Chapter 5

Three days after and Say is back with her cheer dance routine evening practice. They were having their 10 minutes break when she overheard her squad talking about something again. Or someone.

“Hey...he’s back...look!”

“ The nameless handsome janitor...”

Her eyes followed the direction of whom, everyone was staring at. And she saw it was Nick again, the confident son of their cook who won his father's heart just by saving her from falling off the rooftop - of which was Nick's fault in the first place. Now, she still can't accept the thought that he hasn't paid back his due to her yet. Oh! How she wanted to wring his neck now.

“He’s cute for a random gym janitor, don’t ya think?”, Tori chuckled.

“He is but just ignore him. First of all, when else do you notice janitors? Fact is, he’s not on our level. No matter how cute he is. ” Cheska muttered.

“Wait, are you referring to that working student named Nick?” Interrupts Jerica, their other cheer dancer.

“You know him?” the three asked.

Say heard one of their squad members Jerica answered. She can’t help but listen to her words because even though she is disgusted with the man, she is also curious about him.

Yep, he’s Nicholas “Nick” Marciano ... Twenty two, a graduating student. He is taking night classes. My sister in the Business Department has a big crush on him. A constant Dean's Lister and handsome boy but damn he's such a snob and boring for a poor working-student here in this private university.”

“So he’s a student here? How come I didn’t see him before?” Say thought. She continued to listen to their conversation.

“Boring?”

"Well, it's my sis who told me, he is aloof. He doesn't smile a lot. He doesn't have any girlfriends here or perhaps he's just too serious for school. But my sis thinks he's maybe not into female specie for not liking her back. LOLS!"

"Well, perhaps he has not seen Queen Say yet, our beautiful cheerleader queen, so he has yet to fall in love with a tribe of Eve."

“Right, Say?”

“Ha? Ah… Me? Why am I suddenly included in your conversation? Are you talking about that brute? ” she glared at Nick's direction who was now mopping the floors of the gym again in a far corner.

Suddenly they became curious at her reply. They all surrounded her now. “Brute? So you know a little about him?"

"Wait, the other day when we first saw him here, he deliberately ignored you. He talked instead to Cheska!"

"Yeah!"

"And you're not used to be ignored, Say. Admit it. HAHA!"

She doesn’t want to make it a secret how she really hated the guy, so she told them all what happened.

“Hah! I wanted to hide what happened the other day but for sure, you will also hear it from others. That wretched janitor guy… He embarrassed me with all the students at the library watching. He told me things like ‘I should be patient, that I wasn’t this important, that I was this and that. He acted like he was someone who can overpower me. He didn’t even flinched when he left me while everyone was laughing at my back.“

Everyone was dumbfounded with her revelation. They can’t imagine how a popular and filthy rich girl like her will be treated like that by some part-time student-janitor.

“What???! He did that to you - to the Queen of Cheer Slay, the Governor’s daughter?”

Say added more revelation. “Here’s the thing...he is our Cook's son who lives in our mansion. Sometimes, he stays with his mom in our very own place. Imagine that.”

“This is interesting! The man you hated is enrolled in a school owned by your family and also stays at your ancestral mansion as the son of your house help! And he had the guts to treat you like that, days ago? What a jerk!" says Tori.

“He really is. He is an arrogant good for nothing jerk!”, agreed Lilac.

“What do they say girls, Keep your friends close but your enemies’ closer?” Cheska’s eyes flickered as if she just imagine a scenario.

“Let’s deal with him, then.”

“I really hate him but I don’t think I need to give him my precious time and attention now. I’m busy trying to get another win for our cheer competition. So, will you please stop talking about that horrible guy? Let’s focus on our practice. Let’s go. “

***

Their practice ended, and they went straight to the parking lot where most of Say's friends had their own car while she was being picked up by their family driver. Before her friends can get into their own car, Cheska suddenly pulled her over. The girls had some plans about the boy, but Say was obviously not interested.

“Your debut is a month from now, right?” Cheska was grinning to her.

“Yep.” She lazily answered.

“You’re still thinking of who’s gonna be your debut’s last dance because you broke up with Drex, am I right?”

“Correction, Drex and I were not into relationship yet because I saw him two-timing me with another cheerleader from another school.”

"What I meant was since you haven't chosen your last dance in your debut yet, we want to suggest someone instead as your partner." The girls are smiling from ear to ear.

“Who?”

“The guy who embarrassed you no less, Nick Marciano!”

Say stared at her friends, waiting for them to start laughing at their own joke. But Lilac, Tori and Cheska never even laughed. They were grinning but still looks adamantly serious with their statement.

“Are you kidding me? I told you I don’t like him; he is a condescending good for nothing brute. Then I will make him my partner in the debut?! ” She can’t help but laugh.

“You’re not getting it, Say. We’ve been talking about it earlier while you’re busy. It’s a brilliant plan by Cheska, actually.”

“What will I get if I have him as my debut partner then?”

“She wants you to pair up with that Janitor guy, of course make him agree first in dancing with you on your supposed debut party, and on the night of your party - in front of numbers of important people...you will...” Cheska prolonged her words.

“I will what?”Say burst out curiously.

The three cheer dancers looked at each other and spoke at the same time.“You’ll dump him, girl.”

It took a while for Say to realize what her friends are trying to say. A smile slowly forms her lips when she imagined her friend’s plan.

“Hmmnn...Well... Revenge is best served when cold, right?”