The Heaven I Found In Hell (11 page)

"I'm so buying this." I said to her, as I walked to where she was and eyed the dress more closely.

"Well, try it on first." She said with a laugh, before she handed me the garment that was good enough to be worn by someone like Aphrodite.

I got the dress from her, and went over to the dressing room. I unclothed myself, leaving behind my bra and underwear before I dressed up again, now with the gown. I went out of the dressing room, ready to show it off to Cindy when I got taken aback by the new pairs of eyes looking at me.

Cindy, sandwiched in between Nathan and Anthony, rejoiced when she saw me wearing the gown. She clasped her hands together, before she took me in for a hug.

"I'm willing to pay for this even without the 50 discount." She teased, as she released me from the embrace. I scratched the back of my head, and laughed along respectfully. It felt weird getting a hug from Cindy. I never knew bribing her into tutoring me was going to be so easy…and here we were, acting like I never 'stole' Nathan and Blake from her. I freed my thoughts…I didn't want to think of the possibility of losing a tutor…

"You look great." Anthony said with a small awkward laugh, which unknowingly made me nervous.

Inside my head, thoughts of whom he could possibly like floated continuously and endlessly the moment he opened his mouth. I doubted he liked Cindy since they were total opposites…and mind you, the quote, 'Opposites attract' doesn't really fit these two people since they were 
total
 opposites. Kendra came into my head to, 
but no
…I never saw them talking much, but hey…maybe he was just shy…Riley…there's a possibility…and me…not to be conceited or anything, but I could imagine him liking me…bleh…or maybe it was some other girl…

"Thanks." I said a little bit too quickly. He simply smiled at me, and I turned to Nathan and gave him a grin.

"Where's my compliment?" I joked. Nathan looked sideways, as if there were ghosts beside him. I was supposed to ask him 'What was up?' when I realized what he was trying to pull off.

"Very funny, Mr. Adams." I said, using his last name. "I was talking to you, and what are you guys doing here anyway?"

"Oh…we went to the Adidas store and bought some soccer shorts. We were just walking around when we heard a strange, but familiar high-pitched voice." Nathan teased, turning to Cindy and giving her a mischievous smile. Cindy stuck out her tongue childishly, and Nathan simply smirked at her in return.

Nathan opened his mouth, and was about to say something until I held up a finger and told him to 'hush'. "Hold on, let me go change back…it's weird talking and laughing with you guys while I'm wearing unpaid for clothes."

Cindy laughed at what I had said and instantly agreed. "They might think you're going to run off."

I laughed along, before I waved her off, and went back to the dressing room to change. After doing so, I, along with the three of them, went over to the counter to pay for the dress. I took out my wallet, got a few thousand-dollar bills, and was about to hand it to the cashier girl when Anthony said, "I'll pay for it."

Nathan laughed mischievously, before he patted his best friend on the back. "What are you trying to do?"

I especially hated mischievous laughs/grins/smirks/smiles or whatever things fitted that adjective…especially if they came from guys…

Anthony simply ignored Nathan's question, as he paid for my dress. I thought about starting an argument with him, but I soon realized protesting for something that had already been paid was going to be useless, so I settled for just a simple 'thank you.'

"You’re welcome." He replied, still with that small awkward and fishy smile.

I was determined to know what was going on, but before playing detective, dinner was needed, and T.G.I.F. was just the place, well the place for Anthony and Nathan. Cindy and I had grossed-out looks by the mention of words such as 'high-calorie,' 'fattening,' 'oily,' 'greasy,' 'supersize,' and etc.

"I wish I brought a camera." Anthony said, starting the tease-fest too soon. We entered the restaurant, and waited for a server to seat us. He handed us menus, before he walked off, and left the four of us to think about our meals. I was just going with a salad.

"Don't worry, dude. I'm sure there are going to be photographers…" Nathan said with a laugh, but look at his eyes and you'd see that he didn't seem all too happy about bringing up the 'paparazzi' into our conversation.

I let out a grunt, by hearing the word 'paparazzi'. I can't wait for the next story they'll make up…

Alexandra Levi has become a pig eating at T.G.I.F. ever since she entered Boarding School.

I groaned again, by the stupidity of my thoughts. They're just useless articles…
yeah…that were going to be read by the whole world…!

"So, what ya'll having?" A guy dressed in a red-and-white polo underneath a black jumper greeted. He seemed too happy that I considered it already as scary…oh, well…odd job…

"Mozzarella sticks…chicken fingers…"

"Nachos…smothered in cheese please…onion rings…"

"A chicken salad…"

"Same as her, only a salad."

I'm sure you could guess who ordered which…clue…girls don't eat as much as guys do. I hope that helped. If not, well…I feel sorry for you…

"So, you two best friends now?" Nathan asked with a mischievous smirk, as he looked at me.

Cindy laughed playfully, while I mouthed out just a simple, "I dunno."

"So…" Anthony started, drumming his fingers on the wooden table. "What are your costumes for the ball?"

"Do we need to have costumes?" Cindy asked, twirling her blonde locks with one of her fingers.

"I thought we just needed masks." I added.

"It's not really a 'must'." Anthony answered, the drumming of his fingers still going on. "But it'd be fun, you know…"

"And here I thought you guys were creative." Nathan spoke out, sending us girls a playful grin.

"I am!" I shouted immaturely. "I made my own mask."

He made a look before he told us, "You guys are boring."

Anthony, being Mr. Shy and Mysterious, simply laughed at Nathan's bluntness, while Cindy and I defended ourselves.

"No, we aren't!" I countered.

Anthony laughed at my childishness, and as for Nathan, he just continued to tell me how little he thought of me.

"Oh wow, Alex…nice comeback…perfectly suits an eighteen-year old like you." He said, adding a snicker.

"We'll show you boys…" Cindy said, defending her/our pride. "You'll all have goo-goo eyes when you see us."

This made both guys and me laugh heartily, and I saw another side of Cindy. She was funny, though she wasn't aware of her own 'talent.' Whenever she spoke, especially when it came to defending her own ego, there would always be hints of sarcasm in her words, and that amused me.

"Goo-goo eyes…" I said to myself laughing at the word she used.

"Don't disappoint us." Anthony said, smiling playfully, as he took out his mobile from one of his jean pockets, and started to play with it. That teasing smile of Anthony's made my brain work overtime again.

Could it possibly be Cindy…?

"You guys shouldn't disappoint us too." I answered, in a tone of warning.

Nathan leaned closer to the table, and reached his hand out to me. He patted my head, messing up my hair, so I swatted his hand away.

"Don't…" I said, looking disappointedly at him, as I tried to fix my hair without a mirror. Taking me by surprise, Nathan reached out to me again, and swept a few strands of my black hair away from eyes.

"She looked good with her emo hair." Anthony commented, laughing softly at his own remark. "Well, she looks good in any way…" He said a few seconds after, and I couldn't believe myself when I actually blushed.

Should I say thanks…?

"That's why you're a supermodel." He said, redeeming himself when Cindy started teasing him.

Oh…

"Did you just blush?" 
Stupid Nathan!

I eyed him closely, and sent him a 'shut up' look. Apparently my facial expression amused him, and thus, he laughed a wicked laugh directed especially at me.

"Being a supermodel, I thought you were used to such compliments…" Anthony answered, further humiliating me even if he had no idea about it.

Cindy who stayed quiet for quite a long time decided to talk. "Are you fancying Anthony?"

I mentally cursed myself for the idiotic acts I did, before I put on an unfazed facade. I smiled at them, before I said, "What the hell? Of course not! Why would I like him?"

This apparently made the guys widen their eyes.

"No, no! I'm not saying that Anthony is ug-…" I started quickly, while my mind tried to process the right words to say. "I'm not saying that Anthony isn't like-able…he is…"

Cindy cocked an eyebrow up at me; Nathan smirked at my nervousness, and Anthony remained his eyes on me, waiting for my next words.

"He's like-able…I just don't like him…"

Cindy arched her brow once again; Nathan grinned even wider, and Anthony listened more intently.

"I just don't like him in 
that
 way." I continued, emphasizing the 'that.'

"Right…" Cindy answered, looking at me weirdly.

Before I could make a fool of myself even more, the food came, and for a minute, no eyes were on me. I mentally thanked the waiter, and was about to fork my salad when Nathan started talking.

"I never knew you liked Anthony." Nathan teased, making me tense up even more.

That smirk of his remained plastered on his well-figured…
cough…cough…
face, but even though he had high cheekbones, and a well-defined jaw line…and very attractive eyes, that were almost covered by those almost-always disheveled almond-colored hair…
damn
…to cut it short, his hotness couldn't stop me from getting irritated. Even though, tease-fests never really got me 'going on,' from time-to-time, I'd feel my veins clogging, and eventually found myself shouting or ignoring people.

At the current situation…I was getting pissed because these people (a.k.a. supposed to be my friends) were ganging up on me, giving me an image, that was so not me, which could eventually let some people think wrongly or differently of me.

"I fucking don't, okay!" I said a little bit too loudly. "I'm getting tired of you guys teasing me already!"