Chapter 02- A Chance Encounter

Alex's POV

Two weeks ago,

Maple Café 

I'm trying to run as fast as I can; I'm so late.

I'm a bookworm, goddamn it! My body isn't made to sprint.

Focus, Alex! Tanya is alone and probably crying in public. I have to make it to the café.

I had no intention of going out of my house today. I was born an introvert and never really wanted to venture outside anyways; plus, my father's mood has been exceptionally unpredictable nowadays, so I opted to stay quiet at home, careful not to raise any fights.

But a fight happened nonetheless. Didn't it?

Oh, shut up! He's just a little cranky.

A little cranky? He threw his coffee mug at your face. You dodged it, but had to change because it spilled all over you. That's why you're late.

This is not the time to think about my deranged father. My best friend needs my help.

Sure, help your best friend with her silly relationship problems. But who's going to help you deal with yours?

I don't have a problem; I just have a particular situation.

Denial will be your doom, Alex. 

I reached the café in record time; the café is 15 minutes away from my house and I think I made it in 5. I try to check my watch in triumph but blur encloses in my vision.

Shit! I forgot my glasses. 

I enter and hear sobs coming from my left; Tanya was already in tears.

I didn't need glasses to spot her. 

"Tanny, calm down, we're in public." Sebastian tried to console her.

"How could you accuse me of such a thing?" Tanya broke down once again.

I contemplated whether I should intervene or not. 

At noon, Tanya called my cell whimpering and complained that Sebastian was demanding an explanation for the rumor spreading throughout our school. She told me to be there for her when she faced him; because it's too much to bear this suspicion when she's innocent.

I wish I could say that I agreed with Tanya wholeheartedly and showed up here to support her only; but Tanya can be a little dramatic.

I'm sure Sebastian just wanted a little bit of assurance from his girlfriend; but in Tanya's eyes, this was a betrayal.

I don't want to side with Sebastian; but between my friend and him, Sebastian was the one with rationale. 

"Accuse you? I just asked about the matter, Tanny! You're being dramatic." Sebastian sighed, shaking his head.

Oh, boy. He shouldn't have said that.

Tanya sprang from her seat and lashed out, "Dramatic?! You called me out here to humiliate me and you dare to call me dramatic?" anger poured out of her eyes.

Sebastian stayed silent. He wasn't the type to raise his voice at anyone. But I could see he was reaching his limit; even without my glasses.

I had to intervene.

"Tanny, everything okay?" I said, innocently.

Tanya whipped her head around and looked at me with teary eyes, "Thank goodness, you're here, Lexi! I don't want to stay here anymore." She gave Sebastian a condescending look.

I looked from Tanya to Sebastian and Sebastian to Tanya.

I loved Tanny; she has always been there for me. Whenever I would stress over my grades or the moments when my house was suffocating me; Tanny was always there to light my day. Her humor and lightheartedness make it seem like the things I worry about aren't that scary. 

She may be the world's greatest friend; but she wasn't the best girlfriend. 

The thing was, I knew Tanya talked with other guys over messages; regularly. She assured me that they were just friends and she would never cheat on Sebastian. But some of those messages she sent weren't friendly at all.

I want to defend her; but I'm not sure of her loyalty either. 

"I never expected you to suspect me, Sebastian," Tanya continued her sobbing.

Sebastian was growing restless by the second. I concluded that it would be best to bail. There were too many curious onlookers in the café; many of them were from our school.

There was a moment of silence and I took my chance, "I think Tanny and I are going to leave, Sebastian."

"Not so fast," a voice said from behind me. 

I didn't have my glasses on; so, I couldn't focus on his face. I didn't recognize the voice, so I was trying to guess if this was one of Sebastian's friends.

Why am I trying to guess? I don't know any of Sebastian's friends either.

He walked across the table and stood behind Sebastian and crossed his arms over his chest.  

"I think she," he pointed at Tanya, "owes Sebastian an explanation."

First of all, how dare he point at my friend? So rude.

Secondly, gosh, he has one of those veiny arms like the actors in movies. So hot.

Focus, Alex. This guy is a jerk. 

I looked up at him, trying to make the meanest expression possible. That's when those eyes hit me. Grey, unwavering eyes.

Storm clouds.

Even in my foggy and blurry vision, I could see those grey eyes with flicks of blue and gold in his irises. I wish I had my glasses with me so that I could take a better look. But his silhouette was so sharp; with an angular jaw and strong shoulders. He looked like one of the Greek statues I sketched as models. 

"You brought a guard dog with yourself, I see."

Guard dog?

Seriously?

I'm mentally writing a ballad on your blinding beauty and you called me a guard dog? 

"Tanya can speak for herself just fine," I spoke with as much venom I could. "But I came in case Sebastian brought his own support system; which I see that he did." I ended the sentence with a smirk.

Strike one.

I couldn't see the expression on his face; but he was bound to be annoyed.

I continued.

"Listen, I don't know who you are-"

"Who am I?" He interrupted.

"No," I said, confused. Am I supposed to know who he is? I can't even see his face. "And I don't care."

He grunted and tried to speak, but I cut him off.

"What I do care about is that you guys gang up against a girl, alone and forcing her to…agree with you." How should I defend Tanny?

"She should confess her crimes and we can all be on our way. Them being together was a bad idea from the start anyways." The guy deadpanned.

Tanya gasped and immediately broke down in tears. Sebastian buried his face in his hands like he wanted to disappear.

Oh, you just did NOT.

"Excuse me?"

"What? You are probably blind and now you have become deaf?"

How did he know I was blind?

Wait, I'm not blind, I'm just myopic. Ugh! This guy and his audacity!

"For your kind information," I paced forward and stood inches away from his face. "Your ugly appearance is hurting my eyes." It's a good thing I can't see well; I can be as confident as I want to be.

Sebastian looked up from his seat with a confused expression. The poor guy was probably thinking if I'd gone nuts calling this God of a man ugly. But he needs to be put in his place.

"You stand here and talk like you know them both from head to toe, but you're so full of shit. If you have a habit of putting your nose where it doesn't belong, I suggest you steer clear of me; because I have no tolerance for wankers."

Jesus, I just called a hot guy a wanker in public.

But he deserves it though.

He remained silent so I barged forward, "Tanya didn't cheat and she never would. It's suspicious that you're so eager for Sebastian to become single. I take it as a sign that you want to take Tanya's place?"

Somebody's utensil clattered on the ground.

Maybe I've gone too far.

The guy was seething with anger; I could feel the heat radiating from him. He was a whole foot taller than me and he could easily throw me to the other side of the café; if he wanted to.

Fuck it! I've come this far; I have to commit.

I don't know what came over me, but I pulled him by the collar and looked straight into his eyes. It took all my strength not to get lost in those storm cloud-eyes; I managed to get one last sentence out of me, "Do NOT mess with my friend ever again."

I let go of my grip, grabbed Tanya's hand and stormed out of the café without looking back. I was scared shitless; but I was proud of myself for holding my ground. 

As soon as we were at a distance from the café, Tanya pulled me aside in an alley. I thought that she was going to thank me, but she looked at me with a furious expression instead.

"ARE YOU NUTS? WHAT DID YOU DO?" 

Well, I saved you, duh.

"Relax, Tanny. I'm not afraid of any random guy." I brushed off her grip on my shoulders.

"He wasn't just ANY guy…wait a minute, you don't have your glasses on."

"I'm glad you noticed."

"You didn't see who he was, did you?" Tanya slapped her forehead.

"No…?" Was he someone important? Was he the principal's nephew?

"Aaron Armitage." Tanya looked me straight in the eyes.

Heaven, no. Anything but that.

"You'll have to apologize to him; he won't take this insult lightly." Tanya started pacing.

I'd have to do way more than apologize. I can't believe I started a problem with that heathen. Am I being punished for the crimes of my previous life? 

Aaron Armitage was one of the names you knew in an instance. I'd never seen him at school because he moved around in a different stratosphere than me. But everyone knew who he was. 

He wasn't a bully; he wasn't a nerd; he wasn't a jock and he wasn't a teacher's pet either. He was unpredictable and dangerous.

He didn't pick fights with anyone he encountered; he didn't even talk with anyone outside of his small group of friends either. But legends say that at school events and Model United Nations Conferences, he had such a bright personality that it attracted anyone who made small talk with him. But he didn't socialize where he wasn't bound to.

And of course, there were so many stories of how girls fainted at the sight of him. I scoffed at the exaggeration of these tales, but maybe there was some truth to them.

Storm cloud-eyes.

I snap out of my memory.

"He can't be that bad, right?" I try to find the silver lining in all of this.

Tanya gave me a look. "Yeah, not bad at all. Remember Brody Perkins?"

How could I forget? 

Brody Perkins is one of the nerds in our school. Always comes second place in every test and quiz. Our school is not a breeding ground for bullies, so the nerds are pretty chill and even respected; because they hog the teacher's attention away from other students and give them some space to breathe.

But Brody is so damn annoying.

He is one of the so-called 'nice guys' who thought girls would fall at his feet because he is the captain of the math team. Girls had no problem dating a nerdy guy; but the issue is, Brody has no charm, or good features on his face.

He has a rectangular long face, horrible sense of fashion and bad breath, it seems like he doesn't even want to try to look good or maintain oral hygiene.

Girls hate him; but he never seems to get the message. 

Recently, Brody was crushing on a girl who was head over heels in love with Aaron. Brody was so jealous of him that he slashed the tires of Aaron's car and left him a note.

What a stupid piece of shit.

Brody thought of himself so high and mighty that he assumed Aaron would be scared of his grades or whatever and cower before him and hand over the girl to him. Contrarily, Aaron didn't give a shit about the girl and probably didn't even know her name. But Aaron loved his car; everyone knows that.

I've seen his car parked at the same spot throughout high school; it isn't any name-brand or even expensive. It's an old car he upcycled himself. He added the extension and fixed the engines. He even spray painted it himself.

That's why it's so beautiful and unique.

And that's also why Brody was beaten to a pulp in front of the school yard. 

I never saw the fight with my own eyes but everyone who did, swore that if Aaron had managed to get one more punch in, Brody would've gone straight to the afterlife. Considering the fact that Brody missed two months of classes after the incident; it was an alarming situation for me. 

I was going to be the next nerd Aaron Armitage was going to finish off.

I had to apologize to him. 

Aaron's POV

Two weeks ago,

Maple Café 

She said she was Tanya's friend, but I'd never seen her before. I came here to get Sebastian home because his mom told me to; only to find his cheating girlfriend screaming at him in public.

I saw Tanya a few days ago making out with Ryan behind the football field bleachers.

And what's more, Tanya knows that I saw them; and she still insists on playing the innocent victim. 

"How long are you going to play dumb?" I ask Sebastian finally.

I told Sebastian what I saw that same day and he still refused to believe me.

"I'll talk to her about it." Sebastian said with a sad smile.

I couldn't believe it.

I wasn't fond of Tanya McCullen from the beginning. She seemed normal at first, but after the first two months, Sebastian was showering her with expensive gifts and dates on demand. Tanya used the excuse that she was Sebastian's first girlfriend and he didn't know how to treat a girl; she claimed that he should just follow her lead.

"You should dump her ass." I made the decision for him.

Sebastian looked up at me, still with a hurt expression, "She didn't mean to do it, Aaron. She loves me and…and I'm sure that this will pass." He almost choked on his words because of unshed tears.

"Who are you fooling? Sebastian, come one!" I gave a scoff. "If you think she's not using you for money, you're delusional."

Sebastian's parents are neurosurgeons. Everyone at our school knows that he's a rich kid. But his family is so humble and normal. He doesn't drive an expensive car or has an over-the-top computer setup; that's why nobody pays that much mind to his money.

But Tanya knew that she hit the jackpot with him. Sebastian was insecure about a lot of things; he constantly felt inadequate and he was shocked when Tanya wanted to date him. He couldn't believe that a beautiful girl like Tanya would choose him.

Beautiful, my ass. She saw that bank and that's all she needed to see. 

Speaking of beautiful, Tanya's friend was hesitant to defend her first, out of shyness, surely. But I'm pretty confident that she also doesn't have a clue what a gold-digging bitch her friend is. 

Beautiful, huh? Wait, Tanya only has one girl following her around everywhere. 

"You'll need to make it up to Alex for behaving like that." Sebastian pulls me out of my reverie.

"Alex?"

"Yes."

"That girl was Alex?" I inquired.

It's Sebastian's turn to be annoyed with me. "Well, who else would it be?"

She had blazing brown eyes and when she looked at me with no hint of fear, her eyes turned hazel in the sunlight.

That was Alex, the nerd.

I chuckled to myself.

In front of me, Sebastian's expression grew more precarious. No doubt he was thinking that I'd gone mad.

Well, maybe I have. I want that girl to come here, grab my collar and pull me close again. 

"She's going to apologize anyways, so you should say sorry then too." Sebastian offered.

This pulled me out of my daydream once again. "Apologize? But why?"

Sebastian gave me a look saying, you don't know anything, do you?

"Sebastian," I tried to reason with him, "I'm pretty sure I was the dick here, so why would she be the one apologizing?" I can't imagine those stubborn eyes accepting defeat so soon.

"Because of Brody Perkins."

"What does this have to do with that idiot?" I spewed out the words.

Sebastian sighed. "Listen, Tanny is very observant. I'm sure she will give Alex a heads up about your reputation and tell her to apologize to you."

"I have a reputation?"

This time, Sebastian just narrowed his eyes at me and I retreated.

Okay, I might have a reputation. 

I've always tried to mind my own business in and out of school. But for some reason, people find a way to disturb me everywhere.

I may have lashed out here and there; but what was I supposed to do when people were reaching new heights of stupidity? 

"Speaking of Tanya," I mentioned her name and Sebastian's head shot up, "You should break up with her."

Sebastian lowered his head and didn't say another word.