[Next day, Midtown High, Morning]
"Hahaha." Letting out a light laugh, Jonathan looked at the screen of his phone while the noise around the cafeteria and his table served as background sound.
His laughter was because of the joke Maria had sent him earlier, no, it wasn't funny.
He laughed because it was her obvious attempt at being the "funny guy," in this case, the girl.
He found it cute, although awkward, but as a man who had once been in her shoes, he gave a positive response, a simple haha along with a laughing emoji.
'Though, I almost feel a bit sorry, she seems to be getting a little too emotional.' From what he could tell, the girl was being a little hasty, possibly already imagining a whole future with him, even if she kept telling herself not to be so naïve from what he knew of her.
'Not that this future won't exist, it just won't be like she imagines.' In the end, he had already set his sights on her, so her being emotional wasn't really a problem.
"What are you laughing at~?"
Suddenly interrupting him, Tyrone leaned in, invading his personal space with a grin while looking at his phone screen.
Jonathan moved the phone away and pushed him back. "You have no sense of personal space, do you?"
Tyrone kept smiling. "I have no idea what you're talking about, besides." His smile then became meaningful. "Who's that you're texting? Don't tell me the famous Ice King Jonathan finally found a girl who caught his interest~?"
Jonathan shook his head as he put the phone away. "Nothing like that, it's just a girl from my martial arts academy, she sent me a joke and I replied."
Tyrone nodded with a look of understanding that then turned into pity. "Poor thing, she must be thinking that just because she got your number she has some kind of chance, little does she know you're the type who ignores messages and only replies after days."
"Hey, I only did that a few times, it's not that bad." Jonathan replied, pointing at him while going back to sip on his juice box.
Tyrone gave him a blank stare. "I sent you a message and you took three days to reply."
Waving his hand, Jonathan denied it. "That was a long time ago."
Tyrone kept staring at him. "That was three days ago."
Stopping his drink for a moment, Jonathan then shrugged. "Meh, I was busy, look on the bright side, at least I replied." He finished with a thumbs-up and a cheerful smile.
"Hahaha." Chad, who had been silently watching their exchange from across the table, laughed.
Giving Jonathan and Chad a dry look, Tyrone sighed lightly. "Anyway—"
"Excuse me Jonathan, can we talk for a moment?"
Interrupting Tyrone, a familiar voice sounded behind them, making them turn to see Alexis's face.
"Ugh, you again?" Letting out a tired sigh, Tyrone exclaimed, crossing his arms.
"Hi to you too, Tyrone." Alexis greeted him with a fake smile.
"What do you want, Alexis, didn't I make it clear several times that I don't want to talk to you? Do I have to involve the principal for you to stop?" Turning back to face forward, Jonathan spoke calmly while drinking his juice.
Alexis was about to speak, but Chad spoke first. "You really want to keep doing this? To me you look desperate, I'm starting to feel sorry for you, why don't you just stop? Haven't you two already worked things out?"
Frowning at Chad's words, Alexis said nothing for a moment. Looking to the side, she saw Megan and the other girls from the soccer team.
While Megan just watched her silently as if waiting for her to do something, the other girls stared with mocking smiles.
Looking away from them and glancing around, she realized she was drawing attention.
But regaining her calm face, she crossed her arms as she spoke again, apparently ignoring the rest. "Can I talk to you alone for a moment?"
Exhaling through his nose, Jonathan looked over his shoulder at her.
"Please?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
Staring at her for a moment, he nodded. "Alright." Drinking the rest of his juice in one go, he stood up. "Let's go." He walked toward the exit, tossing the crushed box into the trash.
Alexis silently followed him.
The curious eyes of the teenagers in the cafeteria followed them with clear interest, contemplating the scene as more gossip material for them.
Walking to a nearby locker after passing through the doors, Jonathan leaned his back against it and crossed his arms. "So? Speak."
"I just wanted to apologize again for what happened before, I know Elizabeth already forgave me but I feel like you haven't." She said, stepping closer and stopping in front of him.
"And that's because I haven't, since Elizabeth already forgave you, I let things go, but that doesn't mean I forgave you."
Smiling faintly, she raised her hands. "Come on Jonathan, you can't be like that, isn't there anything I can do for you to forgive me?"
Jonathan calmly raised an eyebrow. "Forgive you? After you knocked Elizabeth off the bleachers in the basketball court? You're lucky she didn't break a bone or I would've broken your face."
Her smile turned bitter, unaware of how literal Jonathan's words were. "But I already apologized to your sister, you know that at that moment we were arguing, I was angry and didn't think straight, come on, really nothing I can do?" She then moved closer, placing an arm above him to lean against the locker and smiled.
Looking calmly at the slightly taller girl, Jonathan put a hand on his chin with a thoughtful expression. "You know, I'm curious where all this courage of yours came from, I'm pretty sure Elizabeth already told you not to bother me, do you really think she won't do anything?"
Alexis's mouth opened as if she was going to say something but then she shook her head, placing her other hand above him against the locker. "That's not important right now, so, you didn't answer my question."
Taking his hand off his chin, Jonathan crossed his arms again. "Is there something you can do for me? No, there isn't."
"Are you sure there's nothing?" She asked back, leaning in slightly and tilting her head, making a few strands of her hair fall over her shoulder.
Seeing that, Jonathan narrowed his eyes, having a strange feeling of déjà vu. Staring at her suspiciously, he placed his hand on his chin again, thinking. "You know, your insistence on getting my forgiveness when the main person who should forgive you already did is suspicious, what exactly are you after?"
Blinking, Alexis stepped back. "What?" She asked, looking surprised.
Looking at her with more suspicion, Jonathan continued thoughtfully. "I know you and Elizabeth used to be pretty close, not exactly friends but almost, that fight of yours and the subsequent accident made you two drift apart and stop talking even after she forgave you…"
Taking a step back, she tried to look calm as she questioned back, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, and what does that have to do with anything?"
"Hmm…" Saying nothing, Jonathan kept staring at her suspiciously, feeling he was close to an answer. 'Why would she do this? What would she gain from my forgiveness if she already has Liz's? What would she want that—oh, that's it?'
Coming to a conclusion, Jonathan raised his eyebrows in realization.
'Actually, this bitch likes Elizabeth!'
It all made perfect sense, it was basically a situation where, since she was unable to interact with Elizabeth, she'd try to use those close to her to influence her, and Alexis definitely knew that among everyone, he was the one with the most influence over her.
It was something you could tell by how overprotective Elizabeth was with him, and considering they were close before, it was something she could've seen personally through some conversation she had with Elizabeth.
In other words, Alexis wanted his help to get closer to Elizabeth again.
As for the possibility that she was actually interested in him, that was very unlikely and the reason was simple.
That's because Alexis was a redpiller.
It was almost common knowledge what opinion she had of him, something that kept her in people's mouths for quite some time.
She specifically said, "Jonathan seems like a nice guy and all, but he's a slut so that kind of lowers my opinion of him, at least he's handsome and hot."
That was the opinion she gave back then, not exactly meant for others to hear, but since she said it openly it ended up spreading.
Besides that, she had some opinions and views that reminded him a lot of the redpillers he used to see on the internet in certain aspects.
And on top of all that, one of the things that made him reach that conclusion was that when Elizabeth had her accident, he asked her the reason and she said it was nothing, but he heard some rumors saying that the cause was him.
So if those rumors were true, his reasoning made perfect sense.
'Unfortunately for you, Elizabeth only likes a phallic, long and thick object full of veins with a red head and tanned skin attached to my waist.' Shaking his head slightly with a pitying look toward the girl who looked at him confused, he placed his hand on her shoulder with a closed-lip smile.
Making a scene very similar to a certain meme, Jonathan stared at her for a moment with that smile, then, without saying anything, gave her a light pat before leaving.
"Wait Jonathan!" She called, turning to him and raising her hand.
"No thanks, I've already given my answer, just move on with your life and good luck to you, hahaha~" Laughing at his own joke, he waved without looking back as he returned to the cafeteria.
Left alone in the silent hallway, Alexis watched as Jonathan's back disappeared through the door.
Her fists clenched for a moment as she frowned, but soon after she relaxed and sighed. "Sigh, you leave me no choice then." She said caaaalmly to herself.
But if someone had passed by her at that moment, they would probably have been startled to find her emotionless gaze.
Back to Jonathan, he had just sat back at the table when Tyrone quickly asked. "So, what did you two talk about? She was just bothering you again?"
Across from him, Chad nodded, agreeing with Tyrone's question, also waiting for an answer.
"Yeah, that's basically what happened, relax." He said, leaning back in his chair.
Backing away from him, Tyrone nodded with crossed arms. "Hmm, better that way, I hope she finally stops or we'll have to get your sister's help."
"Yeah, I also think if she keeps going we should involve Elizabeth." Chad said, agreeing with Tyrone.
Also agreeing with them, Jonathan was about to bring up another subject when Tyrone interrupted him.
"By the way, you're coming to watch Megan's game on Friday, right?" He asked with a smile.
"I already told you I'm going."
Hearing that, Tyrone sighed lightly. "Yeah, but I'd better ask just in case you forget after three days, with you it's better to ask in person."
Jonathan's lip twitched slightly at the complaining tone in his voice. "If it's better to ask me in person, then why'd you send that message knowing I'd take forever to reply?"
"Hmph, that's beside the point."
Looking at the two of them, Chad asked curiously with a faint smile what they were talking about. "What happened?"
"I sent this idiot a message and he only replied after three days."
"Look on the bright side, at least I replied, there are people I don't even reply to."
While Tyrone complained about Jonathan and Jonathan calmly countered his accusations, Chad listened with a smile, amused as he teased both of them by pointing out their contradictions.
Thus, the break ended.