JORDI ADKINS
This has got to be another fear that I have to add to my long list of phobias. I should've already added it to the list but I just had the utmost confidence that I will never be paired up with him in any way, however, the odds don't seem to be backing me up right now.
To be paired up with Xavier Rockwell for this stupid babysitting assignment was just a rock salt to my already bleeding wound. I would rather sell my soul to the devil than be partnered with him. I don't want to be around him for the entire damn week because that's not just a nightmare but it's more like I'm going to burn at the bottom pits of hell.
Avoiding him for the entire week was not because of the fact that he's my bully but it's because something has changed within him. I thought I already knew him as this shitty person who always take pleasure by picking on me. Don't get me wrong, he's still a shitty asshole but his utmost unpredictability was the one thing that's frightening about him as of right now. I don't exactly know what's running inside that redhead of his, not that I want to know but I hate not being able to guess it.
One time he's going to beat the shit out of me and the next time, he's just going to pull me aside and kiss me. That's such a wild thing to do. It's even more dangerous than bringing a knife to a gun fight.
I went to Mrs. Harding and begged her to assign me to a different partner but she doesn't even want to let me say my reasoning as to why I wanted a different partner. She even said she wasn't the one who assigned my partner but it was rather the numbers that we picked ourselves. First of all, that's not even a valid argument to begin with. And secondly, she has every right to protect someone from being bullied.
I found myself sitting right in front of Xavier and I was heated at giving him the death stare that he casually deserved. In my head, I was sort of debating what kind of filter should I specifically wear for him.
Do I act like I'm purely innocent about everything? Do I pretend as if nothing happened between the two of us? Or maybe I should bring out the inner bitch that's been buried inside of me and let him have it. But the problem was, I don't think I have the grain of courage to even be my bitchiest self towards him. I'm still afraid that I might push the wrong button and that he would end up beating the shit out of me.
"Ahem..." Xavier cleared his throat out and he seemed like he does want to start up the conversation but I was just glaring at him dead in the eye.
"What?"
He still couldn't look at me straight in the eye which should be a good thing but it's also kind of bothering me. "S-should we like, uhm, name this little bag of flour?"
"Oh my fucking god." I cried out at how stupid this was. "Are you for real, Xavier? You are really thinking about naming this stupid shit?"
It's not my purest intention to sound rude but I am poignantly annoyed with two things today. One, I hated this babysitting bull crap most especially because we look relatively dumb pretending that a bag of flour was a baby and I hate babies. Besides Jane's sapping whining and crying, I think babies are the most annoying thing in the entire universe. Not only that their crying shatters your eardrum but they also suck the life energy out of you. Two, the fact that Xavier wants to name the bag of flour was obviously odd of him and I know he's been acting weird lately. And three, the fact that I'm going to spend the rest of the week hanging out with Xavier while pretending that we just had a baby gives me the most anxiety ever.
"I think we should name it. Everyone's naming theirs." He pulled the bag closer to his side. There's a noticeable gap in between us mostly because I don't want to sit the closest to him and I don't think I'll be doing that for the rest of the weak.
"You name it then." I uttered rolling my eyes.
"Come on, curlytops. We should come up with a name together." Xavier asserted. He sounded gentle and it's just creeping me out that he's not being the asshole that I know he was. I may be having some sort of trust issues at this moment but I'm just trying to watch my back.
"Why do you fucking keep on calling me curlytops? My parents gave me a damn beautiful name." I snapped right at him.
"Sorry, my bad." He blurted out. "Look, Jordi, I know you hate me and that's fine. You can hate me however you want. I do understand why you hate me but we need to pass this one. I need to pass this subject." He went on and I think I do know why he wanted to pass this subject.
Xavier's not the brightest student that I know and it kind of gave me some sort of an ammunition. Not exactly a bullet, perhaps, it's an arrow but I'm certain that's more than enough to have some kind of leverage over him. At least, I know I have something against him and that he wouldn't hurt me. I don't mind if I fail this subject, as long as he fails it too, I'm going to be at peace with that. If by any chance he pisses the shit out of me, I won't hesitate to shoot that arrow straight to where it hurts the most.
Would it be crazy and such evil of me if I actually purposely fail this one for him? He'd be kicked out of the soccer team for sure and that sounds like the sweetest revenge. It's like the most deserving payback of all time.
"Okay fine." I blurted out finally deciding to cooperate just because I think I'm going to be fine. "Let's name it then. What do you think of muffin?"
"It's not a pet, Jordi. It's supposed to be a baby." Xavier complained.
"And what makes you think muffin's a pet name?"
"I had a dog once and his name was muffin." He divulged which kind of surprised me a bit. I wasn't really thinking hard of a name and I just happen to think of that name.
"Well, that's funny." I never would've thought that the first name that came up in my head was actually his dog's name. "You really had a dog?"
"Yeah, I did. He's a cute chow-chow."
"What happened? Did he like die or something?"
"No, no. Muffin's very much alive. My dad just uhm..." He paused the moment he mentioned his dad. He looked away for a brief second before eventually continuing to speak. "My dad took him away. Anyway, let's think of something else other than that."
"O—kay."
"What about Billie?"
"Billie? Are you secretly a fan of Billie Eilish?" The only Billie that I know was that white singer. She's apparently the same age as us but that's not even the point.
"Her songs are good but the name Billie sounds good." Xavier replied.
"No, I don't like it." I shook my head and I'm already starting to think that Xavier's passionate about this whole babysitting assignment that he even wanted to name it in the first place. "What about Floryn?"
"And you just assumed the baby's a girl?"
"No, I'm not." I was honestly shocked that he noticed that when I'm just blabbering stupid names. "Okay, fine, you win, Xavier. Let's just settle with Billie since it's gender neutral or whatever."
"Okay, Billie, come to daddy." Gently pulling the bag of flour, Xavier weirdly began speaking like he's actually talking to a real baby. He even made his voice softer.
"Are you for real?" I spat out. I'm being creeped out by this entirely new version of Xavier. I'm even more creeped out than the asshole version of him, like who allowed this toned down, seemingly unimaginable good boy version of him in the room?
"What?" He looked at me in the eye and I instantly saw a slight flash of innocence within him that I actually forgot about how I was just afraid and pissed off several minutes ago.
"Nothing. You just look like... Never mind."
As soon as the class was over, I was the first one out of the room which meant that Xavier had to take care of the bag of flour. As it should since he appeared extra passionate about the whole babysitting assignment that got me even more confused.
I went in a quiet state of contemplation.
Am I dreaming? I asked myself. It seemed to me that I'm trapped in a new dream where Xavier's not acting like a bad boy and that he's actually nice and somehow adorable. I'm finding it hard to believe the act. I liked it because he's not making my life difficult like he used to but I'm not quite sure if I'm going to buy the act in cash.