Chapter Eight Part One - A Series of Suprises

All of a sudden, after the past month or so, chemistry had become the most memorable class of the day. My classes were never memorable; chemistry was never memorable. The class was buzzing with excitement after Mrs Smith announced our next assignment. 

"This will be your one, and only, group assignment. I don't particularly like this, but the faculty dean has insisted this assignment be a 'fun' easy one," she had said earlier.

After this announcement, while everyone leaped for a joy and grabbed a friend to form pairs, I wept bitterly, sulking internally at my desk. "Have you all formed pairs?" she asked.

Majority of the class said 'yes' in unison while our front bench sat there awkwardly. "The numbers are odd," Hunter said, stating the obvious.
"You may go in threes. Actually, I'll sort you five out."

"Hunter, Dylan, Dean, you'll be in one [x]group, Ace and Cathy, you're the last pair," Mrs Smith announced after long thought. "Make sure you pull your weight and split the work evenly." I had a hunch that the 'make sure you pull your weight' was directed at Ace.

Now that I thought about it, he'd failed just about every test while the others had passed. It struck me as rather strange because he did the homework, and from what I had seen, he knew how to do it.

"Okay, so how are we going to divide the work?" I asked.
"I don't care, up to you," Ace replied, resting his elbows on the desk with his head on his hands. Well, this was going to be an absolute ball.

We were going to meet up at his house on Monday, Wednesday and Friday after school. I figured my mum wouldn't be keen on having guests over anyway. "Do I just wait after school at the gate and then we walk to your house?" I asked on the way out of class.
"Yeah, whatever," he replied before heading in the opposite direction.

I was early for physics as usual because it was in the same wing of the school. I leaned against the lockers while waiting for the teacher to arrive. "Hey there!" came the exclamation. I spun to find Jenny, the new girl walking towards me.
"Hey," I replied awkwardly, never really being the social butterfly.
"Mr Martin is the physics teacher's name, right?"
"Yup."
She chuckled nervously, twirling the end of her hair with her finger.

"Um, would it be okay if I hung out with you at break times? I'm not really doing well making friends and stuff," she asked nervously.
"Please make your way into the class quietly," Mr Martin said, unlocking and opening the classroom door. Everyone rushed in to get seats. For some reason, everyone was always very keen. Meanwhile, I'd lost Jenny in the wave of people.

I sat down as usual, and somehow, Jenny had found her way to me. "Hi," I said awkwardly as she out her books down,
"So, is it okay?" She asked, regarding the previous matter.
"Oh sure, after this is break, so, where is your locker?"
"Science wing, just down there."
"That's where mine is as well, just put your books away and I'll wait in the science wing, just meet me there." She nodded and we began copying the notes off the board.

We were having a physics test in a week. Oh joy.

After putting my books back into my locker and grabbing my food, I waited by the lockers with Ella as I had promised earlier. "She's new?" Ella continued interrogating.
"Yeah, she just arrived a few days ago," I replied, looking down the hallway.
"Is she pretty?"
"Yeah, she's okay."
"Is she skinny?"
"Uh, yes. From these questions, I assume you feel she's a threat to your current position as most absolutely gorgeous girl in the year?" I laughed. She pouted and crossed her arms.
"Is she just taking her time?"
"I'm sorry I took so long," Jenny said slowly. Ella stopped talking and we both turned to see her walking towards us. "I stopped by the canteen because I left my food at home."

I could see the look of disapproval in Ella's eyes at Jenny's choice of food - a large serve of deep fried chicken nuggets. I too understood the health implications of this, but then again, it was up to people to decide what they wanted to eat.

I glanced from the chicken nuggets to my container of freshly cut cucumbers and carrots. Eating healthy wasn't fun, but it was good for my health, and hopefully would then help my studies. It wouldn't hurt to lose some weight and become fitter either.

"Okay, we should head out and find a spot to sit down and eat," I suggested, leading the way. We decided to sit in the shade on the grass near the drink fountains.

It was strangely silent as we ate our food, and well, I was never exactly good at this whole 'making friends' gig.

"Right so um, I forgot to officially introduce you two. This is Jenny, Jenny this is Ella," I said awkwardly.
"Hi," Jenny said slowly.
"Hey," Ella replied slowly.

Well, this was going to be absolutely wonderful.

There was a sharp nudge in my side that was particularly ticklish. I squirmed and turned around, ready to yell, or at least furiously glare at the person. "You're ticklish?" Hunter laughed.
"What do you want?" I scowled. Uninvited, he sat down cross legged, still laughing.
"The invincible chemistry nerd's secret weakness is a little tickle?" he laughed. "Tickle tickle," he said stupidly, teasing.
"What is wrong with you?" I exclaimed. "Go hang out with your friends. Leave me alone."
"Oh, I see a new face. Who is this?" he asked, gesturing to Jenny.

"If you're going to pick up girls, I suggest you go see the cheerleaders," I answered, nodding towards the group of skinny girls nearby.
"Are you sure you don't have some problems? I try to be friendly and you shoot me," he laughed.
"Hm...making friends, huh? Well, Hunter, this is Jenny. Jenny, Hunter."
"Hi," Jenny said.
"Hey there," Hunter said, doing that creepy wink he'd done the day they entered chemistry class and sat next to me. The wink itself sent a shiver up my spine, and it probably was incredibly obvious because he looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"I get weird shivers," I lied, stuffing my mouth with cucumbers.
"I don't think that's it," Hunter replied, unconvinced.
"I eat when I feel weird."
"Do you now?"
"Yeah, I would know. I've known myself for a while now."

"Anyway, the other guys are probably wondering where I've gone to. I should go find them." Hunter got up and went off.
"Things just keep getting interesting. For once I'm glad that you're smart," Ella joked, nudging me. She had always been one to be interested in guys like them. She saw them as those mysterious, good looking guys with deep secrets, when in actuality, they were probably just rule breakers that may or may not be better looking than the average specimen of male.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Jenny asked.
"No!" I exclaimed. "What kind of a question is that?" I asked, laughing awkwardly. "No basically he is not my boyfriend," I stated, making sure she got the message.
"Really? He's cute."
"Do you wear glasses?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"You left them at home, didn't you?"

"Ah, sense of humour," Jenny said to herself.
"She's crazy," Ella said to Jenny, twirling her finger by her ear.
"I can see that you know," I scowled.
"You think he's hot, don't you?" Ella interrogated, leaning in slightly closer as she gave Jenny her intense stare.
"Um, I guess so," Jenny replied, slowly shifting backwards.
"See? Cathy's semi crazy. She can't seem to admit that they're attractive."
"They're?"
"Oh yeah, there's more than one."

Why was I even sitting here while Ella babbled on about the badboys of our school?

Despite her initial awkwardness, Jenny was well and truly su[x]cked into the conversation and now Ella was describing what the rest of them looked like while Jenny gazed at her, taking in her every word as though it were pure gold.

"Apparently, Ace once saved a girl from the other's schools bunch of badboys. Our school definitely has the hottest badboys," Ella continued.
"Okay, they're called rumours for a reason," I interjected.

Ace beating up guys? I couldn't imagine it. Ace sticking up for a girl? That was even harder to imagine.

"You don't think the guys are awesome?"
"No."
"Well, we'll have to change that thought then, won't we?" Dylan's voice came from behind me. Hunter sat down beside me as the others swarmed around, sitting cross legged.
"Go away," I mumbled.
"Ah, what can I do?" Hunter sighed. "I'm attracted to you like a moth to light."

Okay, that remark sent a shiver up my spine. "That's creepy," I accidentally said aloud. Hunter laughed and watched as I squirmed around weirdly.
"A new face? This is the Jenny you were talking about?" Dean asked, nodding in Jenny's direction.
"Oh yeah. She's the newbie," Hunter replied, still laughing while I sat awkwardly.
"She's kind of cute don't you think?" Dylan asked, winking at her.

She blushed and immediately I felt sorry for the poor girl. How could you fall so easily into their lame traps? Their traps were like trapdoors with huge flashing signs saying 'This is a trap'. Unfortunately, reverse psychology must be quite prominent these days.

"Run. You'll never escape when they're out to get you," I hissed to Jenny, eyes darting back and forth from the guys.

"I agree," Hunter exclaimed, suddenly also leaning forward, grinning mischievously. He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me back to where I was sitting originally. "You see, we just can't let you go if you're too cute," he said, looking straight into my eyes as he spoke.
"Okay, that's really freaky," I said quickly, moving away with haste. I had ended up shifting about one metre away from the group, making me look rather strange. Screw strange. Safety came first. Hunter really knew how to freak me out.

The bell rang and I shot up and fast walked to my locker, not even daring to look back.

After about a minute, Ella arrived with a mischievous look on her face. What was up with all this mischievousness today? I just /couldn't wait/ to find out what this was about. Just as I was about to ask her what the weird look was about, she spoke up.

"You like Hunter, don't you?" she grinned.

"What?" I replied blankly, my face possibly contorting into some weird scrunched up piece of paper look-alike.
"And you're not even denying it," she grinned proudly, pulling her books out of the locker.
"No, I don't like him."
"Too late to lie now."
"Seriously."
"Seriously," she said, mimicking me childishly.
"I'm leaving first," I replied, rolling my eyes. Even though she was my best friend, best friends didn't exactly read each other's minds.
"Denial," she said in a sing-song voice as I walked off. I laughed to myself as I made my way to maths specialist.

I was a little late, as per usual, but we had a small class anyway and everyone was finishing off problems from yesterday. I took a seat in my usual spot in the back corner of the classroom and opened up my textbook and exercise book.

Oh boy, was it boring. I didn't dislike maths, but doing maths in silence for fifteen minutes was the equivalent of asking me to fall asleep.

Halfway through the class, I couldn't help but yawn, but as I opened my mouth, I accidentally made a noise and some heads turned to look at me. My face had that funny tingling hot sensation and I looked down again.

The bell rang and I left, putting my books back into my locker before heading to sport. I hated sport. More specifically, I hated my sport teacher. A lot; so much that I didn't know it was possible to hate someone so much.

It'd been two days since my ankle had healed, but he didn't need to know that. For the time being, I was still 'injured' and 'unable to participate in sport'. That was the way I liked it.

I headed out to the huge oak tree in the middle of the school yard where the rest of the class had already assembled. "Mr Lawiener is late yet again," Chelsea groaned, rolling her eyes as she inspected her nails.
"He's such a tool," Isabella chimed. For once in my life, I didn't mind these silly cheerleaders.

Mr Lawiener arrived making a rather grand entrance as he tripped over his own shoelaces, nearly face-planting. Meanwhile, he'd dropped his clipboard and papers - including our marks - went flying. Obviously, he didn't know that you were supposed to clip the papers inside the clipboard.

"Alright, let's get going. This will be one of your last chances to practice before we join up with the boys' class," he said, after finally managing to compile all his junk and settle down.

At first, I was sorry for this teacher. Genuinely sorry. He had a nose that protruded about ten centimetres from his face, a pointy chin and a thin little head. He had thin little lips that flecked spit every now and then when he spoke. He was one of the younger teachers, and frankly, I wasn't sure how he'd gotten his degree.

"Okay, Chelsea, Isabella, help me get equipment. You too...Cathy." He ran his hand through his blonde-brown hair and got up. It had been months and he still couldn't remember my name.

It was well known around school that he flirted with just about every girl. It was disgusting actually. If not for me, those two cheerleaders would have had a tough time as they walked to the oval with him.

I continuously groaned mentally, wishing I were someplace else; anywhere but here. It was getting cold and the wind whipped my hair across my face. I blew outwards to move the side layers out of my eyes.

By the time we got to the oval, the boys were well and truly out of control, hurling footballs everywhere. Of course, it was probably practice, but to me, it looked like chaos.

"Heads up!" came the yell. Before I had the chance to duck, I turned my head and saw the ball hurtling towards me at an uncontrollably speed, and despite myself, quickly shut my eyes. Not that it would help.

After half a second, I realised that I was still conscious, and I opened my eyes.

"Sorry 'bout that," Hunter laughed. The ball was in his hands and about three centimetres away from my face. He hurled it back in the direction it had come from before continuing to follow me as I lugged the equipment to where we were playing sport.

"Ah, you have Lawiener," Hunter said with a smirk.
"Unfortunately," I grumbled.
"He's just the hottest teacher is, isn't he?" Hunter grinned. I glared and he started cackling with laughter. "So, why the hate?"
"Don't worry. I just hate him so much," I said with gritted teeth, visualising myself viciously attacking him.
"Do share," Hunter said, jogging in front of me and bending down to meet me at eye level.

I jerked away and looked at my feet. "If you don't tell, I'll keep doing it," he threatened.
"Okay okay," I agreed. I quickly glanced up to ensure he wasn't still staring.

He wasn't. "Well, he's basically giving me incredibly low marks that I don't deserve." Now that I had said it aloud, it sounded quite stupid.

"Quite confident are we?" Hunter cocked an eyebrow.

"Seriously! You know that brochure we did on future careers?" He nodded. "He gave me eighty three percent for that and I had all the criteria. He was being extra picky when marking mine!" I exclaimed, the memory and anger fresh in my mind.

"Eighty three is still good, but you're right, for you, nothing other than one hundred is acceptable."

"Seriously!" He was taking this issue far too lightly for my liking. I'd had to put up with my annoying sport teacher for months now, and the last thing I needed was Hunter's sarcasm.

"Alright, alright," he laughed. You want to get even?" he smirked, looking eager. I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. For some reason, I wasn't so sure about whatever idea he was getting in his head. "You're thinking about it," he said, kindly informing me of what I was doing. "You know what?" he began, waiting for an answer. I shook my head. "Nah, don't worry." He grinned and gave me a thumbs up. I smiled back sarcastically.

"Get back to your class!" Mr Lawiener yelled, seeing that Hunter was still loitering around and distracting some girls. "Cathy bring that gear here," he added.

Hunter saluted, grinning and jogged away while I carried the gear over to here Mr Lawiener was standing. He had his chest all puffed out like a rooster and head held high – so high that the currently seated students could probably see up his nose; it probably was not a pretty sight.

"Split into two even teams," he instructed. "This will be your last chance to prove to me what you can do before I confirm your rankings and the teams are sorted."

Like I could care less. The girls scurried around, grabbing their friends and dragging them to the teams. Eventually, there were two teams. One side would be shirts and the other would be sashes.

Mr Lawiener blew the whistle twice loudly and the game started. It wasn't a particularly exciting game. The girls kindly handballed the ball to each other and slowly made their way down to one side of the field. "Pay attention! Get into the game! If you don't do this properly, I won't mind taking it into your break time!" he yelled.

Okay, his name was not actually Mr Lawiener, but it was Mr Lespinner – the nickname was close enough. I wouldn't have been surprised if students accidentally said 'Mr Lawiener' to his face on accident sometimes.

There was a loud cheer as Serina scored a touchdown. "Well done!" Mr Lawiener yelled enthusiastically, jogging into the field. If he could, he would have played. "Cathy! Wait by the goals and make sure the ball doesn't roll down the hill," he ordered pompously from the middle of the field.

I walked behind the goal, hoping the ball wouldn't come anywhere near here. If the ball rolled down, it wouldn't stop even after it hit the bottom. Also, the boys were playing on the field down there, and the boys weren't exactly the cooperative type.

"Pass Charlotte! Charlotte! I'm open!" Abigail shrieked, waving her arms around frantically while standing on the open side. Charlotte ignored her and threw the ball to Melissa, accidentally missing and passing it straight into Serina's arms. The tables had turned and now the ball was coming straight towards the goals that I was guarding.

With a powerful kick, Serina sent the ball flying through the goals and I watched as it made a perfect arch over my head and landed in the middle of the boys' field.

"Go get the ball!" Lawiener shouted, looking annoyed that I was just standing there while this life or death practice situation was going on.

I cursed at him in my mind and hurried down the hill.

There were loud grunts and war cries as the guys tackled each other. It didn't even look like a game, but rather a huge brawl. The ball happened to be right near that scuffle. I spotted Hunter standing nearby, and figured it would be easier to just ask him, rather than risking my life to go fetch it.

I cupped my hands around my mouth to form some sort of a megaphone, and yelled, "Hunter!" as loudly as I could. He turned his head and grinned at me. "Could you pass me the ball!?" I shouted. He looked around for a moment and stopped when he'd seen it. He walked towards it and picked it up. I prepared myself for a strong, possibly painful ditch of a ball at my arms, but he didn't throw it; he just kept walking towards me.

"What are you doing?" I asked when he was close enough to hear and far enough for the teachers to be unable to