Mrs. Archer Xavier (REWRITING)

Chapter Ten

THE ONE WITH INTRODUCTIONS

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"Good morning. I'm Iñigo Nicholas Salvador, you are?" says this gorgeous 6-foot-tall man with dark brown hair and green eyes after walking up to me. I freeze embarrassingly. A smile etches their way to the corners of his mouth as he reaches his hand out to my direction.

I feel myself getting shoved forward towards his direction. I glance behind me and it was none other than Heaven, who's giggling at me. I just met him! Barely, at that.

I reach for his hand and try to shake it but before I could, he twists them ever so slightly then brings my hand up to his face, planting a peck on the back of my hand. Oh- What?

I couldn't help but fall back in a trance. This is how men trick you. He finds that amusing, chuckling.

"And you are?"

"Jianna Clarrise Avery..." I trail off, mimicking the fact that he told me his whole name. I think it was at that moment that I decided to let him trick me. I must've misplaced my self-respect this morning.

"Nice to meet you, Jianna Clarrise Avery," he repeats my name slowly as if testing how it rolls out of his tongue. I could feel my cheeks begin to burn and I divert my attention to the ground. My heart was also racing in my chest. Someone save me.

"Hi, I'm Heaven Ly," Heaven cuts in, sensing the rising awkwardness. She raises the back of her hand, expectantly and giddily. Iñigo shakes his head for a second, laughing. "Indeed you are," he slyly replies with a wink, before giving her hand a peck. "I'm Iñigo-"

"So I've heard," Heaven cuts him off playfully. He smiles at her then shifts on his heel, facing Joey, who immediately says "no."

"Just a handshake?" he suggests shamelessly, making her roll her eyes in defeat. "Joey Rooney," she introduces herself with her nickname just as she did when we met. Her real name's Jocelyn and Joey is a childhood nickname that kind of stuck through the years.

"Iñigo Salvador," he utters mid handshake.

"Please do not stay on one corner and introduce yourselves to people. It's not that hard," Ms. Firestone reprimands. I figure that she was referring to someone else but I take it as an excuse to get away from Iñigo. He was making me nervous.

I give him a sheepish grin when he turns back to me, he replies with an understanding nod and a smile. Heaven gives me a look that needs no words. I could only shrug in response. I mean, this is still a class, not a blind date or anything.

I scurry away to take it off my mind. I manage to introduce myself to a couple of strangers without hurling myself to shame and to my death. Since I was making my way around the classroom, I ended finding myself nearby Archer's friend group, still sitting in their little circle.

I fall back of course. This is not something I want to deal with today or ever. I make my way back to our table but stop in my tracks when Ms. Firestone calls out their names one by one.

"Xavier, Shaw, Klien, Farrell, Martin, South," she struts towards them while everyone else stand still waiting to see how things to play out. Can she actually get through their thick skulls?

"I don't know if you think that the status of your parents excuses you in activities you wish not to participate in. News flash: it doesn't" she bluntly remarked, eyeing them down. This made some of them snicker but most of them pretend she wasn't even there.

"This is a required class. I can fail you from lack of participation," she warns them — well, more like threatens them.

The real life 'mean girls' stands up defeatedly and pretends to talk to people at the back of the class. Alex seemed unfazed and puts his headphones back, burying his face into his arms to sleep.

Landon, if I remember correctly, stands up with a groan. He flashes her a sarcastic smile before walking around the room to decide whom he wants to associate himself with. He walks over to this pretty girl, who faints upon his arrival, and he turns to Ms. Firestone with a smug expression on his face as if resting his case.

I could practically hear the silent groan in Ms. Firestone's facial expression. Or maybe that's the voice in my head because he's such a douchebag. She exasperatedly shifts to Archer, who doesn't even notice at first because he was too amused with his stupid friend's theatrics.

Even though history proved her otherwise, she stands tall and holds her ground. "Mr. Xavier, this activity includes you too" she tells him blankly and a part of me felt horrified for her. It made me think. Why does it feel like I was the only one afraid of him?

He licks his lips and stands up.

Was I the only one thinking that things like that were followed by pulling off a dick move — something so irrational that you want to throw the remote at the tv?

I expected him to throw a tantrum of a sort but he didn't. He began walking — towards me?

I took a step back only to stop, feeling the cold table press against my back. What the hell is his problem?

You know what? Maybe he'll walk past me. I'm overthinking this.

I turn around and pretend to look busy, which probably looked very stupid to everyone looking at me. I hope he really doesn't talk to me, especially because the looks I'm getting weren't exactly approving. Drama.

Archer clears his throat, stopping behind me. I couldn't do anything else but turn, a sheepish grin on my lips. "Good morning, miss" he mocks with a smirk tugging on his lips. I feel my chest rise as if it was the last time I would be able to breathe. He extends his hand. "My name's Archer Xavier, son of Isobelle and Darius Xavier"

The pride and power in the way he said it intimidated me so much more than his presence already did. I felt so small as he looked at me with cold judging eyes. If he despised me so much, why me?

"Ms. Avery, and your response?"

I sigh and take his hand, introducing myself like we haven't met and that he hasn't decided that he hates me.