From the last fifteen minutes, I was flopped on the couch, my eyes lowered to the floor. With every passing second, the tension in the air was increasing, and so was my anxiety. "So... Do you like him?" Dad spoke for the first time in the last fifteen minutes. My eyes bulged out of their sockets and I screeched, "What? No. No. Of course not....... NO." "That many NOs are raising my suspicion Alicia." Dad said, propping his elbows on his thighs and resting his chin in the palm of his hands. "I swear Dad. There is nothing going on between us. We were just... I was just..." If only I had any excuse! "You can even ask him if you want. There is nothing going on between us." I responded in an anxious tone. "I believe you." Dad said. "There is nothing going on between you and Adam. Fine. But I asked do you like him?" Do I? "Umm.. I.. Umm.. I.. Umm.. I.." I played with the hem of my hoodie and looked around as if I would find the answer written on the TV screen. Dad's frown deepened with my stuttering. He rubbed his temples with his fingers and exhaled deeply. "I am not against of love or anything Ali. In fact I would be the happiest person in the world if my girl finds her true love." he said briefly. "But.." he continued. "But?" I whispered. "You are so precious Alicia and I don't trust the guts of these high school boys. They are not worthy of my little princess." he added softly. "You don't have to worry about them Dad. Just trust your daughter's gut. I won't take any step that can destroy my future." I consoled him and a smile played on his lips "Besides, Adam and I, it's never gonna happen." I chuckled and he looked relieved by my statement. "If your mother was still alive, she would have been very proud of you Ali. You have grown up to be a wonderful young woman." he whispered. After dad left for his room, I sauntered into my room and opened the drawer. I pulled the photo frame out and sat down on the bed. It was an old picture of me with mom and dad. I was seven that time and we went to disneyland on my birthday. We were so happy back then, such a perfect family. Mom was looking so beautiful. She had pulled her hair in a bun and her light blue summer dress complimented her blue eyes perfectly. Dad was supporting a huge grin, the skin around his eyes was crinkling because of how genuinely happy he was. And in their centre was I, the cute kid with pig tails and missing teeth. That was before her health started deteriorating and everything became a mess. She spent years fighting with cancer. But at the end, she lost. I hadn't realized how but within few minutes, my whole neckline of hoodie was dripping wet with tears. No matter how much I grow up, I still needed her to guide me. I still needed her so that I could share my feelings with her. Why did you left so soon mom? ... Sophia and I were heading towards the cafe when a muddled scream reached our ears. The voice seemed to be coming from the ladies washroom. We rushed inside, only to find Emily on the floor. She was wincing in pain, holding her feet while Chloe was throwing daggers at her with her eyes. "Oh my God! What happened?" I slouched down beside her and helped her get up. It took her some time to be able to stand on her feet. "Are you okay sweetheart? See, because of your weight, you can't even stand properly now." Chloe taunted, running her fingers along her silky, straight hair. "What the fuck Chloe? Did you push her?" I scowled in anger after I helped Emily in standing properly. "Did I?" she smirked. "Tell her to stay away from Justin and I'll make sure this never happens again." After casting a disgusted glance at Emily, she strode out of the washroom. "Bitch." I said in anger. "Guess who's getting two extra rounds of squatting in cheer practice." Sophia rolled her eyes before making her way towards Emily. We both held each one of her arms and led her to the school's nurse who gave her painkillers. After leaving her in her last class, I ran towards Calculus class. To my horror, the class had already started so when I entered, Mrs. Dale looked at me as if I had eloped with her son. She frowned deeply and ordered me to sit on the only seat available which was beside Noah and in front of Adam. After sitting down, I pulled out my notebook and pen from my bag. Mrs. Dale started returning our test papers. I had performed really bad in that test because after that choking incident, I didn't ask for Adam's help again. "Adam.. A." she returned his test to him. "You scored the highest Adam. I'm impressed." Adam just nodded in return and pushed his test paper in his bag. Most of the class scored C or D, only Adam scored A and two others scored B. I almost started crying when it was my turn and I had gotten a D. "As you may have guessed, the average outcome of this assessment was really bad." Mrs. Dake started. "So I'm giving you another chance. I'll take an assessment of the same syllabus again this Monday and the scores will be added in your final exams." After the announcement, she started jotting down more problems on the whiteboard while I sulked in my seat, thinking about the upcoming test. "If you want, I can tutor you." Noah spoke when Mrs. Dale was not looking at us. He was one of the two students that scored B. "And why would you do that?" I asked, confused. "Consider it a part of my apology." he smiled gently. Not a smirk, not a taunting smile, but a honest one. "No thanks." I said sharply. "Please. I promise I won't give you anything to complain." he asked, looking at me with his puppy dog eyes. "No Noah. Not after what you did." I spat. "Mr. Brown. Miss. King. Out of my class." Mr. Dale shouted and I jumped from my seat. "But I didn't -" "Alicia didn't do anything Mrs. Dale. It was I who kept irritating her." Noah interjected. "I'll leave." But before leaving, he slipped a chit on my desk which had a number and something written with a green marker. Send me a text and I'll be there. Just Calculus. No funny business. Promise! I didn't want to smile but the emoji drawn in one corner of the chit made me smile involuntarily. For the rest of the class, everything was normal except the hole-boring gaze that I felt on the back of my head. ... Should I give Noah a chance? Is it ok to keep judging someone on the basis of their one drunken mistake? I had been thinking about this for the last two hours. A part of me wanted to stay as far away from him as possible. But another part of me wanted to give him a chance. After taking in consideration all the pros and cons, I texted him and formally asked him to come to my house tomorrow. After few minutes, the phone beeped. Sure Pooper. You won't be disappointed. After few seconds, another message came. Alicia* (Old habits doesn't leave that easily) I smiled at his message. No matter how crude he can be, he had a charming persona. Maybe that was one of the reasons he had a whole queue of girls waiting for him. The main reason obviously that he was quite good in bed, as I have heard from many girls. Ewww. I made a disgusted face. Throwing my phone away, I rushed into bathroom for a shower. After the warm water relaxed my tensed muscles, I wrapped a towel around myself and walked out. I was busy combing my hair when the phone rang. With my free hand, I answered the call while running the comb down my tangled hair with other hand. "Alicia here?" I asked chirpily and that's when I realized that I didn't see the name of the caller. "Hello." I spoke again when I didn't get any response. "Your towel is one tug away from falling." I heard Adam's voice from the other side of the phone. Hearing his words, I jumped around to look at the window. Adam was standing near the one of his own room and he had strange expressions on. His eyes were narrowed and his lips were parted slightly. There was a tinge of redness on his cheeks. My whole body started to heat up under his gaze. It took me few minutes to move out of the trance and when I did, it was too late. The towel was already handing so low that half of my cleavage was visible. I screeched and ran away to the opposite side of the room where Adam couldn't see me. Stupid Alicia. ______________________