Shampoo Romance: A Novel

Chapter Three

Today was the day.

As she left her house for the final time, her mother reminded her, "Go straight to their house. I'll text you the address." Her mother sounded delighted but Pan felt that trouble lurked ahead in the distance.

She shook off the feeling, leaving earlier to take a short walk before school. On her walk, she watched how the trees swayed, hoping only for the best. She passed a well that she supposed might be a wishing well, tossing a coin in and wishing that everything went smoothly.

She had spent an hour or so packing her belongings, and her mother was going to transport their stuff during school, so she had nothing to worry about.

She went on thinking about after school though, zoning out through the entirety of her first few classes, not realising that Tres had been staring at her with a blank expression on his face, unreadable to any of the gawking girls scattered around the classroom.

It was only during her lunch period, when she found another milk carton with a note attached to the bottom that she snapped out of her daze. The note simply read Good luck. Pan was even more confused as to who the mystery milk-man was. Could it be Gar? He might have just been trying to put her off his trail by acting concerned? Maybe she had said something about the move to him, though she couldn't remember saying anything about it. She shook it off again, walking over to the cantine.

Pan saw Gar waving to her from their table, making her smile slightly. She was abnormally hungry today, filling her tray with all she could fit, salivating at the thought of eating her lunch in peace. Then the bastard tripped her, causing her to fall to her knees, the milk carton falling out of her pocket. He just had to ruin my day, she thought and groaned.

"What's your problem?" Gar growled, appearing beside her suddenly.

Tres put his hands up, saying calmly, almost mockingly, "It was just an accident." Gar lunged toward him, holding up a tightly-clenched fist, eyes filled with a flaming rage, but feeling a hand grip his shoulder stopped him and he let out a heavy breath.

Tres smirked looking at Gar, then Pan. She felt a shiver of frustration jolt up her back, colouring her ears red. "I don't think your guard dog likes me," Tres said, sounding entertained. She just rolled her eyes.

Looking around the room, Pan had never felt so humiliated. She shouted "Shut up, baka!" before running off, eyes tearing up. She'd had enough of this!

Gar gave Tres one last glance before running after her. Tres just stood there, arms crossed stiffly across his chest.

"Pan, please come out! It's fine," Gar shouted from outside the girls' room. Pan sat crying in a stool, wiping her eyes as tears came flooding out. She was going to get someone in trouble, she trembled at the thought of Gar trying to stand up for her and getting himself expelled or, worse yet, hurt.

The bell rang and she stepped outside of the bathroom, seeing that Gar was nowhere in sight.

The feeling Pan felt deep in her chest was almost unbearable. What if Gar had left to find him? Pan felt her lips tremble again, biting her lip to prevent a sob escaping.

It was almost a relief, when she walked into her next class, to see Tres sitting in her seat, though she still wasn't sure whether Gar had gone somewhere else. Tres watched as she sat down beside him. Her eyes were red and puffy, still watering.

Pan avoided eye contact with him, but if she had looked at him, she would've seen the slightly worried expression he watched her with.

The end of the day rolled around slowly for her as she continued to detain her tears.

She said goodbye to Gar as they split paths. The walk had been awkward and unusually quiet, neither of them looking at each other. Pan still felt humiliated, and hoped it would wear off soon. She stopped for a moment, checking her phone for directions to the new house before continuing on.

When she got into the part of the neighbourhood where the house was situated, she couldn't help but notice how big all the houses were.

"Here I am..." Pan muttered under her breath. Wow, it's big. She knocked quietly, biting her lip nervously.

When the door opened, she was relieved to see her mother smiling back at her. "Come in, come in," her mother welcomed her. "This is your new father," she said, gesturing towards a man standing on the pristine red rug, sitting above the sparkling ivory marble floor.

He raised his hand, smirking as he said, with a deep, rich voice, "Please, call me Olay." Pan looked up at him shyly through her thick eyelashes, and he was...