C H A P T E R 0 2
?No matter the situation, don't let your emotions overpower your intelligence.?
I reached home at around nine thirty at night. It was not exactly home to me. I lived in a small two room rented apartment which was enough for me. The owner was a grumpy widowed douche who was too impatient with the rent.
I inserted the key in the hole and opened the door. I flicked the lights on and closed the door behind me. I was tired. I didn't know why but I was damn tired.
I already had my dinner at a restaurant and I was full. And so I just needed a warm bath now.
Summer break was right around the corner and I was very excited.
Tomorrow would be the last day of college until after the break which was for about three weeks.
Many of my classmates were to going to go home to meet their family.
And some of them were going on family trips to different countries.
Thank God, it would be a nice break from seeing the arrogant faces of my classmates everyday.
I went into the bathroom to take a shower and brush my teeth. After putting on my comfortable pajamas which I loved so much, I walked out of the bathroom.
I stood in front of the mirror, drying my damp hair with a towel. I ran a hand through my dark brown wet long and straight hair and patted it back into place. I had brown eyes and Olivia thought I was skinny, maybe it was because I forgot to eat often.
After drying my hair off, I turned off the lights and went to bed. I fixed my alarm time of five in the morning. I was an early riser.
The next day, as I said I would, I woke up at five. Everyday I went for a jog. Really, that was the only time I get to exercise. College starts at eight and I go jogging for a good one hour or so.
Olivia joined me sometimes as she didn't live far away from my house so I jogged to hers. As I reached her apartment, I knocked on her door. I didn't hear any sounds from the other side which could tell me she was awake, so I tapped the door again.
I got the same response and finally I gave up and pressed the doorbell. It rang loudly, so loudly that I was sure all the people in the building heard it. I winced as the entire building was dead silent.
I touched the bell again but before I could press it, a sleepy Olivia opened the door. I immediately noticed her red eyes and bags under her eyes.
"What are you doing here?" Her hoarse morning voice asked me.
"Um...you want to go jogging with me?" I asked. I didn't think she would. I meant, she looked horrible. She was probably up all night doing god knows what.
"Um...okay. Wait for a minute," She said and disappeared into her dark room.
"Are you sure? You should sleep, you look horrible," I said as I entered her living room. She was not there so probably she was in the bathroom.
After five minutes or so, she reappeared looking fresh and slightly less horrible.
Olivia was beautiful. She had dark wavy hair which looked pretty on her and deep brown eyes. She was a senior in State University.
"Let's go," She said as she finished lacing up her shoes. I headed out and she followed behind me, locking the door and keeping the key in her jacket pocket.
"You know I had gone on a date the other night?" She said as we walked.
"Yeah. What happened about that? I completely forgot," I said. She had told me that she was going on a date with a cute guy a couple of days ago. She had ditched our movie night for it.
"It was the most horrible date I ever had with anyone," She admitted, shaking her head. "The guy was a total jerk."
"What happened on the date?"
"We had a movie date. And I didn't even get to choose the movie. And do you know what film it was? The Human Centipede! I mean who in the heck takes a girl to watch that on a date?!" She shuddered.
"Yeah right, a total jerk." I agreed with her.
"I have not even finished yet. He next took me to dinner.
And he was the grossest eater ever. He ordered his food, told me to order mine- that's fine but after that he started cracking his neck, winking at a random girl and asking me about my past boyfriends and if I had sex with them or not.
He was also hinting that I should hook up with him later that night.
And you should have seen how he ate." She made a disgusted expression.
"Like a pig?" I asked, biting down on my lip to keep myself from laughing.
"Yes. He ate like a pig! And he burped loudly. And after dinner, he didn't even order dessert! You know how I love dessert?!"
"I know." I said, glancing at her with amused eyes.
"And when it came to paying, he said that he forgot his wallet at home and so I had to pay for our food. I mean in any other case I would've been fine with paying but he didn't have to lie to me if he didn't want to pay. He literally paid for the movie tickets in front of me, that dumb guy."
"That was one horrible date no girl should deserve."
"Yep. And after that he didn't even bother to drop me home. And it was nearly one in the morning."
"Really? God, he's such an asshole."
"Yeah," She said and a comfortable silence settled between us as we jogged down the streets.
"Julie, what about you?" She blew out air through her mouth.
"What?"
"You never went on a date, did you?" She asked, slowing down.
"Nope."
"Why?"
"Nobody asked me out."
"And you would have turned them down anyways." She said, trying to calm down her breathing. I slowed my pace to match hers.
"Yup."
"Why?" She asked me again.
"Well, for one, nobody even knows a girl who went by the name Julie James exists. And two, each and every guy in my college is an arrogant jerk."
She chuckled. "That way you won't find anyone. Not everyone is like that. You judge too quickly."
I huffed. "Well, I don't need anyone."
We continued the rest of our walk silently. And after about half an hour or so, I returned to my apartment to get dressed and ready for my last day of school. Today was Friday and the party was on Saturday. Screw the party, I didn't give a crap about it.
I put on a cream colored top with skinny jeans and pulled back my hair into a high ponytail.
College life was boring. Unlike other students who had an awesome college life, or so I heard, I hated it. I dreaded getting up so early for it, though I was not complaining and I was willingly waking up at five in the morning. College or not.
And having zero friends there was another reason why I hated college.
I had tried to make friends earlier but it was of no use.
The girls in my school weren't exactly what I could call a friend.
All they did was gossip or talk about boyfriends and that thing about them was very irritating.
Not all of the girls were like that though, but I guess I preferred to keep to myself most of the time.
The boys weren't any good either.
Life didn't revolve only over these things.
There were so many other things important than that.
But oh well, nobody here matched my level of opinion.
So I gave up on making friends. I wished Olivia was in my college with me.
Some of the better lot are just friendly to me because they pitied me, as I was an orphan and had to work to pay the bills.
I didn't even know how almost half of the college knew about my situation.
I walked to my first class and as always and as everyday, the day flew by slowly.
But as I entered my last class of the day History, I saw Ashley glaring at me. She leaned over Ryder, her boyfriend or more like bed buddy and whispered something in his ear. She glared at me again and I saw Ryder doing the same. If looks could kill, I would have already met my parents.
I ignored them and walked to my seat. The class started and I paid attention to the teacher, as usual and took down important notes.
Soon enough, the day was over. I heard the plans of the other students. Some were going to holiday abroad in places I had never seen or been to and places that I would probably never see or go to. I envied them for that.
Almost my whole class was going to party today at a frat house. I wasn't invited.
I would be at work as usual and then at my home.
I didn't stay in the campus for long and soon enough I was walking through the familiar streets. It was three in the afternoon and nobody was on the street.
Suddenly a car pulled up in front of me and I recognized Ashley in the passenger seat. She got out of the car and so did the one who was driving. The driver was none other than Ryder. Ashley smirked at me.
"You nerd," Ryder's voice reached my ears and I turned to look at him. "Did you slap my Ashley yesterday?" He towered over me, intimidating me.
"Yes. She deserved it," I answered
"Shut up, you bitch. You hit me and no one manages to do that without suffering consequences. You deserve to die." She shouted in my face.
"Ashley, you brought up my personal life yesterday when we were arguing which was not right of you to do.
I'm sorry that I slapped you but I know that you deserved it.
Now be a nice girl and get lost," I said in a calm voice.
I ignored the string of profanities she threw at me next, and began walking again.
Suddenly I felt someone grab my arm and yank me back. Before I knew who it was, Ashley had already taken a swing at me. I fell down on the ground due to the force. I felt the impact of the slap a few seconds later and then I felt my cheek sting painfully.
I looked up in shock as she had an ugly satisfied expression plastered on her face and Ryder just seemed uninterested.
"Let's go, baby. What needed to be done is done," Ashley said and walked back to his car.
"Don't mess with us," Ryder warned and turned around. As if I was dying to mess with them. The plastic Barbie cow wannabe was the one who started it!
They soon drove away. I was still on the ground. I stood up and dusted my jeans, glaring at the car until it disappeared.
"I hate Ashley," I muttered as I picked up my bag which was lying on the floor and placed it's strap on my shoulder.
"Earth to Julie," Olivia said, waving her hand in front of my face.
"Er...what were you saying?" I asked.
"What are you thinking about? I have been calling you for five times now from the counter."
"Um...nothing. What were you saying?" I asked, shaking my head to get rid of the dangerous revenge plans I was thinking to get back at Ashley.
"Take the orders."
"Okay," I said and grabbed the notepad from the counter. I went to the customer who was already staring at me.
"What would you like, sir?" I asked in a polite tone. His eyes trailed from my face to my whole body before settling on my chest.
"Actually, the thing is that I lost my number," he said, looking up, "Can I have yours?" He asked, grinning at me and I internally cringed at the over used pick up.
I pretended to smile flirtatiously at him, looking at him under my eyelashes, "Sure, write it down. It's 911."
He cocked his eyebrows up and blew air through his mouth which sounded like a laugh.
"What do you want to eat?" I asked again. This guy was not helping me reign in my anger which was originally directed at Ashley.
"Something with Vitamin U in it. My doctor says I'm lacking in it," He said and winked at me.
I hated customers who flirted with me. Like damn were you here to eat and drink something or flirt and get my number?
"My psychiatrist says," I looked into his eyes intently, "that I might murder a guy like you someday."
His smile faltered and his whole demeanor changed. He sat up straight in his seat, his cheeks reddening from embarrassment and I repeated my question about what he would like.
"Um...cold coffee with two spoons of sugar, please." He said quietly, avoiding looking at me.
"Okay, sir. I'll bring your order soon," I gave the order and sat on the chair at the counter.
The day passed by quickly and soon I was ready to go home.
"Did something happen to you today?" Olivia asked as we exited the café.
"Um...no." I said, dragging the 'o'.
"So how was your day?"
"It was perfect. Really nice."
"You are usually a good liar but you can't lie to me now," She said.
I sighed. I hated this. Olivia knew me too well.
"I had, sort of, a fight with Ashley. I told you about her. Do you remember?"
"Ah yeah. The ridiculous bitch, right? What kind of a fight? Are you hurt?" She asked, concern in her eyes.
"Yes and no."
"Tell me what happened." She demanded.
"She talked about my family. She said that my parents were dead and I deserved that.
So I was very angry. And I didn't want to, but I slapped her.
And today after school, when I was on my way to my house, she slapped me back.
I guess that made us even but I still think that what she did was wrong.
What do you think?" I looked over at her and her expression was that of sorrow.
"She was indeed wrong. I'm so sorry that you had to listen to her crap about your...parents."
"It's okay. I don't really take such things to heart and I don't care what that bitch says."
"Yeah you shouldn't," She said. I suddenly felt lucky that I got such an amazing friend like Olivia. She was my best friend and I considered her my sister.
Silence settled between us as I contemplated things.
"I need your help," I finally said. I was kind of debating on this the entire afternoon and I finally decided that I should do it.
"For what?" Olivia asked, her eyebrows knitted together.
"I want Ashley to suffer."
"What's the plan?" Olivia smirked. "I knew you wouldn't let this go that easily."
"Of course I wouldn't. She shouldn't have messed with me."