Love Hurricane

"I cannot believe that Jer even attempted to grab my arm," Victoria whispered in disbelief as she closed the locker door carefully.

Jemima giggled. "Still, I can understand why that guy is so interested in you. You hardly ever talk and he probably wanted to get to know you more."

"That's not true!" The blonde protested. She could feel her cheeks heating up.

Jemima crossed her arms and raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

Victoria flicked her eyes towards the petite brunette, and then back to the set of lockers.

"Huh? Jemima, your bag…" Victoria glanced back at the brunette in confusion.

"Oh, this? I went and bought it from that shop yesterday." Jemima looked smug as she watched the expression on Victoria's face.

"You bought it? But that's…" Victoria cast her mind back to the day before. "I had my eye on it yesterday. I didn't have enough money to pay for it, so I was going to buy it today," Victoria murmured.

Jemima slipped an innocent smile on top of her smirk.

"I bought it after you left."

Victoria's blue eyes widened in shock. "Jem, do you even like that style?" Her eyes narrowed challengingly.

"Mm-hmm, I guess so." Jemima turned and walked slowly towards the window.

Victoria bit her lip.

"This isn't you, Jemima. Where has that girl, whom I had first met last year, gone?"

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Victoria stared out of the window as she walked side-by-side with Jemima.

"I've known her for more than a year now. But recently, she has been acting really strange."

"Oh, Plato, good morning!" Jemima cried cheerily.

Victoria froze in her steps. Her porcelain cheeks turned a light shade of red.

"Sup, Vic? I saw Etcetera and Electra yesterday in town."

"No way, really? I miss them! Are they doing okay?" Victoria gathered up all her courage to face Plato with a small smile. She could feel the blush on her cheeks grabbing a darker shade of red.

Plato nodded as he rummaged in his bag.

"This is from Etcetera. It was a print club photo the three of us took yesterday."

Plato smiled as he placed the photo in the small delicate hands of the girl.

"Oh, and also, Electra says hi."

The dark-haired guy waved before he walked off.

"Thanks, Plato!" Victoria had a massive grin on her face as she stared after her crush.

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Victoria hugged her painting against her face as she thought back to earlier that morning.

"So Victoria, you talk to Plato a lot, huh?" It was hard for Jemima to hold back her smirk. "And yet you don't talk to any of the other boys that much."

Victoria could feel the blush on her cheeks growing again as she replied back, "Uh, yeah. We were in the same class in primary school for 3 years."

Jemima stared at her friend's face with curiosity before the blonde quickly announced that she needed to change her water.

"Wow! That was close…" Victoria thought to herself as she ran along the gravel pathway.

"Jemi has got to be number one, though."

Victoria stopped in her tracks at the sound of her friend's name.

"She is cute, huh?"

"She's got those beautiful wide eyes that make her so innocent."

"Plus, when she's with Vic, it stands out that much more."

Victoria frowned. "What do they mean?"

"Why doesn't Vic talk much, anyway?"

"Yeah, I wonder why."

"You morons."

The group of guys stopped what they were saying and turned towards Plato.

"You have no idea what Victoria has been through so don't go spouting nonsense when you don't know what you're talking about."

Victoria stared wide-eyed at her crush.

"Plato…"

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"If you keep applying that all the time, your skin won't be able to breathe, will it?" Jemima shook her head disapprovingly as Victoria applied more sun cream onto her bare arms. "I don't see why you even need to have sun cream. Your skin is as fair as snow!"

"I know what I am doing." Victoria said through gritted teeth. "I don't want you to run around me, telling me what to do."

In the corner of her eyes, Victoria saw Plato write on the board.

"Then, when I am ready, I'll declare my love to him."

Jemima narrowed her eyes at Victoria suspiciously.

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"Vic, is there anyone you like?"

Victoria stared at Jemima in shock.

"There is, isn't there?" The elfin brunette asked gleefully. "Can I guess who it is? Pla-" Jemima got cut off.

"O-oh, no! How could you tell? I was too embarrassed about it, so I kept it a secret all this time." Victoria stammered. Her eyes travelled down the corridor and landed on one guy surrounded by girls. "Uh, that's right! I…like that guy over there!"

Victoria shyly pointed towards the dark haired boy.

"Thank goodness there happened to be a popular Year 11 guy over there."

Victoria's trail of thoughts led to her glancing back to the unbelievably handsome guy. Before she knew it, their eyes locked and a wink was thrown towards her.

"What?!" Victoria gasped in shock as she hurriedly turned away.

"T-that was startling! I've never been winked at by a boy before. Pouncival…I've never taken a good look at him before now, but he does indeed have the face of a model. That's probably why the girls are making a fuss over him…but Plato is a hundred times better looking."

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"Pounc!" Jemima cried out cheerily as the school bell rung, marking the end of the day.

Pouncival tore his eyes away from the view outside the window and looked curiously at the brunette.

"Huh? That bag…"

"This? Isn't it cute?" Jemima held her bag up proudly.

"Why do you even have it?" Pouncival put his finger on his chin as he thought back to the day before. "I seem to remember you calling it a piece of junk, didn't you?"

Jemima gasped and blushed at the same time.

"I happened to see you. Wasn't it your friend that wanted it?" Pouncival tilted his head to one side and looked at Jemima with his eyebrows raised.

"W-what are you getting at? It's not like I took it out from under her!" The elfin girl managed to stutter out.

Pouncival looked seriously into Jemima's eyes. "I prefer girls who are considerate. And as long as I'm saying so, Jemi, rather than extremely tanned-looking girls like you who try too hard, I prefer truthful girls, like your friend, who are just their natural selves. You are going to lose all your friends if you act so self-centered." Pouncival smirked before he casually walked away.

Jemima stared after him, slowly taking in what he had said.

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The wind coming through the open window ruffled Victoria's platinum blonde hair as she rubbed the remaining of ink off the whiteboard.

Before soon, she could hear heavy footsteps coming into the classroom.

"Here! You can have this tacky bag!" Jemima slammed her bag onto the desk in front of Victoria.

The blonde's eyes had widened in shock. "Jemi?"

Jemima grunted in annoyance as she exited the classroom.

"What's got her so unruly?" Rumpleteazer frowned.

Victoria sighed. "Beats me."

"Oh, I heard that she got turned down by Pouncival," Cassandra informed them.

"Jem got turned down? Bravo, Pouncival! Suddenly, I like you! Though you're still a far cry from Plato."

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The next day…

"Good morning, guys!" Victoria strode into the classroom with a wide smile on her face. She placed her tote bag onto her desk and sauntered over to the chalk board. One look at it and she gasped in horror.

Victoria loves Pouncival…

The blonde scanned the room for Jemima. She spotted the brunette talking to a group of boys with a fake, innocent smile on her face.

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There was a slight breeze in the air which ruffled Victoria's platinum blonde hair gently.

"Why did you do that?" Victoria inquired Jemima.

"Do what?" The brunette pouted.

"Jem, you're the one who wrote that I love Pouncival on the board, didn't you?" Victoria took a deep breath as to not lose her temper.

Jemima looked away with her head tilted backwards. "What do you mean?"

Victoria gawped at her but carried on. "Don't act dumb! Jem, you're the only one who knows I like Pouncival! How could you start a rumour about me!?"

Jemima turned to face Victoria again. "What's the big deal? It's the truth, after all." The brunette started to walk away. "Though I should tell you, it wasn't me. Someone must have overheard us talking. Don't go doubting others without asking first." Once Jemima had finished, she walked off, leaving Victoria open-mouthed and in shock.

"Now I'm mad! If you didn't do it, then who else would!?"

Victoria marched her way through the crowded corridor leading to her classroom.

"She didn't want the rumour to get around that she had been turned down, so she makes me her scapegoat! Who does she think I am!?" Victoria thought to herself in frustration.

The blonde stopped in her tracks as she noticed that the same group of girls, who had been cooing over Pouncival the day before, were blocking her way.

"Come with us…"

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"How did you trick Pouncival into liking you?" The leader of the girl group prompted, her face sour. "You're the one who came on to him, right?"

Victoria looked stunned at first but then replied, "Hold on. You've got it all wrong. I've never even talked all that much to Pouncival." The blonde tried to smile.

"Don't play innocent, you've kissed him." The girls crossed their arms and stared down at Victoria harshly.

"What!? Kissed him!? Who said that!? Don't tell me it was Jem again!" Victoria tugged at her hair as she yelled.

"Pouncival did."

Victoria froze for a second before she turned to walk away. "You've got to be kidding me. I don't have time for this."

"Where are you going?" The girls cried in unison as they reached out to grab Victoria's arm.

"To find Pouncival!" Victoria struggled to get out of their strong grips.

"We're not letting you go anywhere!"

The leader of the girls yanked the heart-shaped locket around Victoria's neck, which had contained the photo Plato had given to her, off the blonde's neck and aimed it at the ground.

Victoria gasped as she watched it smash into several pieces on the gravel pathway. She rushed to retrieve it but the leader of the group of girls got there before her. She put her foot on the locket to shape even more cracks on the broken pieces.

"Keep your hands off of Pouncival." She growled.

"Move it." Victoria sharply looked up. "I said move your foot! How dare you trample on my Plato!" The blonde bared her teeth. "You'll pay for that! Are you ever going to pay for that!"

Victoria grabbed the girl group leader by the v-neck of her jumper. Just before she was about to bring her fist up, the two girls heard clapping.

"Way to go! Fight! Fight!" Pouncival cheered on.

- "Pouncival!"

- "Help!"

The remaining girls in the adoring fan club for Pouncival fled towards the dark-haired guy.

"Whoa, I'm not helping you out." Pouncival waved his hands dismissively. "You girls settle this by yourselves."

Victoria narrowed her eyes at this and threw her victim aside.

"Huh? What's the matter? You're not going to fight anymore?" Pouncival pouted cheekily but instantly wished he hadn't as Victoria threw her fist his way.

"Whose fault do you think this is!?" Victoria shouted furiously.

Pouncival fell to the ground.

"Pounc!" The fan club screamed, panic-stricken.

"Yow! That hurt! That's a hell of a punch you've got there,

Vic." The dark-haired guy placed his hand on the side of his head in mock pain.

Victoria was fuming as she grabbed the collar of Pouncival's shirt. "Why did you say I kissed you? Huh?"

"Oh dear, don't you remember?" Pouncival looked lovingly into Victoria's pale-blue eyes. "It was two years ago. You saved a boy who was drowning in the ocean, right?"

Victoria loosened her grip on Pouncival as her eyes narrowed.

"Two years ago?"

The memories soon flooded back into Victoria's mind. In shock of it all, the blonde dropped Pouncival on the ground with a thud.

"Remember now?" Pouncival looked back up at Victoria eagerly.

"You mean that idiot who couldn't swim, but tried to show off by holding onto a beach ball and wading out to sea, but then got a cramp in his leg and nearly drowned?"

"Yeah…right…" Pouncival winked before he carried on. "When I wasn't breathing, you performed artificial respiration on me."

Victoria looked confused as she replied back that she didn't do it.

"Not this again. I remember what happened - the feeling of your long hair hanging down into my face." Pouncival touched his forehead as if Victoria's hair really was hanging down into his face.

"What are you talking about?" Victoria had even more confusion on her face. "It was the lifeguard guy that performed artificial respiration on you."

Pouncival snapped out of his daydream and widened his eyes at the blonde.

"You're kidding…that long hair…that long hair…was a guy?" Pouncival hugged his knees against his chest.

Victoria smirked in response. "You will take responsibility for all this, right?" She crossed her arms over her chest and looked expectantly down at the dark-haired guy.

"Responsibility?" Pouncival looked up with dread.

"This disaster is your entire fault. You're the reason that crazy rumour got spread around-" Victoria gasped in horror at the thought of Plato hearing that she kissed someone else besides him. "You didn't tell anyone else that you and I kissed, did you?!"

Pouncival looked guiltily into Victoria's eyes. The blonde gasped again. "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! What did you do that for?!" Victoria thumped her fists against Pouncival's back in anger and frustration. "I'm sure it's spread everywhere by now! And I didn't even kiss you!"

"If Plato hears about this…"

Victoria stood up and stepped away from Pouncival. "Look, isn't there anything you can do about it? Some way to keep anymore people from being misled?"

"Yes, there is." Pouncival smiled as he answered.

"Really?" Victoria bent down so she could hear what he was about to say, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment from being close to a guy for the first time.

"We can just make the rumour the truth."

Victoria blinked in surprise. Before she knew it, Pouncival had brought his face up so he was directly in front of her. The pair's eyes locked for a moment before Pouncival planted his lips onto Victoria's. He closed his eyes blissfully whilst Victoria stared at him in horror, unable to move.

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