I gazed down at the crumpled paper that I was clutching tightly in my right hand. This powerful strip of paper, my precious red tag, would be enough to extract revenge on that gutsy blonde who had the gall to hurl coffee on my face. I will make sure of it. Forget the freshman ostrich that I was supposed to give it to for the sake of the payback that Alice desired. That Kennard girl has done more than enough to earn this privilege, she deserved punishment more than that bird girl or that nosy guidance counselor ever did.

Funny how just another insignificant morning in school ended up this way. My friends and I just wanted to fetch a cup of coffee before we went about and destroyed a freshman’s life with a red tag. Little did I know that cup of coffee would end up on me. All over my head. My hair. My clothes. My life. My everything.

My temper flared at its most dangerous at that third floor stairway. And I wouldn’t realize it till later, but somewhere inside my anger-filled chest, something had crept in and inflamed my cold, hardened heart. Something that I would deny and fight for days, but would inevitably drive me to my knees in surrender.

Actually, it wasn’t just something.

It was someone.

———————-

A few weeks later.

4-B Classroom, Redwind Academy.

II vowed that I would hate her for as long as I lived.

I never expected to fall head over ass and over heels in love with her, but I did anyway.

Christina Kennard.

I say her name with fondness now.

A worthy challenge, she was.

Feisty, definitely.

She wouldn’t take my shit, but she had no qualms in spoon-feeding me hers. And because I was hopelessly in over my head, I had willingly opened my lips and begged for more. Like a dog on its hind legs – tail wagging and tongue sticking out of its mouth – I was at her feet, eager to take whatever she was willing to give. I was hers, if she would have me. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to. Not even a little bit.