Chapter 8: Crush Embarrassment

|| Arabella ||

“Stop, stop!” I hollered, throwing myself in front of the red Aston Martin in the building garage.

The car came to a screeching stop. “I know you are eager to die, but don't do it in front of my car. Go jump off the balcony or something,” Theo shouted after rolling down the window of his side.

“If I wanted to kill myself, I'd mix poison in my coffee just like I did with yours,” I shot back.

“What?” he exclaimed in disbelief.

I rolled my eyes and hurriedly ran to the passenger side of his car. “I will give you the antidote if you let me in.”

“And what alcohol in your system makes you think I would do that?” he retorted, starting to fix his black hair in the rearview mirror inside.

“Like I said, the antidote. You are dying in about,” I looked down at my wristwatch to check the time that was left for my class and said, “Thirteen minutes.”

“Then you should give the antidote to Wyatt 'cause I swapped my coffee with him just in case,” he replied smugly.

I scowled at him. “Oh, c'mon! You know that I want a ride because I am late, so stop being a prick.”

“You shouldn't have been late in the first place.”

“Whose brilliant idea was it to prank call Wyatt and make him go to Coral's house to pick her up?” I pointed out.

“Well, my idea was flawless,” he smirked, “And this is a part of it.”

Of course, he knew that Wyatt had been dropping me off at school since last week. So without him, I would be late. This annoying jerk...

I wanted to grab the idling rod that was lying nearby and swing it on his car's window and see the look of his dad when he found out. But I convinced myself with all my willpower that I wouldn't do it.

“Theo, you are always a jerk. How about you take today off?” I suggested, fed-up.

“Sounds nice, but no.” Theo flashed me a mock smile.

He only pressed the accelerator when I yelled, “I didn't feed Clover!” If I knew Theo's one weakness, it was his cat. He loved that orange beast. The only time Theo smiles like a normal person, it's when he's talking to Clover—as weird as it was.

As expected, Theo pulled the brake instantly and asked, “What, really?”

“Yep.” It was a lie. I did feed that monster, even though it tried to gouge my eyes out like usual.

“You had one job, Annabelle. One job,” Theo lamented. He took off his seatbelt and was about to open the door. My eyes almost sparkled at the upcoming opportunity. Unfortunately, he paused and turned back to look at my face. He pointed his index finger at me and warned, “I swear if this is a lie…”

I was so close to fooling him...

“What worse can happen if it's a lie? I get in your car, that's it. But what if it's not? Poor Clovy could be starving and she might die,” I exaggerated.

He sighed, understanding that it was a bluff. Just then the door unlocked. “Hop in,” he said in defeat and I happily got in. “The precious time I wasted talking to you, I could have been walking down the hallway at school by now.”

“Your loss,” I remarked and put on the seatbelt before Theo started driving. “So how about this, every day you give me a ride without any argument? It will save both of us sometime.” Though it was more fun with Wyatt since we didn't argue and had more of an actual interesting conversation, his class schedules were different from mine since he was a senior.

Theo scoffed. “And then give people the opportunity to think that I'm dating you? I would never live down such a ridiculous rumor.”

“Don't tell me you care about what other people think of you.” I gasped dramatically. “Didn't expect you to be such a people-pleaser.” He gripped the steering wheel tighter, and I continued instigating. “Why don't you please me too? Give me a strip dance or something like that.”

“It's not about pleasing people or anything like that,” he hissed out. “It's just that my car is being contaminated with your presence.”

“Exactly what I wanted. I hope my poisonous miasma kills you,” I chirped.

Theo only groaned in response and didn't say anything anymore.

I was getting bored, so I asked, “Can I turn on the music?”

“No.”

“Okay, thanks.” With that, I turned on the music in the car at full volume.

“Why even bother asking me?” Theo remarked in annoyance.

“Just courtesy.”

He frowned. “Since when are you courteous around me?”

I twitched my lips thoughtfully. “You're right. My bad. You don't deserve my courtesy.”

“Why do I even talk to you?” he deplored.

“I don't know. Ask yourself.” I shrugged and started bobbing my head to the song that was playing on the radio while Theo sulked for the rest of the ride.

In between, I got a text from Coral.

Coral: Wyatt has come to pick me up for school. He says you sent him, but why? And why does he seem so flustered?

I burst out laughing and tapped Theo's forearm to get his attention. When he turned his head at me, I showed him my phone screen, making him burst out laughing, too. Our prank worked on Wyatt.

Within a few minutes, we reached the school campus.

Just as we stepped out of the car, I noticed Wyatt nodding his head at Coral near his car as she said something before waving at him.

When Wyatt looked in our direction after Coral left, I ducked my head and grabbed Theo by his hoodie to hide myself behind him, immediate guilt washing over me. “Wyatt is going to kill me, isn't he?” I muttered.

“Absolutely. Because I'm totally dumping all the blame on you,” Theo said, standing still in front of me.

I peeked over his shoulder to find Wyatt stomping towards us with the intention to burn something. “No, it was your idea. I just executed it.”

“Does it look like he cares?” Theo remarked.

“It's still all your fault, you dunce nitwit,” I wailed, shaking him by his shoulders desperately.

I have almost never played a prank on anyone but Theo and Coral. I knew Coral wouldn't kill me, otherwise, who would help her in the History exam? And I simply didn't care for Theo's fury. But God knows how Wyatt would react towards me. What if he stopped being nice to me? I just went along with Theo's plan on a whim.

“You two little rascals—” I heard Wyatt starting to say before Theo smoothly cut him off.

“Now, now, calm down, Wyatt,” Theo crooned.

“You shut up. Don't make me embarrassed in front of my crush and tell me to calm down. That's like stabbing me and asking why the fuck I am bleeding,” Wyatt growled.

“So you were embarrassed?” Theo asked, sounding a little too happy. This unemphatic idiot...

“Of course, I was. Thank goodness, I didn't outright say that I came to pick her up because she called me, which definitely wasn't true, as it was Ara who did so by changing her voice. Man, am I dumb or what? I never wanted the earth to swallow me more than when Coral asked me what I was doing in front of her house. Plus, I couldn't utter a word throughout the whole ride. It was so awkward,” Wyatt ranted in a breath.

“Aww, too bad. I thought this could increase your chances with her,” Theo said fakely, and I could feel Wyatt glaring at Theo, so I pinched his elbow to make him stop.

“You're making him angrier, dimwit,” I hissed at Theo.

“And you, Ara, come out. No point hiding behind Theo,” Wyatt commanded. I sheepishly tilted my head to the side, poking my head out, my hands still clutching Theo's white hoodie.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, giving an apologetic look.

“I didn't expect you to be a part of this,” Wyatt said, being disappointed.

Before I could say that I would never do such a thing again, Theo spoke up, “Well, you should start expecting more from her. Because I'm making Annabelle a part of my ‘Operation: Drown Wyatt Reeves In Shame’.”

“What, no!” I opposed, now fully coming out from my hiding behind Theo. Though I knew about this operation of Theo since he told me this morning while we were playing rock-paper-scissors.

“I hate you guys,” Wyatt grumbled.

“Really, you hate me too?” I knew how to work my puppy looks—it even works on Coral and my teachers—so I put it on, and Wyatt sighed helplessly.

“Okay, fine. I don't hate you, Ara. You're like my little sister. I'm sure this crooked rogue dragged you into this,” Wyatt said, and I nodded firmly, changing sides like a chameleon.

“You understand me so well, Wyatt,” I exclaimed and gave him a side hug, once again apologizing for the prank and promising not to embarrass him in front of Coral again. Rather, I actually intended to help him from now on.

“Sure, gang up on me now. My time will come,” Theo remarked.

Just then, the class bell rang, and my eyes widened.

So much for not being late.

“I don't know about your time, Theo. But our class time has come,” I exclaimed and made a run to my first class, without looking back at Wyatt or Theo.

———

God, nowadays, finding a good part-time job for a high schooler was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

I started my hunt after school, and now the sun had already set on the horizon, yet I found no job. It was around eight in the evening when I pushed open the apartment door and announced, “I'm home.”

I found Theo watching some movie on TV, lying on his back on the big couch—couldn't be less bothered about my existence. I plopped down on the black beanbag, exhausted.

I saw some Oreos on a plate and a red juice bottle on the coffee table. Seeing that Theo was engrossed, I decided to steal some of his biscuits.

“Don't eat those. They are my apology biscuits to Wyatt,” Theo spoke up, almost making me flinch in alarm as his eyes were still focused on the screen.

I rolled my eyes. As if his warning was going to stop me from eating one or two of it. I was sure Wyatt wouldn't mind. So I took a piece of the Oreos.

As soon as I bit down on it, I tasted something stingy like gel or paste. “What the fuck is this?”

Theo finally shifted his gaze to me and said in a monotone, “Toothpaste.”

I shrieked. “Is that how you were going to apologize to Wyatt?” I snatched a tissue from the center of the coffee table and spit the content in my mouth on it.

“That's my way of apologizing,” he stated indifferently. “But Wyatt somehow knew about it. He didn't even touch them, so I'm upset now.”

It was taking everything in me just not to shove down the remaining toothpaste biscuits down his throat.

“You know, people like you deserve a high five in the face with a chair,” I said and grabbed the juice bottle to dissolve the taste of toothpaste from my mouth.

“That's—” Theo started to say something about the juice, but the damage was already done.

I spit out the juice immediately. “Now, what the fuck is this shit?” It tasted disgusting. No, that was wrong. It had no taste at all. As if I just drank dust.

“Unflavored gelatin,” Theo said flatly.

“This was for Wyatt too?” I asked incredulously.

“No, that was for you originally.”

I fumed, feeling black smoke coming out of my ear. That was it. I had enough of his silly pranks. I was going to end this guy tonight. Either Theo would survive or me.

“I'm going to kill you.” With that, I lunged at him.