Zara Reed was hopelessly in love with Nathaniel, almost from the moment she hit him. The path to Nathaniel isn't easy. It will take an unlikely alliance with his friend Liam, who wants a chance with her sister, Maria. If she only she's convince her...
"I was busy." They both looked towards the door. Outside the classroom there was a rising noise of students. Liam looked at the clock on the wall.
"We better wrap this up before this room is inundated with more Freshman punks."
"Fine. Just so you know, Maria doesn't suspect anything." She decided to twist the knife of her words a little to the right of his heart, "She doesn't think about you at all."
She didn't know why it gave her so much pleasure to see the cloud of doubt pass before his eyes, or why she wanted Liam to feel rejection. Maybe because she felt like this her whole life; second best. Never most popular. And here he was, the sun god of her school. He shined, while everyone bent to his will. To take that away was power she'd never known.
"It doesn't matter. I'm sure she doesn't tell you everything. You're like an annoying younger sibling." He smirked, the cloud passed. He was beaming.
Zara wanted to stab him in the eye with a number 2 pencil, unsharpened so it would cover more surface area. She'd twist it deep into the core of his brain to make him feel something like humility, shame, regret. It had to be buried somewhere deep within him.
She kept her voice low, and calm. "You know nothing about my relationship with my sister. We're close. We're best friends."
"Really? I thought she was your chauffeur. I mean, after what happened last year."
Zara reached into her bag and searched for something to throw. Something heavy. At the bottom she found, not something heavy, but hard plastic. Without thinking she chucked the plastic box at Liam's head. He ducked, and it smashed into the whiteboard behind him.
In perfect timing the door opened and the first group of students entered. She was so furious she left the room, not even bothering to pick the cracked box. She slammed past Liam, hitting his rock hard shoulder on her way out.
She pushed past her classmates in the hallway. Everyone was jockeying to their first class as the bell was set to ring. It felt like she was fleeing the scene of a crime. Her first class was World History. She tunneled through to the door, but not before she ran smack into the second worst Darling in the world, Tiffany.
"Watch it."
She looked up at Tiffany, and even though they nearly collided head to head, Tiffany wasn't looking at her, but beyond her. Zara looked over her shoulder and saw him. Liam, just standing in the middle of the hall staring after her.
"Forget it. I've got to get to class."
"Whatever. Running into people is totally your m.o."
After that, Zara tried to avoid any contact with Liam, but the more she tried the more she would see him everywhere. The only thing that made things worse was that each time she would see him with Nathaniel. One she loathed, and loved the other.
When she walked into the cafeteria she looked for a tucked away corner. Even though her sister was more strategically studious, she was a reader. And with a book in her hand, she found the best imaginable spot, a forgotten table behind a plastic fern.
"Do you mind?"
Zara looked up to see her sister with a tray of food. "What's wrong? Library closed?"
"No. I'm just famished. Normally I' wait to eat when we get home, but I couldn't today." She took a sip of an apple juice out of a straw and looked sideways at Zara. Then said, "What's wrong?"
Her sister seemed different. It was as if she was looking out from behind all those books and seeing the world for the first time in a long time, like she was seeing her sister. She wanted to tell Maria about Liam, about the nightmare morning. If she did that she would have to tell her why.
She couldn't risk it. Liam might not keep the deal about Nathanial if she did. Maria was the only card she had on the table. She felt horrible keeping it from her, but it was the truth.
She picked at the sandwich she brought from home. "Nothing. Just behind on some homework." She ate a small bite of it, and set it down again not picking it up again.
"You know you should study more." Maria moved some peas around on her plate. She hated being reminded of studying from the homework queen. It was galling. They continued on in silence.
"Hey Maria." Nathaniel said. "Do you mind if I sit here?" He was looking at Maria, but he looked over at Zara, and she was sure when he looked at her he didn't remember her.
"You don't mind, do you Zara?"
"No, that's fine."
He sat down next to Maria, and slid his tray next to hers, sitting sideways as he faced her. "I was wondering if you have a copy of the vocab list for French class? I seemed to have misplaced mine."
Zara tried not to stare. Past him, in her periphery stood Liam, watching. His smirk glowed from 15 feet away. How she wished she had something else to throw at him. If it wasn't for Nathaniel sitting there she would consider the pudding.
Knots twisted in her stomach. She began to feel sick. She got up from the table without saying anything. "I have to go."
She could see her sister start to get up, but something in her face must have kept her from following her. She dumped her lunch into the trash. She spent the rest of the day in the girls bathroom cursing Liam, and plotting her revenge.
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