Life Of A Bitch

2

"We're late." I announce, driving the car out of the garage and onto the road. "I hope we get to school before the Manhattan rush hour screws us."

I wait for Alz to defend herself and accuse me of being late. Surprisingly, she remains quiet and starts fidgeting and avoiding eye-contact with me.

"Okay," I say. "What now?"

"No nothing," she says too quickly. Poor ass; she has yet to learn the rules of 'never getting caught while lying'.

"Crush?" I ask.

She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, like that would even happen."

"Steve," I say.

She spins in her seat and looks at me, with wide eyes. I smirk. "Oh damn, baby."

"It's nothing." She says and huffs.

"You are a pretty cheerleader, hon," I say as I stop at a red light. "Why do you worry about guys? They should worry about you."

"Yeah but," she says, now blushing. Wow, the girl can blush? "I am a boxer."

"So?"

"Which means I am stronger than most of the guys and it seriously hurts their massive and pathetic ego. I sometimes wish I wasn't into fighting."

I turn to her and frown. "Do guys give a shit whether your ego is getting hurt by their soccer?"

"No but-"

"Then darling, if this Steve turns out to be a misogynist, I am gonna kill him before he gets to kiss you."

She smiles. "Yeah, right. My fighting is my fighting. My passion is my passion. If any guy intervenes, then fuck him."

I stare at her, surprised by the sudden- and probably her first- F-bomb, pressing my foot on the accelerator. "Shit."

"Yeah, shit. What about that Aiden of yours?"

I groan. Aiden, Aiden, Aiden. The six-foot tall, blue-eyed jerk, who unfortunately is my boyfriend. And to be honest, I don't even like him. It's just that he is the hotshot of the school and I am the queen bee, so it's good popularity. He's handsome, I admit, but he's a complete idiot and very possessive. Honestly, I wish he was Lana's guy. One would question mark her entire life and the other would just say "Fuck", thus exhausting his whole vocabulary.

"Fine, I think." I mutter.

She nods and looks out the window.

We pull into the school's driveway and I spot a silver Lexus just one parking spot away from mine. My heart starts beating fast. I am not being dramatic, it's just happening.

"J, why the hell are you smiling?" Alz asks, turning to look in the direction I'm looking. Then she stares at me. "Christ, have mercy. You like the student president now?"

I glare at her. "Don't talk shit, Alz. Me liking him? Have you lost it?"

She shrugs, stepping out of the car and slamming the door shut. I unbuckle my seat belt and wait for a few seconds. And then, the door of the Lexus opens.

Brandon Lancaster, the charismatic student body president and captain of the school baseball team. Tall and always smiling, he exudes an aura of complete disarmament, melting away all the enmity you had with him. And he's firm too. If he needs to get something done, he gets it done, no matter what the consequences are. His eyes, however friendly, are firm. And he has lean muscles, not hulk-like, monstrous muscles.

Aiden Parker is like the king of hell and Brandon Lancaster, the king of heaven. So obviously, they are enemies. Sworn enemies.

I kind of admire Brandon. His unflinching courage in the face of danger and his bold motive to remove drugs and corruption from society, particularly this school, is what I respect.

Like, a few months ago, Evan, one of Aiden's guys, leaked his girlfriend's nude pictures and she came to Aiden for help.

 Aiden, the motherfucking bastard, turned her out, accusing her of posting the pictures herself and placing the blame on Evan. She then went to the principal, but he turned her out too, saying that her allegations were false. Apparently, Evan's father was the school's prime benefactor and so, the pussy principal did not dare suspend his son.

 Powerless, she turned to Brandon for help. When he, with the help of some of his techie friends, found proof that it was indeed Evan who leaked the photos, he brought media and police and created quite a show. The media were interested too, as the son of such a big businessman was caught doing this. 

Brandon, along with the media, pressured the principal into kicking him out of the school. An angel, huh? Aiden often says that he would thrash the guy for good. But he doesn't dare to, as Brandon has some connections within NYPD, as well as powerful leverage - photos of them taking drugs- against them.

I think I am beginning to develop a crush on him. The devil queen and the good king? Nah. Sounds like a catchy title for some teen-fiction novel. And, he isn't even interested in me. Sigh.

Still, I check myself for the last time in the rear view mirror and get out, walking towards the school buildings.

"Lewis! Jennifer Lewis!"

My heart stops. Okay, nearly stops.

I turn around, smiling. Brandon walks towards me and looks at me in the eye. Not smiling.

"Jennifer Lewis," he says, tottering on the verge of frowning. "You were seen smoking in the school premises with a few others. Now look, you can do whatever you like- drink, smoke, kill your lungs- I obviously have no right to stop you. But in the school, yes. It is strictly prohibited to smoke in the school premises. As it was your first time, I'm letting you go. But I won't be so forgiving the next time." He offers a tight-lipped smile. "Thank you for your time." And saying this, he steps sideways and walks away.

Every cell in my body fills with self-loathing. He obviously despises me. Not Jen, not Jennifer but Jennifer Lewis?

I don't even like smoking! I do it because of peer pressure and the high school warped idea of looking cool. I nearly shout at his retreating figure.

But I can't.

Because then he and the whole school would know who I really am.

Fuck it.