The trouble maker

Chapter - 30

"Where have you been?" I kind of yelled at Vernon as soon as I caught a sight of him, sitting at the stairs, with a comic book on his hands, "I bunked the class, were you searching for me?" He asked as he put his book away in his bag and stood, "Yes, now you have to follow me." I instructed I grabbed his hands and took him with me.

"Where are you taking me?" He asked, confused. As I took him to the strangest place I know in the school. I halted as we reached a place where I was sure we won't accidentally bumped into some twat.

"You must eat dinner at my place tonight." I breathed, staring at him in his eyes in the hope to get a yes. "You cannot refuse!" I added.

"I don't understand." He tried vainly to looked for an answer in my eyes, "Let me explain why you need to, I told my mother you were the one who let me borrow the money, and she want to show you her gratitude by inviting you to dinner." I stated, breathlessly. I didn't know why I was so stressed, I could even feel the sweat on my forehead, I could not figure out what was wrong with me.

"Wait, hold on, you told your mother what?" He asked with a small laughter, "Also, why are we talking here?" He raised his hands up to touched his hair, "We could have talk at the cafeteria."

"We don't want Alex to see us together again, do we now?" I asked, pasting a fake smile on my face and he knew exactly what I meant. "Ah, yes. May have overthought that." He glanced around the place and asked, "What is this place anyway?"

"Will you listen to me?" I held both of his arms, to make him look at me, "My mother want you to come over." I inhaled, "Will you come?"

He slowly put down my arms, "Andrea, relax," He showed me a faint smile, "I will come."

I feel like I could finally breath again the moment he agreed to come. "I don't understand why you're so taut over this."

"I don't understand either, it maybe because those two nitwits of a boys-" I cut myself off before I said anything ludicrous. "It matters not." I confirmed, "You need not worry."

"Then, see you at my house tonight?"

He nodded, smiling, "See you at your house."

Then I started to walked away just as a thought struck my mind, I turned back quickly, "What? You forget something?" Vernon asked.

"I'm such a dunderhead!" I whispered to myself which was loud enough for Vernon to hear, he laughed, "Why-"

"Vernon, I have been such a nincompoop, one of the reasons why I wanted to meet you is because I want to thank you." I breathed, feeling like yet the most stupid person on the planet. "There have been so many things on my mind, and I forgot to tell you how grateful I am to you." He looked at me as he crossed his arms, "I owe you my life."

"Then give me your life."

I stopped abruptly in the middle of my grateful words, "What?" I asked, feeling baffled.

His laughter followed his words, "Oh, dear Andrea, I'm joking, look at you, you're totally bewildered."

I punched his arms, "I had a whole speech prepared!"

"It's nothing, I would do it for any of my friend, anyway, is yelling at me before your way of expressing your gratitude?" He smiled at me, "Ah, that, no I was just..." He chortled as I was lost for words, "It's fine, now go on, before this Alex of yours finds us here and murder one of us." He joked.

The following dinner at night went beyond my expectation, who would have believed that Vernon had the ability to win best actor award? My mother adored him and could not let minutes passed by without thanking him for his generosity. Father also seemed to be in a good mood, and thanked him too. And promised him that he'd get his money back as soon as possible. They were such a great sight to catch.

"That went well." I started talking as soon as I was sure my parents could not hear us anymore, we stood outside the door as Vernon was about to go home, "Thank you, sincerely." I stated, "From the bottom of my heart, for everything, Vernon."

For every inconvenience that had befallen upon me, one thing I was grateful for was the one blessing I had, out of all the misfortunes: Vernon Kennedy.

I would not be able to pay him back for all the things he had done for me without asking anything in return, he was like a real knight in shining armour. And I went to bed at night with a small smile on my lips. Even upon all the stumbling block that had recently jumped right into my life, one piece of treasure followed it along. And I would be forever glad for it.

The next morning was followed with a plenty of arguments, but good arguments, "Mum, I'm not going away for three months, I'm going away only for three days, you need not stress over this much!" I would chide her, "Stress is far from what I feel, dear, I'm just excited for you." She'd said, then added, "Maybe a little bit of stress included."

It was my first time away from my parents, as I always avoided going to school trips my whole life, I never had the chance to went to a trip without my parents, and this was my first time, and mother became more disturbed than I thought she would be, and my dad also had a few last minute thought about if I should simply not attend the trip. But I assured them that it would be fine. After endless advice, my parents finally let me go.

"It was hard to convince them in the last minute." I told Ash how my parents had asked me not to go as we moved along the corridor. "I don't get why they would suddenly change their minds." She commented.

I knew, it was because of all the stressed they had felt for the past few days and they just wanted me to be with them but they were convinced that a little trip away would be an advantage for me to have fun, so they'd let me go. "It's my first time leaving them, they are just worried." I assured her, she nodded, "Well, they needn't worry, I'll make sure we have tons of fun." She giggled, and I could read that she had many plans on her mind.

"Girls!" We heard Toni's voice as we passed the library, we looked at him as he came waltzing out from the library, I laughed incredulously, "Toni? Did you just come out from the library?"

Ashlynn joined in my laughter, "What happened to you?" It was a hilarious thing to see Toni coming out of the library, he'd never even had the slightest interest in looking at the pictures in the book, let alone reading them.

"The door was ajar, so I grabbed the opportunity to retouch my nose here."

"Why not simple use the toilet?" Ashlynn asked, still giggling.

"It's packed with people."

I noticed the card Toni was holding, "You're in Bus 4?" I asked, motioning my head towards the card in his hand, "Yes, I awoke early than planned so I reached the school prematurely, you guys are in?"

"Bus 12." We chorused together as Toni pouted. Suddenly, Toni had a very serious expression on his face as he grabbed my arms, "Did you sit at lunch with Vernon the day I was absent?" He asked, and I thought here we go again.