Messing with Liam

Alice blinked numerous times, suddenly the hands cupping Mark's face tightened and Alice stretched out Mark's cheeks. "Ow! Ow! Ow! It hurts!" Mark whined.

"Nice try, don't try to include me there," Alice laughed.

"I'm serious." Mark's smile disappeared.

"Yeah right, I won't believe your bluffing. It was difficult to believe Grant's confession but this is just insane… you? Of all people? Good bluffing, tell me who it is when you're serious okay?" Alice chuckled, and then she dashed off. Mark stood there dumbfounded.

"She didn't believe me," he uttered those words in pure shock.

Alice continued running. "What an idiot, that's something I'd never believe in," Alice murmured. Once she reached her house, she immediately ran up to her room. "Why am I reacting like this?" she slapped her forehead, she was unaware that she's blushing. "I love you Alice," those words kept repeating her mind. She covered her face with a pillow. "This is so annoying!"

Mark walked home, "How come she didn't believe me?" he muttered.

"Sucks for you," he heard.

"What?" he suddenly turned and he was surprised to see the other guys behind him.

"Were you following us?" Mark exclaimed.

"Yes because we wanted to know if you won't get intervened," Lance shrugged.

"And you didn't, congrats" Gerald clapped.

"But she didn't believe me," Mark groaned.

"Well you just have to keep telling and telling her until she believes in you, you're dealing with Alice… she's unpredictable." Josh sighed.

"Then it's settled," Alex clasped his hands. "Tomorrow let's just ditch our jobs. Let's just enjoy the festival, maybe Mark could gather enough strength to tell Alice again and if she doesn't believe him again, we'll back him up." Alex explained.

"Sounds good to me," Josh nodded.

"I don't know about this," Mark said with doubt. "But I'm willing to try anything, there's nothing to lose right?"

"Then it's settled, tomorrow we'll ditch our duties!" Vincent cheered.

Alice's eyes fluttered open. "Morning already?" she yawned. She moved the window curtains and she was greeted by the bright sunlight. "That was quite the long sleep," she muttered as she rubbed the sleep off her eyes.

Alice took a shower, got dressed, and headed outside. She was surprised to see Mark waiting outside her house. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Waiting for you," Mark beamed. Suddenly Alice's heart skipped a beat for a reason she doesn't know, then she remembered last night. "It's you Alice, the one I love is you," Alice's face turned red.

"If it's just about last night, I still don't believe you," she said as she avoided eye contact with him.

"What do you mean?" Mark asked innocently.

"You were messing with me," Mark still made no reply. "You told me you like me and you said I love you." she laughed.

Mark smiled. "I love you too," he said. Heat rose to Alice's face, she turned away from him. Then she ran her way to school.

Once Alice arrived at the school she saw her friends waiting for her by the gate, Mark just arrived too. "Why are you all here?" Alice casually asked.

"Come on, let's go before the other class officers see us," Alex said.

"What do you mean?" Alice asked in a confused tone.

"We're not working today, we have the right to enjoy the festival too." Lance grinned.

Alice sighed deeply. "You do have a point but Miriam will probably kill you guys," she chuckled.

"We'll face the consequences later, for now, we should just enjoy this day." Josh concluded.

"Okay then, let's have fun!!!" Gerald marched.

Meanwhile back at the café, a certain Spartan of a class president was fuming in anger since she received news that two people were missing from them and that six other students were not in their assigned booths. "I'll kill them once I see them." she seethed.

"That was awesome!" Alex said once they got out of the horror house.

"It was good seeing everyone's reactions, it wasn't scary. I mean I saw Alex dancing beside a ghost and Mark and Alice just looked like passers-by," Lance chuckled.

"Now then, time to eat!" Gerald suggested.

For the rest of the day, they just went to different stalls and enjoyed the whole festival day. Soon it was already five-thirty and the school was about to close. Alice and the others went to the classroom. "Keep quiet, if Miriam sees us we're dead. I'm just here to give Grant some food I bought since he's worked the whole day." Alice whispered.

They slowly went inside when suddenly, "We're back!" Gerald shouted. Alice wanted to assassinate Gerald then and there.

"And where have all of you been?!" Miriam shouted.

"Oh, welcome to hell." Josh covered his ears.

"We worked all day yesterday, we deserve to rest," Lance explained.

"That's unfair for the others! All of you are a bunch of lazy idiots! Don't you want to win?" Miriam yelled.

"Her mouth goes on like an Armalite," Alex facepalmed.

"That's it, tomorrow no breaks for all of you until Thursday. On Friday you have to go to school early and prepare for the play!" Miriam said.

"Oh darn," Mark sighed.

"If only Gerald kept his mouth shut," Alice muttered angrily.

The next day, "Okay, everyone, let's work hard today! If I catch a single one of you slacking off you're getting a punishment," Miriam threatened.

"Yes pres," her classmates had no choice but to agree.

"Where are the girls?" Alex asked once he noticed that there were no girls inside the classroom.

"I've decided that today is hosts' day, the maids are spread out around the campus to hand out our posters, so it's twice the work for you." Miriam explained.

"No fair, there are only eleven hosts," Raymond, one of the hosts, complained.

"There are twelve," Grant said.

"Who's the other one?" Justin asked.

"Alice is a host today," Mark sighed.

"Sorry I'm late!" someone stepped in, it was Alice. She was completely disguised in her Liam costume.

"Dude, you really look good as a guy! You're almost as hot like me!" Raymond gave her a high five.

"Don't get full of yourself Raymond." Alice laughed.

"This is Alice? Whoa, you still are cute even as a guy!" Justin gasped.

"Nah, she might be dressed as a guy but she's still my Al," Grant patted her shoulder. Miriam slapped his hand away.

"Refer to him as Liam, use he instead of she, and none of you can get close to her especially Mark and Grant." Miriam preached.

"Yeah I know," Mark shrugged.

"This is such a drag, let's just work. There is a long line of customers outside." Alice lazily said.

"Okay then, do your best my money-makers!"

Once the classroom doors opened and the crowd of girls neared, everyone was greeted by twelve good-looking young men. Most of the girls went after Justin as they have anticipated. "Oh my! Is he new here? What's your name? Can I designate you?" one girl squealed.

"This is Liam, yeah he's new, he's a friend of ours." Alex introduced. More girls started getting curious and gathered around Liam.

Alice never expected this, she's sitting on a sofa beside five girls who just designated her.

"Oh Liam, you haven't talked since we designated you," one girl said.

"Sorry, I'm not the type who's good with girls," Liam said as he turned away.

"You're so cute," another girl said.

"Oh shut up," he scoffed.

"How rude but cute, Liam can we order something now?" the girl giggled.

"What do you want?" Liam scowled and the girls laughed.

"So Liam is the rude-shy type, how adorable. Liam, we just want a strawberry sundae for each of us."

"I'll bring them in a minute,"

"Hey Alice, stop being rude to the customers." Miriam whispered.

"Can't you see? It's part of my act, the girls like my cold treatment and it's making them want to hang-out with me more." Alice smirked.

"Not bad Liam, here are the orders, do your best." Miriam said.

The day was half over and more girls were arriving at the café. Once they heard about the "Hard to Get" boy, they immediately got curious.

"Liam, are you a friend of any of the other hosts?" one of his customers said.

"Not really, I find it hard to socialize with them." Liam uttered. Mark, who was right behind him, went near him. He leaned on the sofa where Liam was sitting at. "Hard to socialize? Oh come on Liam, everyone in the class is nice." Mark chuckled. Alice flinched and turned to him.

"Why are you here? Don't you have any customers?" Liam asked.

"I have and look they're here to listen to you as well," Mark grinned. Suddenly Liam realized that there were more people surrounding him.

"Why are they here?" Liam exclaimed.

"We thought you're a very interesting person," the girls smiled.

Liam glared at Mark. "Sorry girls but I can't handle too many of you," Liam said as he stood up.

"Don't be like that Liam, you're being rude to the ladies." Mark said in a teasing voice.

"Awww, Mark is so sweet." the girls squealed.

"I'm not a flirt like you," Liam huffed.

"I'm not a flirt, you just happen to be a snob." Mark chuckled. Liam was immediately irritated.

"Listen you damned flirt, you should be thankful that I'm here for your class, just mind your own business." Liam threatened.

"By the way, have you two met Alice?" the two immediately flinched. "H-how did you know her?" Liam asked nervously.

"She's quite well known actually, I even heard that Mark likes her," Liam paled.

"Y-yeah, I met her but don't believe those rumors. They're not real. Right, Mark?" Liam asked, his voice shaking in nervousness.

"The part about me liking Alice? Oh, it's real alright. I love her, a lot." Mark smiled. Liam froze, he immediately looked flustered. "Relax Alice, keep your cool," she told herself.

"I'll just take a two-minute break," Liam muttered, then he hurriedly left.

"Uh oh Mark, I think Liam likes Alice," one girl gasped.

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't," Mark chuckled.

Alice exited the classroom, she went to the classroom and she took off her wig. "Mark is annoying." she sighed. Suddenly there was a knocking on the door. "Oh shoot, I'm at the girl's washroom!" she panicked as she hurriedly wore the wig again.

"Is someone in here?" she heard a girl's voice. Alice took a deep breath and opened the door. "L-Liam? Why were you at the girl's washroom?" it was one of the customers.

Liam immediately turned away and covered his face with his hand. "I-it was, wasn't it? Sorry, I'm not familiar with this place yet,"

"Oh you really are so cute, come on, let's go back to the café." the girl said.

"Thanks," Liam smiled. "That was so close."

Soon they arrived back at the café. "Oh look there's Liam," the customers said.

"Hey, is it okay if you don't mention anything about the washroom thing?" Liam asked with embarrassment.

"Don't worry, I'll keep my mouth shut." she giggled. Then they rejoined the others.

Hours later, the day was finally over. "Great job everyone!" Miriam clapped.

"I'm beat," Alice said as she slumped at the couch. Mark sat beside her.

"Hey Liam," Mark laughed.

"Oh shut up, I'm just tired." she yawned.

"Hey it's almost six, aren't you going home yet?" Miriam asked. Mark said no and he said that he'll wait until Alice gathers enough energy.

"Hey, why won't you believe me?" Mark asked.

"Cause they aren't real," Alice shrugged.

"What if I say that they're true?" Mark followed

"I won't, it's impossible." Alice said as she leaned on Mark's shoulder.

"How come?" Mark turned only to find out that Alice was already dozing off. "If anyone finds us in this situation, people might spread rumors about us." Mark chuckled.

"They don't care Mark, I'm just damn tired right now." Alice grumbled. Mark smiled with relief.

"Whether you're Liam or Alice, it doesn't change the fact that I'm in love with you."