Charades And Champagne

Chapter 6

Zoe soon discovered that Miles and Aliza were the least of her problems that day when she closed her locker door and found someone in the form of a glaring Tasha Montez (alone this time) standing behind it.

"What are you playing at Zoe?!" she snarled, startling Zoe so much that she almost dropped her books.

Rebalancing them, she looked up and fixed Tasha with a long-suffering expression. "And good morning to you too," she said. "You mind telling me what you're talking about?"

"Oh yeah, that's just perfect. Play dumb why don't you?" Tasha's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I'm talking about that stunt you pulled last night with the whole outfit and the song and getting everyone so worked up about you."

"They were always so worked up about me. It was you that changed it," Zoe said quietly.

"No, you did that," Tasha said, jabbing a finger in Zoe's chest. "In front of the whole cafeteria too, if I recall correctly."

Zoe had been meaning to remain level-headed throughout this exchange, but that single remark made it impossible to stay calm and collected for even a second longer. "Oh, for the millionth time, it was an accident!" she exclaimed, almost screaming in frustration. "And if you really want to know, I just got tired of letting you walk all over me. Yesterday at lunch was the last straw. Just because you banned me from talking to Joshua doesn't mean I can't have a life."

"That's too bad because now all he can talk about is you and your so-called 'life'. So whatever you're doing, it has to stop. Like right now," Tasha hissed back.

They were in each other's faces now, almost nose to nose, like a pair of angry cats; poised to attack. Yesterday perhaps, Zoe might've ducked her head and backed down from this confrontation. But today was different. She was different.

"No it doesn't," Zoe shot back forcefully. "That's not part of the deal and if Joshua can't control himself, that's not my problem. So leave me alone, or I swear I'll report you for cyber bullying."

Tasha smiled, though there was a strained quality to it. "That doesn't change the fact that people will remember what they saw," she said softly, reminding Zoe that she still had the upper hand here.

"Give it a rest Tasha," Zoe snapped. "You don't even like Joshua. You're just like everyone else. You like the whole glossy image of him. I would know, I was there back when you were totally in love with—"

"Oh God, just SHUT UP!" Tasha shrieked, causing a few heads in the corridor to turn in their direction. "Look," she continued, lowering her voice, but managing to keep every iota of her hostility intact. "I don't care what you do, as long as you stay away from Joshua. If you don't, I'll make you wish you weren't born."

And with that pleasant sentence, Tasha spun around, her hair describing an angry golden arc behind her, and stalked off to her next class.

Feeling drained, yet satisfied, Zoe walked off in the opposite direction, toward her Psych class. Where she fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion once again.

*****

Lunch was the epitome of pure torture for Zoe. And for the first time ever, Aliza was part of the problem.

She had decided that since Zoe now knew about her crush on Miles, there was no need for subtlety anymore. She was flirting more openly with him now; cracking jokes, batting her eyelashes, and of course, smacking him on the chest like she couldn't keep her hands off him.

And though Miles acted like he normally did, the annoying stab in Zoe's stomach kept getting more and more pronounced with each touch. Like it was her Aliza was hitting and not Miles.