𝐈 𝐓𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐌𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒.
my nails clacked against the desk.
"you all have 10 minutes to finish your projects. then, it's time to present." the teacher instructed, and took a sip of her coffee.
"only 10? we're gonna fail!" adam panicked.
"because of you." i rolled my eyes.
"i didn't do anything!"
"you literally spilled paint all over our project!"
"it was an accident! maybe if you did the entire project instead of me, i wouldn't have ruined it!"
"i did!"
i pulled out the rolled up poster from my backpack.
the poster was white, and had a bunch of red gemstones covering it.
the information was written in a darker shade of red, in neat cursive.
"oh." adam said. "it looks-"
"if you say anything bad about it, you're misogynistic." i glared.
"how?"
"because i said so."
"it looks fine."
i shoved the project onto his desk.
adam yanked out a pack of index cards from his backpack.
he began to scribble down notes onto the paper.
"i'm gonna present this, you're gonna present that." he demanded.
"no i'm not. i'm gonna present whatever i want." i rolled my eyes, scrolling through pinterest.
"can you get off your phone and do work?"
"no."
"oh my god. we're gonna fail. why couldn't i just do this by myself?"
"i would've. but i got stuck with you. you're acting like i chose you. i don't even like you."
"whatever. just memorize your shit."
"whatever."
he finished copying down his notes, and began to try to memorize them.
i didn't even look at the poster.
"alright, class. it's time for your partnered presentations. first up is adam and cherry." the teacher called out.
i groaned.
she has to hate me or something.
like, she has to want me to explode.
first, she always gives me detention. second, she always pairs me up with adam.
god, my life sucks.
i stood up, yanking the paper and heading to the front of the room.
one of my friends encouraged me from the front of the room.
"i love you!" they called out.
"i love you more!" i blew them a dramatic kiss.
adam rolled his eyes. he hated my friends. i scoffed, shoving the poster into his hands.
"you can hold it. it's my turn to read." adam commented.
i held up the poster, tapping my foot against the ground impatiently.
he read out the notes, looking between them and the class.
i began to spin the sign like those people on the street trying to convince you to buy something from them.
"can you stop?" adam whispered.
i knocked down his note cards.
another rule of revenge; do things that you know is going to piss them off, but isn't really that big of a deal.
that can be played off as an accident.
the last 10 minutes of project time hadn't been enough for adam to memorize everything, which is why he'd written them in notecards.
and i dropped them, because he got on my nerves.
now nervous, he quickly scrambled to pick up the cards and try to rearrange them.
but he hadn't numbered them.
he nervously began to read off the board, voice cracking.
the entire class laughed, and he read even faster, shuffling the cards in his hands.
i held back laughter, while my teacher shook her head.
as soon as he was done, he snatched the poster from me, and covered his face with it.
i read off the poster board, too, but nobody made fun of me, because i wasn't nervous.
the presentation was done, and everyone took their turn, forgetting about adams embarrassment.
everyone except adam and i.
he laid his head against the desk, the scene replaying in his head like a nightmare.
i scrolled through instagram, opening the rumor account.
at this point, it was the only reason i used instagram, besides to post pictures of myself.
'did you know that cherry's pregnant? who's the baby daddy?"
this account can't even be real anymore.
it doesn't exist.
i refuse to believe adam sits on his ass all day and writes this shit about me.
it's not my fault he didn't memorize his notes and embarrassed himself.
before i could get even angrier, someone tapped me on the shoulder.
i half expected it to be adam, with a stupid new insult.
but it wasn't.
it was ray.
adam looked up, rolling his eyes and judging us.
"hey." he whispered, glancing at the kids presenting in the front.
"hi." i said, suspiciously.
"do you wanna go on a date with me?"
"uhm.."
"you don't have too! like, you're cool, and i was just wondering-"
adam stared at us, eyes clouded.
he rolled his eyes, scoffing and mumbling something under his breath.
"yeah. i do wanna go on a date with you." i nodded.
adams face fell, and he placed his head back on the desk, as if he was asleep.
"really?" ray asked, glancing over at adam. "cool. i'll see you tomorrow at 7, then."
"where?"
"it's a surprise. you look really pretty, by the way."
he turned back around, with a smile.
i was bored, and it was excuse to get out of babysitting adam late at night tomorrow.
did ray only like me because i was pretty?
was that the reason i'd stopped being bullied? because i was attractive to people now?
ray wouldn't even look at me a year ago.
what had changed?
it felt horrible.
ray used to be the bully.
he used to make me feel horrible.
he made me feel the way i made adam feel. and the feeling was really really bad.
but he liked me now.
and adam cared about that too much.
adam hated that he had tried to help me when nobody else did, and in return, i bullied him.
i was pretty now.
so, if i was annoying, people didn't care.
i made the same jokes. i was the same person. people just liked me better.
and it made adam angry.
he was the only person to treat me like a human being.
and in return, i was horrible to him.
and that made other people be horrible to him.
adam looked up from his seat.
"you look pretty.. ugly." adam insulted.
i shrugged. "ray thinks i look pretty."
"what?"