Trouble in Paradise?
Chapter Six

I was currently sitting in Calculus.

Blake and Jordan were bickering behind me.

“Dude, ten bucks says I could do a backflip onto the table behind us.”

“No way. You’ll fall and break your neck like an idiot.”

“I’ll do it, and then you’ll owe me ten bu-”

“Why not do your work instead?” I said, turning around to face them both.

“Because Calculus makes zero sense,” Blake pointed out.

“Yeah cause you’re dumber than a goldfish,” Jordan replied.

“Am not! Stef, am I dumber than a goldfish?” Blake asked, turning to me.

“Probably.”

He gave me an offended look. “We aren’t friends anymore.”

“We were friends?” I asked.

“You have friends?” Mason said sarcastically at the same time. Blake pouted in his seat.

I rolled my eyes and laughed. How long had it been since I had laughed? I couldn’t even remember. I even saw Blake and Jordan give me a side glance when I laughed, small smiles on their faces.

The bell rang.

“Yes! Gym! Something I can actually do!” Blake exclaimed out loud, catching people’s attention as we walked out of class.

“You just insulted yourself,” Jordan pointed out.

“Uhhh.. no I didn’t!” Blake said, trying to change the subject. “Stef, what subject do you have?”

“I have- oh shit I have gym with you guys,” I realised, internally groaning.

The boys went to their lockers and I went to mine, grabbing my gym stuff. I didn’t actually do gym but I just grabbed them just in case we were doing something easy in gym that I could maybe participate in.

When I got into the change rooms, most girls either stared or ignored me, continuing to gossip about their daily lives.

I went into the corner, changing into my gym gear. When the change rooms where mostly empty, I walked out, heading to sit down on the bleachers.

“Hey! Girl! Get out here! NOW!” a coach yelled at me. Girls snickered as I got up, suddenly nervous. It was obviously a substitute teacher.

“Um, I can’t d-”

“Alright everyone! Today we are playing dodgeball!” the substitute coach yelled, picking the two captains. One was Jordan and the other was some boy that I didn’t know the same of.

You can make it through a simple dodgeball game, Stef.

I kept thinking that as the captains stood up. They did rock, paper scissors and Jordan won.

“Pick your teams,” the coach said, going to get the dodgeballs.

“Stef,” Jordan said, surprising everyone and myself. I hesitantly got up and stood with Jordan.

The other captain picked some boy. Blake was the next one to join Jordan’s team. He high fived Jordan before the captains continued to pick teams.

Once the teams were picked, the coach lined the dodgeballs up in the middle and blew the whistle. Immediately, students ran to grab them. I stayed behind, watching and dodging the balls that people occasionally threw at me.

Soon, it was only a couple people left in the game.

One of the more athletic boys rested his gaze on me, smirking evilly. He grabbed a ball and walked closer, while staying within the boundaries.

He threw the ball with so much power and speed that I just closed my eyes and waited for it to hit me square in the face.

It didn’t happen.

I opened my eyes to see Jordan standing in front of me, holding the ball in his hand. He winked at me before throwing the ball back at the athletic kid, hitting him and getting him out of the game.

A couple minutes later, our team won thanks to Jordan and Blake. The coach made us play a couple more games before the bell rang and we all went to get changed.

After I got changed, I walked outside to see Blake and Jordan leaning against some lockers.

“Hey,” I said to Jordan. “Thanks for saving me from a possible broken nose.”

He smiled. “No problem.”

“Yeah… well, bye!” I walked away but Blake called my name. I turned around.

“Wanna sit with us at lunch?” he asked, a hopeful expression on his face.

“What about Xavier and Ethan? Don’t they pretty much hate me?” I raised an eyebrow.

Blake shrugged sheepishly. “Yeah well, Xavier had that coming. No one has ever stood up to him before and it was pretty fucking hilarious.”

A small smile appeared on my face.

“Maybe tomorrow,” I promised them.

Jordan nodded. “We’ll hold you to that.”

I laughed and waved goodbye to them, heading to my locker to put my stuff away and to grab my lunch.

When I opened my locker, however, a bunch of… fish fell out?

Dead, rotten, smelly fish fell out of my locker, making me want to gag immediately.

For the first time in a while, pure anger coursed through my veins. I didn’t care who had done this, they were going to pay.

Just as I suspected, the Queen Biatch, Veronica, and her little dolls walked past, laughing and taking pictures.

“Hey, at least you will smell better than usual!” Veronica cackled, walking away.

I picked up one of the fish, reluctantly, and I did some calculations in my head. I adjusted my arm to the right angle and threw the fish, aiming for Veronica.

It hit her straight on the head, falling down and landing on her chest. It probably would’ve fallen down her top.

She started squealing and screaming, begging for her friends to get rid of it. It turns out that they just screamed too. She jumped around, trying to get the fish off of her without ruining her nails.

The crowd in the hallway burst out laughing, videoing Veronica making a complete fool of herself.

In the distance, I saw the four boys wearing slightly amused expressions. As soon as Xavier caught my eye, however, he put on the same neutral and bored expression that he always wore.

All day, Veronica and her minions were death glaring me.

I had to hold back the smirk that would try to make its way onto my face when I saw them.

After the whole Veronica incident, nothing else happened for the rest of the day. Thankfully, we only played dodgeball in Gym so it wasn’t too hard for me to do.

When I walked into the house, something was different. I narrowed my eyes and when further into the house, walking into the kitchen.

Weirdly, I saw my mother in there, making a salad. I raised an eyebrow.

“Hi mum… what’re you doing home so early?” Usually my parents get home either late at night or they just crash in a hotel. Sometimes I don’t see them for days in a row but that’s alright. I can handle being alone.

“Your cousin is coming to stay! I thought I’d come home early and prepare dinner for you two, I’ll have to be back at work in two hours,” she replied with a smile, chopping up vegetables and adding them into a large glass bowl.

I, on the other hand, froze and instantly paled.

“Don’t tell me it’s Christen, please not him,” I said, my voice a little shaky.

“Of course it’s Christen! He’s your favourite cousin right?” she said, not looking up from what she was doing. She didn’t even realise how I really felt about Christen.

“He’ll be here shortly! I’m just going to go down to the store and pick up some things, will you be alright with letting him in?” she asked, grabbing her keys and running out the door before I could even say ‘what the hell mother.’

Let me break this down for you.

I hate my cousin, Christen.

He’s an asshole, a sexist jerk, a dickhead, a-

I was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. I momentarily panicked before taking a deep breath and opening the door.

Christen was a tall, dark haired football player. He was in his college’s football team, it obviously helping his fitness. He wasn’t bad looking, he had a strong build.

But even with all of that, I couldn’t look at him with anything but disgust.

“Hey cuz,” he greeted, grinning in an unnerving way. His eyes skimmed down my appearance before he looked back up at me.

“Fuck off,” I said, going to slam the door but he grabbed it, yanking it open again.

“Be nice, or else I’ll have to teach you a lesson,” he said, walking inside and pushing me out of the way.

“Hey assho-”

“Listen, bitch. I’m staying here for a while so get used to it,” he spat at me, grabbing my wrist and yanking it forward in a death grip.

I cried out, his grip really tight. He chuckled, throwing me onto the floor. I hit my nose against it, feeling blood drip out.

He went upstairs, laughing.

That’s why I hate my cousin.

He’s nothing but a big bully.

My blood boiled as I stood up, heading to the bathroom in my room. I used tissues to stop the nose bleed, which bled for a while. I cleaned myself up before going downstairs.

My mother was back, having a discussion with Christen in the kitchen. She was laughing while he was telling some football story.

She spotted me and stood up. “Well, I better go. Your father and I are working on a huge case, it’s going to take a while to work out. We might crash in the office for a couple days, is that alright with you two?” she said, grabbing her briefcase and keys.

Before I could object, Christen was up and slinging his arm over my shoulder. He gave her a charming smile that only I knew was fake.

“Don’t worry Aunty Kate, Stef and I will have loads of fun.”

I gulped.