Chapter 5: Looking Deep Is Hard, But Understanding Is Even Harder
After my spectacular execution of Phases 1 and 2, it was time for Phase 3. Phase 3 would've been more difficult, since it involved P.E. Hopefully, Noah would be irritated enough to look like a hot-headed freak.
To our luck, Alex had his 3rd class as a free period today. So while he set everything up, I sat away in AP Biology.
Don't take me wrong; I rather liked biology because it was interesting. I'd just rather not be in class while I worried about my idiot brother messing things up.
It wasn't even a joke because I could totally picture it. One second he had everything going perfectly, and in the next, everything just happened to be a disaster.
If the plan was going the way I hoped it was, then Alex should be putting itching powder in Noah's shorts.
I know, I know. It's not original, but hey, if it works then it works. Simple as that. The itching powder will probably end up on himself, though. Knowing my brother, his luck only went so far. I'd call knowing what he's doing as "twin telepathy", but it's common knowledge that my brother is stupid. I pray for my brother's poor soul at times like this.
I watched the clock tick every second as if time would speed up if I willed it to. Minutes seemed like hours as time passed, and I was probably looking like the weirdest person ever glaring at the clock.
Apparently, the guy next to me noticed and said, "You know that it's scientifically proven that the more you stare at a clock to pass time, the more it'll seem as time moves slower. So you should stop burning holes into that clock." He tapped on my arm with his pencil, to snap me out of my staring match with the clock. "I'm Sam, and I'm guessing you're new here."
"Yeah I'm new here," I said. "And I didn't know that, but it seems true, so I'm going to stop staring at the clock." I gave Sam a little smile, and he smiled back at me.
This guy was really cute. Sam had dirty blonde hair and these sea-blue eyes that were absolutely amazing. His eyes temporarily blinded me and had me now staring into them. Sam's eyes were blue, and I loved blue, so you can't blame me for getting lost into them.
"So, I got you to stop staring at the clock, but now you won't stop staring at me. I don't know whether or not to feel flattered or scared because you look like you're going to eat me alive." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I also never got to catch your name."
I blinked twice and snapped out of my trance. "Oops, sorry," I said sheepishly. "Oh and my name is—" I was about to tell him, but the bell rung before I could say it. "Sorry, but I really have to go now, but thanks for distracting me. I guess I'll see you around soon." I gave him a little wave and rushed out of the classroom.
I hurried on to P.E, to get changed. I saw Serena in the locker room, said a quick "hi", changed, and then hurried out to the gym. When I saw Alex, I literally jumped on him to get him to tell me our progress.
"Whoa, Azalia. What's the rush?" he asked.
"Did you do it? Did you do it?" He began to smirk and was about to reply when I exclaimed, "And don't you dare say 'that's what she said' or anything else like that!"
His smirk stayed, and he let out a dramatic sigh. "Of course I did, though it was kind of difficult picking with his lock. But you know me; I can open any lock."
It's true that Alex can open any lock. Out of all the skills he could've gotten, he got the ability to unlock locks, crack codes, find passwords, and other things that I still do not know about. It's genius, actually, and can really come in handy.
"How much did you put on the shorts?"
"Almost half of the bottle." People were starting to pile in to the gym and starting to stretch. "This is going to be awesome."
I nodded in agreement and looked around for Noah but couldn't seem to find him. Apparently Alex saw him first.
"Look—there he is!" Alex shouted. "Let's go over there."
I was about to tell him no, but he grabbed me by the arm and quickly dragged me over to Noah and his group of friends. We stopped right in front of them, and I noticed Serena was there too. Why would she be hanging out around them?
"Hey, guys. For those of you who don't know, this is my sister Azalia," Alex said. He turned to a guy with brown hair and brown eyes. He was well built and obviously very gorgeous. "That's Damon Anderson." Then, he turned to a familiar blonde haired and blue-eyed guy. "And that is—,"
"That's Sam." Alex shot me a look that clearly asked how I knew him. The rest of the group, except for Sam, also had that look. "I have 3rd period with him," I explained.
Everyone had a "that makes sense" look after my explanation. Like duh, how else would I know him?
"So it's Azalia, right?" Sam went on to ask with an eyebrow raised. I nodded back at him. "At least I finally have your name. I can stop calling you the girl that ran away now. I was going to ask you if you wanted to walk to P.E. together, but you ran away as fast as you could. I didn't know I was that repulsive."
That was a cheap shot; trying making me feel guilty. "I'm sorry about that. I was just in a hurry to—," I glanced at Noah who was watching us closely and had a sudden mind blank. "To, um, to—," I stuttered in nervousness.
Thankfully I was saved by my twin. "She was in a hurry to change so she would have a lot of time to stretch. Believe me—she needs all the time she can get or else one of her dainty little muscles will pull until they snap."
I'll forget the insult just because he saved me. Did I ever mention how much I loved my brother?
I gave him a thankful look and got an obnoxious smirk back. I looked at Noah to make sure the coast was clear, but he was still looking at me weirdly, like he was trying to figure me out. It was freaking me out, and I was becoming paranoid that he was on to me, until I saw his nose twitch. The itching powder was finally going into effect, which meant that Phase 3 was on its way to victory.
He was starting to scratch his upper thigh inconspicuously, and his face showed clear irritation. I wanted to burst out laughing, but I couldn't, or else I'd look like a weirdo. I nudged Alex's arm and nodded toward Noah, who was starting to scratch even more.
The coach walked into the gym and yelled, "Everybody head out to the field! Today is an all lap day. You all have to do a minimum of 5 laps, which should be easy since you guys have the whole period. Okay, off you go."
The six of us headed out to the field and started lightly jogging. After two laps, it was becoming obvious that Alex was scratching himself. Damon was the first to notice besides Alex and I, of course.
"Noah, are you scratching your ass?" Damon asked. He looked confused, but he also had an amused smile displayed.
Sam and Serena both looked at Noah and saw him scratching. I was close to just letting my laughter out since our whole group noticed it, but Alex didn't even bother hiding his.
The poor guy must be dying from itchiness right now. Normally, I would feel bad and harbor a guilty conscious, but when it came to Noah, everything is under different circumstances.
We just finished another lap when Noah finally let it out. "What the hell is going on? My thighs, butt, and crotch are itchy. It's irritating like a b*tch."
I couldn't contain it anymore, so I let all my laughter out. Soon enough, everyone did the same. Noah was obviously pissed, both from the laughing and the itchiness. Is it wrong to not feel bad for him right now?
By our 4th lap, Noah's scratching was apparent. People were trying to hide their laughter were and talking about what he was doing. The killer part was when the coach noticed.
Coach yelled, "Matthews! What in the world is wrong with you? Do you have ants in your pants or something?"
"No, Coach!" Noah yelled back.
"So why the hell are you scratching your ass? I hope you know that's not attractive."
Laughter was heard all across the field at Coach's words. Phase 3 was working out great. I was loving the Coach at this exact moment.
"I'm just really itchy. I don't know what's happening, but it just won't stop."
"Maybe that's what you get for sleeping around." The class stopped running, shocked at the Coach's words. How the heck would the Coach know that? "Oh, don't you kids look at me like that. I hear a lot that goes around the school. I probably have dirt on every single one of you. Who knows, though? You might be a walking STD, Matthews."
Noah's face instantly turned bright red. I bet he didn't expect that. Hell, no one did. Then, a roar of laughter came from the whole class.
Taking him down seemed to be pretty easy so far.
Damon whispered into my ear, "The coach and Noah joke around all the time, so I don't see why Matthews is so surprised." I gave him a pointed look, noticing myself that this was an embarrassing situation. "Fine, then! I guess Coach went a little too far. Especially since he did it in front of everyone."
At least Damon got that right. This was going in a bad direction. So, I nudged Damon to start running, and we ran, which signaled everyone else to finish their laps, too.
As we finished our laps, Sam came up to me. "Well that was an interesting show," he said, referring to the moment between Noah and Coach. "I wonder what happened to Noah. He'd never scratch himself that way in public. He cares too much about his reputation."
"Yeah, well I can agree with you on that. His ego is as big as an elephant." I thought that he figured out that I was part of the prank, but I quickly dismissed the thought when he shot me a dazzling smile.
"I'll be going to change now. See you at lunch." He jogged to the boys' locker room.
I stared after him, bedazzled and blinded by his smile. Sam could get a girl to stare after him even when he wasn't trying. That was a pretty amazing feat.
When Serena called my name, I snapped out of my little trance, realizing I'd been standing there with my mouth open. I bet that wasn't attractive at all.
"You okay there, Lia?" she called out.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
•••
I was in line for lunch with Serena, looking at the lunch options. And let me tell you that dining halls, not cafeterias, but dining halls have the best school lunch food ever.
No meatloaf with mystery meat, no moldy ham and cheese sandwiches, and no soggy bread.
Picking up crispy french fries and a legitimate gourmet grilled cheese, I paid and walked with Serena to her usual table. The table included Serena, Sam, Damon, and grudgingly Noah, whom I still don't know why Serena is hanging out with. Now, it also included me and Alex.
We arrived at the table to see my brother, Damon, and Sam. Noah wasn't there, and I was completely relieved. I got to spend a couple of minutes in jerk-free space.
Of course, someone had to question his whereabouts. That someone was Alex.
"Hey, where's Matthews?" He looked around and focused on one area. "There he is!"
And where do you ask was Noah? He was sitting with a blonde cheerleader that showed a little too much skin.
I'm not saying cheerleaders are slutty, since I was a cheerleader once. They're all quite nice and modest, but there's always those one or two girls who are more slutty than others. The girl with Noah was obviously one of the "less modest ones."
"That's not a surprise. Claire Fidet once again," Sam said. Alex and I gave him a look, obviously not understanding the whole gist of it. "He's been together with her a couple of times, but the usual is always a different girl every week."
My brother and I silently had an "oh, that's what you meant" moment. That made sense. Part of being the bad boy was being a player; another reason to continue on with the revenge plan. Phase 4 was going to show him to not mess with girls.
We were so focused on our conversation about Noah to not notice that he was standing right behind us. Noah stood there with his trademark smirk, looking full of himself. He probably heard us talking about him, which was no wonder why his ego was so boosted. He sat down next to Alex and relaxed once he got into a comfortable position.
"So, I heard you guys talking about me. You were probably talking about my good looks and all the girls I get," Noah boasted.
"Yeah, we were talking about you," I said. His smirk got even bigger at the fact that I admitted we were talking bout him. "We were talking about glue and STD's. Do you know anything about those subjects?"
Everyone at our table laughed at my comeback, and Noah's smirk turned into a scowl. Noah got up and grabbed my arm. "That reminds me that I need to talk to you, little smurf. We'll be back in a second, guys." He pulled me up and practically dragged me along after him. I was dragged by him until we reached the football field, which wasn't that far from the dining hall.
"Gosh, Matthews! What in the world was that? You could have just asked me to come along with you instead of dragging me out here!" I complained.
He glared at me. "Where would the fun in that be? It wouldn't matter anyway because that is nothing compared to all the sh*t you put me through today."
"All I did was diss you in front of a little over half of the school's population by outshining you with mine and my brother's cars."
"Don't act all innocent, Azalia. I know you put the glue on my seat. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. And the itching in my pants—I admit, that was a clever one. I didn't expect itching powder, and I don't understand how you got it into my P.E shorts which is in my locked locker in the guy's locker room. I know that you're not the one who put the powder into my shorts, since Sam said you guys were in 3rd period together and you never left the class. So, I know you're working with someone," Noah ranted.
As he was ranting, his whole demeanor was starting to shift, and I saw something in his eyes that looked genuinely real—a look of vulnerability.
He continued on, "I don't even know what I did to you, little smurf, and it honestly pisses me off."
Please, like he didn't know what he's done to me. I could probably name like a million things.
"This has probably been one of the worst days in school I've ever had. It's also been the worst day so far during senior year, which is crazy since senior year started like last week! I don't understand this at all. The school day hasn't even finished yet, and I've been embarrassed not once, not twice, but three times!"
I was feeling really bad, and I was also feeling really guilty, which was never what was supposed to happen when you pull a prank. You were supposed to feel overwhelmingly excited, full of joy and anticipation, and have a rush of adrenaline. But I wasn't feeling the usual feeling.
He looked directly at me when he stopped his rant, and I saw it in his eyes; he was unknowingly opening up. I saw a look of hurt in his eyes that was probably showing from the bad day he was having.
A group of people walking by the field to get into the dining hall saw Noah and immediately started laughing, trying their hardest to hide it and have Noah not notice them. But Noah noticed, and it was hard to not notice since the field was empty because everyone was in the dining hall or in class.
Noah sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. His shoulders seemed to sag and his whole face seemed to fall. "I'm just really tired, little smurf."
I felt ten times worse when he said that, but at the same time I was getting to see a new side to the bad boy that I bet hardly anyone had seen.
You don't see it unless you look deep, deep, deep down in that hard-headed skull of his, but it's still there.
And in that moment, I knew I couldn't continue on with the revenge plan. Phase 4 would've ultimately embarrassed him and revealed things he did that were caught on tape. To add to that, it would be shown in front of the entire senior class. Don't ask me how I got it—I just know where to look and how to get what I want.
But I still tried to play it off anyway. "You can't be sure I'm the one who did it," I said. "Who knows who it could be? You have pissed off more people than I could count."
"I know it was you; don't even deny it. I already warned you not to mess with me, and you still do it!" He looked like he had a sudden revelation. "You're the only girl that's ever stood up to me," he muttered in a barely heard whisper.
Then he shouted, "I don't understand you! One day you're all snappy about me being rude to you and crying because you think I'm going to kill you, then the next you're all up in my face pulling ridiculous pranks and acting like you're badass!"
Well, there was no point in denying anything now. "They were pretty good pranks." He sent me an annoyed look. "I do have one more planned, though." His eyes widened, like he couldn't believe this was happening to him.
"But... I'm not going through with it."
His expression changed to relief and his eyes filled with curiosity. "Why aren't you? What were you going to do anyway?"
"You really think I was going to tell what I was going to do? I'll save that for later. And to answer the first question, I don't exactly know. But, I do think that you've got what you deserved. Next time, don't mess with my time for eating lunch."
He gave looked at me with disbelief. "You mean that I was publicly embarrassed by you because you have a better car, got my jeans ripped and had my boxers showing, and got told that I was a walking STD just because you didn't eat your lunch the day that you ran into me," he practically screeched.
"Well, duh. You don't mess with a girl and her food."
"You're crazy, little smurf." He looked at me once again, shook his head, and started walking back to the dining hall.
"Hey!" I called out. "Wait for me!" I hurried to catch up to Noah and walked beside him. I looked at him with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Matthews. You've just got to learn to not to mess with me, too. This thing isn't one-sided."
"You should be sorry! I went through all of that, to hell and back, just because you didn't eat a god damn sandwich." Jerk mode was apparently switched back on, all the way on full throttle.
As we sat down at the table, I got questioning looks from everyone. I knew I had to explain what happened, but I knew that that could wait until later. There was only one thing on my mind that I knew was the only thing I could deal with at the time being.
Embarrassing him in an assembly in front of the whole senior class wouldn't be worth it. I already got most of my revenge done, so I was okay with letting it go.
But I knew how it always was with bad boys. Every girl wanted to be "the one" who changed him, but it never worked. Because once you're a bad boy, you're always a bad boy.
I knew what I had to do: I just had to figure him out. Sure, it seemed really simple, but once you worked into it, you would see that it was more complex than you ever thought it would be.
Figuring him out would be hard, but it wouldn't be impossible. It wasn't about changing him, it was about understanding him.
And I'd be the first one to do that.
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