70A/N: The reviews in the last chapter were amazing. They motivate me to write more, and they inspire me to get better ideas, so keep them coming!
Thanks to people who reviewed the last chapter : JJsMommy29, Millennium11, BlueEyedGhost, SimranVim, Lovely Dreams, HalfwayParanoid, TurnUpTheMusic247, hearts a heavy burden x
Chapter 2
At the end of the English lesson, Melissa got up from her seat, knowing all too well that Justin was going to try and speak to her. Throughout the whole lesson, Melissa could feel his eyes on her back, but she showed no signs of turning around to speak to him. He was probably going to ask a whole load of questions and she just wasn't up for any of that. She knew most of his questions would be answered sooner or later anyway, that is if Justin was up for the game.
She walked out of the class without looking back, Chelsea and Lucy by her side.
"So that was Justin?" Lucy whispered with a smile, "he is cute!"
"But remember, we're out to whoop his ass," Melissa reminded Lucy, straightening up her strut down the corridor. Melissa was almost sure that Justin was going to catch up with them at any moment, but she didn't hear his voice anywhere.
"We are going to destroy him!" Lucy tried rubbed her hands together with an evil grin on her tiny lips, but it just didn't work because of the high pitched voice that she had a habit of using.
"Yes. It's going to be another job for team MCL," Chelsea added, nodding her head in agreement to her own comment.
"Woah what?" Melissa realised that MCL was an was an acronym for all their names, "that's the worst team name ever,"
Ignoring Melissa's blunt comment Lucy spoke with her same up-beat attitude, "We're the perfect team. With your evil mastermind, my amazing fashionista style…"
"…and my supreme literature skills," Chelsea added.
The three girls stopped at their lockers and put their books inside. Melissa looked around and to her surprise, she saw that Justin was no longer behind them. She wondered if his locker was on the other side, but then her stomach growled at her and she headed towards the cafeteria for lunch
"How is being a shopaholic," Melissa looked at Lucy, carrying on their earlier conversation, "and a bookworm," she turned her head to Chelsea, "going to help me defeat Justin?"
Chelsea pushed her glasses back on the bridge of her nose, a habit she did when she didn't know what to say while Lucy shrugged.
"We could make him shop and read until he surrenders?"
As they entered the cafeteria, an even buzz of chatter greeted the girls, and of course the waft of hot steaming food entered their nostrils. Melissa lined up in the lunch queue, shaking her head at Lucy's suggestion and grabbing a plate for herself. She decided she was going to forget about Justin and let the thought of food take over until her stomach was satisfied. She grabbed some french fries, chicken salad and a strawberry milkshake carton, placing them all on her plate before moving on down the queue to the desert section. A smile came to Melissa face as she picked up her favourite; a pineapple cupcake with brown-sugar buttercream. It was an unusual choice, but Melissa had fallen in love with the cupcake ever since she arrived at Lincoln High. Lucky for her, Melissa was able to eat any kind of food she wanted without gaining an ounce of visible weight. It made sense though, seeing as her mom was a fashion model and managed to stay one, even after giving birth to twins.
They walked over to their usual round table on the far right side of the cafeteria. It was stationed near a light green wall which allowed the canteen to have an airy look and feel because of its large windows that looked out to the car park. As soon as the girls sat down and placed their plates on the table, Chelsea began talking as if the conversation about Justin had never stopped.
"You know," Chelsea picked on her tiny selection of tuna salad with a fork, "you never answered Lucy's question about Justin," Chelsea looked profoundly at Melissa through her glasses.
Melissa's mouth was already full with french fries, so she began to chew quickly to empty it.
While Melissa chewed, Lucy's eyebrows furrowed together as she tried to recall something. "What question?" She finally asked Chelsea, unable to remember what she had said herself.
Melissa nodded at Chelsea, letting her know that Lucy had said what she was thinking.
"The one before English class, she asked if you thought he was cute?"
Melissa gulped the remains of the french fries in her mouth. "Well he has nice eyes," Melissa admitted, while Lucy smiled eagerly.
"So if you like him, why are you raging a war with him?" Chelsea asked Melissa, still thoughtful, "It goes against every romance novel I've read,"
"Yeah," Lucy agreed, not giving Melissa a chance to explain herself, "no wonder you're single for so long," Lucy pointed a french fry at her with a disappointed expression.
"Just because he's cute doesn't mean I like him. And FYI, I like staying single," Melissa stuck her nose in the air heatedly, as she continued to eat her food.
"But why?" Lucy persisted, waggling the french fry lazily in her hand. "Ever since –"
Melissa suddenly turned to face Lucy, cutting her off mid-sentence. "So why are you still single, Lucy?" Melissa raised her eyebrows, "hmm?"
Lucy's french fry slipped out of her hand and landed back on her plate, her expression looked taken aback. "Oh… um…," Lucy's mouth opened and closed as she tried to think of something to say, "I plead the fifth amendment! Now talk about Justin!" She said quickly before turning to her food and jamming six french fries in her mouth.
Melissa and Chelsea laughed at their best friend before continuing to eat her own food. Unbeknownst to Melissa, the reason Lucy was still single was because she had a secret crush and it was better if Melissa didn't know who that person was. It would be pretty awkward if she knew.
Justin had entered the canteen and had already grabbed a plate of food, all he needed to do now was find a place to sit. Of course, that would have been easier if he had come here with people that he had spoken to today. He knew he should have written his locker pin down somewhere, luckily he'd remembered what it was at the last minute and managed to get to lunch on time. His eyes scanned the cafeteria, easily looking over people's heads to spot Melissa sitting near a window with her two friends. The table was more than half empty, so he took a tiny breather before heading towards them.
When he got there, he saw that they were laughing over something and they didn't notice his presence.
"Afternoon ladies," he smiled at the other two girls, who were pretty, but nothing compared to Melissa. "Melissa," he greeted her individually.
All three girls stopped what they were doing and turned to Justin, any traits of laughter gone from their faces.
Melissa looked perplexed as she looked at him with slanted eyes. "How'd you know my name?"
"I have my ways," Justin shot a sly grin as he tapped the side of his nose with his index finger. He decided not to tell her that he heard Mrs Bay call out her name in English class. Better to seem cryptic and mysterious than lame and desperate.
As Melissa stared at him with her eyebrows raised, waiting for him to spit out what he wanted, Justin's gaze drifted to Melissa's food.
"You like the pineapple and buttercream cupcake?" He asked in disbelief, pointing at the cupcake with the hand that wasn't holding his plate. To Justin, it was one of the strangest cupcake flavouring. He'd never even gotten to try it but he could just tell it wouldn't taste good.
"Don't diss my cupcake," Melissa hissed all of a sudden, giving Justin a look that would make any five year old cry for their mom.
Justin took a step back, "Woah, alright. I wasn't going to, I was just asking,"
"Good," Melissa said with a smile, regaining her former calmness.
"Can I sit with you guys?" He finally blurted out, looking around at her dark-skinned cheerleader friend and then at the red-head that was smiling at him with her cheeks bulging with food.
"First of all," The cheerleader put her finger in the air, "do we look like guys? Fix your English," She ordered before going back to eating her tuna salad.
"Secondly," Melissa began, making Justin turn his head away from the cheerleader, "all these seats are taken," she waved her hand over the three empty seats, "why don't you go sit over there?" Melissa kindly pointed at a small, empty table not far from the one they were at.
Turning around to look at the table she suggested, Justin asked, "Who sits there?" Justin couldn't help being suspicious when it came to Melissa offering to help him. It was like Tom helping Jerry find some cheese; it just wasn't right.
"Oh just my brother and his mate, they won't mind,"
Justin looked at Melissa, searching for any signs of a lie, but she just smiled sweetly back at him. He just couldn't say 'no' to that smile of hers.
"Okay, I don't want to be taking someone else's seat again," he chuckled lightly at them, giving in. The cheerleader kept her gaze on her salad, although she didn't look like she was planning on eating it. The red-haired girl covered her mouth with her hands as she tried to chew whatever was bulging in her mouth, and Melissa shook her head at him.
"No don't worry about that, I've already forgiven you for that misunderstanding,"
As Justin left the girls to go sit at the empty table for four, Chelsea brought her head up, not able to hold her laughter in any longer.
Melissa had lied to Justin, but it wasn't a total lie. Melissa did have a brother called Daniel, in fact he was her twin, and he did have a best mate called Aaron. The only thing was that they sat at Melissa's table, not at the one Justin presently sat at on his own.
"I can't believe he's sitting at the dork table!" Chelsea whispered, even though there was no way Justin could hear her from where he was sitting.
"Yeah, he'll fit right in with Ben and Bertha," Melissa laughed with Chelsea, feeling triumphant for what she'd just gotten poor Justin into.
Lucy finally finished her french fries and she drank some water to wash it all down.
"Isn't it weird that as soon as I told you guys to talk about Justin, he showed up?" Lucy's eyes were wide as she wondered if Justin had vampire hearing abilities.
"Yeah, it's like his name's taboo. Say it too often and he'll just appear in your face asking to sit with you," Melissa shook her head at her food. Why would she let him sit with them? He was asking for another favour, she thought she had made it pretty clear that she doesn't just give anyone favours.
Lucy looked up at top corner of the cafeteria in thought before turning to Chelsea and Melissa in a rush. "Oh! Oh! I got the perfect code-name for him!"
"What is it?" Chelsea asked her, expecting to hear something stupid.
A smile slowly crept up on Lucy's face as she wondered what their reactions were going to be. "The green frog," she announced, mouth open wide in a silent scream to celebrate her awesome code-name idea. "Huh? She nodded at them both expectantly, "So what do you think?"
Chelsea and Melissa looked at each other, both thinking the same thing before bursting into uncontrollable laughter.
"You know … because he has green eyes?" Lucy tried to make them understand, but instead she made them laugh even harder.
Justin ate his lunch on his own, wondering where this so-called brother and friend were. After a few minutes of eating his food silently, he heard laughter erupting from Melissa's table. He looked up at her and listened to her laughter, feeling a smile tickling his lips. It was one of those infectious and joyous laughs that made him want to laugh right along with her. But then Melissa caught him looking and her laughter died down. She smiled at him and waved super sweetly, like people do to new-born babies.
That's when he knew that something was up. She had sent him to this table for a reason, and Justin wasn't going to wait and find out.
He was about to get up and find somewhere else to sit when a boy and a girl came and sat down on either side of him.
"Hi! My name is Ben!" they boy smiled goofily, showing off a set of metal braces.
Justin looked bewildered when he saw the acne forming like mountains on Ben's face. He shrank backwards into his seat, shielding his food from Ben's acne with his hands; they looked like they were going to blow any minute. Ben moved his chair closer to Justin's and Justin shifted backwards, only to hear a girl speak right next to his ear.
"And my name's Bertha!" Justin jumped in his seat and spun around to face a girl with cello-taped glasses that made her look like she had huge alien eyes, and she had more freckles across her face than Ben had spots. "You're really handsome," she said dreamily, a little bit of drool literally escaping from the corner of her mouth.
"Er … thanks," Justin looked across at Melissa to see that she and her friends were looking at him and laughing, they weren't even trying to hide it.
So they thought this was funny eh? Justin thought to himself.
Suddenly, Justin felt fingers caressing the back of Justin's head.
"How do you keep your hair so soft?" He heard Ben murmur.
Justin jerked his chair back, the legs screeching against the cafeteria's smooth floor.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Justin's stood up and took a step away from the two weirdoes who now looked hurt and offended. He looked around to see people looking up from their food and pausing to look at him, and then they went back to whatever they were talking about as if nothing had happened.
Justin quickly grabbed his plate and walked to Melissa's table, which had two new members since the last time he looked. He recognised them both, one was Aaron Smith, captain of the school soccer team, and the other was Daniel White. Wait, Melissa's second name was White too. At least, she wasn't lying about having a twin brother. Justin thought to himself as he approached the five.
"Hey, I know you," Aaron looked up at Justin with a half-hearted smile.
"You're in our gym class," Daniel added, scratching his mess of black hair as he tried to recall something. "Was it Justin?"
"Yeah, that's me," Justin answered.
"Well don't just stand there," Daniel shifted a seat down, and Aaron followed, leaving an empty seat for Justin.
"Sit down then," Aaron ushered in his deep voice.
Justin placed his plate on the table and heard a sigh come from Melissa.
"This is my sister, Melissa," Daniel continued, jerking his head towards Melissa as if to point at her.
Justin turned to see that she wasn't too happy about him being here, her arms folded and a frown on her lips.
"that's Chelsea," Daniel gestured his hand at the girl with glasses and cheerleader outfit who gave a forced little smile at Justin before finishing off the last bit of tuna salad on her plate, "and Lucy,"
Daniel's gaze lingered on Lucy a little longer than the rest as she gave a bright smile at Justin, making small creases around her large round eyes.
"Hi!" Lucy said animatedly, "I would have said hello earlier, but my mouth," she quickly pointed at her mouth, "was full," she explained, even though Justin hadn't really asked.
"Yeah…" Justin didn't know how he was supposed to reply to that, "I could kinda see that,"
"What were you doing over there?" Daniel asked, inclining his head towards the table that Ben and Bertha sat at. Justin turned to look at the boys, glad he didn't have to watch Lucy smile at him any longer.
"Yeah, that table's for total dorks," Aaron added, shoving a whole roast potato in his mouth.
"I – "
"Justin," Melissa cut through, "was just trying to make some new friends," she slowly nodded her head at Justin, "weren't you Justin?"
"Well, you can chill with us now," Daniel suggested before Justin could say 'no', ignoring the deadly look his sister was giving him.
"Wow, thanks," Justin smiled at how easy it had been to make friends at this new school. But it seemed he'd also made an enemy. He didn't see Melissa as an enemy, far from it actually, but he just hoped that Melissa didn't see him as her enemy because that wasn't what he was going for. From the prank she pulled on him today, he had a faint idea of what game she was playing with him but he had a better idea of how he was going to get her back for it. What better way of winner her over than by winning her little game? Coincidently, Daniel and Aaron were going to be the perfect people to be around if he was going to get revenge on Melissa.
"Okay," Melissa stood up with a sigh, getting ready to leave, "you guys can form your little bromance triangle and whatever, but we'll be off now," Melissa picked up her empty plate and headed towards the exit, with Lucy and Chelsea following.
"See you around … Melissa," Justin grinned at Melissa, trying to look sly and mysterious, earning a look from Melissa that made him feel like dirt, before turning that pretty little head of hers and walking away.
"You two need to keep your guard up," Melissa warned Lucy and Chelsea when they had their back to the boys.
"Why?" Lucy looked at her curiously.
"He's planning something," Melissa remembered the Cheshire-Cat grin Justin gave her as they left, "I know he is,"
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Thanks for reading,
-MissColly