Amaya is willing to do anything to become the captain of the girls' football team, even taking on a bet that could remove her competition, if she succeeds.
Amaya loves to win, whether it's prank wars with Easton, the captain position from Irina, or...
There are two types of gratitude in this world; instant gratitude and delayed gratitude. The first is easy to obtain by doing the small things like holding the door open for someone or buying a friend their favourite coffee. The other is when you spend way too much time planning a prank, perfectly execute the plan and the reaction received is better than imagined.
The crowded hall was filled with students loitering, rushing or exchanging books at their lockers. Of course, there was someone having a screaming conversation across the hallway, which everyone was low-key listening to for any juicy gossip. But that wasn't going to be the highlight of today.
I had to try and keep a straight face and not stare at Easton at his locker on the opposite side of the hall. I even went as far as pretending I couldn't notice my physics textbook that was thick as hell and right in front of my locker just to not turn around and give him any hint of his surprise. It didn't help that Hafsa was giving a play-by-play commentary of Easton's movement ever since I gave her a hint about the locker, in a moment of excitement.
"He is now putting his code in," she whispers nudging me to turn. I didn't turn.
"Stop staring, he's going to notice," I whisper under my breath.
"I'll just tell him that I was counting his presents," she replied, without looking at me. While it might seem odd to count gifts, Easton had already accumulated a lot of them. Nathan and Ray had to help carry them to his locker. They were all lined up next to him and opening his locker had taken longer than usual since everyone decided that now was the perfect time to say happy birthday, followed by some small talk about his new glittery style. No one has filters these days, I tell you.
Hafsa grabbed my arm as I was in the process of putting my psychic textbook into my bag, causing me to drop and slide across the floor. I rolled my eyes, picking it up off the floor, knowing that Easton was going to make a comment.
"You should've picked a lighter textbook if you wanted it to actually hit me."
"I didn't think that the other textbooks would make a dent in your ego," I replied, already used to his comments.
"I'm only suggesting for health and safety reasons." He shrugged.
"I prefer to believe in the magic of Christmas to carry me through the day."
Easton was puzzled while Nathan was avoiding all eye contact with everyone, trying to hold in his laughter. Apparently, there was a really nice spot on the floor that consumed all his attention when Easton looked at him for answers. I hoped he would keep it together for at least five minutes.
Since he was unaware, Easton opened his locker while asking Nathan for answers, "As my birthday present, you need to tell me what she means Nathan."
Nathan didn't need to reply. Maybe five seconds was all he needed to keep it together. Realisation dawned upon Easton, as Hafsah pushed her way to see what he was looking at.
"Santa left an early present for someone," she commented, which led to Nathan and I losing it.
"Well that elf needs a lesson on how to wrap because I'm sure I've seen a two-year-old do a better job."
"I think you need to be more thankful for the gift inside. What would your mother say?" I teased, knowing very well his mother would force him to say thank you.
"My own textbooks?"
"Knowledge, Easton. Knowledge can be a very powerful thing."
Easton mumbled something which I didn't catch and tried to tug his physics textbook from the sticky mass. Thanks to gravity and mass and friction and every other physics terminology under the sun, the rest of the 'gifts' came tumbling out with ease.
The sound of one physics textbook hitting the ground wasn't enough to catch any attention but the sound of every textbook that could fit into his locker? Let's just say a crowd started to form and whispers followed. This wasn't the first or last incident, as the teachers love to label our pranks, so it was clear that I was the elf behind it.
"Does anyone have a pair of scissors I can borrow?" Easton asked no one in particular.
"I think the Art teacher confiscated everyone's scissors last week," Hafsa replied.
"Oh yeah, I can't believe those guys decided to cut the tree when they were supposed to be drawing it," someone commented. Sometimes the stars love to align so no one around us had a pair of scissors. I'm pretty sure I heard the art teacher give out detention whenever they saw someone with scissors. They must've really loved that little tree.
Easton let out a sigh in defeat. His wrapped textbooks decorated around his white shoes, resembling the bottom of a Christmas tree. Nathan had picked up that one random object from yesterday and was busy trying to unwrap it, with little luck.
"Oh no, what a coincidence. Looks like you'll need to unwrap your presents. Maybe write a letter to Santa so next time he gives your scissors for Christmas." I picked up my bag, ready to go to our next class. Hafsa followed after a short attempt at unwrapping one of Easton's textbooks. There's no use in waiting since it seemed the fun was over. Many students felt the same way, as they had slowly dispelled from the commotion.
Nathan had a pair of scissors that he hadn't yet revealed. I wasn't that cruel to ruin a person's birthday completely. I just like to add core memories to it.
"All I want for Christmas is revenge," Easton replied, getting in the last word as he loved to.
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