My eyes widen. How did she find out? Aubrielle chuckles devilishly; her head dipping down for a second. Then she exhales a long drowsy sigh. All of a sudden, her head shoots back up and she shoves me onto the wall behind. She pins me by my collar, aiming a menacing glare strictly at me. ‘What had you done there? Had you touched him?’ She interrogates frantically; demanding to know. The impact of her rampage had shaken some of the equipment within this closet. She grits her teeth and flashes me a ferocious look. It’s an expression that could slay any being.
            ‘What if I did? He’s not a museum artifact. He’s not even your asset! It’s not your right to know, and I shall not be obliged to tell you anything regarding that.’ I state before stepping on the edge of her toes; crippling the margins of her well pedicured nails. She yelps loudly; the pitch of her voice nearly turned me deaf.
            The door barges open to reveal two of her fretful friends who had heard her earsplitting screech. They look concerned; as if they want to tear me in half for stepping on their friend’s toe. Yet, unluckily for them, they weren’t able to capture me swift enough. Before they inflict themselves on me, I managed to dash out the janitor’s closet just in time. As I spring away, I can distinctly hear Aubrielle howl a threat from afar. ‘Keep running and your secret will soon be brought to the public’s attention’ she hollers audibly.
            I feel my chest pump rapidly upon her threat. I understand that being afraid will do nothing more than distract me, but I can’t help it. Nobody else can acknowledge what had happened between Howard and me. I can’t afford to destruct a well-built reputation. People will presume I’m just another girl trying to hit on the school’s babe—which is a shame! Nevertheless, I opt to shrug all issues off of my shoulder; walking toward class. By the time class is finished and lunch break rolls around, I’m immediately called over to the principal’s office. I can’t know for a fact the reason I’ve been called over, but I believe it’s something involving the snapshot of my bum that went viral. Apparently, many kids got into trouble today therefore it’ll take more time than typical for my name to finally be pronounced.
            ‘Hey. Astrid, correct?’ I hear a dude beside me call out. I tilt my head sideways to glance at the person; my brows furrowing to the middle. ‘I’m Landon by the way, nice to meet you.’ He greets. I simply nod at the boy and avert my gaze back in disinterest. ‘You know, I’ve heard about you.’ He says seconds later. I keep my gaze pointed forward, not bothering to return his stare.
            ‘Hasn’t everyone?’ I sigh in annoyance.
            ‘Is that the reason you got called over? The snapshot?’ He queries.
            ‘Most likely’ I reply shortly; still avoiding eye contact.
            ‘Geez Astrid, I know you’re insecure but there’s no need for you to be cold’ He mumbles faintly.
            I grunt upon how pushy he is, ‘Me, Cold? Let me flip the tables for you then—why were you called over?’ I pipe up. My eyes are wide and I have a creepy grin taped across my face. I now have my body fully twisted sideward so we can link eyes. He was formerly sitting two seats away yet stands up to move to the seat right next to me, unfortunately.
            ‘I was involved in a cheating-case during my physics exam.’ He says with a light chortle, seemingly proud of that.
            ‘How wise! You must be very proud of yourself, young man!’ I exclaim sarcastically.
            He titters silently, ‘Wrong. I gave the cheats. The teacher assumed I provoked everyone else to cheat and that’s why he was only dissatisfied with me and not the rest of the class. I think he hates me now, because additionally, I schooled him by falsifying his theory. Now, he’s pissed at me. That’s why I’m stuck here in this hell of a place.’ He says, his head dipping down.
            ‘Your teacher may be incorrect of his theory, but he’s certainly not in the wrong for throwing you in here. You need to tame yourself, Buddy! The Detention is perfect for you!’ I tell him dully before standing up upon hearing my name being pronounced. It’s not very often that I find people like Landon. Why would a student contest a teacher’s knowledge when they’re already acquiring the best grades in class? I’d be satisfied if I were in his position.
            As I set foot on the grounds of the office, I can already recognize the expression of dismal written upon the principal’s face. It isn’t anticipated for a student like me to be prompting such a widespread controversy. Lots of people are appalled—students and staff members too! Even mister janitor is revolted. ‘This morning, I was mailed a certain photograph’ the principal begins. It can easily be guessed how the conversation had gone from then on.


           
            The bell rings. School’s finally over. Teens spring out of their classrooms in glee like wild baboons. I swiftly head out in search of Aubrielle. If I don’t talk things through with her, she is likely to expose me to everyone. I can’t afford that. Quickly, I sprint outside the building. After briefly looking around, I ultimately spot her among the amassed group of girls on the bleachers. They are all watching the boys’ soccer practice; chanting and hooting. I proceed to sprint my way there. Yet before I managed, I trip upon something that makes me stumble and fall to the ground and into a moment of daze.
            ‘Hey, you alright?’ a voice reverberates. I angle my head up too see Howard, kneeling down near me. Fortunately, nobody else but him seems to notice me clumsily trip, because I’m rather distant away from the field. I nod at him. ‘Let me help you up.’ He whispers as he nears me.
            ‘I’m fine, I can handle myself.’ I pull up my hand in front of him as if indicating that I never asked for help. I try to pick my frail body up. It was oddly painful. As soon as I rose back up on both legs, I feel excruciating throbbing on my right knee cap which made me collapse back onto the ground again.
‘Ow.’ I yelp quietly upon the stinging pain on my knee. There appears to be a considerable-sized slit on my knee, I must’ve cut it on an acute edge when I stumbled. Blood is gushing out and draining me out at a very numbing rate; I can barely stand up. He gazes into my eyes with anxiety, and like a gentleman, instantly picks me up and carries me away from the field bridal-style. ‘Please put me down, I really need to do something important.’ I reason, trying to fight his strong grip. Yet he’s a very robust athlete, and I’m badly injured and defenseless; thus I’m forced to give in and let him carry me away. I guess Aubrielle can wait.
            He ends up driving me home using my car, because my legs are in too much pain to be able to hit the brakes. The bleeding was pretty horrific, yet Howard had helped me inhibit the flow, covering it with a clean cloth therefore I won’t bleed all over the place. He’d ditched his mates in the midst of soccer practice very abruptly and didn’t notify them. I bet that had made them extremely furious; I’d heard that they’re going to have a soccer competition very soon. ‘You smell like sweat.’ I complain, strapping the seat-belt over my body, as he drives out the school’s parking lot.
            ‘You smell like roses; we’d make a great team!’ He praises, as he maneuvers the steering wheel. I roll my eyes jokingly at his cheesy statement. Seconds into the ride, I can already realize how the vehicle is hyperactively dancing along the road, super frantic. Does this lunatic even know how to drive? He’s going to get me killed.
            ‘I’m really afraid right now; pull over and let me drive.’ I order.
            ‘Not a chance; let yourself rest first.’ He says, patting my head.
            ‘You’re insane! Let me drive the car!’ I insist, trying to grasp the rim of the steering wheel.
            ‘I don’t trust girls in maneuvering elaborate vehicles; you’re just too adorable to drive.’
            ‘Excuse me?’ To my luck, we ultimately arrive home safe. He drives into the carport, almost colliding into some poor trees, but fortunately didn’t. He opens the passenger’s door, picking me up from my seat then carrying me all the way into my bedroom.
            Then he carefully rests my body over the bed, ‘Wait here’ he says. He then goes in the bathroom and returns with a bottle of soap and a pot of warm water in hand. Sitting beside me, he lifts my wounded leg onto his lap and begins to clean the wound while I grunt in pain. ‘Shhh…’ He tries to soothe me down, squeezing my right hand gently. ‘You know, you’re the gawkiest woman I’ve ever met…’ He remarks, as he dabs some antibiotic cream on the cut. ‘Says the hypocrite’ I reply. I feel Howard briefly stop dabbing on the cut. ‘Nice legs’ Howard suddenly states inaudibly in a raspy voice. I couldn’t catch what he had said so I slant my head down to glance at him only to find that he’s been staring way beyond my knee.
            ‘Oh my god, you disgusting pervert!’ I shriek, booting him with my left leg.
            ‘I can’t help it, I’m a dude.’ He defends, raising both arms up in the air. My cheeks are beginning to flare up in shades of red. I stare at the ground and let my fringes sweep over my eyes to veil my apparent embarrassment. Of course, he’s taken notice of that and winks at me teasingly. Lastly, he covers the wound with Band-Aid and tells me to sit straight up on the bed. ‘All done’ He finally declares.
            ‘You still stink.’ I joke lightheartedly. He chuckles at me and peels out his soccer uniform that’s drenched in sweat and tosses it away to the ground in a boastful manner. I would normally hate a narcissistic attitude in a haughty individual and thus I can’t comprehend why I enjoy having him tease me like that. He faces back for a moment allowing me some seconds to gawk at the view of his bulging muscles from behind. He’s very athletically built, tan and the overall epitome of flawlessness—especially when he flexes his biceps. I can’t depict how lustful I have become because of him and how much urge I feel in needing to touch him. He’s the uttermost portraiture of the prince-charming I had constantly dwelt of as a little girl. He gradually steps closer towards me and I can’t help but gape in astonishment at his body. He’s absolutely gorgeous that I’m struggling much in containing composure and keeping my hands to myself. Then he continues; inching himself closer to me that our bodies are as little as an inch apart.
            I can’t tame myself any longer. I run the tips of my fingers upon the skin of his bare torso, tracing endless circles. It’s very soft and tender alike the heart and soul I hope he embodies. I eventually stop tracing lines on his chest upon noticing what seem to be marks. It’s only close-up that I’m able to discern visible jagged lines that run through his bare chest. They look like scars. I have an idea that those marks are rather new as there are still certain areas of flesh that showing through. I poke on the marks as I gaze up at him. ‘What are these scars? What are they?’ I ask as I trace my fingertips along the marks and gaze up at him. He gently grabs my wrist that was caressing his chest and brings my hand up to rest over his cold cheek.
            ‘They’re nothing anyone ought to know’ He asserts in a low masculine tone; the edge of his lips crinkling into a delicate grin.
            I nod at him coyly. ‘You’re really cold.’ I state upon the feel of the skin of his cheek.
            ‘Really? Perhaps, it’s just you. You are probably just warm.’ He murmurs, clutching my hand to bring over his nose as he plants a gentle peck on the back of my palm.
            I giggle at him, as I rub and feel his large hands; they aren’t as soft as I’d expected. ‘Howard?’ I ask.
            ‘Yes?’
            ‘Your hands—they’re rough.’ I murmur.
            ‘What’s the matter with that?’ He chortles aloud.
            ‘Nothing’ I state with a wide grin, making him burst out in chuckles.
            ‘You’re weird’ says he.
            I nudge him playfully on the shoulder, ‘You’re weirder!’ I say, sticking my tongue out at him.
            ‘You want to know one thing, Astrid...?’ He asks. I raise an eyebrow at him. ‘You’re not just pretty, but incredibly beautiful.’ He compliments as he strokes the hair that was swept to the side of my face. I dip my head down, not wanting him to know how flattered I feel. My cheeks can’t help but blossom to a vivid red tone. Using the tip of his index, he lifts my chin up to lock our gazes together; therefore I was forced to look him straight in the eye, blushing madly like an idiot.
            ‘You want to know another thing, Astrid…?’ He asks. I nod in silence.
            ‘I love you.’ he leans in closer, and closer. I feel the sensation of his warm exhales breathe against my cold cheeks and the intensifying tension of our bodies almost bound together. Then our lips collide. It was a brief two second kiss; he kissed me, yet I failed to respond and my lids were fully open throughout. ‘What’s the problem?’ He asks sweetly, pressing my hand. I’m thoroughly baffled with myself, why didn’t I kiss back? What’s the matter with me? I’m almost certain that I’m completely smitten over him too. Wait, I do love him, right? So many thoughts are encircling my head that I can barely think straight.
            ‘No, this isn’t right. Love doesn’t usually come this early’ I assert out of nowhere.
            ‘What do you mean? You don’t believe in our love?’ He chuckles, with a baffled expression.
            ‘No, of course I do!’ I defend.
            ‘Then what?’ He asks, looking me straight in the eyes.
            ‘I just don’t believe in you…’ Those words slip out of my mouth ineptly and out of the blue that I didn’t even notice it or even took time to consider them.With those words set free, he hesitantly releases my hand which he formerly held; letting it fall onto the bed cushion. ‘I’ve got to go.’ He states surly as he turns around to walk out the room immediately.       ‘Have a good afternoon, Astrid.’ He asserts, before lividly closing the door to my bedroom shut and deserting me. Stupid Astrid! I remain mute and unable to respond; his soccer uniform still lies on the floor. It’s still entirely drenched in his sweat and the room still carries his particular scent.

            The day that follows, I don’t even bother to dress myself in any suitable ensemble for school. A random sweatshirt and a grey pair of leggings will do. I woke up with one leg completely sore and my lids glued tight; eyes puffy. Dad didn’t manage to show up last night, and thus I’m impelled to drive myself to school today with a wounded leg. Yet, somehow I’d fortunately succeeded in arriving just in time and also managed to maneuver the vehicle safely despite my bruised leg. Even so, I can’t bear to do anything but limp to navigate through the corridors of school. Regardless of that, the fact that I’m limping is rather unnoticeable as I’m quite a petite and slender girl. Yet nevertheless, that doesn’t change the ridiculously immense pain I’d got to endure. As I was fixing my foundation in the restroom, Aubrielle emerges through the door. She steps in my direction, inserting herself right beside me and begins to fix her makeup; completely disregarding my presence. Not that I’m demanding her vigilance yet I hate that she’s pretending to act oblivious of what had occurred the day in prior between the two of us. She has an obnoxious expression bind on her face yet at the same time, doesn’t bother to threaten me or attack me with anything particularly rude. How strange of her? I would’ve expected for her to clout me in the face once we meet again yet that didn’t happen.            ‘Aubrielle…remember what had happened yesterday morning?’ I ask courteously.
            She whirls her body around dramatically to face me; giving me a tedious expression. ‘What?’ She asks flatly.
            ‘Can the secret be kept just between the three of us please?’ I implore. She simply stares at me dubiously placing one hand on her hip. ‘Please Aubrielle’ I plead once more; having my hands interlaced at my front as if worshiping her, the mighty Lord. I’m beyond anxious and afraid of what will come about if people find out about my case. It will majorly help if she keeps her trap shut. ‘I beg, just for this one.’
            With that being said; she immediately shifts from bored to intimidating. ‘Finally, the nerd admits it.’ She smirks. ‘God, how long does it take for you to just step up and be honest!? You’re such a slut!’ She comments, bursting into dramatic girl rage-mode.
            ‘Shut up! It wasn’t as if you hadn’t done the same!’ I stammer.
            ‘Joke is on you because I hadn’t. But that isn’t the major problem as of now. I bet you know what is—and don’t even try to hide it!’ She says as she crosses her arms over her chest and turns to face me.
            I raise an eyebrow in perplexity; ‘What are you talking about?’
            ‘What were you doing in the soccer field yesterday?’ She pipes up instantly and grits her teeth.
            ‘I was sprinting towards you as I wanted to disclose all about this with you and yet I tripped and injured myself severely. Thus, I had to leave immediately.’ I imply. I didn’t downright as of lie. I just wasn’t wholly truthful still.
            ‘Stop lying!’ She yelps, tugging on her hair with her hands like a mad-woman. ‘Howard completely vanished after you ‘supposedly’ injured yourself! He was with none of his teammates! He wasn’t with anyone I know that he knows either! I know everyone! The only probability is that he’d gone with you!’ She exclaims, almost pulling out the poor little blue artificial hairs off of her scalp.
            ‘You nosy stalker…’ I remark quietly to myself.
            ‘I knew it! So he did go home with you!’ She pipes up in satisfaction with a fulfilled expression as if she’s just unraveled a secret code. Yet after a while she pauses; her stare growing stony. ‘Wait a second.’ She abruptly halts from pacing around and looks at me with a mixture of dread, wrath and despondency. Her eyes seem as if she’s trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle. ‘The two of you made out, didn’t you?’ She states as if concluding so with her eyes conveying immense misery. I stand there in quietude, my mind debating over how to respond to that troubling question. Frankly, yes I did but that’s personal business between both Howard and I.
            ‘you did, didn’t you!?’ She yelps; a tear managing to ooze down her flustered cheeks.
            ‘Why do you care so much?’
            ‘Stop denying this! One girl and one guy under the same roof; what do you think is prone to happen?!’ She yelps; immediately barging out of the restroom. I’m left in utter shock with my mouth agape.

            When school finally ends, the immediate thing that comes to mind is my overwhelming urge to expel some explosive diarrhea. I bolt to the bathroom at the end of the hallway and lock myself inside a stall to immediately do my business. Class earlier was thoroughly dreadful as I had been combating constipation all throughout the lesson. Therefore having fulfilled the urge is a relief. As I was rinsing my hands I notice four legs inside one of the stalls through the mirror. Four legs; which means two pairs of shoes in which one of them is supposedly a guy’s. What in the world is a male doing in here? On the other hand, I recognize the other pair of shoes as the pair Aubrielle had worn this morning. I catch faint whispers back and forth from the inside and got a little nosy that I lean in a bit to eavesdrop the things being said. It’s something I didn’t anticipate hearing. All I hear is the girl choking in tears and a male sounding very enraged. Stupid Astrid didn’t quite realize how her feet can easily be discerned from the wide gap beneath the stall door. The two that are inside most likely notice the fact that I’m standing right outside the door.
            The door bursts open, revealing two familiar figures; Aubrielle and Howard. I choke on my own saliva the minute I catch sight of Howard. What the hell is he doing here? Why is he with her? Howard looks infuriated whereas Aubrielle looks as if she’d been through World War III. Mascara is smeared upon her cheeks and her eyes are bloodshot red. Had she been crying? Howard gasps upon the sight of me; looking incredibly startled and embarrassed at the same time. Yet Howard looks as if he’s too furious to chat that he avoids me entirely. I feel the gust of wind sweep through as he swiftly passes me to pave his immediate exit out the bathroom.
            ‘What the hell?’ I exclaim in utter bewilderment, staggering Aubrielle who’s still trying to recollect and compose herself. Nothing seems to register right in my head right. A comprehensive explanation can really help. Aubrielle pauses for a moment and turns to me with an intimidating glare; not in the mood to converse either. Despite that, she didn’t proceed to do anything else but storm out very abruptly; again leaving me in utter confusion all alone. Is there something I don’t know that I should? Or am I just being thrust into strange situations where I think I’m involved but I’m not? Nothing makes sense and I hate being confused. Aubrielle did claim to be his best friend so perhaps it’s just one sort of quarrel case between two friends. But it certainly looks much more than just a best friend brawl. There are only three major things that are circulating within my head as of now. Is Howard another stereotypical cocky player? As he surely made me feel dumb! Was all that has happened between us a mere lie? Also, has he been giving be false-hope after all this time?