the thing about revenge

23 e n t y - t h r e e : captains and big mistakes

Asher was in one of his signature angry moods again. It was no surprise really. His mood boards often just alternated between angsty, angry or his all-time favourite I-feel-like-being-a-prick-today mood. The minute he walked into school with Thomas and Michelle who still tried to stick to Asher relentlessly, there was a sudden change in the atmosphere. None of the senior girls dared to flirt with him and even Thomas wasn't speaking. He looked so innocent as he gamed on his phone.

"What's up with Asher?" Lydia caught on to the tense atmosphere and asked curiously.

"That's his normal face."

Asher turned to glower at some juniors who were blocking the lockers. I jumped as he flung his locker open, remembered that it was empty and slammed it back close.

"Boy, I think he's on his period." Lydia added drily as she saw me jump in surprise at the metal 'clang'.

He gestured to Thomas, Thomas checked his timetable, nodded and lent Asher his textbook. 

"Creepy dude." I said absentmindedly, before letting my finger rest on my English binder. Guilt washed over me again. Our bases were unequal now, I owed him more than he owed me.

I scrunched my face up, this was bad. I sighed as I trudged to the lecture theatre for Literature. Mrs Lawns had been on sick leave ever since the day Thomas was absent. It had been at least a few days. However, she was back today, brighter and chirpier than ever.

"Class, good morning. It's such a wonderful day today." She spread her arms wide, sucking a deep breath of air, forgetting she was in an air-conditioned room full of boys. She choked after doing so.

"We'll finally commence our presentation today. I hope you prepared your slides and speeches." She raised her eyebrow questioningly. I looked pointedly at Thomas. He nodded proudly.

"Let me get my wonder wheel." She spun the rotating wheel on a website she downloaded with our names on each line.

"Ooh, who do we have here? Emily!" She announced happily, scanning over the lecture theatre, squinting to spot me. Once she did, she gestured for Thomas and I to come forward.

"Your stupid name, damn it." Thomas cursed, rolling his eyes, playfully smiling down at me.

"I honestly hope you prepared something." I muttered, clasping my hands together while biting my lip nervously.

"I did."

He took a deep breath.

"Hello everyone, I'm Thomas and she's Emily. Today, we'll be presenting our views on whether hamlet-I mean Romeo and Juliette were smart enough humans in a world that existed a long time ago." He nodded proudly.

"Your turn." He whispered. My jaw dropped and swayed in the breeze. That's all?

"You little ass-" I smacked him before Mrs Lawns cleared her throat.

"To be very honest..." Therefore the presentation ended up with me one-sidedly sharing my points regarding the love between Romeo and Juliet. I glared at Thomas during the course of the entire presentation. To say I was mad was an understatement. I specifically messaged him the other night just to remind him to prepare his presentation.

"I'm sorry." He whined as we made our way back to our seats. I ignored him.

"I'll bring you to the amusement park." He coaxed and I finally gave in, letting a small smile play on my lips.

+++++

I hummed as I walked out of the cafeteria. I wasn't exactly hungry today, and Lydia had to stay back in class to complete an artwork. So I decided to just get a ham and cheese sandwich before going to the back of the school to eat. It was cold outside, making the temperature pretty pleasant.