Chapter 2

Let’s just say I had a good reason to hate Logan Hernández and it was not just because he played stupid pranks on me all the time.

“Everybody’s talking about it, you know,” Darren said, stuffing his face full with a bowl of chicken soup.

It was lunch time and we were at the cafeteria. Left to me, I’d eat in the girl’s toilet. I’d heard enough stupid comments to last me a lifetime. Logan had really overdone himself. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t ignore the stares and giggles that surrounded me.

I sighed at Darren, asking even though I knew what he was talking about. “Talking about what?”

“How you’re the school’s new janitor,” Aimee said before they both burst out laughing.

“Whose side are you both on?” I asked.

They sobered up almost instantly. “Yours, of course. But you have to admit, it was a funny sight,” Darren added, downing the last of his soup.

I frowned at them. “Just shut up and help me plan my revenge.”

“Uh uh.” Darren shook his head, raising his hands in the universal sign of surrender. “No can do, sugar. Last time I got involved in one of your pranks, I got caught in the crossfire and had to shave off my hair. I’m not interested.”

I almost laughed as the memory of Darren stuck with glue in his hair resurfaced. In my defense, I hadn’t known Logan would get back at me and my friends. Usually, I was the only recipient of his pranks. Ever since then, Aimee and Darren had washed their hands off pranking Logan with me.

Shame.

“Still,” I whined, puckering my lips together in what I hoped was a cute pout, “you saw what he did to me this morning, how he embarrassed me. I deserve to get back at him, don’t I?”

Aimee rolled her eyes at me. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have snuck into the boys’ locker room and stolen his clothes while he was in the shower.”

That made me burst out laughing. Oh, his face had been hilarious. How stupid he had looked stark naked with his hands covering his junk as he ran through the school hallway, his butt on display. I’d laughed so hard my stomach still hurt. It was all the entire school could talk about for days.

“Come on,” I wheezed, “yhat was genius.”

Darren snorted. “Well, he got back at you and that was also genius.”

I stuck my tongue out at him childishly, mentally deciding that if they wouldn’t help me, then I’d do it myself.

Speaking of the devil, Logan chose that exact moment to stroll into the cafeteria like he owned the place. To me, Logan wasn’t all that. Sure, he could pass for handsome to some people, what with the dark hair that rested on his head and framed his face like a lion’s mane and that straight nose that could probably cut through glass.

His jawline was sharp, his cheekbones high. His eyes were as dark as emeralds and his lower lip was pink and plump compared to his upper line which wasn’t as full. He had the body of an athlete which he was since he played baseball and as captain of the baseball team, it wasn’t surprising that he was also the most popular guy at school.

If he hadn’t been such as asshole, I might probably have had a thing for him. But like the reasonable person I was, I didn’t have ‘things’ for airheads. And I would rather walk on hot charcoal than have a crush on Logan Hernández.

Behind him, his dumbass crew followed. I swear, they were all equally as annoying as Logan was. They laughed the loudest when Logan played his stupid pranks on me and cheered him on the hardest to play more stupid pranks on me. And they never let me forget the embarrassment.

You know what they say: behind every dumb bitch is a pack of dumber bitches cheering them on.

Okay, nobody says that, but you catch my drift.

Another thing that disgusted me about the entire situation was how girls swarm towards Logan. Seriously, I didn’t see it. What did they see in him? He was annoying and irritating and whenever I saw that stupid smirk of his, I just wanted to smack him square in the face. Besides, he changed girlfriends like he was changing underwear. Gross.

I immediately froze when my eyes connected with his. Why was he looking at me like that? I wanted to remove my gaze but I couldn’t. It felt strangely like something was holding me down in place.

Then he was walking towards our table with that glint in his eyes, his goons following behind. My heart began to beat faster. Why was my heart beating fast? It was Logan, for God’s sake. It was freaking Logan, my sworn enemy.

When he got close enough, that annoying smirk immediately appeared. “Looking good there, Hale.”

I didn’t fail to notice how quiet the cafeteria had gone. I had no doubt they were waiting, eager to see what the next round of my war with Logan entailed. Even Aimee and Darren had stopped eating and had their eyes darting between Logan and I.

I frowned at hm, suddenly extremely annoyed. “What’s it to you, Hernández?” I drew out his name, just because I could. If he thought he was going to rile me up this time, he had another thing coming.

That stupid smirk again.

Logan made a sound at the back of his throat. “Just wanted to know how you were doing. I mean, last time I saw you, you’d vomited up a storm on your locker.” My breath was heavy as the entire cafeteria burst out in laughter. Logan was obviously feeding on the attention because he continued shamelessly. “Just wanted to make sure you were eating right. Wouldn’t want you to barf your insides out.”

It shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did because like I said, this was a normal day in school for me but something somewhere tore at me. It wasn’t enough that he’d embarrassed me earlier in front of the entire school, now he was here to finish the job?

“Are you done?” I asked him after the laughter subsided. “You can go now.”

It was unlike me, conceding defeat and Logan knew it. It was probably the reason his eyes narrowed at my words.

“Why, Hale? Tired of me? No energy to pretend you don’t like me today?”

“The only thing I don’t like about you is that constant inhaling and exhaling habit you have.” There was a wave of ‘ooohs’ and ‘ahhhs’.

Logan chuckled, pinching the bridge of his straight nose. “That’s your problem. Not mine.”

I gave him a fake smile. “Exactly, now wander away while I deal with it.” I shooed him off with a dismissive wave of my hand and he knew as much as I did that, I’d gotten the last say. After a few seconds and a glare, he walked off with his crew of airheads.

The smile on my face dropped and air flew out of my nostrils like I was a raging bull. No one made me feel as angry and furious as he did. In the years we’ve known each other, he’d made it his life mission to drive me crazy and boy, was it working.

I really, really didn’t like Logan and, one of these days, I was going to kill him.