RIVAL

"HEY CHIEF!" JAKOB GREETED AS HE CAME IN CHIEF Chuckie Swine's office after a very long trek.

"Jake!" Chuckie was happy to see him but when he checked at his watch, he got lots of questions. "What brought you here? Aren't you supposed to be in school? You're not in trouble, are you?"

Feeling like being interrogated, Jake chuckled as he immediately hid his swollen hand from view. "I'm h-here as a co-concerned ci-citizen, Chief."

Jakob told Chuckie about the overspeeding car he had just encountered. He omitted the part where he raced against it. He gave its plate number he had just memorized. After a few look on the database, Chuckie then knew whose car was it.

But Chuckie was hesitant to disclose the information to Jakob. "Why would you want to know, Jake?"

Jakob's forehead creased. " I figured if I will know who he is…I …I will be aware…You know, I can warn others to be careful whenever he's around…I mean…we can't have that kind of driver on the loose…" Then he grinned like a guilty child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Chuckie knew that look. "You're not planning on anything—"

"NO!" Jakob instantly said, his head shaking. "No, sir."

Chuckie sighed. "It's Eduard Coolen's," Chuckie told Jakob. "He's a good kid. I don't believe he purposely…"

Jakob shut his ears (if that was possible). He heard enough. He didn't need to listen how good or cool the mophead was. All he wanted to know was the name. Eduard Coolen. He would google him. But, no, he would not add him on his Facebook. Then like a bolt of lighting, it hit him. The mophead was the guy the Knives High girls he courted were mooning over. The name was not Edgar Colin. Word!

What's so cool about this mophead, he thought. That's what the girls preferred over him? Him who had the perfect bod compared to mophead's skinny one. He who had the perfect tan compared to the mophead's pale white skin which looked like it hadn't seen sun for years.

Bella didn't know why she was upset. Was it because of the never ending gloomy weather? Was it because Eduard Coolen didn't show up in Bio class? Was it because she didn't finish the experiment in time for she was busy grudging her missing lab partner? Or was it because their Bio teacher told them that their History teacher didn't make it? But she hardly knew the teacher. Anyway, she was upset and figuring out why would just upset her more.

"Bella," she heard someone called. And to her surprise she saw her dad riding his mobile. Other students also noticed. And this just intensified the mood brought about by the news about the History teacher.

Bella's eyes widened as she saw the guy on the passenger seat. It was the driver of the jeep who almost ran over her. Did her dad, a good cop as he could be, figure it out? So the incident really happened and it wasn't just her mind playing tricks on her. Then the guy must've seen Eduard Coolen too.

"What's going on dad?" she asked as her father emerged from his police car. Was her dad really arresting the guy?

"I heard what happened," Chuckie said softly. "I'm sorry," and awkwardly he gave his daughter a hug.

So Chuckie really knew, Bella thought.

"I'm sorry about your teacher," Chuckie said.

Or not, Bella thought.

Embarassedly, she let go from his father's hug. "What are you doing here dad?"

Chuckie smiled. "I'm here to pick you up. I figured we should eat out for dinner, before we'll go visit your teacher."

Bella turned to the guy in the car. "Who's he?"

"Oh! That's Jakob. His father's a good friend. He doesn't actually go to school here. He's from La Pull."

The Jakob guy was smiling at Bella like he heard Chuckie talking about him. Bella looked away.

"He's gonna take your car," Chuckie continued, "since we will be using mine." Then Chuckie chuckled. "He actually needed a ride home. He's gonna return it tomorrow morning."

Jakob arrived at his place. He found his friends on his living room, eating and playing video games like it was their own house.

"Hey Jake," Slim greeted him. And to his shocker, Jakob wasn't moody but was all smiles. He and Pig had to pinch themselves to know if Jakob was for real.

"Where'd you get the truck?" Slim asked as he caught a glimpse of the pick-up truck from the window.

Jakob smiled then laughed as if he heard a joke, once again surprising his friends. "Oh that. It's my girlfriend's."

And his sidekicks fell off from their seats.