Hey guys! Another chapter of Half Loved for you :)
Now that I've introduced all the guys in Andy's life, let the fun begin! ;)
Here's the funny thing, I actually made Andy's and Cam's schedule hahha :))
Well, I hope you guys like this chap :)
Btw the guy on the right is of Nathaniel Buzolic :D He plays Jace ---------------->
Please like, comment, add to your library, fan, and Vote! PLEASE VOTE! :D hahaha
Thanks guys, ;)
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~Chapter 8:~
As if by some miraculous malfunction of luck, Tyler was at my Algebra class today. Crap. For some reason, I still blame him for my sudden paranoia of seeing Cam enter the bathroom. It makes me feel so freaking uncomfortable! Why did he even have to discuss his “Teddy Antics” with me? It made things much worse when I walked in on Cam doing his business yesterday. Gosh was that awkward. I wasn’t able to look at him for quite some time after that...
And don’t even ask me about last night. Oh crap, I was bombarded with his bacon talk. Yeah, it has been happening for quite some time now, and I’m still not used to it! Sheesh. Why do I have to have such a weird roommate? Heck, I was even tempted to sleep on the bath tub… well, I didn’t. But I spent a couple of hours sitting on the floor as I read Ashley’s book. Heck, I finished it already. I shook my head as I tried to shake away all thoughts of my exhibitionist of a roommate.
Tyler on the other hand, being the jock that he is, had a lot of people clustered over him. It seems like he’s pretty popular around here. Eh. I had no time for him. Especially since my time with him wasn’t really that memorable. Well, it was monumental actually. I spilled a couple of things on him and it seems like he wants me to repay him with something.
I breathed in a sigh of relief as his busy crowd would keep him company and distract him from having any other form of communication with me. I was happy with my studious seatmates. I don’t need distractions… especially not now since Algebra is… well, let’s just say I’m not really friends with Algebra. I need to concentrate if I want to pass this.
The teacher then stepped in. He looked like some old explorer or something with his moustache and vintage framed spectacles. The brown blazer he wore didn’t actually do much to lessen his already explorer looking features. His small beady eyes looked like they were ready to kill. Great. He seems like he’s ready to shoot down anything. With some luck, I hope he’s not that strict.
But luck isn’t really on my side today. It’s not. Cause if it was, then Tyler wouldn’t be standing right in front of me. “Hey Root beer.” He grinned.
“It’s Andy.” I said without looking up. I still fixated my eyes on my book.
“Okay, Andy then.” He said as he knelt down to meet my eyes. “Is this seat taken?”
“I don’t know, does it look like it’s taken?” I snapped and it surprised the both of us.
“Well, it’s pretty vacant, so I guess it is.” He mused.
“Then take it if you want to. Don’t disturb me, I’m trying to read.”
“Just trying to make conversation.” He shrugged as he took the seat behind me.
Fine. He’s right… I was being snappy. And he didn’t even do anything but talk to me… well, he indirectly caused my Cam paranoia, but he doesn’t know that, so it will be a little unfair of me to blame him for it. I sighed and turned around to apologize but the sharp whistle in front made me look.
“My name is Mr. Schoenberg. And I am your Algebra professor. I’d like to remind you that this is a classroom and I intend to keep it that way. If you wish to talk, then I would prefer that you step out now and don’t ever come back again.” He said sharply.
Okay? What’s his problem? If I thought I was snappy, but this guy was way far off. He seemed like he was having PMS or something.
“Well, if you don’t have any questions, it’s time for pop quiz.”
What the heck? Okay. Luck wasn’t really on my side today. Oh crud.
~Lunch~
“Hey, Andy.” Tyler said, catching up with me after we were dismissed by Evil’s spawn, Mr. Schoenberg.
“What?”
“How’d you do with the test?” he said as he high fived some people we passed through.
“Fairly good. How about you?”
“Same same.” He said matter-of-factly.
“Hey Ty!” a couple of guys said as they approached us.
“Sup bro.”
“Wanna get some lunch at the Belt?”
“Nah, you go ahead.”
“Oh, who’s this little guy.” The guy said as grinned at me.
“Hey, don’t be rude Jesse.” A red headed girl said as she stood beside me. “I’m Sasha.” She said as she hugged me.
“This is Root b—Andy.” Tyler corrected.
“Found yourself a new mascot eh.” The Jesse guy said with a little laugh.
“A cute mascot.” Sasha giggled.
“Hey hey, back off guys, he’s my newest sidekick.” He grinned.
“Not again.” Sasha rolled her eyes at Tyler. “Don’t mind him Andy, he’s just being the dumb jock that he is.” She teased.
“Yeah, Tyler here is as air-headed as a balloon. He’s up for anything.” Jesse added.
“Hush hush guys. Leave my little sidekick alone.”
“Hey, I’m no sidekick of yours.” I snapped at him.
“Oh, this one’s got some spunk in him.” Said the Jesse guy in approval.
“Yeah, way to tell him Andy.” Sasha she agreed. “Well, Mr. Popular is shooing us away now, so I’ll see you some time. Nice meeting you.” She said with another hug.
“Yeah, bye Spunky.” The Jesse guy said as he went with Sasha.
“So you’ve met the Colton siblings.” Tyler said.
“They’re siblings?” I exclaimed as I turned around. Oh yeah, they had same hair colour. Figures.
“Yeah, twins actually. Jesse’s my roommate.”
“Cool.” I said evenly as I made my way through the crowd. Why was he still following me?
“Hey, wanna grab some lunch?”
“Wait, didn’t you turn those guys down? And now you want to have lunch with me. I’m confused.”
“Well, I had to talk to you about my erm... proposition.” He winked.
“What propos—oh. Is this about that nonexistent debt you had me do?”
“Hey, last time I checked, our deal was pretty legit.”
“No it wasn’t.” I said as I looked at him disapprovingly. We were about to reach my table outside and I already saw Liam and Cam sitting there. I approached the table quickly in hopes of losing my tail, but who was I kidding? This guy was a jock. Of course he’s catch up with me. Stupid Andy.
“Whoa Root bee—oh, hey Cam.” he said as he gave Cam one of those man hug things guys usually did. “Oh, you friends with Mr. Player too?” Tyler asked me as he motioned towards Liam.
“Wait, you know these guys?” I asked him incredulously.
“I have French with Cam, and player over here, well, we’ve had classes together before. All I know is that no one’s safe with him.” He teased.
“Hey, hey, don’t ruin my reputation buddy.” Liam rolled his eyes. “Andy here thinks I’m a Saint.”
“Yeah right.” I said as I put down my things. I’m gonna go leave these hooligans for a while as I buy my food. “Be right back.”
When I left, I faintly heard a small playful argument about who gets to keep me. Tyler keeps telling Liam I’m his new sidekick, and Liam keeps saying I’m his personal ‘buddy’. Tyler just laughed at that, chastising him for whatever ‘buddy’ meant. I wanted to go back and redeem myself from their nonsense, but their laughter just made me walk away further. Yup, I’m not gonna engage in whatever mindless guy conversation their having.
A few girls were at the Caff along with what I assume to be their classmates or boyfriends. I stiffened bitterly at my thought of the latter. Heck, I’m not gonna think of anything disconcerting today.
I bumped someone behind me and I turned around just in time to catch the arm of my bumper. “Oh, Ashley.”
“Hey Andrej.” She said as she smiled at me.
“You having lunch here?”
“Yeah, most of the things at Bourbon’s Cafe are salads, fruits, and other non fat things. I want some meat.” She said in a lame impersonation of a cannibalistic cave man.
“Uhm, I guess we got to work on that cave man voice.” I said, as I laughed at her attempt.
“Hey, at least I tried.” She shrugged.
We then got our meals. She wasn’t kidding about her meat craving when she got a small basket of wings and some yogurt. I knew it. The girl in her—no matter how much she likes meat—showed when she got that yogurt and green tea from the small beverage shop beside the Caff. Meanwhile, I contented myself with some Lasagna, my own basket of wings, and a thick slice of chocolate cake.
“You wanna sit with us?” I asked in an attempt at friendliness. This was the perfect opportunity to actually see Cam lay some ground work. I could decide my tactics from then on. After all, I decided to help him with Ashley... and besides, I could use some girl company in that band of guys.
“Sure.” She smiled. “Who’s us?”
I then led her outside and pointed at our little table. For some reason, Tyler already had a tray in front of him. When did that happen? I didn’t even see him stand up. Oh well, maybe he’s a magician or something. “There.”
“Oh, your friends with the school’s most popular jock, and the Asher Heights and Julienne Bourbon’s most notorious player Liam.”
“Asher Heights and Julienne Bourbon’s?” I asked curiously.
“Rumor has it, he just wants pleasure. It didn’t matter whoever it came from.”
“Really?” I gasped, and for a moment, I think I sounded like a girl. Oh crap, was I phasing? I looked at my hands and found out that I didn’t. Oh crap. I didn’t know if I should feel relieved or pissed off. Sigh, I guess my earlier lapse was caused by my previous brain’s instant reaction to rumors. Move away Andrea, I’m Andrej now. Stop haunting me sheesh!
“Oh, and you’re friends with Mr. Musician. People are anticipating his big performance you know.”
“Yeah, unfortunately, they’re what I call company here.” I said as I rolled my eyes. “Save me from them?”
She laughed at me and I can’t help but laugh along her gracefully playful laughter. “Well, this is gonna be interesting, but okay.” She smiled.
“Oh, thank you!”
We then walked over to our table, with me smiling ridiculously as I have now recruited a girl in our table! Yippe! Okay, so maybe luck was just running a little late for me today. Liam and Tyler just smiled at our new lunch recruit, but Cam visibly tensed up at the sight of her. Oh man, this guy was head over heels with her. Sucker!
“Hey guys, this is—”
“Ashley Pierson.” Liam said with a smile. “I’ve heard all about you. Student leader, dean’s lister, cheerleader, active in 5 orgs, and what can I say, beauty and brains.”
“And I guess you’re the notorious Liam. Player, player, and oh, player. Nice to meet you.” Ashley said in a gracefully executed insult towards Liam.
“Touché.” Liam winked as they made some space for me and Ashley.
“Hey.” Tyler said with a nod. “Sup Ash.”
“Hey Ty.” She said with a smile.
It’s like they already knew each other... oh, wait, if Ashley was a cheerleader, and Tyler was on the basketball team, then yeah... of course they knew each other, who am I kidding? They knew each other.
“Oh, hey Cam.”
“Hey Ashley.” Cam replied like he didn’t know what just struck him.
Oooooohhhhhhhh. This is gonna be good I can tell.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After that really awkward lunch with Cam, Ashley and I head of to our classroom... it turned out we were in the same writing class. Oh, maybe luck was just late! I liked writing, and I could barely contain my excitement as we drew near our building.
As it turned out, Asher Heights and Julienne Bourbon selected their student’s classes based on their preferred activities. They give special classes in the arts, sports, and everything that will help their students reach their maximum potential. I’m really impressed... mostly because I was given Arts, Writing and English Literature M/W/F... those were classes I all liked. I had P.E. too, hoping that it would be something gymnastics related...
My writing class went fairly well... It did end earlier though, but I guess an hour and a half was better than nothing. I bid Ashley farewell as I handed her book back. She was surprised I finished it in one day, knowing that it was supposed to be the first week, and we had loads of homework. It’s some sort of tradition here, ended by the F.W.O.S. party where Cam would be singing at.
My English Lit class came afterward, and I was surprised to find Cam there. Oh, so I had him here as well. Cool. When he sat next to me and bombarded me with questions about Ashley, I guess having him here wasn’t so cool after all. Especially since my earlier class was with Ashley. Great. I dodged a few of Cam’s questions by answering most of our professor’s queries about our ideas on English Literature. Great. I guess my ninja skills at dodging were good enough.
When the bell rang, all I could do was nod at Cam’s crazy hook up ideas as we made our way to the gym. Okay. Great luck. He was my classmate there as well. We made our way to the lockers and took our assigned ones. Turns out Carter and Deverough weren’t that far when alphabetized. Only two lockers separated ours apart, so he was still able to squeeze in a few questions. Great. The best I could do to escape him was when I ran over Liam on my way to dressing counter.
“Oh Liam! Your timing couldn’t be any more perfect. Talk to me, pretend we’re busy! Cam’s coming over.”
With a quick fluid movement, he had his arm around my shoulder as he escorted me through the crowd. He led me over to a dressing room and closed the door.
“Okay, what am I saving you from?” he said as he started to remove his shirt.
“Whoa, what are you doing?” I said as I looked away.
“Changing, what else?”
I then remembered what Ashley told me earlier... Liam was well known for reputation of being a player in both schools. Okay? Suddenly, my earlier relief of being alone with him was replaced with panic. It didn’t help that we were the only ones who were using these changing cubicles. Apparently, the guys here had no problems being naked in front of each other.
“Hey, what’s wrong, you’re trembling?” he said as he looked at me with concern.
“You’re erm... making me uncomfortable.” I said uneasily as I looked away. He was now only wearing a pair of tight cotton boxers. Kinda similar to what I have. Only, I was fully dressed and he wasn’t.
“Oh, you’re the conservative kind, I get it.” He sighed. “I’ll go and wait for you outside okay? But talk me through it. Answer my earlier question.”
Oh thank heavens. So maybe he wasn’t as notorious as he seemed. For a moment, I thought he was gonna try something funky back there. But maybe he’s not such a pervert after all. He’s flirty alright, but not a pervert. So maybe I could trust him after all. “Well...” I trailed off.
“Well?” he said as he leaned over the door outside.
“Cam’s bombarding me with questions about Ashley. But don’t tell him I told you!”
“Oh, trust me. That girl’s one piece of work. I tried to court her back in freshman year. She barely got swayed. Good luck for Cam.”
“Courted or hit on her?” I teased as I put on the breezy pair of shorts I had.
“Hey, I can be a gentleman if I wanted to.” He said in defence.
“Yeah right.”
“Cowboy, no matter what my reputation may be, I don’t force people to do what they don’t want to.” He said matter-of-factly. Oh. Well that caught me off guard. Maybe he wasn’t so bad as others think he is.
“Okay, I’ll pretend to believe you.” I said as I stepped out of the cubicle.
“Damn. You look pretty good in shorts.” He said looking at me head to toe.
“You do know you just ruined your one shot at salvation with me right?” I joked as I rolled my eyes.
“What? Only telling the truth.” He winked as put his arm around me again. “C’mon the instructor just came.”
We stepped outside and joined the crowd outside. The people were all chattering and whispering, excitement evident in their tones. Cam was already outside too. To the right, I was surprised to see a mat, kinda similar like the ones we used in gymnastics. Oh my gosh! This was it! The cherry on top of my luck! Yippee! I joined in on the excitement of the whole crowd when suddenly...
HIIIIYYYYAAAAA!!!
There was a sudden cloud of what seemed like powder when the punching bag flew on top of the mat. Everyone got stunned when a pretty girl in our mid twenties materialized out of nowhere. She was wearing a yellow sports bra and some short black cycling shorts to match.
“Hey, guys. I’m your Mixed Martial Arts instructor. Call me Serena.”
Everyone from the crowd cheered and for a moment I was lost in my own head. What the heck? Mixed Martial Arts?!? I didn’t sign up for this! I thought I had gymnastics, but what was this?!? The hell I’m gonna have this class!
“Okay, pair up! Pair up!” she said as she threw two sacks of what seemed like protective equipment.
By that time, people were already clearing up as they looked for practice partners. The room was practically reeking with bloodlust and... okay, well maybe that was a little dramatic, but I’m not gonna go around punching people! I made my way to the little opening in the crowd and tapped Serena’s back. She quickly spun around and even I couldn’t help but admire her beauty.
“Yes?” she said as she flipped her braid behind her.
“Uhm, there seems to be a mix up... you see, I actually listed gymnastics, and this is definitely not the class I enrolled in. No offense though, I think MMA is great, but it’s just not for me.”
“Oh.” She said raising an eyebrow in curiosity. “The gymnastics classes are for Julienne Bourbon’s. Gymnastics are great but I guess your figure would better suit MMA. No offense though.”
Oh crap. She was right. I forgot I was a guy now! Darn. I can’t believe I slipped. And most importantly, I slipped in front of a teacher! How could I be so careless?!? I better laugh it off to avoid any misunderstanding.
“You want to switch classes?” she offered.
“No, no, no...” I said with much distress. “I think MMA’s way badass.” I lied. Well, I didn’t but you get my point.
“That’s the spirit.” She said as she winked at me. She then put on her mask of battle fury yelled at my face. “Now go pick a partner!”
I almost jumped at her sudden order and I quickly retreated to where Cam and Liam was. “Hey.”
“Hey Andy.” Liam said with an uneasy smile.
“You guys have partners already?”
“Apparently, we took each other.” Liam said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, cause you were my first option but...”
“But we’re afraid you couldn’t take a shot.” Cam finished as he rolled his eyes at Liam.
“Hey.” He said as he glared at Cam. “Besides, I don’t want to scar that pretty face of yours.” He winked with all of his Liam flirtiness.
Seriously? What the heck? I faked a smile and turned away from them. Did I look that small? I mean, I wasn’t as chiselled as the both of them but I was pretty toned myself. Okay, so maybe all the battle fury in the room could get a little contagious. Now I wanna punch something... with Cam’s face in it. At least Liam had the decency to be demure about it but Cam was just flat out blunt.
I marched through the crowd with my head held high, oh, when I show these how badass I can be, they’ll be sorry they ever underestimated me. MMA seems pretty appealing to me now and I can’t help but put on a smug face as I looked for a potential partner.
After all the time that’s passed, it seemed like everyone already had a partner... since we were 30 in the class, and it made 15 pairs, I couldn’t help but notice the guys standing by the punching bags. He was fixing these protective guards around his arms when I went near him. It turned out this guy was in my French class earlier. He was alone as well, and I thought that he could be the perfect partner, and besides, it’s not like we had a choice... we were the only ones left without a partner.
“Hey, we’re in French together right?” I asked in an attempt at conversation.
“Guess so.” He said as he fastened the last strap in his gear.
“Uhm listen... I’m kinda short on people I know here, so do you mind being partners?”
He looked at me incredulously as he tried to check if I was kidding or not. Oh hell no. Don’t tell me he thought that I couldn’t pack a punch too. For a moment, he stood there with calculating eyes as he somewhat assessed me. His gaze went over to my thighs, my arms and my overall build, if I wasn’t so desperate for a partner, I would’ve kicked this guy. It’s like he was openly checking me out!
“Fine.” He said without another word.
Okay, fair enough... at least I had a partner now... I tried to put on the gear I had and with much effort, I wasn’t able to go very far. My partner sighed and helped me put it on.
“Thanks. I’m Andrej by the way.” I said as he secured the gear.
“Jace.”
I looked over to Cam and Liam with a smug smile but Liam just returned my look with a disappointed one. He shook his head as he looked over to Jace then back to me. What was wrong? He’s acting pretty weird. Similar looks came from our other classmates as they saw me with Jace. What’s wrong with all of them? Liam tried to come over but our instructor Serena already settled in the middle of the mat with a clipboard.
“Oh, so I see you already got someone here with experience huh.” She said as she flipped through the sheets. “Your records say that you competed and won silver in the Junior’s division of the MMA meet in Singapore.”
Knowing gasps from the crowd grew imminent as they looked at me pitifully. What the heck was that for?
Then, our instructor shocked me when she said. “Jace McLunder? Care to show us your skills?”
What the heck. I’m toast.