Chapter 4: Your Audacious Bawdiness Undoubtedly Scarred Me For Life
I blinked. Twice. Thrice.
When I was finally convinced that my eyes were actually telling me the truth, I snapped back to reality and turned to face Gwen who still had the same awe-struck expression plastered on her face. By the looks of it, I can clearly tell that she still hasn't recover from her daze.
I can't believe that we were talking about Nicholas all along. It hadn't even occured to me that he was also attending Cross High. I should've known the moment Gwen mentioned his last name. I guess I was too preoccupied with my own deranged thoughts that I haven't realized how his name seemed to arouse a response from me.
But what puzzled me more was the fact that Gwen has been referring to him as Chase all this time. According to my memory, that was not how Mrs. Hayden addressed her son. He was Nicholas when I met him.
It just doesn't make sense.
To clear my confusion out, I nudged Gwen by the arm, hoping to snap her out of her woolgathering. Seeing no positive response, I shook her shoulders lightly which thankfully seemed to shake her a bit.
"U-uh what?", she asked.
"Uh, are you sure that 'Chase' is his name?" I asked her back, just to make sure.
Bemusement flashed across her face as she shot me a questioning look. "What do you mean? Of course I'm sure about that. After all, we've been attending the same school since middle school."
"Oh," I mumbled, trying to take in what she said.
"Why? Do you happen to know him?", she asked, curious.
"Yeah, I guess," I said. "Well, not really. It just so happened that our parents know each other and I kind of met him before--"
"Oh my freaking bananas! You mean, your families are close?" Gwen cut me off before I could fully finish what I was about to say. She now looked eagerly excited as she waited for my answer.
"Uh, it's not like that actually. You see, my mom kind of works for his parents and they sort of invited us over for dinner in their house, some welcoming occasion since we just moved in and all that stuff," I blabbered and gave her a small shrug.
Gwen's eyes were now twinkling in awe as she processed my words. "Gosh, that is so cool. You got to meet Chase Hayden's parents? They're like, one of the town's richest."
I nodded. "Well yeah. They were the ones who set the dinner, of course I got to meet them," I stated matter-of-factly.
"Oh alright. So, what do you mean earlier when you asked about his name?"
"Ah, that. It just confused me why you were calling him Chase--"
"Because that's his name," she cut me off.
I shrugged. "Yeah I know, I mean, it's just that I thought his name was Nicholas," I countered. "Well, at least that's how his Mom calls him."
"Nicholas Chase Hayden is his real name," she clarified.
"Oh," I murmured understandingly. "I didn't know."
My eyes shifted to Nicholas/Chase's direction once again. He was seated in what seemed to be the table for the people who ruled the social food chain. Sitting with him were those cute guys who entered ahead of him and some girls from the cheerleading squad.
Cliché, much?
I sort of understand why he chose to be called "Chase" instead of "Nicholas". The former quite fitted his personality while the latter sounded too, I don't know, honor-student-ish?
I let my eyes wander freely over his godly features when suddenly, images of him in his pink pajamas popped in my head causing me to let out a chortle.
Gwen must have heard me because she immediately shot me a befuddled look. "What are you giggling about?" she asked in between sips of her diet coke.
I contemplated whether to tell her about the 'pajama incident' or not but I quickly shrugged the thought and settled for the latter. Wouldn't want to ruin the bad boy's reputation by spilling the beans, right? And for some unfathomable reason, I just kind of wanted to keep the thought to myself. I don't know why but I sort of felt privileged that I was able to see that side of Ni-- I mean, Chase. Seeing him now, looking completely badass and lordly, I just couldn't imagine how his 'subjects' would react if they knew about that 'particular side' of their ring leader.
"Oh nothing, don't mind me," I answered back, trying to sound nonchalant. Gwen just gave me a blank glance and went back to eating her lunch.
I studied Chase's face once again. His slightly tousled brown hair increased the magnitude of his hotness to a higher degree. I now understand how the other girls in this school felt about him.
You are such a hypocrite, my mind taunted me. Whatever.
Despite the fact that he sort of epitomized 'trouble', his good looks were enough to outweigh the bad things about him. Maybe that's why girls can't resist his charm.
Sucks for them.
Good thing I possessed a different wavelength.
Admittedly, I completely call myself a brain-over-heart and instinct-over-feelings kind of person. Albeit it doesn't exempt me from being naïve and vulnerable at some occasions, it has at least, in some way, helped me understood and discern the most profound meaning and complexity of life and human nature. The fact that I remained incognizant to my feelings and instead followed what my brain instructs made me more grounded and less sentimental, if you put it that way. I believe that in order to survive in this pretty chaotic world, I had to learn how to think and act according to my instinct and not let my emotions overpower myself.
And-- Okay, hold up. That was deep and completely irrelevant. I didn't know short reflections had the ability to transform me into a mini Aristotle.
Let's ignore that and just focus on the matter on hand.
I didn't realize that I was already zoning out until Gwen started pinching my arm.
"Ow!" I screeched before jerking my arms away from her. I rolled my eyes after realizing that my effort of acting annoyed was only put in vain since she wasn't paying a tad bit of attention to me. Her eyes were again fixated on Chase's direction.
I followed her gaze and eventually caught sight of a blonde bimbo who was swaying her hips dramatically as she strutted her way towards the popular table.
Without warning, she slid into Chase's seat and landed on his lap before giving him a full blown kiss on the lips. I gasped in shock as she snaked her arms around the guy's neck who gripped her small waist in return. Holy fucking shit. I can't believe I was witnessing a live make-out session. Never have I imagined such obscenity could scar me for life.
Is it just me? Or people here are just downright aggressive?
Hell.
I think my innocent mind just got infiltrated with lascivious acts of God-knows-what.
"That's Ashley Evans," Gwen voiced out after basically reading my thoughts. I looked at her curiously, hoping to fish out more details about the girl. Darn. People here are riveting.
"She's Chase Hayden's female counterpart," she added. "Head cheerleader. Most popular girl in school. In short-- Cross High's Queen bee." Then she snorted. "More like Queen Bitch."
I chuckled. From the looks of it, Gwen definitely hated the girl's guts. She was now shooting daggers at the Evans girl who by the way was horrendously making out with Chase Hayden. I understand Gwen's fury. She was jealous; she had a reasonable right to hate the girl.
"Are they together?" I asked.
"Nah, they're not," she quickly denied, negating my theory. "People like them do not engage in relationships. Let's just say they're more of bed partners."
My eyes widened in shock. "What the heck. Really?"
Gwen rolled her eyes before turning to me again. "That Ashley's a slut for all I care and it's actually quite obvious that Chase Hayden is a manwhore himself."
For a living Barbie doll like Gwen, she certainly has quite a colorful vocabulary. Gosh. What would Ken say?
Just kidding.
My eyes unmindedly returned to the pair who was now just a second apart from ripping each other's clothes. I shook my head in disbelief. It was like a scene from a rated R movie come to life.
Well, lovely.
I absentmindedly pushed my tray forward as I felt bile slowly rising up to my throat. Seriously, I think I just lost my appetite.
"God, don't they know anything about decency? I know that this is a lunch cafeteria but they seriously misunderstood the 'Sustain Your Hunger' part for Dumbledore's sake!" I exclaimed in exasperation.
Gwen doubled in laughter as soon as the words came out of my mouth. "That was a good one," she said in between her giggles. I shot her an annoyed look.
Gwen stopped from laughing and regarded me amusedly. "You can't do anything to stop them from, err, eating each other." I shot her a peeved glare as she suppressed another laugh. "Okay, just kidding. You don't have to go all dragon lady on me, you know."
"Whatever. Let's just get out of here before I start throwing up, okay?"
I let loose a sigh of relief as soon as Gwen and I have reached the double doors of the cafeteria. To be completely honest, that was the first time I actually witnessed a 'live make-out session', so you can't actually blame me if I sort of overreacted. Seeing two people helplessly swapping spits wasn't just a pleasant sight, see.
I sent a silent thanks when the bell finally rang. At last, a distraction,I thought.
Before we parted ways, I pulled Gwen by the arm and asked, "Don't you wanna introduce me to your friends?"
"Nah," she said. "I don't actually have permanent friends. I like to circulate in between groups. But since you're now here, maybe I don't have to anymore."
I just gave her a small smile in return.
Muttering a quick goodbye to Gwen, I immediately set off towards the opposite hall where my next class was located. Since she has helpfully filled me in about some Cross High basics, I found my classroom easily.
After settling myself in a comfortable seat at the back of the room, I plugged my ear phones on hoping to block the images of Chase and Ashley's hook-up from my mind.
I was only halfway done with my first day of school yet a lot of 'unexpected' things have already happened in a short amount of time.
Cross High is definitely full of surprises.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, I buried my face in my hands when it dawned on me that I was definitely bound to see more of them.
Fun? Oh hell, no.
A/N.
Yay! Another chapter!
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