes) won. At the end of the game the best performing pair would be selected.

"Wohoo! Go Candy!" I jumped and shouted. The excitement was palpable as the ball was passed between Kevin and him.

The opposite team member suddenly jumped in, stealing the ball.

It was so sudden, that I jumped up immediately, letting out a groan.

In the process, I accidentally knocked down someone's drink.

My eyes widened as I saw a girl with a huge stain on her white top. "Oh shoot! I'm so sorry," I apologised and took a handful of tissues and dabbed the wet part.

"I'm really sorry," I said and helped her get rid of the wetness.

"It's okay. It was an accident." She said, politely.

"Let's go, I'll help you clean up. I really feel bad about that." I said and we slipped through the crowd, dodging the over-excited people on the way.

When we reached the washroom, I quickly grabbed the tissues and held them under the faucet to make them damp and I handed those to the girl.

"Hey. It's okay. You don't have to behave like you just cut my hair," the girl chuckled.

She had dirty blonde hair and appetite figure. She had chocolate brown eyes and a heart shaped face.

"But the stain would be hard to remove." I said feeling guilty.

"Don't worry. I have a spare shirt. Plus I should've know that this kind of thing could happen," she replied, chuckling.

Her easy-going response made me smile. "What's your name?" I asked.

"I'm Livii," she smiled.

"Nice to meet you Livii, I'm Alyssa," I said, smiling back.

"Hold on, you're Aaron's best right?" She asked, forgetting the stain on her clothes.

Instead of replying, I just nodded, a bit unsure.

"Oh my God! I lived your performance so so much. It was just awesome. And the slide show? Too good, if you ask me. I just fell in love with your voice that time you sang. It was really cool!" She rambled.

I turned red. "You liked it?"

"No. I loved it. Duh!"

I laughed. She was really bubbly and cheerful.

"Hey, is that Aaron's Jersey?"

I looked at the jersey and nodded, smiling.

"Aww! It looks so cute on you. And you're so nice! I swear your performance and your revelation about being best friends with Aaron nearly gave Shelly a heart attack right there! And that was EPIC!"

I chuckled at her excitement.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who enjoyed it."

"Trust me, that bitch needs to know her place here. Plus, if you need any backing up, I'm there," Livii winked.

"Haha. Thanks. Your support means a lot."

She was about to reply when my phone started ringing.

I muttered a soft "Excuse me" and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello my foot. I come here to look for you and find you NOWHERE. Is that how I'm supposed to be treated when I win?" Candy spoke, grumpily.

"I-." I heard some shouting in the background and was interrupted.

"Yeah. Sam says she's not going to spare you either for leaving her on the stands."

I took a minute to register what he spoke. When I did, a huge grin took over my face when I asked. "You WON?! That's AWESOME!"

"Yeah. Then why aren't you here?"

"I'll be right there!" I replied and ended the call.

I have Livii a sheepish grin. "I guess I gotta go. Do you need any help?"

"Nah. I got it. You go and congratulate Aaron for me."

"I sure will," I grinned.

Maybe making friends at school wasn't going to be hard after all.

***

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