Dawson

Chaos erupted, at the sound of the repeated clanging of the school bell. The month-long term break had just started.

Students poured towards the main corridor rushing to temporary sweet freedom. Away from their boring lessons, irritating educators and horrid cafeteria food.

V who was good at dodging and squeezing around reached the bus stand way before the others.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she sat herself down on a seat.

“Hey, little bro! So how was school today?,”

V turned around grinning. Dawson ruffled her hair in a friendly manner.

“Oh, the usual. Class was a bore. Gym class tiring. Survived another day of Frog Owl’s poisoning and Bate’s was a jerk,” she said pushing his hand playfully away.

Dawson seemed surprise.

“Really? Bates tried to pick on you again?,” there was a sound of concern in his voice mixed with anger.

“Oh no. I was just kidding. To be honest I didn’t seem after this morning,” V smiled glad that Dawson was concerned.

“Good for him,” Dawson said in a tone that sounded like he was hiding something.

“So how was your day?,” V asked back.

“Well, like yours. Class insanely boring, Gym class exhausting, skipped a meal thus avoiding food poisoning and I was a jerk,” Dawson winked at V.

V batted up an eyebrow in curiosity.

“You’re kidding right? You’re definitely not a bully,”

Dawson shrugged. “Yeah. But I still did ruff a particular somebody up,”

“Oh,” V said surprised.

Then she caught the sight of Bates watching them from afar. When he saw her notice, he turned away nervously.

“Hmmm, well you shouldn’t have. But thanks anyway,”

She continued by bending slightly towards Dawson and whispered “But you know I can handle Bates anytime,”

Dawson in return bent closer, and whispered back into her ear.

“You’re welcome,”

V quickly straightened herself back, in order to hide her red flushed cheeks. She did not expect Dawson to come that close to her.

She wanted to say something else when a bus arrived.

There were sounds of female whistling, and shouts. V looked up. A group of girls were waving back a little a little too enthusiastically at them. Dawson waved back.

“Hey, Daw!,” one of the girls in the bus called in a flirtatious tone.

She was kind of pretty. V bit her lip.

“So, who is that?,” V asked trying to hide her jealousy.

“Oh, that’s Tanya. She from Chesterville High. Met them during one of the basketball tournaments. Cheerleader I think. She’s really nice. Even though her school lost she still came to congratulate us,”

“Yeah, real nice. She was probably aiming for another prize,” V mumbled angrily to herself.

“What was that?,”

“Oh, nothing. I was reminding myself of something,” V said and was about to give them a dirty look when she noticed Pinkerton boarding the bus. Mike, who was behind him waved urgently at her and pointed at his wristwatch.

“Oh, no,” she thought foolishly to herself.

“Hey by the way are you like free tomorrow night?,” Dawson suddenly asked out of the blue.

V paused completely forgetting about the bus.

“Tomorrow? Yeah, I’m free. Totally free for you,”

“Ermm excuse me?,”

“Oh, I mean yeah, it’s cool. I am free. Why wouldn’t I be. It’s like the beginning of the holidays,”

“Cool. Well could we like meet up at the Reed Shack?,”

“Sure why not. I’ll get the others to come along,”

“Nah, it’s just me and you,” Dawson gave a mysterious grinned.

V’s heart almost stopped beating.

“Yes absolutely,” V stuttered incoherently.

“I think you better get going,” Dawson said as he noticed Mike waving at like a madman to V.

“Yup. So see you tomorrow,” V said and rushed off trying to wave backwards at the same time.

“Hurry up. I can only stall the bus driver for so long,” Mike grinned as V arrived panting.

The bus driver glared at her angrily. She avoided looking at him and went in. Quickly plopped herself beside Mike.

“I was busy,” she said defensively.

“Yeah, busy lover boy. Err, I mean girl,” Mike said as V elbowed him sharply.

“He asked me out,” V blurted out all of a sudden.

Mike clapped his hands together.

All of a sudden he shape shifted his appearance to that of Dawson, albeit a little shorter.

“Hey V, just wanted to tell you I’ve had feelings for you all this while,” Mike mimicked perfectly.

V blushed slightly, but then regain her composure.

“Shut up. It’s probably some bro thing!,”

“Oh yeah, that would be true. That cannot be right. Unless you know his into guys,” Mike laughed, as V tried to punch him.

“So when is it?,”

“Tommorow night,”

“Ooh, then that explains everything,”

“Why?,”

“Two words. Happy Birthday,”

It hit V like a ton of bricks. It was here birthday, and she completely had forgotten about it, brooding about how bad her day was.

“He remembered! Perhaps you know?,” V turned excitedly to Mike.

“Fat chance. It’s probably a surprise party where his gang pummel you with cake. Guys do that all the time. There is no way it’s a date,” Mike explained confidently.

V was about to protest when she felt somebody tap her shoulder gently. She turned around to face the group of girls who had waved maniacally at Dawson.

V gulped. Had they suspected she had something with Dawson.

“Alright V, let’s not feel threatened,” she thought to herself.

‘Hey, you’re Dawson friend right? ,” said the girl name Tanya. Up close she was even prettier with her sun tanned skin and dark brown hair.

“Yeah so?,” V said tensing up.

“Well, you’re pretty cute yourself,” another girl with purple hair giggled.

V frowned as she realized they were flirting with her.

Then it struck her. Of course, no one knew her true identity.

“Well, can’t blow my cover. Better get into character,”

She gave a fake smile.

“Gee, thanks I think,”

“Yeah, you are a real pretty boy,” another girl with raven hair said. Her finger was twirling her hair in a circular kind of way. She was blowing a pink bubble from the gum she chewed.

V was surprised. She had never considered herself as good looking before. She felt proud as well as threatened at the same time.

Quickly V nudged Mike. “Help me out here,” she mumbled from the side of her lip.

Then she realized Mike was completely speechless. He appeared to be mesmerized, staring at the group who were slightly over the average in the beauty department.

“Great just what I needed, my best friend falling for them too,” V thought to herself.

He just grunted and waved at them with a euphoric look on his face.

The girls completely ignored Mike.

Apparently he wasn’t attractive enough for them, in his real form.

“So what’s your name,” Purple haired giggled.

“Oh, I’m V,” V said warily her back tense against the wall, or in her case Mike.

“Wow, that’s a really cool name. It’s kind of mysterious and so manly,” Raven Hair cooed.

V felt a shiver run down her spine. Getting hit on by love rivals did not go down well with her.

“Errr, I thought you girls all liked Dawson?,” V said quickly hoping to change the subject.

“Oh, Dawson is mine. The other girls know that. ,” Tanya said in a matter of fact, her posture like a lioness that had marked out her territory.

“Isn’t that right girls,” she continued and the others nodded in unison.

V clenched her fist. “She doesn’t even know him that well and already she talks like she owns him. The nerve,” she thought to herself.

There was a tense look on her face.

Tanya noticed.

“Oh, don’t fret. Even though I’m taken, the rest of the girls here wouldn’t mind getting to know you,” Tanya said giving V a flirtatious looked.

Apparently she had misinterpreted V reaction.

“How presumptuous,” V thought.

She pushed herself closer to V.

V began to feel worried. If this was what she had to compete with she was definitely on the losing side.

“I may be the most gorgeous here but the other girls are not that bad. Give them a chance. Besides you and Dawson are best friends. You shouldn’t be envious if he has the better girl,” she said and gave V a cheeky wink.

V felt like puking. Talk about narcissism.

The bus came to a halt.

“Oh, looks like this is where we get off,” Tanya said getting up, then without warning touched the tip of V’s nose in a cheeky manner.

V shrank back in surprise.

Then Purple Hair stopped beside her, and passed her a small piece of paper.

“Here are our numbers. Call us anytime,” Purple Hair doing an impersonation of a person talking on a phone.

“Yeah, anytime,” Raven hair said before blowing V a flying kiss.

“Gross,” V thought to herself disgusted.

She turned back to Mike.

“Can you believe the nerve of those girls,”

“Of course I can’t. The Chesterfield girls totally gave you their numbers. You know what that means? You just got elevated to another social level. What would I do to be in your shoes!,” Mike said excitedly.

“Excuse me, in case you haven’t notice Tanya is going after Dawson. You should be helping me out not goggling at them goofily,” V said agitatedly.

“Oh come cut me some slack here. This is the first time I actually got a chance to talk to girls, coming from an all boy school and all,”

V gave Mike a fierce look with an eyebrow raised.

“Then what am I,” she said her arms folded across her chest angrily.

“Ooops, let me rephrase that. I mean my first time with pretty girls?,” Mike said unconfidently as he scratched the back of his head.

“You’re making it worst,” V said, her voice icy cold.

“Okay…,” Mike said unsure of what to say next as he pulled at his collar

The bus came to a stop.

“Oh, look we are back already,” he said in relief.

V didn’t reply but still looked at him sullenly.

“Heh, if you’re in a better mood later, mind doing me a favour?,” Mike clapped his hands together.

V narrowed her eyes. “What?,”

“Can I have the telephone number of the raven headed girl?,” he begged in a way which made V unsure whether he was joking or not.

She gave Mike a stupefied look.

Getting the hint Mike quickly jumped of the bus.

When he was a safe distance away, he turned around to V who had stomped down from the bus looking like a mother elephant rob of her calf.

“Take your time!,” he waved and dashed towards the circus tents.

“Boys,’ V grunted and followed stormily from behind.