Guys, I apologise for the long wait, but I've been extremely busy and I can barely pull out time to write the chapters. Hope you'll can understand. Enjoy, vote and comment as usual! <3
Important: The reason I'm having this author's note before the chapter and in bold, is to inform you guys that this would be the last chapter I'm updating before I put this book temporarily on hold. Why? I need to prepare myself for exams, and apparently I suck at managing my time well so I'll just have to stop updating chapters. More talking at the end of the chapter. (:
Chapter dedication to @FallenRain01 for the lovely banner at the side, thank you! <3
-Chapter 21-
No.
No way.
If the both of them ever met each other, chaos will reign and all hell breaks loose. I've seen their punches before and you and I both know how deadly their punches are. You've seen or heard about their biceps before, you know I'm not joking or exaggerating. Imagine the blood splatters and the dramatic Bruce Lee punching sound effects, and there you have just visualized their entire fighting scenario.
So no ever, way in my entire life to witness this kind of fights again. Using my short legs, I dashed through the corridors and down the flight of stairs. I grabbed the knob of the door hesitantly and opened it to see an empty view of the reception area.
Phew, I had been thinking too much perhaps.
I felt a vibration in my pocket and took out my phone. It was Jarrell, unexpectedly. Come out when you're ready. I'll be waiting for you at the entrance, be fast, I have no patience. I rolled my eyes, slipping my phone back into the pocket and walking to the entrance.
I took a step out of the hospital and spotted Jarrell. He was looking at his phone, too engrossed to have been noticing I was approaching him. The sudden thought of Alden meeting Jarrell had me shuddered in fear, it would have been the best solution to have Jarrell as far as possible away from Alden.
"Ready," I said and greeted him. In response he waved at me, had his phone locked and away from his view. When he turned to face me, he gave a slight smile and replied, "Faster than I thought it would be. Now hurry, I've got some other things to do after I have you fetched to Alex's house."
Your turn to be modest, Rainie. Reject the offer of him sending you home and then he can leave so the appearance of Alden wouldn't clash. "Am I taking your time? Well if you're busy you can go first, I actually forgotten to take my house keys with me," I lied smoothly, still walking towards the cab stand. He rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand which made me lunged forward abruptly, "You don't even need your house keys, dummy. Hurry go."
"Fine fine." I agreed hastily while trying to get used to his hand on my skin. After a few minutes, we were at the cab stand currently waiting for a fairly priced cab. The next five minutes of silence passed by torturously, his hand still circled around my wrist. We watched the vehicles driving past us before a yellow-colored cab halted down in front of us.
Out came Alden, looking excited. His delighted expression immediately wiped off from his face when he raised his head and saw the two of us standing in front of him. And when I thought how bad the timing was, neither the brothers had any idea that both of their appearances had to do with me.
"Rainie, what is this dick doing here?" He slammed the door of cab, his expression a face of utter disgust and irritation. Shifting my gaze to Jarrell, his face had worn an amused expression, those provocative facial expressions that said, "come at me bro". Having said that the meeting of the two brothers would turn out to be disastrous, I stepped between the two of them.
"Let me make this clear, I'm not going to let anyone of you turn into a pulp today." I warned.
"Sure," Alden nodded enthusiastically. His lips curled into a wicked smile and there was it when I realized he wasn't getting this matter serious. "So, what is he doing here?"
"None of your business, Alden. Stay away." He growled at Alden.
"What now, cheating on Penelope? I'm sure she wouldn't forgive if you ever lay your hands on this girl." Alden smirked and his eyes glinted with the sense of victory. Hoping he would have met my gaze, I shot him a precautious look eagerly, but he never did.
"What do you know?" He demanded in aggravation.
"Well, I know that your girlfriend is at your house waiting for you. Now, I wonder why would you be late? How would she react when she finds out you're with another girl?" Alden threatened. Jarrell took a step next to me, I could feel his body tensed up, his fist clenched tightly.
"Don't you dare." I had always known Penelope was dominant ever since she started picking on me, offence intended, she's absolutely pathetic if she has also controlled her boyfriend. Now that explains why she was the 'head' of the clique even though I know some of them were more worthy of replacing her.
Observing that another yellow cab was arriving, I swiftly yanked Jarrell's arm along and pulled the cab door open. Once he understood what we were doing, he shoved himself into the backseat, making space for me. "Bye Alden!" I shouted. with a final wave I jumped into the cab and it drove off. It was a pity I wasn't able to catch a view of Alden's priceless expression as it sped off to Alexander's house.
"So, what made you think of this?" He referred to my escape plan, chuckling at my cheekiness.
"Someone needs to play hero before any of you gets thrown off the road," I grinned proudly, "besides we can't let you be any later for your date."
"Rainie, trust me it's not a date at all. I didn't know she was even at Alexander's house." He clarified. I wondered why did he even needed to give me an explanation, I wasn't in the case of jealousy.
"But you said you had something on later?" I questioned further. He looked at me dazed and stuttered softly, " Thats...uhh. Because I had to uh..."
"Anyway, can we make up a plan or something?" I changed the topic quickly. "Your girlfriend's at home now and I certainly don't want my hair ripped off."
"Right," He chuckled lightly. Fishing out his phone from his pocket, a soft but audible strings of vulgarities flowed out of his mouth. Curious, I went closer to him and took a peek of his phone screen.
Oh, so that was it. 12 missed calls.
"I'll message Alexander now. Probably you'll have to sneak through the backyard, but it shouldn't be too obvious." He planned out strategically, "Pen notice things fast."
"Okay," I gulped hardly, obviously unprepared for the action plan. We took another ten minutes to reach Alexander's house, according to plan Alexander, my accomplice, was supposed meet me outside the gate.
I quickly got out of the cab and saw Alexander leaning on the main gate. "Rainie!" He mouthed, shooting me a wink. Hell, I would have collapsed on the ground instantly if not for the constant reminders about the lioness in the house. "You didn't wink back at me," Alexander pouted excessively, his lips thrusting out like a child in an exaggerate manner.
"I had to run for my life," I said. He led us through a narrow 'alley-like' that was connected to the backyard. Once we were in hidden in the 'alley', Alexander gave me an 'all-clear' thumbs-up sign, and there was when a loud heaving sigh escaped from my mouth. I panted, trying to catch my breath at how speedy we had been.
"So I've heard a lioness terrorized your house," I joked, light-heartedly, wondering in curiosity how Jarrell had been coping so far ever since he had presented himself to the lioness. I don't know, but I'm hoping I won't find any claw scratches or bite marks on his body. Or else, I might just hunt her down for ruining his perfection flawless body.
"Exactly!" He huffed in anger, "It should have been caged up properly in the zoo."
I chuckled softly, before he grinned cheekily at me and said, "Good to have you back, Rainie. I've missed you badly, and so did someone else in the house." He hinted. I raised my eyebrow, not replying and staring at him blankly. By his 'someone else in the house', did he refer to Jarrell?
"Wait, Jarrell missed me?" I queried. He nodded his head eagerly, "Of course he did. He's been complaining how short your stay had been, and then he started rambling about when you two were younger - " He suddenly stopped talking, his eyes widened in shock. I was dumbstruck, for I couldn't seem to comprehend what he had just told me.
"About how Jarrell and uhh.." He coughed fakly, "and, ah! Me! He was talking about our childhood memories and how much he missed them..."
"Doesn't make sense," I raised my eyebrow in disbelief, and I could see the colour of his face gradually draining off. I continued, "But whatever. None of them are my concern anyway."
He heaved an exaggerated sigh, before breaking out a smile again, "Hey, since we're near the kitchen, what do you say to snacking in your room?" The corners of my mouth tugged upwards into a smile, "Whoever reaches the kitchen first gets to take the biggest pack of chips!" I whispered loudly, picking up my pace and brisk walking towards the kitchen.
"No fair!" He whined.
I entered the kitchen through the backdoor, my eyes immediately landed on the gigantic fridge standing in the corner of the kitchen. Grinning foolishly, I treaded gingerly towards the fridge hearing the soft muffled chattering coming from the living room. Two seconds passed, there was a noise of the feet shuffling behind me. "Fine, you win," Alexander said quickly, catching his breath.
"I didn't have short legs for nothing, Alexander," I praised myself conceitedly, opening the fridge. The contents of the fridge impressed me, with the amount of Pringles and Chipsters stuffed inside. I hesitantly grabbed an original flavor of Chipsters and the Seaweed flavored Pringles, facing Alexander with a lopsided grin.
"Wipe off that grin off your face," Alexander muttered in envy.
"The perks of being a winner," I raised the chips in my hands and shook them victoriously, "Pick yours and let's head upstairs." He scratched his chin, looking at the Lays and Calbee sitting side by side. Finally he took the Hot and Spicy flavor and closed the door, his face filled with excitement.
"Piang!" The loud shattering of porcelain deafened my ears as I brought my view to the broken pieces of porcelain on the kitchen ground. I gasped loudly, staring at Alexander helplessly as he stared at me in astonishment. I was in deep trouble.
"It's just Betty who broke something, Pen." I could clearly hear Jarrell's persuasive voice from far. Holy crap.
"Alex would have long ago fired Betty if she had been so careless," I winced at Penelope's high-pitched voice. A panicked expression etched on Alexander's face. I gave him a pleading look, but we both knew nothing could be done to salvage the impending disaster, thanks to my clumsiness.
"Stop being so persistent and let's go." Jarrell continued persuading her. However, being the controlling Penelope, as I predicted she kept insisting on taking a look in the kitchen. I guess she just had this strong instinct. But I want her away from the kitchen, away as far as possible to keep myself alive. That's right, she just had this particular interest in nerdy preys.
"I'm not leaving until I get into the kitchen," She demanded stubbornly, "there's obviously something in there you won't allow me to see."
"There's nothing inside!"
"If there's nothing inside why won't you allow to go in?"
I avoided Alexander's apologetic gaze, my eyes taking note of every single visible dirt on the tiled floor. Think about it, if Penelope were to find out I was actually starting to hang out with the jocks, she'll scream her hair off, and then skin Jarrell and I alive. That's not actually a bad thing, it means I get to die with Jarrell romantically. And she'll lose her boyfriend which I don't think she'll even get so upset to cry her eyes out.
When I lifted my head back, I saw a pair of fiery eyes glaring into mine. Like, the way the glare was literally melting my eyeballs. That's when my confidence began wilting like a withered plant. I don't even think I would be able to step out of this kitchen in one piece. "Someone tell me that this isn't the nerd." Her raging voice shook the ground.
I forced my lips shut. That's by far the most effective thing I can actually do.
"Tell me, why the hell is she here?!" She screamed, her boobs bounced up and down wobbly. In this kind of intense situations, I have never been so afraid before. So afraid to the point that even it scares me to think how shaky I've been.
"Stop it, Pen," Jarrell ordered sternly, "Leave now."
"What the fuck?" She cussed before another line of vulgarities spat out of her mouth, "You're asking your girlfriend to leave but not her? The nerd? Seriously Jarrell, I thought you had better taste than that ugly duckling!" She hollered in disbelief, giving me a stink eye. Alexander stood closer to me, his hand patted on my shoulder in comfort.
"She deserves better than you, Penelope," His remark startled me. There was no way those words would have came out from his mouth. I was taken aback, and so was Penelope. Alexander, well, he was more than entertained by what Jarrell had said from his amused face.
Penelope masked on an unaffected facade, laughing fakly, "Now's not the time to joke, Jarrell, don't try to be funny." What she've meant was probably 'tell me you're kidding and don't you dare embarrass me in front this bitch'. I knitted my eyebrows together, looking at Jarrell who had his lips pressed tightly together.
"I'm not kidding," Jarrell replied, "You're fake, she's real. You're plastic, she's not. You wear thick makeup, she doesn't. You flirt, she doesn't. You're ugly, she's pretty. Now, who is the ugly duckling?" Alexander unconsciously burst into fits of laughter at Jarrell's appalling comparison. My eyes widened at Penelope's abashment and most of all, how Jarrell had defended for me courageously.
Her face by then was bloody red, which I assumed had been the embarrassment she had gotten, and of course, the anger that was fuming in her. "You," She pointed at me viciously, "You and you," Her fingers moved to Jarrell and Alexander, "All of you shall regret what you did today." With that firm resolve in her voice, she stormed off infuriatedly.
"Hey, look here," Alexander pointed at his phone that was sitting on the countertable, which then I figured out that he had videotaped this entire humiliation process. I chuckled, to which he grinned like an idiot, "Say cheese!"
---------------^^----------------
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." Joanne said over the phone.
"Breathe, Jo, breathe." I chuckled. I was back inside the guest room, chatting with Joanne with the latest hot, very hot, gossip about Penelope's showdown. The video Alexander took was sent to Joanne, who was currently watching it, and making a whole lot of comments.
"I can't!" She giggled girlishly, "Her face," She continued laughing, "Priceless!"
"But that was a really scary encounter," I shuddered in fear, remembering the scowl on her face.
"But at least she wouldn't dare to make fun of you anymore, right!" She reminded me, "All credit to your knight in shining armor. He fended you in front of his girlfriend, that was probably a whole lot of difficulty. And I bet in any day or two they're going to break up, you have a chance now, Rainie!"
"Oh, can you stop putting my hopes up," I mumbled, loud enough for her to hear.
"Alex should have just sent this video to the school's newsletter. Actually, if you don't put this up on Youtube or send it to Lance, I will do it myself. This thing is so hilarious!" She said, referring to Lance, the school in-charge for our weekly newsletter. No one ever reads it, honestly, but if this goes onto the papers, everyone would be dying to snatch a copy.
"But don't you think that's a bit mean?" I replied, feeling a tinge of guilt.
"She isn't worthy being pitied, Rainie. She bullied you for so many years, just putting this on the newsletter isn't even enough to repay for what she'd done to you." I nodded my head, not saying anything aloud for her to here. "I've got to go now, see you tomorrow! Love you."
"Love you, good night Jo." I ended the call with a sigh.
Ten minutes later, I ended up rolling about on the bed, finding insomnia getting me hard to sleep. Frustrated, I got up and thumbled down the stairs and towards the kitchen. A faint view of the kitchen and I realised that the lights were on. It was terribly late at night, who else could be still in the kitchen? Curious, I quickened my steps and there was Jarrell sitting on the table, pondering over something.
"Can't sleep?" I asked, making him jumped from his seat slightly.
"Yeah," He smiled, "You too?"
"Mmm," I nodded my head, audaciously resting on the seat beside me. "So, why couldn't you sleep?"
"I'm scared." He said honestly.
"Scared of what?"
"Tomorrow."
"If it's about what happened just now, I'm so sorry. I didn't meant to -"
"No, I should be the one saying sorry to you. Pen had been such a bitch to you all this years, and so have I been. You didn't deserve any of these at all." He ruffled his hair messily, enhancing his night look to a whole new level of gorgeous.
"Huh?"
"I don't know. I'm just sick of being a jock and all that fame sometimes." His voice sounded burdened. "Penelope will probably spill about my past tomorrow." He turned his head and stared at me in the eyes. I blushed, under the lighting which could be seen more obvious, and my cheeks were flaming hot.
"Rainie." He called my name softly. Normally my name sounded weird and strange, but when he said my name it was just exceptionally sexy, making me grow more fonder of my name.
"Y-yeah?" I stammered.
"Can I hug you?"
"W-what-t -"
Before I could even say a 'yes', his body came crushing down onto my petite figure, his arms wrapped around my waist tightly. My blush grew more intensified, the tingling sensation travelling to every single part of my body. Inexperienced, I nervously placed my arms on his waist, feeling his hot breath of chuckle fanning my ear. This proximity was killing me, at the same time I was in heaven enjoying his hug.
And then he said, "Brace tomorrow, Rainie."
I was well aware that tomorrow was going to be a tough day.
And that's when I replied back with a smile on my face, "Yes, brace tomorrow."
-End of Chapter 21-
Thanks for the 9k reads and nearly 260 votes! I was so shocked when I saw the numbers. :D
-Continued-
The next update, well, no promises, but it should be resume in Mid-October. I hope this chapter can sastify you. In the meantime, I will still go wattpad everyday, so if you want to talk to me or you have any requests, you can still feel free to PM me. (: Honestly, I don't like putting my book on hold at all. I get very worried whether I will lose readers if I put this book on hold, but I kind of have no choice.
Vote and comment, stay fab, see you guys next month! -sugarminted. <3