Saying that Alyssa was worried would be an understatement. She was downright sweating with fright.
If Jason refused to do the project, which she was sure he would, they would both get zero, out of thirty marks. That left seventy out of hundred. And Alyssa had absolutely no chance of getting more than 20-25 in that.
That would mean she would fail. And she really did not want to find out the consequences of failing in class 11.
While Alyssa was damaging her brain cells, worrying, Jason continued writing painlessly...
The bell rang. Almost everybody went out, but Alyssa still sat in her seat, numb with worry. And this time, it was not because of the past. This time it was because of her future.
Mia poked her, trying to elicit some response.
Alyssa whispered to herself, "No, be calm. Worrying won't solve anything!"
She would talk to Jason or ask Jaden to talk to him... But she would do the project. If he refused, she'd talk to the teacher...
But Alyssa Taylor knew, she would never talk to the teacher. Because her own ego was too big to sound like a whiny wimp complaining to her elders.
Finally, Alyssa turned to Mia, who was still standing there and said, "Let's go."
Classes went too slowly. Or maybe too swiftly. Alyssa couldn't tell. But eventually, school ended. They all went to the cafeteria.
Amiya was making plans for the evening, as they all say round the table.
"Oh, you must come, Liz!" Basil said quietly. That was the second time she'd a really spoken to Alyssa. She was incredibly shy at times.
"Sure." Alyssa shrugged. It's not like she had anything better to do, other than reminiscise of the History project or about the past. And the later was something she must avoid doing at all costs.
"Great!" Amiya clapped.
Mia smiled from beside Basil as John came over to their table. His appearance was different and even more shocking than Jaden's. While Jaden had more piercings, John looked more like the tattoo guy. Every inch of his hands and neck was covered in ink.
Compared to John, Jaden was relatively tame.
John pulled out a chair beside Mia and gave her a small kiss. Nothing too extreme, nothing too dispassionate.
Amiya coughed, but John gave no reaction other than a little twitch of his lips. He said, still staying at Mia, "What, Amiya? No enough display? What do you say, Mia dear? Shall we give her something R-rated?"
Alyssa snorted, unable to control herself any longer, while Mia blushed to the colour of a tomato. She stuck out her tongue at him.
After that, normal conversation broke out among them.
After some time, Amiya decided to get going. She had to literally drag Mia away from John's hug. Alyssa couldn't help smiling at her friends' actions...
On their way out, Alyssa met Jaden coming out of the Principal's office.
After thinking for a second, she said to Amiya, "You guys go. I'm coming in a minute."
Alyssa hastily said to her friends before running to catch up with him. "Jaden, what's up?"
Jaden turned to look at her. His hair looked shorter than usual. He looked rather different. But Alyssa had to say, he looked better with it short.
"Hey," he beamed at her. "I was just meeting with dad about..." He hesitated.
"About?" she raised her eyebrows. She had a guess what, or exactly who it might be about.
"Well, Dad had a barber ready for me. Apparently, he hated my long hair style. And...he wanted to scold me for some stuff. Jase and I kind of...vandalised Miss. Robin's car," he said sheepishly.
Well, that was unexpected. Alyssa didn't know whether to laugh or frown. It had sounded like something she used to do before, after all... Alyssa decided on the former. Frowning would definitely have been hypocritical.
"Good job!" she said.
Fighting was a big 'no', but vandalizing? Harmless, as far as she cared, and that meant, as far as her own cars were safe.
"So...did you have any reasons?" she asked him, smiling.
"Uh, none apart from the fact that she sucks. You don't sound disapproving," he said warily, wondering when she would scream at him for such a ... was it a crime?
Her grin turned mischievous, as she stood upon her tiptoes. She put her mouth close to his ears and whispered, "Here's a little secret, Mr. Smith. I have done it numerous times before and I like to call it 'redecorating'."
Jaden looked amused. He raised his eyebrows questioningly. "That's ... wow. In which school were you previously?" he asked. A perfectly innocent question.
But Alyssa's smile faltered. She would not talk of anything that brought up her past. She wished to keep her past locked up in a box of iron and steel, at the deepest, most unadventured, lost corner of her mind. And she would make sure she succeeded in doing so.
Alyssa tried to put back that smile, but it would not appear. So she gave up.
"I need your help," Alyssa said, acting as if she hadn't noticed his previous question.
Jaden looked puzzled, but thankfully, he didn't bring it up again. "What help?" he asked.
She told him all about her history project and her situation in history – how crucial it was for her to get good marks in the project. And she also make sure to add that it was the only subject she sucked in. She didn't want him to think she was stupid or something, after all.
Jaden nodded. His face was grave.
"You shouldn't have messed with Jason," he said, with a serious tone. "He doesn't give a damn about his marks. Because, you know, even if he fails in everything, he knows he'll be promoted easily."
Alyssa's heart skipped a beat. She definitely wouldn't have the same privilege...
Alyssa pouted. "look, what's done is done. I can't rewind time. But now I seriously need him to co-operate!"
Jaden sighed. "I'll try talking to him."
But to her fear, he looked doubtful if he would succeed...