Chapter 3: Bonding Time For The Blondes

"When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wants a truce." -Sun Tzu

Both valedictorian spot and scholarship to England…gone, Kristen lamented, as she took out three textbooks from her locker. Her mother had told her that maybe she'd get a better opportunity, but how? She was so sure that she'd get the scholarship, that she didn't even apply for any Ivy League colleges. As if they'd accept her now…they were only looking for number ones, after all. Not number twos.

"Blockhead."

Kristen rolled her eyes and tried hard not to grab a book and whack the boy next to her with it.

"Well, well. If it is none other than Derrington," Kristen replied, using Derrick's least favorite nickname.

Derrick leaned against the locker next to hers. To Kristen's surprise, he didn't give her an annoyed look or reply with a snarky comment. Instead, he just stood there quietly.

Students had gathered up around them already. After all, no one dared to miss the "comedic duo's" (that's what people called them) arguments. Some people even recorded them.

Kristen slammed her locker shut, balancing the books in her arms. "What do you want?"

Derrick cleared his throat, but remained quiet.

Kristen knew something was up when Dempsey gave Derrick a thumbs up. Kristen knew it was something she wouldn't like when Derrick took out two tickets for the prom and a single rose from behind his back.

Derrick handed the rose to her (which reddened her cheeks). "For you."

Kristen was so shocked that she didn't know what else to do other than take the rose.

Derrick cleared his throat once more and looked into her eyes. "I know we've had our differences in the past. I know you probably still hate me, but…we're graduating. And if it weren't for you, I'd still be attending summer school."

Kristen didn't understand what Derrick meant by his last sentence, but she decided to keep quiet. She was still shocked by the fact that he had given her a rose.

"I wanted to apologize for everything I did to you. For calling you 'Blockhead', for getting you in trouble when it wasn't your fault…you know, for everything. I just want to graduate knowing that there aren't any hard feelings in between each other anymore."

Kristen and the whole student body was as stunned as it could get.

Derrick exhaled. "Which is why I want you to go to prom with me."

Kristen's green eyes widened in surprise.

"Take it as a…a truce."

She could hear the hallway fill with murmurs of surprise and excitement. She dared to look around, just to see all of the school's female population with smiles on their faces. Say yes, accept, they mouthed to her. Kristen still hated everything that was Derrick. She still hated him for the fact that he stole her scholarship and valedictorian spot. She still hated him for interrupting a possible reuniting with Dempsey. She still hated him for getting most of the people on his side of the fights.

But she just couldn't say no. And not just because everyone would hate her if she did, but because (even though it was extremely embarrassing to admit) the rose had sort of softened her heart.

Kristen blushed as she replied, "Sure, I'll be your date to the prom."

Derrick smiled and the whole hallway erupted in cheers, which made Kristen blush even harder.

"Great!" Derrick exclaimed. "I-I'll call you, okay?"

Kristen nodded with a small smile before Derrick walked away.

She thought she didn't hate him that much anymore…until she got home and found her pre-prepared valedictorian speech (which was way better than Derrick's, mind you.)

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I've always loved my room for two reasons: one, when I was in seventh grade, I used to have a crush on my neighbor, Chris Abeley, and I had a perfect view from up here (I still do). And two, the attic has two entrances; one from the hallway, and the other from my bedroom.

I stepped inside with a platter of peanut butter sandwiches that I had stolen from Josh (his dinner) and smiled as I realized that my room was the same as before–the walls were still baby blue, all of my plush bunnies and kittens were still displayed on my bed, my desk was still by my window and Josh's poster was still taped on top of my bed (which I promised myself to later shred into pieces so Josh wouldn't see it).

I opened my closet, and the first thing I saw was my prom dress. I grabbed it and stood in front of my mirror, holding it up against me. It was a floor-length one-shoulder, and it was bold red which I had accessorized with silver jewelry. When my mom first saw me in it, she told me I looked like a film actress (oh, the irony).

"You looked really beautiful that night."

Confused, I turned around. I tried to hide my annoyance once I found out it was Derrick. After quickly stuffing the dress back into my closet, I crossed my arms with a smile. "Thanks."

"I thought you'd lock yourself up in the attic," he told me, inspecting my room. He burst out laughing once he saw Josh's poster on my wall.

I began making my way towards it. "I was about to shred it into pieces." But before I could do so, I realized what he had just said. "How did you know I wanted to hide in the attic?"

Derrick gave me his signature crooked smile.

Did he know that I didn't want to see my old classmates? Did he think I was scared of what they would say? Did-

"Alicia," Derrick answered. "You probably aren't in the mood to answer more questions about the 'kronner' break-up."

I pursed my lips and looked down. "Yup…that's right." Which was partially true.

Derrick spotted the peanut butter sandwiches. "Taking that to the attic?"

I nodded. "I'll snack on this while I look at some old stuff."

"Great, 'cause I love peanut butter." He walked toward the attic's entrance on the roof and pulled the knob down, making a staircase fall down. "Ladies first?"

Oh, great. He's planning on coming with me. Why can't he just leave me alone?

I gave him a fake smile before climbing up the stairs. Once I was up, I automatically walked over to the window and grabbed a random box. Maybe he'd think that I was too busy to have company around and leave. I opened up the box and held up a Greek dress —my Pandora costume. It looked so professional, that you'd never guess Massie made it for me when she was in eighth grade.

"Ah, that was from the sixth grade play, wasn't it?" Derrick told me, sitting down next to me.

I tried hard not to roll my eyes. Was he seriously that clueless? Not bragging here, I'm sure that I'm a good actress, but his dad is a psychologist. He had to inherit some of that knowledge to find out that I did not want him here.

"Seventh grade," I corrected, folding the dress back into the box.

Derrick nodded. "That was the first time I saw you. Did you know that Dempsey began to like you ever since then?"

Why would he think I wanted to remember that? Idiot. I pretended to chuckle at the memory. "Yup, he told me when we got together."

Derrick got out another box and began to examine its contents.

When was he going to leave? I seriously wasn't in the mood to put up with him and his stupid conversations. I bet it was him who purposely brought Alicia just so I would miss the party. From what I remember, they used to hate each other back in high school.

"I know you don't like me."

My eyes widened instantly and my mouth slightly parted.

How in the world did he know that? Seriously, had he read my mind?

After regaining my composure, I chuckled."What? Of course I do."

Derrick looked at me. "You never liked me…not even when we went to prom together."

Oh, great, I'm busted. After an awkward silence, I looked away.

Derrick held up my old soccer ball. "You're a really good actress, but you didn't put much effort on hiding your true feelings at dinner yesterday."

After he said that, I was left in stunned silence. For the first time ever, I didn't know what to say. I didn't know if I should apologize, if I should leave or if I should just continue inspecting boxes as if nothing had happened. Luckily for me, Derrick decided to change the subject.

"Oh, so you supported Italy in 2006's World Cup," he said, holding up an Italian soccer jersey.

I shrugged, trying to forget our previous conversation."They were the best of the best. That's why only smart people supported Italy."

Derrick smirked. "Oh really? I was team France."

I snatched the jersey away with a growing smile on my face. Soccer was my favorite thing to talk about. "Obviously, you're not smart."

"Hey, Italy won by cheating," Derrick argued.

I gasped. "You did not just say that."

Derrick nodded, a challenging smile on his face.

And just like that, we began to argue about soccer teams. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I actually liked talking with Derrick. I mean, he wasn't like the other people I knew. He didn't try to agree at everything you said, and he didn't try to argue either…he was just himself (which is something hard to find in Hollywood). Derrick wasn't also the type of guy with whom you could only talk about one subject. That afternoon, we talked about everything; life, college, travels…even food. For the first time ever, I found myself smiling truthfully at Derrick Harrington. And let me tell you, that was a nice feeling. Especially since he wasn't such an immature idiot anymore. In fact, he was really polite and fun to be around.

All of a sudden, the attic door opened, and in came a glaring Josh. "Where's my dinner?"

Derrick and I looked down at the half-empty platter. Oops…

Josh glared at us before snatching the one remaining sandwich. "So the blondes are bonding over my food, huh?" he snarled. He took a bite out of the sandwich and muttered angrily, "By the way, some red-head told me to warn you about a revenge plan, Kris."

I frowned. What in the world was Josh talking about?

Before Josh finished climbing down the attic, his angry look was replaced by a smirk. "Nice poster by the way."

Before I could even open my mouth to protest, Josh had shut the door close.

After a few seconds, Derrick smiled at me. "You didn't tell me we were eating stolen food."

I bit my lower lip and began to giggle. Derrick joined too and after a while, we were both cackling hysterically. It was the first time I had laughed around Derrick, and well…it felt good.

The laughter died down, finally letting me catch my breath.

"I really liked talking with you," he told me, a smile edging in his lips.

I looked down, and after hesitating, replied. "Me too."

We looked at each other for a while before he smirked at me challengingly. "Tell you what, I'll take you out for some hot chocolate tomorrow if you keep pretending to like me."

I leaned back, returning the smirk. "I don't think I have to keep pretending."

He chuckled, making me giggle. After a while, Derrick stood up and helped me up. Still smiling, we both made our way outside.

So I don't entirely like him yet.

But I don't hate him either.

I had almost forgotten about Josh's weird warning of some revenge plan, when a huge pile of snow fell on top of Derrick and I. Well, mostly on me, since Derrick managed to move out of the way just in time.

Everybody gasped as Todd came running toward me. "I'm so sorry Kristen, it wasn't meant to be for you!" he apologized. "I'm so, so sorry! Please don't hate me!"

"Oh my God, TODD! Why did you do that?" Claire exclaimed, pulling him away. Todd gave me another apologetic glance before being pulled out of sight by his sister.

So that's what Josh's warning meant.

It was then I realized that all of my old classmates were surrounding us. Most of their expressions were unreadable, except Kemp's (who was trying hard not to laugh) and Dylan's (who, for some reason, looked jealous).

Massie grinned once she saw what all the commotion was about. "Oh, Kris. What did you do now?"

I glared at her before dusting off the snow. Trying to stop myself from shivering, I addressed everybody. "It's alright. I'll just go and take a warm and delicious bubble bath. I feel like a needed one, anyways."

Which was true. Besides the fact that there were paparazzi hunting for me and Josh out in the streets, more rumors about my break-up with Conner were lining up in the web.

"She's covered with snow and she still looks amazing," Dylan muttered angrily. Something told me that she wasn't happy with her body…not even now that she wasn't overweight.

Alicia stepped forward. "Kristen, you know who I am?"

"Alicia Rivera, the head editor of OK Magazine."

"I know there have been some false rumors about you and Conner, so I would like to clear them up. Care for an interview?" Alicia asked.

I shrugged. "Come in."

I was extremely cold, everybody saw me getting pranked on and now I'll have to answer a million of uncomfortable questions while taking a bubble bath. Great.

"We're still on for the hot chocolate tomorrow!" Derrick exclaimed after me.

Amidst the situation, that brought a smile to myself.

A/N: Wow, guys, those reviews seriously put a smile on my face :D Thank you SO much. You'll be happy to know that I already planned what's happening on each chapter, so I can now say that there will be more Massie from now on. If you have any suggestions, feel free to share them. I might add them to the story…thanks for reading! I hoped you liked this chapter :)