Chapter 14

"Curiosity is one of the secrets for happiness"-Bryant H. McGill

Day 4

Our brain can only concentrate on one thing at a time unless you are part of the 2% of the society, who multi-task. And you probably know I am definitely not one of these people. From the moment this thing started, the only thing that I think about is Justin, more than ever before. Answering his calls, which are unhealthily frequent, didn't help at all. I only get 1 call out of 4 but it's still too many and it overwhelms me. It's as if he lives to call and receive calls from people. Justin is taking selfie with his group members, all of them having funny expressions on their faces. They were filming an eating match between Leo and Lucas, and we have a clear winner. Leo's food is barely eaten while Lucas almost finished his plate, with the constant support of his girlfriend Mia George. The lunch room is packed and people are enjoying the show they are watching. The upper class kids always like to be the center of attention, providing the other students amusement and a quick glance of their luxury. Who wouldn't like to be the center of positive attention with people showering you with affection though? I know I won't mind.

"Sorry we are late." panted Penny, sitting in front of me and Sam took the chair besides her momentarily covering Leo's and Lucas's show. I cranked my head to see behind Penny, and Isa did the same. Since we got here, me and Isa didn't talk about anything, too mesmerized by the popular kids like the entire student body present in the lunch hall. Today Sam and Penny were given the assignment of stalking Justin. They shared classes with him. First period Physics class with Penny and Dana Owen, one of the girls on the list, was in the same class. And in the third period Justin, Sam and Lenna Dixon, the other girl in the list, shared chemistry class. Justin had yet contacted the girls in the list for the past few days. He spoke to his group of friends and he called a girl named 'Cutie' yesterday evening. I almost puked when I figured she was the girl from the coffee shop. He didn't even know her name, and he was addressing her as cutie the whole time. I couldn't listen to the conversation so I transferred it to Isa.

"Pfft," said Sam, seeing all the commotion. "You will see that when they post it on Instagram." but both me and Isa didn't mind her words. The race was about to end. Lucas finished first and licked his plate; he put the plate down and started to hit his chest, roaring loudly. Following suit everyone started to growl and shout for his victory. It's as if everyone turned into an animal, and it was uncomfortable, to say the least. All of us received a bunch of notifications on our phones indicating the whole thing was out online for their many followers around the world to see. Sam gave us ' told you so' look and continued, "I have a news."

"WE!" corrected Penny, "We have a news, together." she scolded Sam. My heart started to pound in anticipation.

"It is as we predicted, right?" Isa grinned.

"Yes," Penny squealed. She looked at Sam and nodded. "Justin sits at the back, but he moved his chair to where Dana sits-"

Then Sam continued, "-he started to talk bad things about the teacher and how he hates the class, everyone hates chemistry class. Especially Lenna-" If I didn't know they were at different classes at different times, it looked like they were talking about something they had seen happen together.

"-Dana obviously agrees," Penny giggled. "-then he talked about a student's outfit and after a few words, he told her her hair was gorgeous-" my eyes drifted to Dana Owen. She did have a long brown hair.

"-Lenna started to touch her hair-" I saw Lenna sitting with her small group of friends, and she also has blond hair but everyone knows it's a wig.

"-He asked her to help him with homework tomorrow-" continued Penny.

"-Then she said yes, while giggling uncontrollably." Isa shuddered, when she said the last words.

"So he said the exact same thing to both the girls." Isa was smiling widely. I don't get what was funny, but I don't get boys at all, also Isa for that matter. "What do you know about these girls? they are first Justin made move on so we were right." I saw Penny and Sam. I don't know much about Dana, apart from the fact that she is smart ,but everyone knows about Lenna. She is kind of…. famous.

"There is a rumor," Penny reduced her voice, coming close to Isa. "Lenna sleeps with many boys." her face flushed.

"What about Dana?" asked Isa, and all of our eyes fell on Dana. She is pretty but not that pretty. She is kind of a tomboy, always hanging out with boys.

"Dana is smart and kind of uptight." said Sam, her eyes still on Dana, who is twirling her salad on her plate. Her eyes drifted to where Justin sat now and then, what her guy friends were saying didn't distract her. And when Isa focused her attention on Lenna, She was circled by girls like her, who were laughing too loudly for their own good. She, like Dana, couldn't stop looking at Justin. Lenna probably told her friends about Justin, bragging how he asked her out, unlike Dana who kept quiet because she couldn't tell anyone what she felt. She didn't have girl friends, and I strangely feel connected to her.

"Taking out that fake Barbie will be too easy," Isa pointed to Lenna. "So we will start with this one." she stared at Danna, with an evil smirk curling on her lips.

"What are we going to do?" asked Penny, her voice low, afraid someone might hear us

"I am sure we won't find dirt on her, so we will make her hate him."

"I don't think that is possible." I gave my opinion because I don't think anything Justin does can make me hate him. Dana's eyes, like Lenna's, kept drifting to Justin. It's the Justin effect, as I call it and once you are hooked, nothing can take you out.

"Leave that to me. I will make sure she hates him." Isa said, and I almost feel bad for Dana. Almost.

***

We decided to listen to Justin converse with Dana together via zoom. It's late, almost 10, but I am not tired at all. After a few word exchanges between Dana and Justin, basically how their study went in the library, Justin initiated the flirting. And yes, we saw what went down in the library. They studied for 2 hours straight. Dana tried to teach Justin physics and a permanent frown itched on his face. Whenever he starts to flirt, Dana scolds him trying to bring his attention back to the book, and Isa would giggle behind a children's book she borrowed whenever Dana did that. I haven't studied for days and all those hours in the library I couldn't read a single sentence because I was studying Justin.

"I wish I could see you laugh right now," Justin whispered, as if he was in pain, but that did not provoke jealousy within me since I heard him say the same thing to Lenna a few minutes ago. I am noticing Justin has a pattern in the way he talks with girls, and all of them fall to his path.

"I bet you say that to all the girls." Dana was trying her hardest to cover the smile in her voice, but failed miserably . All of us laughed at her reply.

"Yes, for anyone who has a beautiful smile as you do. But I haven't found anyone yet." Justin replied. Isa was mumbling his line along with him. "You are so different," he continued. Isa said that line is overrated and overused, but still all girls fall for it, and I was curious to hear what little Dana will replay.

"What makes you say that?" Dana questioned, but you can't fool the fool, and apparently Justin has an answer to everything.

"You are funny and smart, but you don't care about makeup like most of the girls in school do. I like who I am around you." he finished and I wanted to poke my eyes out. He didn't even know her before today, and he spent only 2 hours in the library studying with her. He said he thought Lenna was different because she was not afraid to wear makeup and short dresses, regardless of what people think and added 'I like who I am when I am with you.'

"I need to sleep." Dana whispered, after a few minutes of silence. I can't believe she fell for that. I can understand if Lenna did but Dana, she was supposed to be smart. I don't know if I should be disgusted by Justin's lies or applaud for his manipulation techniques.

"Dream of me beautiful." with that he disconnected the phone.

"Yep," Isa said, plopping the p. "she fell for it."

"I don't think it's possible for us to make her hate him." Penny said, sighing,

"I don't think so too." Sam whispered.

"Are you still awake Samantha Reid," shouted a voice and Sam's eyes bulged out. It was Shelly Reid- Sam's mom.

"O poop," Sam said, and closed her laptop without saying goodbye. Angry Mrs. Reid is really scary.

"I will show you how I can make her hate him." Isa winked. "Goodnight my babies. We have a long day tomorrow."

*Day 5

This day started like the others. I woke up early and met Isa at her house. We went to Justin's house and followed him to school. He only stopped once, to get a coffee from 'cutie' and made his way to school.

"What are you planning?" I asked Isa, when we were getting to class. She just smiled at me and said,

"Be patient." I noticed there was a box inside her small backpack, but I didn't question it. Isa came a bit late to lunch, grinning widely. All of us asked her why she was happy, but she just shrugged her shoulders. Her eyes were gleaming and held mischief .I slit my eyes while looking at her, trying to see through her, as if that was possible. After a few minutes, the lunch room was opened, and Dana came through. She looked upset and had tears in her eyes, but she didn't go to her usual place. She made her way straight to Justin, who was seated in his chair relaxed and all his fans surrounding him. I saw Isa for a split second, and her expression frightened me. She was smiling with pure sadism. It didn't take the use of one brain brain cell in my body to bring one and one together. Before I asked her what she did, Dana reached where Justin sat. She slapped him across his face so hard, his face twisted to the side, and the contact of Dana's hand with his face echoed throughout the room.