Of Love And Hate, You Were My Greatest Mistake

Of Love And Hate, You Were My Greatest Mistake ~40~

Laila watched in fascination as yet another flyer was posted up beside her, this one against the locker to her left. The guy taping it turned and held one out to her, then pushed it in her hands when she didn’t take it.

“Hope to see you there, Laila.”

She furrowed her brows as he walked away, wondering how in the world he knew her name. She’d never seen him before in her life. She looked down at the dark purple thing in her hands, her eyes scanning the page out of curiosity. It was an invitation to that night’s celebrity themed party.

“So that’s what they’ve been passing out all morning,” She murmured. Students had been tossing them down the halls, shoving them in people’s faces, and plastering them across every Panthers banner in sight. All of that, and she hadn’t even reached first period yet. She turned back to her open locker and carelessly shoved the paper inside. She still had no intention of going.

“What’d the paper do to you?” Jace grinned as she jumped in surprise and accidentally slammed her locker. He was standing right beside her, clad in his soccer jersey and holding no school supplies whatsoever. She glanced down to see the jersey was accompanied by his usual dark jeans, spiked belt, and a Joker shirt that was barely visible underneath. It gave off the same dangerous and delinquent vibe as usual. She looked back up to see his green eyes on her. 

“Nothing. I just don’t wanna go,” She finally said. “It’s not my thing.”

“Yeah..” He suddenly seemed distracted, and the smile dropped from his face as he looked at something behind her. He was only confused for a second before he started laughing. 

“What?” She turned around to see what he was laughing at and nearly dropped her pom poms in shock. The general was angrily storming down the hall, tearing up and ripping down every flyer in sight. He was leaving a trail of shredded paper behind; proof of his own destructive rampage. 

“Stop putting these corrupting flyers up in my halls!” He roared, wrenching a stack from the nearest boy’s hands. “I’ll expel anyone else who mentions this thing. This is illegal!” Laila flinched as he violently ripped one off the locker beside her and stalked right past.

“You okay?” Jace asked. She slowly nodded, staring after the general in disbelief. He’d nearly ripped her face off trying to get the flyer. She couldn’t even imagine how the flyers themselves must feel.

“It’s not illegal,” Mr. Dyson corrected loudly, following closely behind.He caught Laila’s eye and grinned, sharing a silent joke with his favorite student as he passed. “You can’t expel kids for partying, John. That would be illegal,” He followed the general around a corner and disappeared down the adjacent hall.

Laila fell into a fit of laughter the second they were gone. She could still hear the general yelling about flyers and expulsion, accompanied by Mr. Dyson’s loud and hilariously intermittent corrections. 

And that’s why you’re my favorite teacher, she inwardly told him. If he were still around she would’ve said it out loud. She turned back to her locker and groaned. Jace was right there, resting against it now with an arm completely in her way.

“Do you want something?” She asked blandly. He certainly looked like he did, seeing as he was blocking her locker for no apparent reason.

“No. I’m just thinking about how horribly preppy you look today,” He said. “It’s so much worse than usual. With all the sparkles, and those fuzzy things, and the hideous bows in your hair. It’s so.. Ugh,” He shuddered in clear disgust, then shut his locker and walked away.

“They’re not bows, they’re ribbons!” She yelled after him. “And they match!” 

He kept walking. She shoved her pom poms inside her locker, thoroughly offended this time. “They’re cute and they fucking match,” She reached up to adjust the purple and black ribbons tied in her hair, then contemplated for a moment before getting a mirror from her locker.