Chapter 10: Ash

I walked out of the classroom with my pals and Roxanna tagging behind. Everyone stared at me with fear as I walked past. No one had dared to mention the 'making out' rumour, well, ever since I knocked out the toughest kid's tooth. Though there are people acting normal, some had shunned me with fear. I sighed softly; I guess I had to blame this on Roxanna.

"Ash, you going to the display today?" Elvis whispered in class.

"Display?" I said without looking up from my notes.

"The fireworks display. And, today is Roxanna's birthday. Did you forget?" he angry-whispered.

"Oh, right. I forgot." I said, emotionlessly.

I had never bothered about her since the start. She was just a toy to kill my boredom in school. Guys had been staring at me with envy when the news of us dating had spread around in the school. We're known as the 'perfect couple' though I had never cared. I just wanted to try and see how does it felt when you dated the hottest chick in school, but now, it wasn't as excited as I thought.

"You forgot?!" Elvis's voice boomed in the pin-drop silence classroom.

Dozen pairs of eyes turned back and glared at us, while I slapped my hand against my forehead.

"Is anything the matter, Elvis, my dear student?" Ms. Love asked.

I do not understand why was she called Love when she does not even have a single drip of love in her.

"Nothing, Ms. Love." Elvis gave his best smile.

"Now that you remembered, what are you going to do for her?" He whispered again now that Ms. Love had her back turned on us.

"That's a hassle." I mumbled soft enough so that he couldn't hear what I say. "Bring her to the display, give her some roses and a present, period. What else?"

"Oh." He whispered and withdraws back to his notebook which was pretty empty.

I stared blankly at the foreign words written on the board, why do I even care doing all these for her. I blamed myself for the stupidity, it's better to end everything with her once and for all and save myself all the trouble. After a full 10 minutes, the lesson finally ended. I stretched myself and grabbed my books from my table before heading to my locker, getting ready for the next class.

"Ash!" Roxanna's fake and innocent voice called out for me, "I'm waiting for you, quick!"

Ticked off by her arrogant ways, I just walked past her.

"Tonight, 7pm, wait outside your house. I'll leave at 7.01Pm if you're not ready by then." I whispered angrily, leaving her in a confused state outside the classroom.

Finding it a hassle to leave for the next class, I made a dash for my car to skip classes. I drove to the nearest florist and randomly chose a bouquet of red roses, before proceeding to 'COACH' to get a designer and branded bag for her.

After dumping her presents on the back seat, I went back home and lay on the bed. Display, huh. Looking out into the clear blue sky, I thought of the stormy day where I got rescued by a mermaid named Amber. These all does seemed like a dream to me. Unknowingly, I drifted off to dreamland.

When I finally woke up, I looked at the alarm clock by the side of my bed and realised it was already 6.15pm. I had slept for a total of 5 hours. I got out of bed and dressed in simple tees and jeans and headed towards Roxanna's house. Right on the dot, Roxanna, dressed in formal gown slipped into the passenger's seat.

"Why are you dressed so simply?"

"Your dressing is too formal." I said, totally staring at her outrageous outfit.

"Wait, where are we going?"

"Fireworks display, the central."

"You mean the noisy and cramp place?! What makes you think I'll go there?" She fussed.

"Well, it's either you go back in there and get change for the display, or you get out of the car, I'll go by myself." I gave her a fierce look.

"I get it, I'll get changed."

After 15 minutes of waiting, she finally came out in mini skirt and a plain white blouse. Right after she got seated, I gave her the purse, together with the roses and proceeded towards our destination.

Waiting by the side of the road was Elvis, who stared at Roxanna like she was some rare beauty. (She might be, but I did not realise.)

"There's still some time before the display, so why don't we hang around?" Edmund Patterson, one of my pals said as his arm was around his girl, Jo Cast.

Everyone nodded in agreement, except Roxanna who thought she was too good for the display. Sulkily, she followed behind us as we hang around the area.