Chapter 26
Jasmine
"So for your assignment which is due tomorrow, you are going to be working in pairs." Miss Smith, our homeroom teacher announced and there were collective groans but my mind was far away from the class because I was still stuck in last night's incident.
Lisa had accused my mother of purposely making food with ingredients she claimed that she was allergic to, even though according to my mother, Lisa had never told her anything about it.
It had been such a huge scene with Lisa crying and indirectly calling my Mother an attempted murderer while Russo had tried to dissolve the situation as fast as possible.
The worst part was that my mother had believed that Lisa had told her about the garlic allergy initially and she had forgotten about it, allowing the guilt to nearly swallow her but I knew better.
I knew better because as Russo had attempted to escort Lisa up the stairs away from the dining room, she had given my mother a covert smile that made me want to go and pull her hy the hair, not caring about whether or not she was a werewolf who could throw me across the room and I was mostly human.
Hardin had been absent from the table as usual and it was probably for the best after what he had done to me in the empty classroom the night of their win.
The only times I got to see him now was in school during the classes we shared and at lunch.
Thankfully, we were not taking this class, English Lit together, and as I looked at my phone to the lack of response from the message I had sent to my mum, I was worried.
She had not come down this morning and when I had gone to her room to see her, she had been under the covers, saying that she was cold. But I suspected that she had cried all night and was still feeling bad about last night's incident.
I had instructed one of the maids to make sure that she had breakfast and I could not wait to get back home and check in on her. If she was so down that she could not go to school today, then it was really bad.
The only reason why I had even bothered to get to school today was because Russo had assured me when I called him just as I left the house. He had gone out earlier when she was still asleep, and he promised that he was going to speak to her and take her to the hospital if she was really unwell.
My phone vibrated in my pocket and when I brought it out, I saw that it was a text from Nadia.
Looking up, I searched for her and she nodded for me to check my phone.
" The new guy has been staring at you for the past ten minutes. Don't look."
Well, now I had to look.
Turning to the right because his seat was directly beside mine on the next row, our eyes collided and when he smiled, I swallowed nervously, returning his smile with what I was sure was a grimace attempting to be a smile before I turned back to type furiously on the phone.
"He is just being friendly. Nothing to see here."
"Sure, he is. He is a hot friendly specimen."
I was about to fire a reply that she was being ridiculous and that I could smell the sarcasm in her voice when I heard my name.
Raising my head, I saw Mrs Smith looking at me.
"Jasmine Scott, your partner for this assignment and for the rest of this term is Lorenzo Garcia."
All eyes, especially the feminine ones turned to look between me and Lorenzo and when my eyes found Nadia's, she was giving me a large smirk that said
'I told you so.'
My eyes found Lorenzo's and he grinned, scribbling on a piece of paper after which he passed it to me.
The note read 'Hi, Jasmine. It's a pleasure to work with you. Can you scribble down your number so we can talk about the assignment later?'
Wondering why such a good looking person would also be blessed with a beautiful handwriting, I scribbled my number and returned it to him and when he smiled after reading the note, I fought the urge to smile back, wary of what was going on.
I was already worn out from dealing with one handsome boy and living with him.
I had no idea what was going to happen now that Lorenzo was going to be my partner for the entire term. Or how I was going to survive the extra attention that I would be getting now that not one but two of the most handsome boys in school were somehow linked to me.
In less than a day since Lorenzo's arrival, the only person he had been constantly compared to was Hardin and I was sure that the latter was not going to be a fan if he heard that he finally had competition for his title as King of the school.
When class ended, I walked with Nadia to return books to her locker.
"Is this fate?" She cooed out and when I rolled my eyes, she laughed.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you have not thought about it."
"He almost ran me over with his bike. That's not fate."
"But you were the one that walked into the road without looking too." Her face suddenly changed and her smile brightened as she looked down the hallway.
"What? Why are you smiling?" I asked as I turned around to see what she was looking at.
"He is walking over to us, isn't it?" She said with excitement and even though I wanted to say that it wasn't true, Lorenzo was indeed walking over to us, his eyes bright as he smiled at me.
When he stopped in front of us, I looked around and saw as everyone watched the two of us.
"Hey partner, Hi Nadia."
"Hi" Nadia said with a bright smile that made me give her a side eye and when she fake pouted, I rolled my eyes.
"So, I have something and someplace to be. I'll see you around, bestie" she said and ran down the hallway before I could even answer, leaving me alone with Lorenzo.
Perhaps alone was not accurate because we were still standing in a crowded hallway with at least half of the people in the hallway staring at us.
"Hi, Lorenzo" I finally said and he nodded, his face still bright in a way that made me wonder if he grew up without any problems.
Perhaps I was being bitter about the fact that I could not smile as brightly as him.
"You don't like me very much, do you?" He stated and my mouth fell open in shock as I shook my head immediately.
"I did not say that. Did I?" I stuttered and when he chuckled, I realized that he had dimples.
Of course, he had to have dimples too.
Putting his hands in his pockets, he looked around and when his smile turned nervous as he scratched the back of his neck, it made me curious.
"Does the attention bother you?"
When he nodded, I was surprised.
I had gotten popular overnight thanks to becoming step siblings with Hardin and the Dahlia incident and even then, it was hard to keep up with the fact that I was no longer invisible and that people wanted to associate with me. When before, I could have passed conveniently as no one and nobody would care.
But it surprised me that someone like Lorenzo who looked like he did not shy away from anything and had a very jovial personality as well as a very handsome face would feel awkward like me.
"I've been the new kid every couple of years and having everyone watching you for the first few weeks still sucks."
"Well, trust me that they're not staring just because you're the new kid."
"Oh? So why are they?"
He looked so confused and adorable, it made me wonder if he was that clueless or if he really believed that he was now trending on our school's gossip blogs simply because he was a new student.
Palming my forehead at how ridiculous I would look for answering, I decided to enlighten him.
"Nobody is looking at you because you are new, Lorenzo. They are because you are handsome."
"So you think I'm handsome?" He said, his smile wide as he pulled in his lip ring between his teeth and I noticed that he also had one piercing on his left brow.
Rolling my eyes at his question, I had to admit that his grin was contagious because the two of us started laughing and I felt my apprehension about him reduce.
"I don't think you're handsome, by the way. The entire school does." I added.
"Uh huh. Except you, right?"
"Yeah, except me."
"Alright then, Jasmine. Can I text you later then to discuss about our assignment even though you think I'm not handsome?"
"Yes, you may" I said with a smile that he returned and my smile widened as he waved at me before walking through the hallway.
I was already bringing out my phone to call Nadia back from wherever she went to when my eyes collided with Hardin's from across the hallway and from the frown on his face, I knew he had been watching me.
I was not doing anything wrong, was I?
Then again, it didn't matter with Hardin.
Why exactly was I concerned? Something felt wrong.