My best friend's brother

Truce?

So.. the jerk and I got detention for starting the food fight. It was a mystery to me as to how the principal came to know about our involvement though. I later found out that a teacher had been present in the cafeteria all throughout our altercation and had finally called the principal when she had been unable to stop the students or even make them notice her. Huh. That was high school I guess.

The fact that I had a detention with the guy didn't bother me as much as it would have bothered me before the food fight, which was a fact in itself that bothered me. The worst part of it all was that I still smelled like soup and all those million things that had been thrown on me. Most of the student population- used to the unpredictable nature of a day in this high school- kept a set of spare clothes in their locker. But not me, obviously. As a result, I had to tag along school the entire day in the same dirty set of clothes. Did I mention I got detention too? That too with the jerk! 

As soon as I entered the room where I was supposed to serve detention for an hour, the dickhead announced, "Ugh, you smell ripe, Parker," with a grimace.

"All thanks to you. Taylor," I scowled at him.

I noticed that he had changed into a striped cardigan and fitted charcoal pants. He looked like he had just got off the runway. Josh noticed my scrutiny. "Like what you see?" He leered at me.

"Uh as if I'd ever date a pretty boy like you. I like my men rugged and masculine," I said with a toss of my head.

"So you don't think I'm masculine enough?" He took a step towards me with a challenge in his eyes. Without meaning to, I took a step back. He smiled at the move.

Thankfully at that moment, a teacher entered the class. "Kindly take your seats."

Still flustered by what had happened, I took the seat beside Josh purposely so he could suffer from the smell along with me and took out my homework. He pointedly took out a white handkerchief from his pocket and put it on his nose. I ignored this gesture. I looked in dismay at the grey pleated skirt I had worn today. It was absolutely ruined. "Great. Obviously the dick had to throw soup at me when I was wearing my favourite skirt, "I muttered under my breath. To my great shock, Josh heard me.

"Did you just call me a dick?" He raised one eyebrow and asked. "And that's your favourite skirt?" He continued, looking at the skirt with disdain. Was it just my imagination or was he looking at my legs more than the skirt? I didn't let my mind dwell on that particular thought.

"Well yeah, I like it. Sue me," I said defensively.

"Mr. Taylor, Ms. Parker. I expect you to do your own work and remain quiet for the next hour, "The teacher said in an annoyed tone. I levelled one more glare at Josh and turned back to my homework.

After about half an hour, I sighed in frustration. I had been working on a sum in my algebra homework for the past 15 minutes, but I hadn't come close to even understanding it. "You're going about it all wrong," came Josh's voice beside me. I looked at him and glared. "Like you know what you're talking about, pretty boy. "

"So what are you trying to say? I can't be smart and gorgeous?" I could hear the controlled fury in his voice. Why did he care so much if I thought he was dumb? I just rolled my eyes at him.

Suddenly he took my notebook from the desk and began working out the problem. "Hey-" I muttered in protest. I looked at the teacher. It looked like he was sleeping behind the book he was reading. I sighed and looked back at Josh. To my surprise he was handing back the notebook to me with a smug look. I looked at it and realised that he had done the sum that I had been working on for 15 minutes in under a minute. I looked at him in disbelief.

"How did you do that?" 

"It was easy," he shrugged.

"Wow! You're like Einstein's kid or something. That was genius," I gushed, for a moment forgetting who I was talking to. I would have expected him to take this as something he could brag about to his future generations, but instead he looked kinda embarassed. "I just take a lot of AP classes," he muttered and looked away from me. I was flabbergasted. That's all it took to embarass him- Call him a genius? I smiled at the thought.

"You're like a math prodigy. Why are you not on any Mathlete teams or something?" I continued, enjoying his discomfort. "God! The student body should know what a genius their fearless leader is! Why don't you enlighten them of this fact?"

"Because I have a reputation to maintain." He said in a sharp tone, suddenly. " And I would really appreciate it if you don't mention this to anyone." He added quietly.

"You're asking me for a favour?" I asked in an incredulous tone. I looked into his eyes. He didn't say a word, but just met my gaze. I could see how much this really mattered to him. Normally I would never have even thought about it, but he had done me a favour first, by solving that sum for me. What was weird was why did he want to hide the fact that he was smart- when it was he in the first place who had grown furious when I called him dumb? This boy confused me. I really wanted to voice my query, but I had a feeling he wouldn't answer. 

So I just pretended to think about it and then said," Only if you teach me how you did it."

"You've got yourself a deal," he said and smiled. For a moment I stared stupidly at his amazing smile. But I was pulled out of my lustful thoughts as he began explaining the problem to me.

Josh turned out to be a really good tutor. After that problem, he helped me out with a few other problems I had been stuck on. When the detention hour was up, we walked out of the class together. I was lost in my own thoughts when I realised Josh had stopped walking. I saw him lingering outside the door to the the classroom and looking at me with an unreadable expression.

He cleared his throat and walked towards me. To my surprise he held out his hand, "Truce?" I just looked at him and nodded, shaking his hand. 

After I reached home, I was still thinking about the weird day I had had. High school was absurdly unpredictable! Just in the morning, I had declared Josh a sworn enemy and now we had a truce? God! So much could happen in just a day.

In the evening Amanda called me up. "Oh my God P, they're all talking about you. Everyone. About how you're so cool. How you managed that ugly confrontation in the cafeteria and turned into one of the awesomest food fights of our school. P, you're famous!!"

I blushed on hearing this. "I just did what I thought was right at the moment", I muttered nonchalantly. "And I'm pretty sure 'awesomest' is not a word, Am".

"You're seriously so cool. He won't admit it, but even my brother was impressed."

"About your brother..." I started.

"Yeah I know. He's an asshole. Throwing that soup was just too-"

I cut her off. "No what I want to say was.. he's not that bad. In fact he's kinda nice. Helped me out with my math homework in detention today.And um.. we have decided on a truce. Our fight was silly, anyway."

"Wait a minute.. you're not falling for my brother, are you?" Amanda said in a horrified tone.

"That's ridiculous! I've only known him for a day!" I scoffed.

"Well with him, that's how long it takes," Amanda muttered. "I've to warn you P, he's a heartbreaker. That's what he is. For some unfathomable reason, girls always fall for him. And he always breaks their heart. Always. So just be careful okay, P?"

"Am, your brother and I have had one civil conversation. One. That's definitely not gonna be enough to make me fall for him. Just chill."

"Okay, if you say so." Amanda muttered grudgingly.

I hung up and thought about what she had said. How could someone fall for a guy they barely know? Sure, he was gorgeous and yes if I do admit, I am attracted to him. But who wouldn't be? That didn't mean it was anything more than lust. I've only known the guy for a day, for God's sake! But when I slept that night, my dreams were filled with the vision of emerald green eyes.

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