Chapter 3 - Celebrity in the Garden

The next day started out like any other day. I woke up early, got ready for school, made breakfast for my dad who didn't apologise for what happened yesternight (then again, no surprise there), I met up with Nellie and we walked to school together. Everything was going great but all that went awry once we got to school.

As I walked down the hallway with Nellie by my side, I could feel everyone's eyes on me. The reason behind that was quite obvious. It'd only been a day since the incident with Derris so as expected, everyone was pointing at me and murmuring.

Not used to that kind of attention, I drew closer to Nellie who, understanding my predicament, patted my hand reassuringly. I let out a sigh of relief as we went into the homeroom which was mostly empty, except for a few people reading. 

We walked to our seats which happened to be beside each other and sat.

"So Allie, how are you doing?" Nellie asked while we waited.

"I don't know what to say, Nellie. I mean, I always imagined what it would feel like to be popular but I definitely didn't imagine this!" I shook my head as I spoke.

"I know. Sorry about this Allie. So, how did it go yesterday? Was your dad mad that you came late?"

"He was, just a bit," I answered, even as the memories rushed back.

"Oh Allie! Did he hit you?" she asked, lowering her voice.

"No Nellie. Of course not."

"Allison, are you sure? You know you can trust me with anything."

"I know that Nellie but…"

The sudden ringing of the bell cut me short and in a few moments, students were trooping into the homeroom. Murmuring and chattering filled the room and I found myself once again, the topic of discussion.

I sank deeper into my seat, willing it all to be over. All of a sudden, as if by a divine force, in came Derris Fox and flanking him on both sides were Caleb Stone and Jeremy Kyeong.

Besides being an actor, Derris also doubled as an musician and he was part of a band called Black Diamond with three other guys: Caleb Stone, Jeremy Kyeong and Maximilian Crest.

Apart from being one of the most biggest boy bands around, they were also known for their various escapades with anything in a skirt with Maximilian being the only exception. He was silent, reserved and was the only member of Black Diamond that could rarely ever be seen with a girl. The reason behind this was not known. 

With the whole class’ attention on Derris, Caleb and Jeremy, I found myself finally able to breathe. This lull however didn't last long when Derris met my gaze. Almost immediately, he scowled. I gulped, my heart rate growing by the second as he made his way towards me.

Instead of stopping in front of me, he merely paused by my side before moving on. I released the breath I'd been holding, feeling as shocked as everyone else. I'd expected a lot of things but not that he would just move on without saying or doing anything to me.

Just then, the teacher for our homeroom walked in and started calling attendance. My eyes were on Derris for the rest of the period.

After homeroom, Nellie and I went to our lockers to grab our books for the next class. Just like when I came in, everyone's eyes were on me and I could hear them speculating as to why Derris didn't do anything to me.

"Maybe he likes you. You never know," Nellie suggested just as we arrived at our lockers.

"Yeah right. As if-" I trailed off, opening my locker to see it smeared in chocolate along with all my books and every other thing I had in the locker. "Who would do something like this? Why would someone-? Wait, you don't think-?" I turned to Nellie, her eyes already saying what I needed to know.

"Derris!" she spat out, her voice laced with venom. "That sneaky bastard!" she yelled but I was quick to cover her mouth with my hand before anyone heard her.

"Nellie! Keep it down!"

"But Derris- your locker-" she argued.

"Will be fine. We'll just call maintenance to clean it up."

"What about your books? Your notes?" she asked.

I looked at them and shrugged. "I can just rewrite them using your notes. It'll be fine."

"Allison, you can't just let this go. You made a mistake. You don't deserve all this."

"So what do you want me to do? Prank the school's golden boy and become hated on top of already being the talk of the school? Yeah right," I snorted with a good natured roll of my eyes on seeing the expression on Nellie's face. "It'll be fine, Nellie. I'll be fine. Let's just get to class, okay?"

Nellie looked like she had more to say but she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and released it before opening her eyes and flashing me a huge smile.

"Okay then. I guess if you don't have a problem with it, then I'm okay."

"Great. Let's get to class then." 

I stole a glance at my chocolate covered locker and sighed sadly. Oh well... I closed the locker and left with Nellie.

We had Biology first so we headed to the Biology class. Nellie however had to pay a visit to the bathroom and I walked to class alone. On getting to Biology class, I could see Derris already seated with his friends but that wasn't the baffling thing.

What baffled me was how quiet the class was despite being almost full. I knew the teacher wasn't in yet so I had no idea why they were so quiet.

Deciding to just ignore it, I walked in and pulled on a rope with my foot mistakenly. Almost immediately, I heard something and just like that, I was soaked with something, something that smelt and felt like… chocolate. 

Almost immediately, the whole class, Derris included, burst into laughter and that was when it dawned on me. The reason why they'd been so quiet was because they'd been waiting for me to come so they could prank me. How had I not realised that?

As I stood there, watching Derris laugh along with everyone else, I felt my heart begin to crack as I realised that this was probably his idea, his prank. Nothing could have hurt me more.

"Hey you! Say cheese!" he yelled, bringing out his phone. Before I could react, I was being soaked in cheese as well. The laughter doubled and I felt the tears I'd tried so hard to keep from falling begin to pool in my eyes.

Don't cry, Allison! Don't cry!

But it was too late. Tears were already streaming down my cheeks as I looked down, unable to bring myself to look up and see Derris laughing.

"Finally, to complete this little combo, here's some glitter!" 

I looked up just in time to see Derris shower me with glitter from a bowl in his hand.

Unable to take it anymore, I turned and ran out of the classroom. I could feel everyone's eyes on me as I ran but I didn't care. I just wanted to get away from it all, get away from the mocking laughter and the heartache that came with it.

Eventually I found myself in the school garden. I'd always liked this place. It was silent and peaceful and always left me feeling like a new person. Today however, I wasn't here for that.

Making my way to the fountain, I fell to my knees beside it and managed a glance at myself in the clear waters. What stared back brought even more tears to my eyes.

My red hair was strewn across my face and was a mix of red, brown and yellow. I had glitter on my face as well chocolate and cheese spots.

My appearance paled in comparison to the shape my heart was in. Why did it have to be Derris of all people? I had been pranked a few times since enrolling in this school but never by Derris. In fact, I never thought him capable of that.

In my mind's eye, I still saw him as some kind of Prince who would come riding up to me one day on a white steed and rescue me from my horrible life. Unfortunately, that was starting to look more and more like a fantasy especially with today's events.

A sudden rustle in the bushes behind me jerked me back to reality. I fearfully turned around just as a tall guy with sandy blonde hair emerged from the bushes. He seemed surprised to see me but he was quick to mask his surprise with a straight face.

Why do I know that face?

"What are you doing here?" he asked curtly. "And why do you look like- that?" he added, giving me the once-over look. 

That was when it hit me. Maximilian Crest! This was frigging Maximilian Crest! My jaw dropped and I struggled to find my voice. What? I'm a big fan. Of course I'm starstruck.

"Fine then. Be that way," he shrugged and made his way to a wooden bench in a corner. He sat on the bench and began strumming the guitar I hadn't noticed he was holding. My eyes were glued to him while he strummed some notes with the guitar.

"Okay. If you're just going to stare, you might as well leave!" he shot me a pointed look after a few minutes passed with me doing nothing but staring at him.

"I'm sorry!" I apologized quickly, looking down at my knees.

"What's your name?" 

"Allison," I answered, still not meeting his gaze. He didn't say anything at first but before I knew what was happening, he was beside me, on his knees.

"What happened to you, Allison?" he asked, using a finger to lift my chin up so we were looking at each other.

"I'd rather not talk about it," my voice quivered as I spoke. Not only was superstar and celebrity, Maximilian Crest, talking to me and touching me, remembering that my longtime crush was the reason I looked like a train wreck didn't exactly help matters.

"That's fair," he mumbled, dipping the tip of his white handkerchief in the fountain. Then he was cleaning my face with it.

Whoa! Tell me I'm dreaming. I have to be! Because there's no way Maximilian Crest was using his hankie to clean my face... right?

But it was true. It was either that or I was hallucinating.

I blinked several times to see if that would change things but it didn't. I even discreetly pinched myself but nothing changed.

Oh my God! It's really happening!

"There. That's better," Max mused, moving back a bit. I glanced in the fountain and saw that my face was clean. I looked back at him gratefully and muttered, "Thank you."

"No need for that. Can you handle the rest?" he gestured to my hair and clothes. I nodded. "Good. Well, later then."

He stood from the floor and slung his guitar over his head, such that it hung behind him. He turned and headed in the direction of the garden, stopping once to say, "My name's Maximilian, by the way. But you can call me Max."

Before I could say anything else, he was gone. I stared at the direction he went, my jaw slack. Did that just happen or did I imagine it? I took a glance at the fountain and sure enough, my face looked clean. 

Yup, it really happened. I let out a large squeal and began doing a little happy dance at the thought of what just happened. I just met Maximilian frigging Crest! Maybe today's not so bad afterall...