4. Nova
He was staring at me again. I could feel his gaze from the other side of the room and it was starting to annoy me. That alone was saying a lot because it took a lot to actually get on my nerves.
Unless you were Aiden Walker, then getting on my nerves was second nature to you.
“I just don’t get what’s the deal with this book. Everybody seems to love it, but for what? It was bland and, if I’m honest, quite boring. The characters had no depths and seemed like shadows of what they could have really been.”
My mouth opened in outrage. How and why was this guy in honors English was honestly beyond me. I was suspicious Mrs Diaz just liked him enough to add him to her list, but that wasn’t likely.
“It’s a classic, dude. Respect the classics.” His friend Julian chuckled from next to him.
“I have no particular respect for classics, it’s stupid to judge a book by the standards of the period it was published in instead of the ones we’re reading it in.”
“Now that’s an interesting point you’re making, Aiden. Anyone would like to add something to that?”
“I think that, as much as we’d like to pretend otherwise, knowing and understanding history is a must when making our own opinions about books. So yes, judging them by their time’s criterias does make sense. Plus, sometimes the topics they cover still relate to our time, because classics are known to mirror their society and although it changes throughout centuries, some things remain the same.” I muttered, looking down at my notebook where I kept on doodling, trying to ignore the blue eyes burning into the side of my face.
Mrs. Diaz was a firm believer in sharpening our critical minds and loved to have small debates at the end of her class. Today we were discussing Pride and Prejudice, which was our semester’s read, obviously. I loved that book, Darcy and Elizabeth, one of my favorite fictional couples ever.
So to hear Aiden, of all people, bad-mouth them made me freaking angry.
And the jerk had the audacity to chuckle, mocking me.
“Of course you’d think that, look at you.” I froze, finally looking up from my desk, my dark gaze finding his icy one.
“What does that mean?”
“You’re the poster child for those sappy books.” He shrugged. “Look at you in your pink dress, with your pink bow and your pink lips. You probably view Darcy as Prince Charming and his relationship with Elizabeth as the pinnacle of romance.” He rolled his eyes and I could feel myself fume. He had some nerves. “Truth is, it’s an overrated book and you’re as cliché as you could get.” Aiden’s eyes found mine again and he smirked, clearly baiting me.
And as always, it was working.
“There is nothing wrong with everything you just mentioned. You didn’t like the book, perhaps because the language used in it was too hard for you to understand,” People snickered around us and I noticed some of them looked at me in surprise. I wasn’t known to get angry or take jabs at people but this boy truly brought the worst out of me. “But the fact that so many people actually enjoyed the read means something. It’s called a classic for a reason.”
Aiden said nothing, simply staring at me with those unnervingly fascinating eyes. He let them run up and down my body and as always when he did that, I could feel a small tremor wracking my spine. I bit the inside of my cheek but held his gaze.
“I’m gonna be honest with you, I totally zoned out after you basically called me stupid. That was fucking hot.” A smirk then stretched his lips while I could feel my cheeks heat up and my breath get stuck inside my throat.
The whole room erupted in chatter and cat calls after that last word left his mouth but for some reason, neither of us looked away from the other. Their voices were almost like white noise to my ears and I lost count of how long we had been staring at each other for. Mrs. Diaz actually had to demand silence by knocking on the board with her fist, bringing all the chaos to an end and breaking me away from his eyes.
“Thank you both for voicing your opinion and participating!” She beamed at us, “The fact that you have opposite opinions on the matter is actually really interesting and the reason why I’m pairing you together for our end of semester assignment.” Blood drained from my face when she said that, panic clogging my throat.
I sat up straight and looked next to me to see Zee’s eyes widened in surprise. My friends knew of my disdain for bullies and everything Aiden Walker, so she could probably imagine the anguish that was coursing through my veins right then.
“You will need to write an essay and do a presentation on whether books are a mirror of the society they were written in or the one they were read in and how Pride and Prejudice in particular fits this statement. The presentation will take the form of a debate where both of you will have opposite opinions. You can take creative liberties, dress up as characters from the book, anything you like, really, as long as you give me two carefully constructed, opposite opinions on the matter.”
I saw people around me start to talk, ideas fusing, friends praying that Mrs Diaz would pair them together but all I could do was focus on my breathing so as to not hyperventilate. And I was only slightly exaggerating.
“You will have the whole semester to work on it, but I suggest you get started quickly. The presentation will be 60% of the grade, the essay 40% and both will represent 70% of your final grade this semester.” I was going to barf. “Any questions?” She gave a friendly smile and looked around the class before her eyes settled a few tables behind me. “Yes, Aiden?”
“Do we get to choose another partner if the first one dies before the end of the semester? Because mine looks five seconds away from a heart-attack.”
I closed my eyes and ground my teeth to keep me from screaming at him to shut up. My God he was so annoying.
“I am not five seconds away from a heart attack!” I snapped, turning slightly to assess him. “Why are you always so rude?”
“Why are you always so proper? Must be boring to be such a good girl all the time.” he challenged back, smirking.
My thighs pressed together when the phrase good girl left his lips, making guilt and disgust for myself swirl in my stomach.
I turned back to look at our teacher. “How can you expect me to work with that? My five year old sister behaves better.” That was a lie but who cares?
“Be careful, little star, your attitude is starting to show a little.” I tightened my fist, ready to tell him where he could shove said attitude.
But before I could do so, Zainab touched my wrist from next to me and shook her head lightly, signaling for me to let go. She was right, he was not worthy of my anger.
Nobody was. Being angry meant letting go of control and I refused to do that. I had to stay in control because control was the only thing between me and a breakdown.
So I shut my eyes, pinched my lips together and took a deep breath. Once I was positive I was not going to throw my desk at him, I tilted my head towards Mrs. Diaz, who had been watching the exchange silently, and gave her my best smile.
“I’m sorry. Aiden is right, I was behaving poorly. I’ll be happy with whatever partner you decide to assign me.” But please don’t let it be Aiden.
She nodded, “Good, because there will be no reassignment when it comes to partners,” she gave me a pointed look and I acquiesced, biting the inside of my cheek in frustration.
This was a disaster.
***
Aiden
She deflected. Again.
She always did that. Whenever I thought I was finally getting through, that she was finally going to snap and show emotions that weren’t joy or excitement, she always ended up holding herself back. Like nothing happened.
It was annoying as fuck.
She ignored me for the rest of the class, and once the bell rang, grabbed her things and hightailed it out of the room with her friend not that far behind. The Muslim girl turned around and glared at me briefly before disappearing into the mass of students streaming in and out of classrooms.
I got up and swung my bag over my shoulder with a grunt.
“Aiden. A word.”
A groan escaped me when Mrs Diaz –Sara– called me right before I could step out of the room. I heard Julian chuckle but he didn’t wait for me, making his way to his next class instead. I turned around and went to her desk while everyone else had already vacated the room.
She was glowing, her stomach round and encased in a fitted dress. Mrs Delacruz never stopped talking about how happy she was to finally have a grandkid that would live near her and whom she’d get to see often. Sara’s long dark hair was flowing over her shoulders and her brown eyes were frowning at me. She seemed annoyed.
“What the hell was that?” She hissed. “There are ways to get your point across without being disrespectful, you little shit.” I pinched my lips together not to laugh because what teacher called their students little shits?
I guess the fact that she used to babysit me and my sisters helped.
“I know you have a crush on Nova but seriously, dude, you gotta step up. The time where boys would bully the girls they liked is over, now you actually have to be nice for her to like you back.”
“What?” I scoffed. “I don’t have a crush on Nova, and I don’t bully her, what the hell?” Now that last part truly wounded me. Did I like annoying her? Yes, but only so that she could let off some steam. Surely, being nice to everyone all the time had to be taxing.
“You basically called her delusional and said her vision of romance and love was stupid in front of the whole class. Not to mention, you linked that to the way she dresses and made it obvious you thought it was ridiculous.” She punched my bicep and I would have loved to say I barely felt it, but the truth was pregnant women had more strength than one would think. “Poor thing looked seconds away from a breakdown; is that what you want?” She sent me a serious look, “You want her to cry in front of the whole class?”
I set my jaw and looked down. Of course not.
I liked that she seemed to like romance, I loved the way she dressed all girly and pink… it just added to how soft and nice and polite she was. It made me want to dirty her a bit, but just a little, and for my eyes only.
I wanted her to see me and talk to me and unfortunately, the only way I knew how to make it happen was by being an ass. In a perfect life, we would have met under different circumstances, she would have been super nice to me from the start and then I would have wooed her with my charming personality.
Unfortunately for me, life wasn’t perfect.
“You’re a nice kid, Aiden. And I’m convinced that if you showed that side of you to her, she could like you back.”
I narrowed my eyes on her. “Is that why you paired us for this assignment?”
A little sheepish smile graced her lips, “Well, my husband and I met through a school assignment, maybe it could be the same for you.” her little shrug had me rolling my eyes and shaking my head in disbelief. She reminded me so much of her mom when she tried playing matchmaker.
“Whatever, I’m gonna be late to my next class now thanks to you.”
Walking out, I heard her exclaim “Tell Mama I said hi! I’ll visit her this weekend.”