Heartbreaker

Chapter 6: Limit

"Oh my, how did this happen?" The nurse questioned worriedly, dabbing a cotton ball against the cuts. (Name) hissed in pain, trying to figure out what to say.

"A cat scratched me on my way to school," she lied quickly. While she wanted nothing more than to get those girls in trouble, she wasn't up for any more drama. The older woman frowned, concerned.

"Well, looks like it cut you pretty deep. Here, I'll get you some bandages."

"Thank you, ma'am." (Name)'s hunch about the health office pass had been correct; Once Professor Elm had taken one look at her bleeding face, he had nearly fainted, before writing a slip as quickly as he possibly could.

The nurse disappeared into the back room in search of the bandages, and (Name) sighed, looking down at the ground. She didn't want to be here right now. Silver was at home resting, as he was still sick, and (Name) wanted to be at home to take care of him.

"Here you are." White bandages were firmly plastered over her cuts, and the pressure caused the (h/c)-haired girl to flinch. "You're free to go." (Name) nodded in thanks since she couldn't bring herself to say any words due to the stinging pain in her cheek.

As she left the nurse's office, she grumbled to herself, not wanting to go back to class for once. Should I ditch? (Name) wanted to slap herself for even thinking about that option. What the hell was that? School should be your most important priority at the moment; don't even worry about anything else that gets in your way.

When (Name) opened the door, heads turned to stare at her, their looks lingering. There were all different types of expressions; anger, disgust, confusion, annoyance — the list was endless. Uncomfortable, the female's gaze slowly traveled to the ground as she took her seat. What did I ever do to deserve this?

"Class," Professor Elm spoke. "I will continue to talk about the assignment that we were discussing before Miss (Last Name) rejoined us." Once again, everyone turned to look at the girl; (Name) fought herself to keep her face from turning red in embarrassment. "Our project, like most others, will be based heavily on research." He held up a top hat. "In here are slips of paper, and each has a random topic written on it. If you don't like the topic you choose, you're always free to come up with your own, as long as you run it by me first. You and your partner will debate over the topic next week in front of the class, so make sure to have evidence, commentary and — "

"Partner?" someone from the back of the class asked loudly. "Can we choose our own?" Professor Elm frowned, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Admittedly, I was going to let you all choose your own, but after your rude interruption, I will assign your partners." The entire class turned to glare at the kid, who only laughed.

"As I was saying, make sure you argument is valid and is supported well, or you will receive a bad grade and a whole crowd of bored classmates." The teacher cleared his throat. "You will be working with your seat partner." Some people sighed in disappointment, others cheered. (Name), glancing over at Gold, who was shooting spitballs at Morty, felt as if she wanted to hurl herself off a cliff. She shifted her gaze and shot a hopeless grimace toward Crystal, who returned it, since the pigtailed female had to work with Whitney, who was absolute airhead.

"Hopefully, we at least get a good topic," Crystal whispered to (Name).

"It won't matter whether I get the best or worst topic, if I'm working with this kid, there's no way I'm getting an A." The blue-haired girl stifled a giggle.
"Miss Rocket." Said female quickly turned around. "Please choose a topic from the hat." (Name) nodded, reaching for the hat, before her hand was rudely knocked away by Gold.

"No, I want to!" Before (Name) could protest, he had drawn a piece of paper, and the (h/c)-haired girl wanted to slap him.

"Okay," she said, taking deep breaths. "What's our topic?"

"Hmm." He opened up the piece of paper, before reading out in a confused tone, "Does love at first sight exist?" (Name) almost choked.

"No way. Let me see that." Gold showed her the paper, and she read the words in disbelief.

"No. Let's choose something else."

"I think this is a good topic for us." Gold waggled his eyebrows. "We do have a love expert here, after all." (Name) made a sound that was a mix between a snort and a laugh.

"What do you of all people, know about love?"

"A lot of things." Gold grinned. "If we do this topic, I'll blow your argument out the water."

"We'll see about that." (Name) scowled at him. "Love at first sight doesn't exist."

"Yeah, it does. I've even had it happen to me, multiple times." He sighed, looking out the window, a forlorn expression on his face. "Like that girl I saw at the supermarket. God, she was hot. Her skirt made her legs look so long." (Name) only stared at him, speechless, a disgusted look on her face. "And don't even mention that chick at the pool. Like, damn mama."

"Wow, what a delusional little boy you are," (Name) laughed. "That's not love. It's infatuation." The male looked offended.

"Well you... you..." He opened and closed his mouth, gaping like a fish.

"Close your mouth. You'll catch flies." She waved her hand dismissively.

"Can I come over to your house after school to work on the project?" he asked hopefully. (Name) narrowed her eyes.

"Good try, but this is really an individual project. You won't need my help; you need to come up with all your points, find your evidence, and write your commentary yourself."

"Whatever," grumbled Gold. I'm done with her blowing me off. I'll go back to Whitney. She's still trying to pretend that she's mad at me, but I'm sure she'll take me back in a heartbeat. "Hey, Whitney baby," he called in a sickeningly sweet voice to his ex. She immediately looked up.

"What is it, jerk?" she asked, although she was doing a horrible job at concealing her obvious excitement.

"I miss you; won't you be mine again? I'm sorry." Gold pouted, and that's all it took for a huge grin with light up her face.

"Of course!" she gushed. "I forgive you!"

"Gag me," (Name) muttered under her breath, not impressed.

"Jealous?" the male smirked.

"No, I just feel sorry for Whitney, because she's trapped in your little games again."

"My God, shut up, I've been nothing but nice to you since we met, and you're still treating me like I killed your grandma." Gold crossed his arms. "You might be pretty as hell, but you're a bitch." (Name) looked him dead in the eye, before blinking once, twice, and letting a small smile slip onto her face.

"Fine. If I'm such a bitch, why don't you ask Professor Elm if we can switch seats?"

"Fine!"

"Fine!" Neither moved, but continued to have a glaring contest.

"Is there a problem here?" Professor Elm asked, noticing the tension. (Name) pointed an accusing finger at Gold.

"I can't work with him." Gold jabbed his thumb back at her.

"I can't work with her!" Professor Elm rubbed his temples.

"Is that so?"

"I'll switch seats with (Name)!" Whitney offered.

"Would you be alright with working with Crystal, (Name)?"

"Yes," (Name) said quickly.

"Alright then." The teacher seemed uncomfortable "Switch seats." And they did.

"Wow," Crystal remarked as (Name) sat down next to her. "What even happened?"

"He called me a bitch," the (h/c)-haired girl replied, annoyed. "At least I have good reason for always ignoring his advances. Think of all those poor girls that he played!"

"He's a strange kid, gotta admit that," sighed Crystal. "We've been best friends since we were little kids."

"Woah, I thought you didn't like him, and you're best friends with him?!" She stared at the other girl in disbelief. Noticing the startled look on Crystal's face, (Name) took a deep breath and calmed herself. "Sorry. I'm just super frustrated with him right now."

"Don't worry, I understand." Crystal smiled in a friendly manner. "Wanna come over to my house to work on the project after school? I know we're going to debate with each other, but maybe we can do some research together. My mom also makes the best curry..."

"Count me in!" (Name) exclaimed. "But uh... not just because of the curry." The pair laughed.

~~~

(Name) sat, waiting on the park bench right outside the school for Crystal; they were going to walk to Crystal's house together.

The teen raised an eyebrow as she saw Gold and an unnamed girl sitting on a bench near her, holding hands and flirting. So, he's already cheating on Whitney. (Name) coughed quietly; it was simply too repulsive to watch and listen to.

"Crystal, hurry up," (Name) mumbled. All of a sudden, all the (h/c)-haired girl could hear was gossip about her.

"So," the girl "whispered" to her partner. "I heard you hooked up with that weird new girl last night." Gold laughed,

"As if I would ever do that. She's a loser." They obviously didn't notice (Name) sitting literally right next to them.

"Oh, Goldie. It's not your fault that everyone falls for you," the girl murmured. "You're perfect. In fact, that little slut just couldn't help but keep her hands off of you, what a whore." The (e/c)-eyed girl coughed loudly, laughing tears filling her eyes on how ridiculous it all sounded. The couple swiveled their heads to look at her; the female looked murderous while Gold looked slightly... guilty? "What's so funny?!"

"The fact that all the words spewing out of your mouth are completely untrue." (Name) cracked a smile, another laugh escaping her lips.

"Why you — " She looked at Gold. "Do something!"

"Let's just go, Clair," said the raven-haired male. "Don't waste your time on her."

"Oh, wow, have fun!" (Name) waved sarcastically, before standing up, because she saw Crystal at the top of the path. "Actually, who I am to say anything; I'm just a bitch after all!" She blinked and smiled innocently, before practically skippimg away to meet her pigtailed friend.

~~~

"Don't even bother with him," Crystal told (Name) once she had finished reciting the story. "He's left you alone; that's good!"

"It just confuses me!" (Name) rested her chin on the desk. "Why are all the girls still all over him even though he's broken everyone's hearts?"

"Not all of them, there's you and me," Crystal corrected. "Well, not really me..."

"What?!" The (h/c)-haired girl stared at her incredulously. "You dated him?!" The other girl shook her head.

"No, it's not what you're thinking. It just hurts me, how he can't even keep a girlfriend. As one of his closest friends for so long, I was really happy when he got his first girlfriend, but once he dumped her, and repeated the process over and over again, well, I'm just disappointed in him. He's really such a sweet guy, but once he got to high school, and his good looks and talents were fussed over by girls, his arrogance totally got the best of him." Crystal frowned.

"I don't really understand his logic," said (Name). "He doesn't get why I was so skeptical of him, even though my reasoning is explained by his actions."

"Maybe so, but face it, he's an idiot." Crystal rolled her eyes. "He's always been like this. He doesn't like change, hence why he cracked after a while when you kept rejecting him. Gold's so used to girls fawning over him that when you came along, it was the rudest awakening ever — I don't think he meant to call you a bitch to hurt you, he just got so frustrated that he just let it out."

"Hmm." (Name) sighed. "Well, enough about him. He doesn't matter. It's just, throughout this week, he's been bothering me so much."

"I'm sorry about that," said Crystal. "Gold probably won't apologize for this, hell, he probably doesn't even realize how much he bothered you, but I'll apologize on behalf of him."

"Apology accepted."

"Now, let's research!"

~~~

"Thanks for the ride home." (Name) smiled at the bluenette.

"No problem! See you at school tomorrow!"

"Yeah, bye!" The (h/c)-haired girl reached for her keys to open the door, but before she could even insert the metal piece into the keyhole, the door burst open.

Ariana glared down at her daughter. "Was that a friend?"

"Hello, Mother. And yes, Mother," (Name) said quickly.

"You don't have time for friends. Focus on yourself only," she demanded.

"Yes, Mother," the (h/c)-haired female replied. But what she really wanted to say was, 'What the hell are you doing here?'