*grins* You're gonna like this one.
XXX
Maddie had just finished practicing her solo later that day, when an obnoxiously loud knock came from the basement door. Pausing the music, Maddie rolled her eyes as she went over and opened the door. Mackenzie grinned at her, and Maddie raised an eyebrow.
"What do you want, Mack?" She asked, pulling the strands of hair that escaped her bun behind her ears.
"It's my turn to practice, Maddie. You've been in here for hours!" She protested, pouting towards the clock in the corner of the room.
It was true, Maddie had been down there for a long time, but it wasn't till recently did she actually began working on her solo. Her conflicting thoughts about Gino had been bothering her all day, and now it was starting to interrupt her dancing time!
Maddie glared at nothing in particular. These manipulative thing Gino was doing to her had to stop. She's been working way too hard on this solo for him to screw everything all up. Maddie's phone buzzed as she made her way back upstairs; it was Kendall.
Hey Mads! Changed ure mind about the dance yet??
Maddie frowned, before responding: I was hoping u forgot about me...
The response was instant.
Y WOULD I FORGET ABOUT U?! MADS, U NEED A DATE I'M BEING SERIOUS!!!
Maddie sighed, rolling her eyes. She could really care less about a school sponsored event, but this apparently meant the world to Kendall if she went, so against her judgment, she finally gave in and replied.
Alright fine! I'll got 2 the stupid dance |:(
Once again, the response was instant.
YAYYYYY! :D :D
Maddie rolled her eyes again, before turning her phone off and went to take a shower.
XXX
The next day, Maddie walked over to her locker, with Chloe by her side. Kendall and Nia were already waiting there, and Kendall had a huge grin on her face.
Oh no...
"Guess what, Mads?!" Kendall squealed, gaining strange looks from the people around them.
"Let me guess, are you trying to make me go deaf?" Maddie stated flatly, twisting in her locker combo.
Chloe snorted, "Trust me, her squeals could be a lot worse."
Kendall ignored the chuckle the two girls shared for a moment, before going back to what she was going to say. "Okay, so there's this new guy named Lucas Triana, and he is super hot!" Kendall gushed, panting rapidly.
Maddie raised an eyebrow, "So? I thought you were into Josh."
Kendall rolled her eyes, "No stupid, he's for you, not me!"
Maddie paused putting her binders into her locker, and turned to fully give Kendall a "WTF?" look.
Kendall sighed, speaking slowly to Maddie as if she was a four year old. "I," She pointed at herself, "hook you," She pointed at Maddie,"Up with him, and you guys go to the dance together." She gave Maddie a "duh?" face.
Maddie actually laughed at that. "Yeah right, why would I hook up with someone I don't even know?"
"Duh! That's the whole point of dating him, to get to know each other! At least, until the dance rolls around." Kendall argued, putting her hands on her hips.
Maddie just sighed, "Isn't it bad enough your forcing me to go to this dance?"
Kendall shook her head, "Nope! Trust me, you'll like him. He's totally hot, If I wasn't with Josh, I'd totally go for him, and jump his bones..."
"Okay, TMI." Chloe said, interrupting would probably be the start of a rated R conversation.
Kendall blushed slightly, "Oops?"
"Anyway, we need to head to class. Mr. Simmons will lecture my ass if I'm late again." Chloe muttered, and all three girls laughed. The girls then began to walk down the hall.
XXX
Maddie disliked second period the most because she didn't have any of her friends to get her through the day, also because Mr. Mario is the most boring science teacher Maddie has ever had.
She made her way to the back tables, and slumped into her seat. Readying herself for another long, and boring lecture about Homeostasis, when she noticed Mr. Mario wasn't at his desk, or the board, writing down today's agenda. Maddie was instantly curious, and wandered if they were going to get a sub today.
Her mood brightened slightly at the thought of having a cool substitute, but all small hope vanished when Mr. Mario stepped into the classroom, along with a tall, teenage boy next to him. The boy had dark brown hair, and matching brown eyes. Along with this arrogant look to him as he swaggered into the classroom.
"Class, listen up," Mr. Mario said in his monotonous, boring voice, "We have a new student that is attending Franklin. This is Lucas."
Maddie's eyes widened slightly, remembering Kendall excitedly mentioning a new boy named Lucas. Now, she did a full examine of his features.
He is cute, Maddie thought tapping her pencil on the table, But too cocky.
Lucas introduced himself, and as Maddie guessed, he was indeed cocky. Even more cockier than Gino, which was definitely saying something. Of course, Mr. Mario had Lucas sit at the table right across from her, and Maddie slumped in her seat a little further.
Mr. Mario then began his excruciatingly mundane lesson, and Maddie wandered if she could take a quick cat-nap without anyone noticing. But her thoughts were interrupted when she felt someone poke her shoulder.
Annoyed, she glanced at Lucas, who had the audacity to wink at her. Maddie could tell he was going to became a problem in the near future.
"What?" She asked.
He smirked at her, "You seem very smart, plus you're super hot."
Maddie's eyes widened, and her eyebrows nearly disappeared under her hairline.
Lucas smirked even more, "So babe, you want to study after school?" He wriggled his eyebrows.
Furious heat spread across her cheeks. She couldn't believe this jackass! Four minutes into class and he's already hitting on her!
Maddie narrowed her eyes dangerously, "No thanks." She snapped, before looking back at the front of the class, and ignoring his staring. Maddie figured he wasn't used to immediate rejection, and a small smirk crawled up her lips.
But this new boy was persistent, and just shrugged his shoulders before leaning in some, "Sorry, I think we got off on the wrong foot. What's your name?"
"Bilbo Baggins." Maddie gave him a snarky smile.
Lucas rolled his eyes, "Oh come on, stop playing hard to get."
"The game I want to play is 'stop talking to me and get the hell away from me game'." Maddie snapped, glaring at him.
Lucas' dark eyes widened. He definitely wasn't expecting that. But Maddie wasn't going to relent. She already had to deal with Gino's antics, and there's no way she was dealing with Lucas.
So in the end, Lucas simply played it off, "Oh well, your loss loser."
Maddie ignored his comment and turned to watch Mr. Mario as he paced against the floor, going on and on.
There's no way she'd hook up with him now.
XXX
"You did what?!" Kendall yelled at her at lunch, her brown eyes widened to saucers.
Nia and Chloe were laughing like madmen. And Maddie grinned with satisfaction as Kendall looked like she was close to ripping her hair out.
"B-Bilbo Baggins!" Chloe cried in-between laughs, "Good one, Mads!" They high-fived, and Kendall glared at all three of them.
"No, it's not good! This isn't good at all!" Kendall exclaimed while Nia and Chloe still laughed their head off, "Maddie, how am I supposed to get you a date when you keep pushing all the guys away?"
"I thought you were trying to hook her up with Gino?" Nia intoned, after her laughter died down.
Kendall crossed her arms, "That would be my last resort."
"Yeah, right." Maddie snorted, twirling the spaghetti in her bowl, "No amount of money in the world would get me to go on a date with that idiot, even if it was only for fifteen minutes."
"That Lucas kid is in my fourth period," Chloe said, before snickering again, "He tried to flirt with Joanna Micheals."
All the girls flinched at the table, knowing very well who Joanna Micheals was. She was the strongest girl in school, and wrestled on the boys wrestling team.
"What happened next?" Nia asked, looking at Chloe.
Chloe grinned, "She punched him right in the face. Pretty boy now has a black eye."
"Ha, 'Pretty Boy', I like that." Maddie said, taking a swig at her diet Coke.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Gino, conversing as usual with the popular table. Kalani was of course, sitting on his lap, while she fed him a strawberry from his plate. The sight almost made her choke on her diet Coke, and she put the soda down, glaring in their direction.
Hatred swam in her chest as she glared at the two, giggling and laughing like they were some golden Hollywood couple. It honestly pissed Maddie off, and she forced herself to look away before she was tempted to throw something at them.
She still didn't know why she got these feelings, and it was driving her insane. Kendall was now over the whole "lucas" thing, and started gushing about what she was going to wear for the dance, while Chloe and Nia nodded their heads whenever it seemed like she was looking for a response.
"Hey guys, I'm gonna go to the bathroom for a minute." Maddie said, standing up from the table.
"You okay Maddie?" Chloe asked, a look of concern crossed her face.
Maddie nodded, trying to not grimace, "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry guys."
They both nodded hesitantly, before Maddie disappeared out of the cafeteria. She went to the girl's bathroom which was luckily, right across from the cafeteria, and stared at herself in the wide mirrors. Bright blue eyes stared back at her, and she felt her forehead to see if she was sick. It would sure explain the feelings happening to her, but to her dismay, her forehead's temperature was perfectly fine.
Cursing to herself, she ran her fingers through her hair, wondering why Gino kept appearing and reappearing in her thoughts.
Suddenly, the bathroom door swung open, and in stepped Kalani and her little gang of evil minions.
Just great. Maddie deadpanned inside her head.
Kalani was smiling at her, which unnerved her more than it should have, "Oh hello Mads, why aren't you with your friends?"
Maddie glared at her, "Why don't you mind your own business?"
Kalani's smile turned wicked, "I saw you staring at Gino and I. Jealous, honey?"
Her glare deepened, and her lip twitched, "Not even slightly."
"Oh really?" Kalani asked, tilting her head to the side before walking towards her, tsking loudly, "To think I actually thought you would be a threat to me. I see what's going on here, you actually do like Gino, and now that he's with me, you're super jealous of us. Did you come over here to throw a hissy fit?"
Maddie's hands tightened into fists, "That's not true."
Kalani smirked, "I think we all know you're lying."
"I don't have time for this!" Maddie snapped, walking past them and slamming open the bathroom door.
Kalani caught her by her elbow before she could make it to the cafeteria, and Maddie yanked and jerked as hard as she could, but Kalani had a death grip on her.
"Let go of me!" Maddie growled, once again, cursing herself for being so short.
Kalani glared at her, "You're pathetic. Why would Gino want some bratty, dysfunctional, ugly girl like you, huh?"
Maddie felt tears brim her eyes, and tried to push her away. "Let me go!"
"Hey!" A familiar voice startled both of the girls, and all pairs of eyes went to Gino, who was walking towards them with a glare so strong it could burn holes into someone's forehead.
Kalani immediately let go of Maddie, "Omg Gino, Maddie was trying to fight me! She's so crazy!"
"What?!" Maddie shrieked at the top of her lungs, "You were the one grabbing my elbow!"
Kalani ignored Maddie's outburst and batted her eyelashes at Gino.
"I'm not stupid Kalani, I saw what you did." Gino's voice was so low, and Maddie didn't think she'd ever seen him so angry before.
But why would he be angry? Why would he even care?
Kalani's mouth dropped, "I...I..." She trailed off.
"You disgust me," Gino snarled, glaring at Kalani harshly, "You and you're whores can get your stupid lunches and leave the table. I don't want ever want to see you in my sight again."
This time, Maddie couldn't help but gasp, along with Kalani and her minions. In an act of desperation, Kalani wrapped her arms around Gino's neck, "C'mon baby, I know you don't mean this, pl-"
"Get off of me!" He snapped, shoving her off of him, "And yes Kalani, I do mean it! I meant every damn word! Now leave!"
Kalani's lips quivered, and she gave Maddie one last hateful glare, before flipping her hair and storming off, along with her evil minions.
Maddie was completely stunned.
She'd never, ever seen Gino get defensive like that, and it kind of intimidated her. She stared at Gino, who was still glaring in the direction Kalani stormed off in.
Finally, she found her voice. "Why...why did you do that?"
Gino turned to her, and his hard glare softened. His lips pressed into a hard line, and he looked away, "Because...as much as we don't like each other, Kalani was being a huge bitch to you. And I heard what she said to you, about your dad dead and everything. I got so mad..." He trailed off, refusing to meet eye contact.
Maddie was still too shock to process everything, so instead, she let out a soft "thank you" before running back into the cafeteria.
For all the time she's known Gino, she thought of him as a lazy, rich, annoying player who constantly teases and messes with her because he could. Never, had she thought that he would ever stand up for her.
Maybe, just maybe, he isn't a complete heartless bastard after all.
XXX
See, I told you it'd be longer ;)
So much has happened in this chapter! I am happy to say that this will be the turning point, and they're slowly gonna start to fall for each other! Hoped you guys loved it and vote & comment!
I need the feedback! :D