c h a p t e r 1 0

p a c k o f c a n d i e s

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BLAZE'S POV

Basketball in hand and sporting the team’s uniform, I entered the classroom. I grinned at the scene before me. The first time I had set foot here, everyone had been on their best behavior, sitting straight by the desks, discussing notes from previous lectures in their hushed voices.

Now the whispers got replaced by obnoxious laughs from students throwing spit balls at each other, some passed around jokes, and the others were having a competition to see who could throw paper balls from the furthest corner and into the trash.

Sure…some were still same stuck-up, stoic robots who continued to scrutinize their notes and maintain their best behavior. However, I was glad to have finally converted this new part of my life into something I could live with. The whole school had yet to act this ridiculously, but at least I managed to “corrupt” as many of them as possible, like my uncle, dean of this school, had said.

Passing Div and his crew, the first benchers who were talking about winning something, I went straight for my shared seat with Adam. One of my uncle’s well-behaved robot whose name I didn't know and couldn’t care less about, occupied my seat. The guy looked engrossed in Adam's notepad, copying something from it.

I cleared my throat to get his attention, but he didn't seem to hear me. Jake and Milo quickly pointed to Parker, who then stopped talking to glance at me, while Adam shifted in his seat to give the guy a look. Adam knew I didn't like sharing my seat and for whatever reason, he let some random guy sit there.

I tried not to scowl and waited. Why hadn’t he asked the guy to get up?  Scrunching my brows, I slowly placed the basketball on the desk and leaned in. "Get up from my seat," I told the guy. It could’ve sounded rude but I actually uttered the words calmly.

"Don't see your name anywhere," he mumbled without caring to look up at me.

My eyebrow rose at that. Usually, no one would dare talk back at me, but I suppose since my cough made my voice sound different, it must be the reason why this idiot wasn't already jumping out the window. Nevertheless, I gritted my teeth and was sure my face now showed how pissed off I was. "It will be written in your blood, if you don't get the fuck up." I spoke through clenched teeth this time.

That finally caught the guy’s attention; his gaze snapped up. When he saw me standing before him, he came to his damned senses. In mere seconds, he picked up his books and scattered away to the front desk.

I looked around. Now everyone looked at me like I was going to blow something up. I rolled my eyes. Yeah, well, not right now, folks.

Plummeting onto my seat, I wrapped my arms around the ball and placed my head on it, using it like a pillow. Parker turned around in the desk in front of ours and handed me cough pills. All week, he’d been acting like my personal doc, handing me my medications right on time since I never bothered with those things.

"Nah. I’m fine." I pushed his hand away.

“Just take it,” Parker insisted.

Milo tossed me a bottle of water while Jake and Adam gave me their “we’ll really do it if you won’t” face. Fearing they might actually restrain me while Parker forced the medicine down my throat like the first few days in our dorm room, I felt a shiver run down my spine. I grabbed the pills and washed them down with water.

Like hell I would be humiliated like that in front of all these people.

The guys smirked, giving each other fistbumps while I threw them a death glare. At least Parker, Milo and Jake were clever enough to drop their gloating grins and turn back to their desks. Adam, on the other hand, openly mocked me with his ear-to-ear smirk. The idiot even wiggled his eyebrows at me.

I shook my head and flipped my middle finger at Adam, to which he responded by giving me a wet Willie. With a half-groan and a half-laugh, I swatted his hand away and threw the ball at Jake. I expected it to hit him in the head but he caught the ball the last second.

"How’s practice?" Milo asked, snatching the ball from Jake to twirl it.

"It went well, I guess. But next time I expect you—" I pointed a finger at Jake, "—to join me."

"Man, I can't wake up at four like you and do rounds on the grounds and all that shit." Jake grunted and pulled a face, seeming mortified by the idea of working so much.

If he wasn't a good baller, I wouldn’t force him to exert more effort, but the first game of the year was coming up. It was an inter-house competition against House Julius. From what I have acknowledged, our house hadn't won many matches against them before, and I intended to change that. After all, I did challenge the captain and stole the position from their House Captain Bill. So I sure as fuck didn't plan on letting them beat us in an inter-school match. My pride just wouldn't have it.

As soon as Mr. Williams entered the class, the boys ran for their seats. Then Mr. Williams stepped right back out the door after murmuring something about Ms. Priston’s next class. I scoffed, a hundred percent sure it was nothing more than an excuse to talk to her.

"Yeah, but she started before..." Div momentarily raised his voice at his benchmate, before settling back to a whisper when he realized he was talking quite loudly.

What was Div and his crew up to? Usually, they were the ones that sat quietly, observing the commotion around. But today they seemed to be way too active than their usual selves. "What's up with them?" I asked Adam, who was busy underlining key points in his textbook.

He glanced to Div and his friends, then shrugged.

I gestured for Jake to pass me back the ball, which I threw to the back of Div's head.

Div turned around with a deep scowl to see who the culprit was, but he immediately sobered up when he saw me looking straight at him.

"What are you and your lot doing?" I narrowed my eyes at his friends who tried but failed to act normal.

Several times, Div opened and closed his mouth like a fish before inhaling one long breath. "St.TerenceplacedabetonyouandN."

What the heck did he just rant about? The words sounded incoherent, making me lean forward with scrunched brows. "What?"

He sighed and rubbed the back of his head, then leaned closer to me as much as his desk let him. "St. Terence placed a bet on you and N…" Div paused before adding, "On who’s the ultimate prankster." Div turned around to face the teacher’s desk again.

It took me a moment to let the info sink in. So there was a new wager going on. I squinted at the boys, but they only stared back. I turned my attention back to Div—there was only one answer I needed to find out.

"Div, who’s winning?" I asked, and just then, Mr. Williams walked back into the class.

_______☆_______

"A tie? Impossible. I obviously played better pranks than her," I whispered to Adam after snatching up the component in his hands.

"I don't think we are to work with that," he said while he tried to take it back from me.

"Like seriously, half of these brainless worms only bet on her ‘cause she’s pretty." I poured some liquid into the beaker and handed the test tube back to Adam.

"Blaze, we’re not following the instructions," Adam reminded.

"I mean, yeah; I admit. Locking up the whole staff and all was good but it was nothing in comparison to what I did. And why’s she getting the credit for the church incident? I was just as responsible. I started the whole thing in the first place, but, no! She  gets the credit."

Tuning out my rants, Adam kept looking at the book and back at me, slight panic widening his eyes. "Do you even know what you’re mixing?"

"You know what...maybe I should blast something.” Yeah. That would get everyone's attention. I bet I would win then.  I tried getting Adam’s attention to explain my idea, but he kept freaking out about the beaker.

“This is just not…”

"Adam." I snapped my finger at him, to no avail. He was too busy being paranoid. I rolled my eyes and poured some foul-smelling yellow liquid from the test tube into the beaker.

"Blaze!" Adam froze beside me when the beaker exploded. Some white foam-like thing spilled everywhere. "Congratulations. You got your explosion." Adam mumbled the last words through clenched teeth.

Mr. Shallom grunted out loud, a scowl deepening on his stubbled jaw. "Get out of the class," he said with his face almost the same red as a ripe tomato.

Adam and I shared a look in silence, then walked out of the room.

Outside, while lying on a bench in the park, I gazed up at the clouds. Adam paced back and forth behind the bench, holding a thin branch with leaves which he aimlessly played with. His thick blazer acted as my pillow, folded and scrunched under my head. "Sorry, mate," I muttered.

In response, Adam whacked me in the face with the branch. "It’s fine, man." He chuckled.

The guys had been teasing me a lot when I first told them about how Glazer and I had gotten banned from community service punishments, and about how unfair that was. They were somehow growing on me.

"She’ll give you a run for your money, you know," Adam commented after a brief silence.

"Yeah, right." I scoffed. Glazer was plain nuisance—she was no way better than me, in anything. My pranks were the proof of that. Yet people thought she was my equal?

"I can prove that you think the same," Adam then said after he flashed a wide smile, quite smug.

I sat up and crossed my arms. "Fine. I'll humor you," I replied and waited for him to explain.

"Your every prank or action always comes after hers. You spread the rumors because she completed a dare. Just like you pulled off your pranks after you found out about hers. Admit it, Blaze Warner…you know she’s ahead in the game and it irritates you. You don’t like that you weren’t first." Adam tilted his chin and crossed his arms, too.

I stared at him, while my brain struggled to think of something clever to say. I was at a loss for words. He was dead on right.

The worst thing about Glazer was that she didn't let me have my moments. She didn't give me a chance and that she didn't back away. She was, as Adam said, ahead of me, and it didn't matter if my pranks were better because she was the one who kept doing new ones first.

"Honestly, I think you two are just too alike." Adam shrugged and sat down beside me.

"Whatever. I’m gonna win that bet," I replied.

Then Adam shook his head. "Never said you couldn't win. Just that winning a bet won't really mean you won this pointless competition you two have going on." He got up, picking up his blazer after I reclined on the bench.

The dinging sound of the bell rang seconds later, indicating the end of the class but I decided to skip the next one, so I fell back on the wooden bench and resumed staring at the clouds.

"By the way, our money's on you so you better don't disappoint," Adam called out as he jogged away and headed towards the school building.

I turned to frown at him. "I thought you guys had no idea about this,” I said out loud, only to see Adam wearing his trademark ear-to-ear grin.

"Like we’d give you another reason to gloat!"  Adam dashed by the big oak tree and walked back inside the tall building.

Alone now, I lay back down on the bench, just as a smile crept onto my lips. I have got to win this bet.

_______☆_______

S A T U R D A Y

I pinned her up to the wall, using it to support her while I slid my hands under her top. I traced her warm, smooth stomach, my fingers trailing along her bra. She let out a moan and gave me access to her mouth. My tongue explored the inside of her soft mouth.

She tasted of strawberries with a hint of mint. Her hands ran through my hair, tugging at it. I removed my other hand from the back of her head and slowly reached down to grab her hips.

"Help! Help! Help!" Someone just screeched, making us step away from each other.

Panting a little, I turned my attention to a girl standing behind us. A basic shorty sporting a black beanie and clothes that seemed two sizes too big. "Sorry, babe. Did you want to join?" I ran my hands through my hair and smirked at the trespasser girl.

The hot girl right next to me, whose name I think was Stella, hurriedly righted her clothes with her swift, manicured hands.

"No; I’m happy just screaming to get the attention of all the nuns and wardens around." The basic shorty gave me a quick, innocent smile. Then, without warning, she opened her mouth to let out an ear-piercing scream.

The next frantic second, I grabbed her and slapped a hand on her mouth to shut her up. "What the heck?" I glared at her.

In response, the girl tapped my hand a couple times.

So I backed away and hesitantly let her go.

"200 bucks or I scream louder this time,” she said in the sweetest voice.

Confused, I blankly stared at her and almost laughed. Did she just blackmail me? “Are you kidding?”

“Not really.” The girl opened her mouth to probably scream once more, but I stopped her with my hands.

“What the hell’s—”

"200 bucks please!"  She smiled again with mischievous brown eyes as she reached her pale hand out.

Frustrated and scowling harder, I handed her a hundred bucks. When she threatened to yell again, I took a moment, groaned, and reluctantly added another hundred bucks.

“Thank you!” she replied in a singsong voice before she stalked off, seeming satisfied.

Did she just con me?

Still confused and mildly in shock, I turned around. The pretty girl had run off.

Great!

I glanced down at my wrinkled clothes and let out a string of fucks. I was trying to make myself look normal again when Jake and Adam suddenly showed up behind the shop, nodding at me afterwards.

"Hey. We were looking for—" Jake halted in his steps mid-sentence.

"Blaze, the heck are you doing?" Adam burst into laughter.

"Did you just get stood up by her?" Jake snickered.

"Shut up," I snapped at them. I turned around. When a beautiful, blonde, St. Mary's girl had approached me, I was psyched when she’d said she wanted to get freaky behind the shops. I was definitely not someone to turn an offer like that down. But now…I sort of wished I had. That darned blackmailer girl just crashed and rained on my parade.

"Anyway, dude, you got some extra bucks? Gonna buy some delicious pretzels from that old lady's stall."  Jake pointed to one of the stalls, where an old lady in pink was smiling at some students.

A special market got assembled today along Sundown Street, as all the locals manned stalls selling homemade treats to raise funds, just for their annual Honey Top Foundation Day Carnival that was soon approaching. Hence the whole street storming with locals, as well as students of all the three boarding schools.

I rubbed my neck nervously and handed Jake the last of my 50 bucks. I didn't want to tell either of them about me getting hustled by some chick. With a grin, Jake skidded off to the stall.  Adam and I walked behind Jake doing slow, leisurely steps, just enjoying the sun.

Seconds later, I caught the eye of that blonde chick again. She checked me out from under her thick lashes, and I knew I could hit that again. I looked to my right.

Adam was helping some girl pick up her bag from the ground.

Ignoring him, I walked up to Jake and took a bite of his pretzel.

"Hi. I’m Adam. I-I already know who you are—I mean, it’s…"  Adam stuttered.

As a smirk widened my lips before I turned around. Who had just caught my friend’s attention?

At the moment, a fond smile widened Adam’s lips as he faced the girl who had her back to me, her hand clutching the strap of her bag. I watched as Adam laughed at something she said, and then he offered her some licorice candies.

Grinning to myself, I threw my attention back to Jake and the warm pretzel. Then I heard a disturbingly familiar female voice. Loud and clear. I whipped my head around.

Glazer held onto Adam's arm and was tugging him towards an ice cream stall.

What the heck’s happening? My eyes couldn’t even blink from the scene happening right in front of me.

Why would Adam even talk to her? Why the heck did she talk like a normal girl with him? All she ever did was snap at me, and this outgoing but tamed façade of hers was beyond my comprehension.

"I’m tellin’ you...bet on her. My sources said she was planning something big." One of the seniors from St. Terence told his other friend to bet on Natasha.

Like adding fuel to fire, my brain stopped functioning as it got stuck on Adam and Natasha smiling at each other.

"Why anyone would bet on a child is beyond me." On impulse, I grabbed the first person I could find, who happened to be Parker, and purposely raised my voice to get her attention.

As expected, Glazer’s glare zeroed in on me. I gave her a cunning smile, ignoring the warning looks Adam sent me as he stood behind her.

Traitor.

"What?" Parker asked in confusion.

"People really shouldn't pay attention to kids, especially whiny ones." I mocked her with a scrunched nose.

"Shut up!" Natasha fisted her hand.

"Or what? You’ll cry? Adam, my man, buy the little girl some ice cream...even if it won’t do her fat ass any good." I winked at her, getting laughs from the crowd nearby.

Her face contorted in anger. I knew she would react pretty soon. That girl burned faster than a matchstick.

"Dude…"

I glanced at Parker who gave me a condescending look. Then something cold and sweet came flying to my face, hitting me straight on the nose. Parker gasped and took a few steps back. An ice cream cone slid down my face.

Gritting my teeth, I glared back at her. Glazer was busy with Adam in consoling some kid, whose ice cream she just decided to hurl at me. I turned around and grabbed the pie behind Parker, then threw it at her. I imagined a satisfied smile lit my face when the pie splattered on her head.

“You idiot!” She let out a growl and charged at me, holding a box of ice cream.

I picked up another pie and met her halfway, ignoring the guys’ voices and the other people watching. We hurled stuff at each other until I could barely think of anything else to throw at her.

_______☆_______

For the second time in a month, we both found ourselves sitting behind the bars, shooting dagger looks at each other while covered in pies, ice cream, sugar dough, and more.

A uniformed officer later stood outside our cell with his arms crossed. He eyed us under his thick brows. "I got a call from Father Joseph and he insisted on keeping you locked up for the night," he informed.

I scoffed. Obviously, Father Joseph did it. If he could have his way, he would prefer seeing me locked up for good, so, really no surprise there. "Well, I want another cell. I am not  going to sleep in the same cell with this psychopath," I spat at her frowning face.

"Good! Because I swear to God, I will squeeze the life out of you with my bare hands. I will literally rip out your intestines and use them to choke you out," she yelled in my face while tugging at her handcuffs. Both our hands were handcuffed to this small cell, preventing us from killing each other.

"See what I mean? You really should consider calling the nearest madhouse." I looked up to the Officer, who then sighed and looked defeated.

"But Ms. Famina has assured me to deal with you personally, so you’re free to go." His apparent boredom made his tone drone. He eventually opened the cell.

Another Officer came to remove both of our handcuffs and escorted Glazer out. She cast one last look at me. For a moment, her eyes looked sad, but it quickly passed as she turned around and followed the officer out.

I let out a sigh and leaned back. This was going to be a long, sticky night.

The officer came back a few moments later, holding a pack of candies which he handed me through the metal bar spaces. I gave him a questioning look.

"The girl left them for you," he informed before he walked back out.

I turned the packet of candies in my hands. Why would she offer something like this? To me, specially. I mean, why the nice gesture?

Getting cold inside the cell, I moved myself into a sleeping position and opened the packet, placing it on my chest afterwards. I popped a candy in my mouth as I contemplated why seeing her and Adam together riled me up earlier. And why did a mere pack of candies made me want to smile?

________☆________
Ever ended up in jail?
No! then ever did something that you were sure you might end up in jail for?

Peace Out Bitches💋