Hey, thanx for the response! Although I would like a bit more, I appreciate it!
"Buenos dias, classe!" Senorita Lopez chirped happily to her third hour Spanish class exactly one week after Jake's arrival.
A muttered "Buenos dias, Senorita Lopez" came from the class of thirty. It was way too early for a group of high schoolers to be as peppy as their teacher. In fact, it was way too early for anyone to be as peppy as their teacher.
Miley, who had been doodling on the cover of her notebook, began to get the increasingly familiar feeling of eyes wandering over her. However, when she looked up, Jake Ryan's eyes were wandering the board, not her. With one last suspicious look, she returned her focus to her notebook. The side of Jake's mouth that was not facing her began to curl into a large smirk.
Unfortunately, this was the site that had been forced upon Miley the week before… Jake Ryan's inflated blonde head that often held a mysteriously secretive half-smile was seated in the desk straight across the room from Miley's. Now, whenever she would look up to copy what was written on the board, or merely to pay better attention to the teacher, this was what she would first have to look at.
And what made everything worse was that every time she was at her locker, Jake would make a pass at her. And she was quickly running out of cleverly rude rejections!
"Enrique," the teacher called out Jake's chosen Spanish name, "why don't we see how well your private tutor has taught you Spanish," she suggested, "by acting out a conversation with…"
Senorita Lopez looked around the room, trying to find the most suited student to handle the task. She immediately passed over the girls, whose hands were all reaching for the ceiling and mouths were repeatedly shouting, "Ooh, me, pick me!"
Then her eyes landed on Miley. "Rosalita!" she called out, and Miley's head snapped up.
"What?" she asked, a genuine look of puzzlement confirming that she had not been listening to anything Jake-related.
"Get up here and act out a conversation with Enrique."
"Iglasias?" the brunette joked, though she had a serious and hopeful manor to her tone.
"Muy graciosa." Some how, though, the teacher didn't sound all that amused.
Miley sighed, her shoulders drooping as she climbed out of her desk. "Ok fine." Over a dozen pairs of jealous eyes followed her to the front of the room where Jake stood, his infamous smirk plastered across his lips.
"Hola, como te llamas?" she asked, trying to put as much enthusiasm in her tone as possible. The best she could manage was exasperated and bored. However, Jake's look didn't falter.
"Me llamo Enrique. Como te llamas tu?" he responded, his Rs rolling off his tongue perfectly.
"Me llamo Rosalita."
"Mucho gusto, Rosalita." She was about ready to slap that half-smile off of his face, it was that annoying. But she held back. "Como estas?"
"Mal," she immediately replied, her glaring eyes leaving his for a moment as she glanced at the teacher, silently pleading to be finished. Senorita Lopez shook her head no. Reluctantly, she graced his eyes with her own once more. "Y tu?"
"Muy bien, gracias," he answered, a full smile beginning to take way as he ran over his next line in his mind. "Les acreditar muy bello, Rosalita."
Her eyes widened, briefly losing their scowl as the full impact of what he'd just announced to the entire class washed over her. Great, now he's hitting on me in Spanish! Miley griped in her head. Jake's shy smile refused to leave his mouth. Every other girl stared at her with pure envy; whereas the guys stared at Jake with either admiration or amusement. Or even some weird combination of the two. He paid them no mind.
She stared desperately at her teacher, who merely encouraged her to finish. Miley's head rolled back to face Jake… again. "Gracias," she started. Then, in an undertone just loud enough for everyone to hear, she added, "too bad I can't return the compliment."
Loud 'Oos' and 'Ohs' erupted from the grouping of boys behind Jake, while the girls behind Miley all gasped. How could anyone say that to Jake Ryan?! Senorita Lopez glared at Miley for either not speaking Spanish, or insulting a student who had said nothing unkind to her in the first place. Jake merely smirked at her.
"Hasta manana," he ended as Miley started back to her seat. She turned back.
"Unfortunately," the teacher's glare hardened, "I mean, adios." She gave him a two-finger salute before taking her seat.
Jake walked back to his seat, surprisingly happy for a movie star who had just been rejected in front of his entire Spanish class. Miley, once again, went back to her notebook, ignoring the disbelieving looks from the students surrounding her.
As the teacher started their lesson, after sending Miley one last disappointed look, said student shifted her gaze upward, not failing to catch Jake's eye. He smiled slyly, and waved his fingers in her direction while mouthing the words, "Hi Miley". She rolled her eyes at him, a now automatic gesture, deciding to rest her gaze upon the conjugated Spanish verbs scrawled across the white board.
(Ok, for those of you that don't know Spanish, here's their conversation)
"Hi, what's your name?"
"My name is Jake. And yours?"
"My name is Miley."
"Nice to meet you Miley. How are you?"
"Bad. And you?"
"Very well, thanks. You look very beautiful, Miley."
"Thanks. Wish I could return the compliment."
"See you tomorrow!"
"Unfortunately… I mean goodbye."
(Now back to the story.)
The weeks that followed went by uneventfully. Jake flirting with Miley, Miley ignoring him. Being stuck in the same, excruciatingly annoying routine found Miley at a loss of time. The days mushed together for her like a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich.
Jake, however, new exactly what the day was. He'd been planning this ever since her major rejection in Spanish class. He liked to call it 'Plan A'. There was no expectation for this plan to work, but it was about to kick off his intricate list of tactics.
Of course he couldn't have pulled this off without the help of his dear cousin, Jason.
"Man, I don't see why you're going to all this trouble for one chick," the other blonde voiced from his position on Jake's bed. A baseball landed in his open hand, and he tossed it back up. He caught it with ease, again, and continued his pattern.
"I dunno, she's just so different. It's really hilarious, when I hit on her, she just gives me these looks. They're priceless!" Jake turned his attention back on his computer. Earlier the previous year he'd discovered he had a knack for singing. It was becoming quite the useful talent.
"I guess. But ya know what they say; there are plenty of fish in the sea." Jake laughed once with no trace of humor.
Now he sat in his chair during homeroom, his smile barely holding back the laughter at what was about to come.
"Lilly!" Miley hissed urgently to the blonde behind her.
"Yeah?" she answered.
"I'm scared."
"Why?"
"It's Valentine's Day, and Jake hasn't tried anything yet," she whispered, though the drone of the high school gossip would've easily blocked out the sound from wandering ears. Jake, however, had managed to pick up on the conversation easily. His smile grew. Here comes another priceless look for my collection!
"Well, maybe he gave up."
Seriously, can they not see that I'm right here?!
And that's when the door opened and in walked a boy dressed in nothing but a three-times-too-big diaper and a red sash slung across his back. Inside the quiver were a bundle of roses. He was carrying a bow in one hand, a radio in the other. His face was so bored you'd think he didn't enjoy the costume.
As soon as the boy stopped in front of Miley's desk, her wide eyes turned on Jake. He sent her a simple wink, and she gulped. Cupid set the stereo down on her desk, and she pressed herself as far back in her chair as possible, her hands up in a defensive position. He pressed the play button. An old, but familiar, beat started playing. Miley recognized it at once.
"Oh no."
Yeah
She glared over at Jake, who did nothing more than smile at her. The entire class was staring at her, confused, and she felt like crawling under a rock for all eternity.
You are
My fire
The one
Desire
Believe
When I say
I want it that way
"Is this you?" she asked after noticing the different vocals and how close they sounded to the pain-in-the-ass next to her. He jerked his chin upwards, and Miley almost felt bad about the rejection they both knew was coming.
She banged her head onto her desk and covered it with her arms. Maybe it was all just a bad dream that would go away. She considered clicking the heels of her Ugg boots together three times but decided better. People were already staring at her strangely.
When the chorus came around Jake began to sing along softly. She peeked one eyes out from her cave to give him the coldest glare she could manage. His smug grin only grew.
Am I
Your fire
Your one
Desire
Miley shook her head back and forth the best she could manage, while still hiding away like a turtle.
Yes I know
It's too late
But I want it that way
The radio was turned off and the gloomy Cupid pulled a rose from the quiver across his back. He set it in the arrow and shot it at her. After that he picked up the stereo and left. "Rip off," he muttered just after the door closed.
Miley stared at the flower in her lap for a moment before turning her gaze back on Jake.
"So, Miley, will you be my Valentine?" This was all just a joke to him. That much was obvious. She picked up the rose and tossed it on his desk.
"Not a chance." And, as if this whole thing had been scripted, the bell rang. She got up and, slinging her backpack over her shoulder, walked out of the room, leaving behind an open-mouthed class and a disheartened (yet not surprised) Jake Ryan.