You tried to make me feel bad with the things you do

It ain't so funny when the joke's on you

Ooh, the joke's on you

Got everyone laughing, got everyone clapping, asking,

"How come you look so cool?"

'Cause that's the only thing that I've learned at school,

I said that that's the only thing that I've learned at school

-

***

Now here was one thing you needed to know about me, I hated being the center of attention. I hated it in a deeply personal level.

Since I was an only child, my parents made themselves believe that I was the most talented kid in the world; and because of that belief, all of the traumatic memories I had during my childhood involved getting forced to perform all kinds of embarrassing acts in front of many people.

I remembered that one time when my mom asked me to sing Whitney Houston's All by Myself during one of our family reunions. To say that it was a disaster was an understatement. I did not want to elaborate but there were some policemen involved and a couple of next door neighbors who claimed they heard wailing noises and thought someone was being brutally murdered inside our house.

I only cried for one month after that.

Since then, I took great lengths to fade into the background. I wouldn't even hesitate to resort to blackmail if the situation asked for it. Like that time in fourth grade when I sort of hinted to my grade school teacher that I would blab about her after-school rendezvous with our married principal if she cast me as Wendy in our class performance of Peter Pan. It was very effective.

In the end, I got to play the very important role of a coconut tree; in which the only thing I did was stand in the background and sway every now and then.

Best performance I'd ever done. My parents swore that was the best tree-portrayal they had ever seen in their entire lives. They were so moved; they even had tears in their eyes after the show.

Having said so, you could safely assume that I wasn't exactly happy about the recent happenings in my life. Being included in Hunter's circle of friends automatically put me under the spotlight. And when there were eyes following your every move, it was just a matter of time before they discover your weaknesses.

The moment I saw Rachel, Sophie and Jessica Hewitt blocking the way to my locker a week after my long-overdue high school debut, I knew I was in big trouble. I kind of expected it though. From the murderous looks Rachel had been throwing me these past few days, I knew she was just waiting for the right time to strike.

And it looked like now was the right time since Hunter was nowhere to be seen. He was currently at the principal's office together with Parker, getting a mouthful from Mr. Curtis for hacking the school's sound system and changing the school's alarm to Wiz Khalifa's Young, wild, and free.

Oh, I am really going to kill you, Hunter! I swore to myself.

"Look! Ms. Social Climber has arrived!" Rachel screeched when she saw me, catching the attention of all the people in the corridor.

Jessica, also one of the girls in the cheering squad; looked at me from head to toe, scrunching up her nose as if she just smelled something nasty. I wondered if she finally noticed the scent of her hairspray? Its awful scent could be smelled all the way to Nebraska.

Surprisingly, Sophie didn't pay me any attention. As a matter of fact, she looked like she would rather be somewhere else than stand there with the other two girls. She probably wished she was exchanging spit with Kenji right now. The thought made me want to hurl and cry.

"Please, can you move? I need to put my things inside." I asked them politely.

I was trying to be nonchalant about it but the truth was, it was hard not to feel intimidated when three tall, blonde, and deadly girls were looking at you as if you were an insect they wanted to step on.

Jessica crossed her arms over her chest.

"Getting all high and mighty now, are we? Puhlease! Don't act so cocky! Just because you're Hunter's current plaything doesn't mean you're already one of us, freak!" She said, emphasizing every word.

"Uh, I was just trying to be polite. I'm sorry if my good manners offended you." I made the mistake of saying out loud.

It was like the scene I always saw in teenage movies, where the gorgeous girls bully the nerd for some non-sense reasons while all of the other students just stood and watch.

I suddenly felt a pang of guilt. I was once an on-looker too, someone who just watched the cool kids bully those kids from the lower hierarchy just because they could do so. I was so afraid to stand up and defend the weak for the fear of losing the safety blanket of my invisible status.

I realized I was nothing but a coward.

Now the wheels had turned, and it was my time to burn.

Jessica was about to say something when Rachel stopped her with a meaningful glare.

Rachel then flipped her hair, and gave me a haughty smile.

"Let's have a little chit-chat first and let's see if you can keep up with your snarky comments, shall we?" She said in a sickly sweet voice. "I heard your mom is that slutty Asian maid who seduced Dr. Davies so that she could get a green card? Is that true?"

She continued in a loud voice that echoed throughout the corridors of the school.

The students began whispering and pointing at me.

Jessica smirked.

"Like mother, like daughter huh?"

She and Rachel erupted into mean laughters. Sophie shook her head slightly as if she didn't approve of her friends' behavior but did nothing to stop them.

Rachel stepped forward and placed a hand on my shoulder, a cruel smile on her lips.

"You know what, I can't blame your mum if she stoop that low. I heard life is really hard in the third world. Tell me, how much did Dr. Davies pay for your mom's dowry?" she asked innocently, though her eyes were shining with malicious glee.

I stood there watching them make fun of my mom while listening to my other schoolmates exchange gossips about me and my family.

I couldn't imagine someone could be that rude. I wouldn't have cared if they threw the most hurtful insults at me, but insulting my mom? That was out of the line.

I clenched my hands into fists, trying so hard to control my tears. I wouldn't cry, especially not in front of these mean girls.

I needed to act strong. They knew nothing about my mom. They didn't know how kind and sweet and perfect she was. They didn't have the right to judge her.

I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself. I raised my chin and looked at the two girls straight in the eyes.

"First, my mom is already an American citizen when she married my dad."

A hushed silence fell onto the crowd and it encouraged me to continue what I was saying.

"Second, you need to review your geography. Asia is not a country but a large continent, and assuming that marriage with all asian people requires a dowry is not just ignorant but also, racist as hell."

I heard faint cheers coming from the Asian students across from me. Rachel threw them a furious look that immediately shut them up. It didn't stop me though.

"And lastly, my mom is a nurse and not a maid. But if she ever is a maid, I'd still be just as proud of her as I am now. There is nothing wrong nor funny about people who are trying to make an honest living." I finished in a straight voice, hiding my shaking hands away from their sight.

The two girls looked at me with blazing eyes, preparing for their retort when we heard a familiar voice that instantly made my heart jump.

"Very well said, buddy." I looked behind me and saw Hunter and Parker standing side by side.

Both boys stepped closer and stood on either side of me.

Hunter gave me an encouraging smile before he faced Rachel and Jessica who now looked like they were about to shit their super skinny jeans.

"Hey, you!" Hunter called Rachel.

"Oh, h-hi there. S-since when have you been standing there?" Rachel stuttered, trying to look relaxed but failing miserably.

"Long enough to hear you talking shit about my buddy's mom." Hunter said darkly before he shot her a sinister smile. "And since we're talking about mothers here, Parker and I also have something to say about your and Jessica's mom."

Hunter nodded at Parker. Parker winked, and smiled devilishly at me before he took a step closer to where Rachel stood.

"Hey Rachel," he called. "Yo momma so fat and old when God said, "Let there be light", he asked your mom to move out of the way."

I snorted.

Oh for the love of all yo momma jokes!

Hunter raised both of his hands to silence the crowd that immediately went wild when they heard Parker's joke.

"Settle down, people. We're not done yet!" He then put on the hood of his sweater and stood in front of Jessica as if they were in a rap battle.

"Hey Jessica, yo momma so fat not even Dora can explore her! "

The crowd erupted with laughter.

"Buuuuurrrnnnn!" they cheered.

Parker made a fake cough as if to clear his throat and started to gesture to Rachel.

"Hey Rachel, yo momma so fat I took a picture of her last Christmas and it's still printing." he said with a grave expression on his face that made the joke even more hilarious.

People were now literally rolling on the floor with laughter. Even Sophie looked like she was trying so hard not to laugh.

Rachel stomped her feet on the ground, looking like she was about to cry.

"You two, stop this! Why are you defending her? She's just a nobody! She's not one of us!"

"And she's not even that pretty!" cried Jessica.

"Oh no, girl, you didn't just say that." Hunter shook his head, looking disappointed. He put his hands on Jessica's shoulders and stared at her eyes sadly.

"Jessica, I hate to break it to you, but yo momma so ugly her birth certificate is an apology letter from the condom factory."

Oh my God, I'm going to die.

I could see people clutching their stomach, laughing like crazy and the two boys seemed like they didn't have any intention to stop.

Hunter tapped Parker's hand and they exchanged positions.

"Hey, Rachel" Parker pointed at the now tomato-red faced Rachel. "Yo momma so fat when she walked past the TV, I missed three seasons of Game of Thrones."

People's eyes were now filled with tears out of laughing so hard.

I couldn't decide if these two guys were idiots or geniuses. Nevertheless, they sure as hell knew how to retaliate with a bang.

The crowd of people cheered and clapped for the two. Hunter and Parker bowed their heads.

"Thank you, thank you!" said Parker, giving the girls on the crowd a bunch of flying kisses.

"Jessica, Sophie, let's go! I'm so done with these morons." Rachel hissed, throwing me a deadly look before she walked away. Jessica followed her lead while Sophie discreetly gave Hunter and Parker two thumbs up before she went and follow her two friends.

Hunter and Parker did some kind of a very complicated bro fist before Hunter said something to Parker. I saw Parker nodded, he then looked at me and gave me a flying kiss.

I gave him a smile of gratitude.

Hunter took my hand and gently dragged me away from the crowd.

I let him take me away.

We entered the first empty classroom we found.

"Are you okay?" Hunter said as soon as the door closed. There was this cute crease in the middle of his eyebrows that made me want to touch his face and smoothen the worry lines.

"I am now." I said.

He exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Good. I'm sorry about that. I promise it will never happen again."

I shook my head.

"You don't have to worry about me. I can handle myself." I said.

One corner of his mouth rose.

"I know you can. You were phenomenal back there."

He pulled out a small toblerone from his pocket and gave me one. I couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks."

He cocked his head to the side and looked at me solemnly.

"You realize I'm not going to just let that incident pass without getting back at them, right?"

Oh no.

I gave him a pleading look.

"Hunter, please, just let it go. I don't want any trouble."

Hunter walked slowly towards me, crossing the distance between us.

"I don't like it when people mess with my friends." I noticed his usual calm and smiling amethyst eyes were now burning with quiet rage.

He ran his hands comfortingly over my arms and I almost forgot how to breathe. Goosebumps appeared on the skin where he touched me and I felt my body temperature rose by several degrees.

He reached out and tucked the stray of hair that came off my ponytail to my ear.

"Baby, we're going to teach those girls a lesson they won't forget."

It was a statement not a threat. I could almost feel sorry for Rachel and Jessica right at that moment. Almost.

"What's your plan?" I asked, still not crazy about the idea of taking revenge.

Hunter smiled his signature mischievous smile.

"We're going to cage them, babe."

***

I should've known that nothing good was about to happen when Hunter asked me to photocopy five hundred copies of Nicolas Cage's most ridiculous face-shot yesterday.

Now all I could do was stare in horror as Rachel marched towards the school parking lot where her brand new, pink mini cooper was parked, and was now miraculously covered with Nicolas Cages' goofy faces from roof to tires. Even the interior of the car wasn't spared.

"You have been caged! 😝" said the sign made from sticky notes posted on the windshield of the car.

Shawn was laughing like crazy beside me.

"I need to talk to Hunter and congratulate him for this masterpiece." He said in the middle of his hysterical fit.

"He's crazy." I said, shaking my head. So this was the reason why he ditched all of his morning classes earlier.

It was almost lunch when the school's alarm went off and a mysterious voice coming from the school's speakers announced to the whole school that someone just got caged. Apparently, everyone in this school knew what being caged was all about because they all rushed to the parking lot.

I had a feeling I knew exactly who the owner of the voice was so I grabbed Shawn and followed everyone else. And here we were, watching Rachel threw an epic fit because of what happened to her car. It was really entertaining if I would be honest with myself.

"As the student council president, I don't know if I should reprimand that idiot or give him an excellence award after this." said an annoyed voice behind me.

I looked around and saw Pen staring at the scene in front of us with barely concealed amusement in her eyes.

"Hello there!" She greeted when she saw me looking at her.

"Hey." I smiled.

"Came here to see what the commotion is all about, looks like my friend's the culprit. Again." She sighed.

I didn't know what to say. It must be hard for her to be friends with the school's most notorious trouble makers especially since she was the student council president.

"I'm sorry in behalf of Hunter." I said, knowing full well Hunter wouldn't apologize himself. Apologies just weren't in his vocabulary.

Pen giggled upon hearing what I said.

"Sorry?" She exclaimed. "I'm not even mad, it's amazing!"

"Here, here!" agreed Shawn.

I threw both of them a confused look. What was wrong with these people? I expected Shawn to be amazed by this prank because he had a weird obsession with Hunter, but Pen? She was the student council president for God's sake! She was supposed to be against this kind of pranks!

"Oh come on, don't look at me like that. Isn't it nice to see Rachel having a dose of her own medicine every once in a while?" Pen asked, raising her right eyebrow at me.

I shrugged.

I felt horrible for saying this, but a part of me was really grateful that Hunter took it upon himself to avenge me. But another part of me knew he did it mostly for Heather. I was sure he already knew it was Rachel who vandalized Heather's locker and this was his retaliation. I didn't know how to feel about that.

"Sky, can I tell you something?" said Pen in a serious voice after a while.

I stared at her warm, golden brown eyes.

"Hunter can be such a pain the ass," she said, "but he's a great guy."

I didn't know why she was telling me that all of a sudden but she was looking at me as if she wanted me to understand something.

"I don't know, Pen. He's still a stranger to me." I told her.

She smiled.

"But you're not to us."

Before I could react, she tucked her arms around mine and happily dragged me inside the school.

"Shawn, just follow us to the cafeteria okay? I'm hungry." She called out to Shawn who was still busy taking pictures of Rachel's car.

Shawn just gave us a thumb's up and continued tapping on his cellphone. Poor Rachel. I wondered what happened to Jessica?

"Did Hunter already inform you about our camping trip on Saturday?" Pen said, bringing my attention back to her.

I shook my head.

"Um, no. Have fun on your camping trip, though." I said, wondering why Pen would assume Hunter would tell me about his trip with his friends.

Pen suddenly stopped walking.

"Bu you'll come with us." She said matter-of-factly.

I waited for the punch line because I was sure she was just joking. But it didn't come. Pen just kept on looking at me with her big, doe eyes.

"You're not kidding?" I asked dumbly.

"Of course not! We're your friends now whether you like it or not, and there's no more perfect way to welcome you and Shawn to the group than go on a camping trip together!" Pen said excitedly.

I didn't know what to say. I'd never been in a camping trip before. My mom had always been paranoid about outdoor trips. I guessed she was afraid that some dangerous animal would attack us and eat our whole family. She was very optimistic that way.

"I don't know, I have to ask for my parents' permission first." I said, feeling like a total loser. I was so badass I couldn't even go to a camping trip without my mom's go signal. Cheers to my independence!

Pen didn't look worried, though.

"Don't worry, Hunter will convince your parents. He's good at it." She said then continued walking like what she just said wasn't completely mental.

"What?" I said incredulously as I ran to keep up with her.

Hunter meeting my parents was a disaster waiting to happen.

"Trust me, Hunter is that one guy you should not be afraid to bring home to your parents." She said with a wink.

I was sure she was out of her mind because Hunter was obviously the guy my parents warned me about.

***

All of our other friends were already on their usual seats when Pen and I arrived at the cafeteria.

I took my seat hesitantly and was instantly harassed by Parker Fray.

"Missed me?" he said seductively.

I gave him a sweet smile then I said, "Not really."

That made Hunter laugh.

"Sorry man, she only has her eyes on me." He said, chuckling at Parker who just pouted at me.

I was about to throw Hunter an annoyed look but my stupid, abnormal heart made a happy dance when I laid my eyes on his face.