Chapter Three

 “Have a nice day Mom,” Arya said dropping a kiss on her mom’s forehead before darting into the school. No thanks to her mom, she would be late for her first class. adjusting the back pack on her shoulders; she hurried through the stairs and hallway praying that the teacher wouldn’t be in class yet but as expected her prayers weren’t answered.

 The moment she stepped into the class; everyone turned to her including the very much older man who was resting on his table while teaching the class. Arya swallowed her saliva nervously while bowing her head slightly in greetings.

“Miss Jenkins, the time is forty-five minutes past 9am” he started and Arya winced quietly.

“You want to tell the whole class why you came late?” he asked his eyes boring into her as if telling her that if she lied, he would be able to figure her out on the spot.

Mr Hagans had always given Arya the chills. The man was a no nonsense man and was extremely strict unlike the other teachers. No student could mess with him. Even the bullies and jocks cowered whenever he was present. That been said; it was more like the man personally had a dislike for her.

He always looked at her with unkind eyes that made her stomach churn and make her uncomfortable so she had tried every single possible best of her to stay away from his sight and not get onto his bad side.

“My mom had an emergency so I had to stay with her till she was done” Arya bluttered out after some seconds mentally high fiving herself for coming up with such a brilliant lie. Mr Hagans rose to his feet standing in front of her with his hands at his back looking at her with furrowed brows.

“What if I call your mom right now?” he asked and Arya nodded her head.

“Please go on sir” Arya replied with absence of fear on her face. She was double sure that her mom would cover up for her after all if she didn’t choose that morning to tell her stories of the Qing dynasty; she wouldn’t have gotten to school late in the first place.

“Go and have your seat Miss Jenkins” Mr Hagans said after staring at her for a few seconds.

“Thank you Mr Hagans” Arya said nodding her head at him before making her way to her seat which was at the other end of the class by the window. Barely had she sat down when the girl beside her glared at her playfully.

“What were you thinking coming late to Angry Bird’s class?” the girl whispered and Arya pursed her lips while trying to prevent herself from laughing out loudly.

As much as the students feared Mr Hagans that didn’t prevent them from giving him name like every other teacher. Hagans always had a frown on his face; he was always in a moody and so that earned him the nickname ‘Angry bird’. In between themselves, he was often referred to as Angry bird.

“I don’t want to get into any more trouble Eileen; let’s talk after class” Arya whispered back to her raising her head and meeting Mr Hagans eyes, she shivered inwardly while burying her head behind her books.

As soon as Mr Hagans stepped out of the class, Arya slammed her textbook close while turning to the girl beside her.

“I’m not the only one who feels like Angry Bird wants to jump my skin these days?” Arya asked while Eileen’s lips drew backwards into an amused smile.

“I want to ask if you being cocky about the fact that you are really pretty or you just making a wild statement just because you miss Brad” Eileen replied watching as Arya’s furrowed brows loosened and a smile blossomed on her face.

“Well, maybe” she replied laughing. Eileen shook her head at her rising to her feet while packing her books.

“I’m hungry, let’s grab something at the cafeteria” Eileen said yawning lightly. Arya who had also packed her books rose to her feet while chuckling at the girl beside her.

“You didn’t sleep last night?” she asked as they both started to walk out of the classroom.

“Well John wouldn’t let me off after beating him three rounds. He wanted to show me how better he was and in a bid to tell him harder how much I was better than him, we ended up playing through the night” Eileen replied as Arya stopped in front of her locker pressing her locker combination.

“And then?’ she asked stacking her books neatly in her locker. An amused smile crawled up her face as Eileen showed half of her face through her locker. She watched as Eileen looked around nervously as if what she wanted to couldn’t be heard by others.

She then brought her arm to make a slicing gesture at her throat.

“I finished him” she whispered sending Arya bending over her books and laughing hard. 

“Was that funny?” Eileen asked closing her locker while pressing the locker combination. Turning her face to see the girl beside her still wearing a straight face; Arya burst into laughter again.

This was Eileen Finely, her best friend. One of the few people in Arya’s life that could crack her up and make her laugh hard. One of the few people that Arya trusted with her life. They had been best friends from childhood and each time Arya remembered how they became friends; she would wish for the ground to swallow her up. 

“Let’s go. I’m starving” Eileen muttered rubbing her stomach on lay emphasis on the fact that she was really hungry.

“Hi Eileen, Hi Arya” someone greeted while both girls turned to them.

“What’s up ladies?” Eileen asked grinning widely as one of the girls dug into her hand bag and brought out two envelopes.

“So I wanted to invite the two of you to my birthday party this weekend” the first girl said smiling as Eileen collected the envelope while still grinning.

“Your birthday is on Friday?” she asked while the girl shook her head.

“Thursday actually but I’m throwing a party on Friday. I really want to see you two there. The party won’t be complete without you two” she replied.

Eileen scoffed internally before nodding “Sure; we’ll be there” she replied waving at them before grabbing Arya and pulling her towards the cafeteria.

“Why did you take the cards? Friday is our girls’ night out. We can’t ditch that for Sally’s party” Arya stated with furrowed brows turning to Eileen who nodded her head.

“Who said we were going to Sally’s party?” Eileen asked yawning for the third time.

“Why did you take the cards then?” Arya asked pushing open the doors of the cafeteria.

“I wasn’t in the mood to argue and tell Sally why we won’t be able to come to her party. She would come up with all kinds and sorts of reasons for us to attend her party” Eileen replied grabbing her tray and scooping food onto her plate.

“Besides you realize that she might just want us to use ‘Eileen and Arya’ are coming to a party as a front to get other students to attend” Eileen added walking towards their usual table. Removing her bag and grabbing her spoon; Arya looked at her with surprised eyes.

“That hungry?” she asked watching as Eileen snickered.

“This hungry” she replied taking a huge gulp of her drink.

Eileen Finley and Arya Jenkins were names that every single person at Princeton High knew. We were one of the most popular girls in school even when we were neither cheerleaders and nor participated in any kind of sport. Their popularity was solely based on the fact that they were both very beautiful, had good grades and not just good grades, one of the best grades there was and they were best friends. Best friends who had each other’s back all the time.

A lot of girls had tried to join their clique or break their friendship but none had worked; they both got closer and closer and people started feeling that they looked alike. Despite their popularity; they were friendly, likeable and other students could easily approach them which even made them more popular.

A party that Eileen and Arya would be attending would definitely attract every other student attention. Eileen and Arya weren’t that party people and preferred very much to spend time with themselves than attend parties even though they did attend a few of them.

It became a routine for anyone throwing a party to invite Eileen and Arya to attend their party. The coolest students fought with each other in order to let Eileen and Arya attend their party. a year before, three cheerleaders who were also popular decided to throw a party the same time and they all came with envelopes to invite Eileen and Arya to their party. 

According to them; whosoever’s party that the duo attended would become the next cheer lead captain. Eileen and Arya promised to attend all the parties and at the end of the day; both girls ended up going to a game centre to play the night away turning the three girls into a joke.

“Have you seen Brad this morning?” Arya asked looking everywhere in the cafeteria while Eileen swallowed her saliva.

“I heard the basketball team has a match next week so they are busy practising” Eileen replied watching as Arya furrowed her brows.

“But that’s Charles over there. He’s the captain of the basketball team yeah?” Arya asked turning to Eileen who shrugged her shoulder.

“I heard. I don’t know if it’s true or not. Why don’t you give him a call?” Eileen asked as Arya tapped her forehead.

“I forgot that” she replied turning and rummaging through her bag to bring out her phone.

“I’m going to get myself another helping of spaghetti” Eileen said grabbing her tray as Arya turned to stare with her with wide eyes.

“Eileen, you just finished a large helping and you are about to get another one?” she asked looking mortified while Eileen nodded her head.

“You eat a lot but isn’t this a lot more?” Arya asked while scrolling through her contact list for her boyfriend’s number.

“I’m evolving so I’ll eat more. I’ll be right more” Eileen said cheekily before walking towards the food area leaving Arya on the table.

Arya pressed her phone to her ears tapping her fingers on the table quietly while waiting for the other person to pick the call. Her brows furrowed when the call ended without the other party picking up the call. Dialling the number again, she continued tapping her fingers on the table.

Staring at the trays of food and bags on the table, Arya imagined them rising into the air and then the very next minute; Arya’s eyes widened upon realizing that the tray of food and her bags were actually in the air.

“What the fuck” she muttered but when she blinked her eyes again; the tray of food and bags were on the table exactly where they had been a second ago.

“Babe!” someone hollered and Arya felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist. A small smile crawled up her lips while folding her arms and wearing a small pout.

“Where have you been?” she asked.