MARIANA

“You!” I shouted, wide-eyed.

“You! What the hell are you doing here?” The cute but arrogant guy from my workplace demanded loudly, his face contorted with surprise.

“What does it look like I’m doing here?” I retorted, standing up straight after gathering my scattered textbooks.

“How the hell did you get into this school? How can a drycleaner like you get into Royal Gate High? Did you bribe your way in?” He asked, clearly surprised.

“Hey, mister! Drycleaners are humans too. I didn’t bribe my way into this school. I got here like any other student, and if you were smart enough, you’d know I’m here on a scholarship!” I snapped, hissing in frustration.

“You’re here on a scholarship? I thought only brilliant students who passed the exams would be allowed into this school. A dumb bitch like you could never have passed. I’m sure you cheated,” he sneered. I opened my mouth to respond, but Vanessa beat me to it.

“Hey there, dude. I don’t know who the hell you are or where you’re from, but you can’t just show up and insult my best friend in front of me. You bumped into her, so you need to apologize. I don’t care if you two have some history, but apologize to her and get out of our way. You’re wasting our time,” Vanessa snapped at him, and I couldn’t help but feel proud of my best friend. The rude guy turned to face her.

“Who’s this sharp-mouthed bitch? Didn’t anyone teach you not to join conversations unless you’re asked? You and this drycleaner are clearly cut from the same cloth. Birds of a feather,” he said arrogantly, clearly enjoying the drama. Students were already forming a crowd, watching the exchange.

“Who did you just call a sharp-mouthed bitch?” Vanessa demanded, her anger rising.

“Who else? You, of course,” he shot back dismissively.

“I’m going to make you regret calling me that,” Vanessa threatened, dropping her textbooks to the floor. She raised her hand to slap him, but I stopped her.

“Leave him to me, Vanessa. I’ve got this,” I whispered in her ear, and she calmed down, though her annoyance was still visible.

“I’m not going to apologize to you because you’re the one who bumped into me first. You should be apologizing,” I said, turning to the guy.

He opened his mouth to argue, but a loud voice interrupted him.

“What’s going on here?” a male teacher demanded, emerging from the crowd of students. His tone shifted when he saw who was involved.

“Tyler, what’s going on? Is there a problem between you two?” the teacher asked the arrogant guy, who I now knew as Tyler.

“This girl bumped into me and stained my shoes, and instead of apologizing, she and her friend are insulting me,” Tyler said smoothly.

“What? You were the one who bumped into me. He’s lying, sir,” I protested.

“Shut up, brat! You just got here today, and you’re already causing trouble. You better apologize to Tyler now if you don’t want more problems,” the teacher snapped.

“But sir, Tyler’s the one who should apologize. He was the one who caused all this, and my friend’s textbooks are all over the floor,” Vanessa argued.

“That doesn’t matter. The two of you need to apologize, or you’ll both find yourselves in even deeper trouble,” the teacher warned. I remembered what our former principal at Crescent Valley High had said during orientation: You have to be on your best behavior until you graduate, or you’ll be expelled and blacklisted from other schools. I didn’t want to be expelled over something so petty.

“I’m very sorry for bumping into you and staining your shoes, Tyler. I’m also sorry for insulting you. It won’t happen again,” I apologized through gritted teeth, and anyone with good eyes could tell it wasn’t sincere. Tyler smirked cockily, while Vanessa looked at me, disbelief written across her face.

“What are you doing, Mariana? You shouldn’t be apologizing to this guy! He’s way too cocky to deserve an apology,” Vanessa complained.

“I’ll explain later. Just trust me,” I whispered, urging her to calm down. Reluctantly, she agreed.

“No way I’m apologizing to this dude!” Vanessa spat, but I nudged her with my elbow.

“Just do it, Vanessa. Please. I’ll tell you why later,” I urged, and after a few seconds of muttering some curses under her breath, she sighed and mumbled, “Sorry for everything, Tyler.”

Another cocky smile crept onto his lips.

“Good! See, that wasn’t so hard, was it? You were making a big fuss over nothing,” Tyler said, as if he hadn’t been the one causing all the drama.

“Sorry for the trouble they caused you, Tyler. It won’t happen again,” the teacher said to him, and Tyler nodded, strolling away with his hands in his pockets.

“What are you all staring at? Get to class!” the teacher barked at the lingering students, who slowly dispersed. The teacher then turned to Vanessa and me.

“You two couldn’t even last a day without causing trouble. Anyway, you should have just apologized to Tyler when this happened. Don’t you know who he is? He’s the son of the school’s owner. He could have had you expelled just for not apologizing, even if he was the one at fault,” the teacher said, and both Vanessa and I were stunned.

“Seriously?!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah. My advice to you is to focus on your studies and stay out of trouble. Be careful, because very few scholarship students graduate from here without getting suspended or expelled,” the teacher warned. We nodded in understanding.

“Thanks, sir. We’ll steer clear of trouble,” I said, and he gave us a nod before walking away.

“Jeez! What was that all about? Who was that crazy guy? Do you know him? Did you two have some history?” Vanessa asked, bombarding me with questions.

“Sorry about that, Vee. I didn’t expect to run into him again. He’s just some guy who came into the dry cleaners I work at, like any other customer. He wanted his clothes cleaned…” I explained everything that had happened between me and Tyler, and Vanessa shook her head in amusement.

“Gosh! He’s really nuts. But seriously, why did we even apologize to him? And why did you stop me from slapping him? I was about to ruin his handsome face,” Vanessa whined, and I chuckled.

“We would have regretted it if you slapped him. I apologized because I remembered what the former principal said to us before we left Crescent Valley High. Even though it hurt my ego, I apologized to avoid further trouble. And you heard what the teacher said, right? I wonder what we’d be doing now if we’d slapped him,” I explained. Vanessa’s mouth formed an ‘O’ shape as the realization hit her.

“Ohhh. I remember now. Thanks for stopping me from slapping him,” she giggled.

“No problem, Vee. And thanks for defending me, even though you almost got into trouble for it. You didn’t even know him, and yet you had my back. You’re the best friend ever,” I said sincerely, and she smiled at me.

“Aww, thanks, darling. I’m sure you’d have done the same if I was in your shoes,” she cooed as we reached our lockers and began unloading our textbooks. Her locker was four lockers down from mine.

“What happened? We heard you two got into trouble,” Julia said as she and the rest of our friends approached.

“Yeah, what’s up? We heard some students talking about two new girls insulting some guy,” Damien added.

“News travels fast around here,” I said.

“It sure does,” Vanessa chuckled.

“What happened? Tell us everything!” Katherine exclaimed, drawing a few curious glances from students in the hallway.

“What are you looking at? Mind your business!” Katherine snapped at them, and I shook my head, amused.

“Calm down, guys. It all started like this…” Vanessa began, recounting the entire incident. Our friends listened intently, hanging on to every word as if their lives depended on it.