Lance PoV
"Hey! You ass, where have you been?!" Erik, my friend, shouted the moment I was about to enter the campus.
I usually walk from home to school and hitch a free ride home from my friends afterward.
I walked up to his car.
"It's none of your fucking business," I said while doing our usual handshake. "So? Any news?"
"Teachers were asking where you were," he said. "I fed them a whole truckload of lies, mostly that you were sick, couldn't walk, and had LBM, you bastard." He shot me a death glare.
I laughed.
"Thanks for covering for me," I said, throwing an arm around his neck. "Your assignments for a week are my payment."
"Only one week?!" He punched my shoulder. "Not a month?!"
"What?!" I punched him back. "Two weeks."
"No! Three!" He pounced on me with his bag. "You don't know how terrified I was!"
"Two, and that's final," I said, shielding my face from the bag.
"Fine! Two weeks of assignments and workbooks." He smiled triumphantly, then laughed.
That was rude of me, talking all this time without introducing myself.
I am Lance Redela, seventeen years old, one of the most "feared" people in school, at least according to everyone else.
Dark brown eyes, black hair, and perfect grades. I cut classes when my brothers are in trouble, yet I still ace my exams.
"You're not listening to me, are you?!" Erik smacked the back of my head.
"Don't do that!" I snapped. "You might damage my brain cells." I scratched my sore head. "What is it?"
"A lot of girls have been looking for you.... especially Maria," he said. "She stands by my car every day, glaring at me and asking where you are." He lowered his voice at the last part.
"Don't mind them," I said, heading to my locker. "You know I'm not looking for a relationship."
"Yeah, yeah," he said from his locker, half-shouting. "That's what I keep telling them! But they still ask me, why not ask you directly?! So annoying!"
"Maybe they're too afraid to ask me," I replied. "It's your fault for spreading all those crappy stories about me." I closed my locker and waited for him.
"But everything I said was true!" he argued. "I don't give false information."
We started walking to our first period.
"Ha! What kind of information?" I asked as we entered the classroom and sat down.
"You being a gang leader," he said, grinning, "beating the crap out of everyone, one versus a hundred."
"What?!" I hissed. "You've been telling them that?!" He was literally there that day.
"I only fought fifty of them, the rest ran away, remember?"
"Ahhh, same thing," he shrugged. "Whatever, shut up. The teacher's here." He placed his notebook on the table.
"Oh, I see you finally showed up," the teacher said. "Good morning, Mr. Redela. How are you?"
"Good morning, sir. I'm okay now," I replied. "Thanks for asking."
"Meet me at my office after school. Got it?"
No room for argument. He turned and started the lesson.
School is always boring, especially when people stare, whisper, and pretend they aren't talking about me.
I once earned the title "Most Talked About Person in School."
It was printed in the school newspaper.
When classes ended, I hurried to Erik's car for my usual free ride, or maybe to hang out.
"Ahhh, where do you think you're going?" Erik said before I could open the passenger door.
"Home. Why?" I opened it anyway.
"You're forgetting something," he said slowly.
"I'm not." I got inside and made myself comfortable.
"Meeting with the teacher? After school?" he said. "Ring a bell???"
My eyes widened.
"Oh shit!" I jumped out of the car. "Wait for me here! I'll be right back!"
I sprinted toward the faculty office.
When I opened the door, the teacher was talking to another student.
"Sorry I'm late, sir," I said as I stepped inside.
"You forgot again, didn't you, Mr. Redela?" He pointed to a chair. An order, not a suggestion.
"Almost, sir. Almost," I said. Thanks to Erik... my lifesaver.
"I've already given Kira the instructions," he said. "I don't like repeating myself. He'll fill you in later.
As I was saying, you'll be presenting it to the whole school during the leveling-up ceremony. Understand? You may go."
"Yes, sir. We'll take our leave now. Sorry for the trouble. Thank you," Kira, the white-haired guy, said before standing.
I, on the other hand, was completely dumbfounded.
I had no idea what just happened.
Suddenly, someone grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the office.
"Ahh.... what's going on?" I muttered.
The hallway was empty, but I knew he heard me.
"We're doing a project presentation," he said, still dragging me. "And we'll present it to the whole school during leveling up."
"Why me?" I asked.
He took a deep breath before answering.
"Because even though you ditch school the most," he said, a bit sassily, "you still get perfect scores."
Tch. Annoyingly honest.
And… why does he sound irritated?
We reached outside the school.
Only then did he realize he was still holding my hand.
He dropped it instantly, like he'd been burned.
He finally turned to face me, and that's when I saw him clearly.
Striking blue eyes.
Uniquely white hair.
A perfect nose...
and soft, rosy lips.