Humiliated

Prologue

"You could still back out, you know," he spat, his eyes glinting maliciously and his mouth twisting malevolently.

I squinted my eyes and twitched my mouth. More than anything else, it was when someone goaded me into quitting an activity that spurred me into doing it even more. "What's the matter, Orhanen? Afraid to be seen with me?" I asked him, my voice dropping lower. I arched my brow at him. "I'd have you know that reverse psychology never really did work on me. If you want to quit, then all you have to do is say it."

Thomas or Tom, whatever it is, glared at me and took my arm. I flinched, and as I did so, I saw his lips quirk. "I never quit." He said, his hand traveling from my arm down to my hand. His skin was incredibly warm as I noticed. "You of all people should know that."

I raised my chin, and when I felt his fingers over my palm I slid my hand down to entwine with his. "You of all people should know that I never quit either."

He looked down on our hands, met my eyes and smirked. "This should be interesting." Tom's eyes were then drawn to something behind me and when I glanced at where he was concentrated at he said, "What are you looking at, Ezekiel? Quit manhandling my girl, you bloody idiot."

Daniel Ezekiel's face flushed and opened his mouth to say something but changed his mind at the last minute. The girl in his arms squirmed, and said in a low but hearable voice, "If your hand dip one inch lower-"

I turned away and was unfortunately met with Thomas Orhanen's pale and pointed face. "He was not manhandling Tina." I said. I could literally feel my blood boil at his accusation towards one of my best friends! How dare he! My hands are poised to ball into fists, however, since one of my hands was curled intimately around his, it seemed as though I squeezed his fingers intentionally.

"And now you're manhandling me," he said, snatching his hand away. And I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Attention everyone!"

Sending one last glare at Orhanen's direction, I spun my heel and focused my attention on Mister Brahms. The teacher was standing on a stool and was clapping his gigantic hands to gain the interest of everyone. "Thank you all for being here. Now, most of you probably surprised to see me as your dance instructor." He grinned. "Before we officially begin I would like to know if all of you have found your partners..." Most of the seniors were standing beside their partners and only a handful were standing alone. "Ah, Miss Maselin, Mr. Wallace would be joining us in a little while, do not fret. Miss Rawles, I'm sure Mr. Pashen is around here-oh there he is! Yes, yes join your partner." Mr. Brahms made shooing gestures with his hands. "Now-Miss Duggan! Mr. Tonks was just looking for you-"

I looked at Alyssa and kept myself from laughing when I saw her mouth curl in what was known as a poor of evil stitch's expression. Everyone knew that Harrington Tonks had been the one who requested for Alyssa Duggan to be his partner. It came into a death sentence to her when she received the news that Mr. Brahms agreed to Harrington's request.

Mr. Brahms clapped at his well doings and bared his teeth in a wide smile. "Excellent, excellent. Now, I'm sure everyone has his or her own dancing partner-yes, Mr. Orhanen?"

I looked to my side to see Thomas lowering his hand. He cocked his head to one side and said, "I would like to know how come everyone else seemed to have been partnered with the person they wanted, whereas I... Well..."

There were very pregnant and silent moments that passed since Thomas spoke. I felt myself blushing to the roots of my hair and suddenly it felt suffocating and hot. My pride screamed to be salvaged. "Yes, Mr. Brahms. I want to know the reason as well, because personally I would rather face a pink neon haired queer than... well..."

This time, a couple of people laughed, Alyssa's and Daniel's noticeably the loudest of them.

"All right, that's enough!" Mr. Brahms warned, sending glances at everyone's way. He focused his attention at me and Thomas again and his face was screwed up in a reprimanding expression. "Mr. Orhanen, Miss Evelyn, I am disappointed that you had to ask this question in front of everyone mightI add." He shook his head. "You two have been partnered for the very simple and basic reason of being the Head Boy and Head Girl this year."

I looked down at my feet, feeling myself turn a darker shade of red. I heard shuffling sounds beside me, but didn't dare look at Thomas. I lifted my head and turned very slowly towards my partner. His mouth was poised to open, but before he did I beat him to it. "You should be ashamed of yourself," I seethed, my mouth thinning after I spoke. "Humiliating me in front of everyone-"

"Humiliate?" He demanded, glaring at me. "You were the one who brought that stupid issue-"

"Ha!" I said. "And doesn't it just flatter you that most of us still remember that incident as thought it happened yesterday?"

"Someday," he said, grabbing my hand and squeezing it very hard. "You'll know how it feels to-"

"-accidentally dyed my hair into pink neon throughout the week?" I asked innocently.

"No," he said, lips beginning to smile widely. "Humiliated."

Somehow the word, and the way he said it, made me feel a little nervous. Don't be ridiculous, I admonished myself. What could he possibly do to me? Especially we're in front of ever senior student I know and a teacher as well!

And I could also feel that something unexpected is bound to happen.