3. Bring it on.

With quick reflexes, Mr. Cool grabs my head just before it can hit the ground and push me into his chest. He then rolls gracefully into his back, keeping a tight hold on me for the whole while. I huff, struggling to breathe in his proximity.

"Wh-what are you doing?"I stammer as I realize the position that I found myself in. "Get off of me!" I shout, turning around and pushing my weight off his chest. Without thinking, I put my arm against his neck.

"Dina! Stop!" somebody shouts behind us and my senses wash back into me. I lean back a little, embarrassed, while David remains lying on the floor, wincing in pain. 

"Dave! Please, no. Dave. Don't die on me, bro. " David's friend wails as he crawls toward David. The hell? I scoot farther away from them, weirded out by the sudden dramatics.

"Brad, please don't embarrass yourself," Kier says, surveying the scene with hands on his hips. I place his voice as the one who shouted for me to stop, and I probably owe him for that. Around us, people have already gathered. I can only imagine how the situation might have blown up if I didn't let go of David. I have a valid excuse, though. What did they expect a girl would do? Chasing her around campus like that?

"What the hell is wrong with you, people?!" I yell at David and his friends. "What the fuck was that about?!"

"Colorful language is not allowed on school grounds, Ms. Matthews." a new guy appears beside Kier, his eyebrows raised in my direction. He's dressed more formally than the rest of the students in this school and has a commanding aura to him. 

"Who the hell are you?" I ask him, not liking his stance one bit. Also, he has a lot of nerve reminding me about my language, when David and the others were just cursing in Korean a while ago. 

"Sebastian Laurent. Class president. I'm not sure if you heard me at all, but I was the one screaming for you not to run in the hallways?" he answers, a bit amused. He has an unusual way of speaking. Like he's mixing two accents in his speech.

"Can you speak?" Sebastian bends down to examine David, who remained immobile on his spot. He looks disoriented and I wonder if he hit his head harder than it looked. There's no way, though. The guy's obviously pretending, to make himself the victim in this whole fiasco.

"Yeah," David responds, pulling himself up as if it is the most painful thing he's done. I resist the urge to roll my eyes. 

"Well, if you can speak and walk, that's good," Sebastian says. "Because the four of you are coming to the Principal's office with me."

"What? No way! Come on. She ran away. What was I supposed to do?" groans Brad, giving me a dirty look.

"You're part of the student council, you should know. If you have a problem with a fellow student, you bring it up to me or Ari. But you didn't. So, Principal's office, now." Sebastian says, pulling Brad off of the floor. He then starts to drag Brad along with him, completely ignoring the latter's complaints. Kier sighs, looking at his friends' retreating backs. Without a look at either David or me, he follows them silently. 

"Guys, nothing to see here anymore, right?" Sebastian announces to the rubberneckers. "Now, scatter!"

It takes a while for the crowd to disperse while David and I stay on the floor, glaring at each other. Whether his face is flushed from exertion or from anger, I can't tell. It's probably both. I know, because I feel the same way.

"You two." Sebastian turns back to us, breaking the tense silence. "Didn't you hear what I said?" 

David and I ignore him, still staring daggers at each other. Sighing heavily, Sebastian looks heavenward, "Get going or this is going to be worse than it already is." he says firmly before turning in his heel. 

I scowl at David. "What?!" I don't care. He can interrogate me all he wants about the wallet, but I am not giving it back to him. He can even bring me to the principal and call my parents. Let's see who gives up first. 

"Get up," David says, standing up. He offers me his hand, which made me blink up at him in surprise. 

"No, thank you." I slap his hand away. I'd rather swallow bitter gourd before I accept help from this harasser. And David must have known it because he grabs my hand forcefully. He pulls me to him and I stumble. Under normal circumstances, I would have had him in a headlock by now. There are not many people, even guys, who can hold a candle to me when it comes to a physical fight. But something makes me stop. His eyes. Stunning in their white-hot anger.

"I know you have it. Don't think I'd let you go easy," he threatens under his breath, tightening his grip on my hand. 

"Bring it on," I whisper back at him, smirking. Okay, so he might be a bit intimidating. But there is no way I am backing down. Drawing my hand back from David's grasp, I start walking toward where Sebastian and the others have gone. 

***

I make sure that the car that dropped me off is out of sight before I take in my surroundings. Hehe. Who would've thought that Jerry, Arnold's driver, is easy to fool? I told him I am meeting some friends here before going to school and they would have a car, and he didn't think to be suspicious about it. He will definitely be in trouble once Mom realizes this, but sadly, I only feel half-guilty about it. 

I spot a convenience store a block away and thinking that a drink would be nice, I skip towards it happily. I can't help myself. I got David off my back yesterday, without them having to call either of my parents. Who would've thought that the Principal is a fan of Arnold's? Once I told her that Arnold Moon is working on a brand new tech and couldn't be bothered by her stepdaughter's problems, and along with a lack of evidence on David's part. I am completely off the hook on this one. At least, as far as the adults are concerned. There's no telling what David and his friends would do. Which is why my leaving needs to happen as soon as possible. 

"Hey!" I protest as someone bumps into me from behind. Unbelievable. Why does this thing keep happening to me? I right myself up, glaring at the guy. He doesn't spare me a glance, running straight towards the entrance of the store. I am about to yell at him about manners when I see him catch a girl who has just fainted.

What in the hell? My jaw drops. Okay... so it's clearly an emergency. I should probably put a pin on my tirade. 

"Um... do you need help?!" I hesitantly ask the guy as he runs back towards where he came from, the girl in his arms. 

He glances at me as if he didn't even notice I was there, "Oh, it-it's okay. I got it." he replies, quickening his pace.

"Thanks, Hyung. I'll return your car as soon as possible," he says to someone behind me. 

"Of course. Drive safely, Sai. I hope she'll be okay." a familiar voice replies. I tense up, unable to move, even as I hear the sound of a car driving away. Shit. Shit. Shit. 

"Dina Matthews. 16. African-American. Birthday, September 8. Arnold Moon's stepdaughter." David recites behind me. Panicked, I look for anything in the empty street that can hide me. But there is none. 

Realizing I have no choice but to confront him, I finally turn to look at him, and my anger turns up a notch. Why in the hell does he look even better than he did yesterday? Not as good-looking as Kier, objectively speaking, but still handsome. He's just annoying in all sense of the word. 

"Hey," I say, matching his tone. "David, right? Probably... 16? Korean, probably American too. Your birthday? I don't really know, and I don't care. I also haven't been introduced to your parents. But it's probably not important." 

He blinks at me, his mouth twitching into a reluctant smile. There's a sadness to his smile though, and I wonder which of what I said brought it on. I also want to know why he's suddenly talking to me like we're friends. I narrow my eyes at him in suspicion. 

"Are you okay?" He peers at me with concern. Right. I must've looked like I was trying not to burst. But the heat of the sun behind him made me squint harder. Quickly, I smooth out my expression. Nothing could've prepared me for what he said next, though,  "You looked constipated for a while there."

My mouth falls open? What did he just say? I brace for a comeback but he cuts me off with a laugh. "I'm just kidding. Jeez. Relax." 

I glare at him. He's clearly up to something, trying to joke around me like this. Well, he sucks at it. "You're rude," I tell him. He just shrugs, still smirking. 

"Look. I want to apologize about yesterday," he says, suddenly serious. "I acted like an ass and accused you of something that you didn't do. I realized how stupid that was. I mean, why would Arnold Moon's stepdaughter go around stealing like that, right?"

I process his words, waiting for him to say 'Just kidding! Give me my wallet back, bitch, or I'm going to destroy you,' or something. But he only waits patiently for my response with that stupid smirk on his face. I study him, trying to figure out what he's brewing in his head, but I got nothing. 

"Oh. That was nothing. Understandable. Let's just forget about it." I tell him, though I store the suspicion in my brain. 

"Great," he responds with a smile, offering me his hand. Though I can tell that he doesn't believe that I would just let things go, either. "Friends, then? I'm David Choi. Though you probably already knew that. Everyone just calls me Dave." 

"Dina," I shake his hand cautiously, meeting his eyes. 

"Dina," he repeats warmly. "May I now ask why you are here? Are you lost?" 

"I was driving to school when my car broke down." I lie smoothly, keeping my face steady. 

"Oh. What's the problem, exactly? Maybe I can help." 

Oh, so he's the probing type. Why am I not surprised?

Tucking my hair into my ear, I pretend that I don't hear his question. "Where's what?" 

"Your car, " he replies, amused.

"Oh. I had it towed to the repair shop." I reply.

David pauses, assessing me. I hold my breath for more questions from him. Is this his plan? To pretend to be friends with me so he can gather information for my parents and blackmail me for his wallet? Well, tough luck for him. I'm in this game just as much as he is. 

"Well, I came here with mine, but my friend Simon had to borrow it due to an emergency, as you saw earlier." David is saying.

"Oh," I say, a bit mockingly, "You must be a really good friend. Just handing your car over like that." 

"Nah. I usually don't, but as I said, that was an emergency," he replies, "I am a good person, though. And I really hate it when people lie and steal from each other."

I freeze. Oh, so we're doing this, too. Him throwing out openings like that so he can grill me about the wallet again. I smile sweetly up at him, unfazed. "Well, isn't that nice?" I tell him. 

"It is." he agrees. He sounds amused, clearly aware that I am onto him. What a bastard. "Well, if you're up to it, maybe we could walk to school together? It's only about five blocks away." He suddenly offers, holding out his arm to me like a gentleman.

I look at it, considering my options. I can't lie to him again, I don't think he buys anything I say.  So either I run away from him now or I can keep up this newly found (pretend) friendship with David and walk with him to school. The former will get me out of dealing with him, but it will also make him more suspicious and he will probe further into my business to get what he wants. So, I smile at him with gritted teeth and slip my arm around his.