章 1: Stupid Genius

"Peek to the right."

"Peek to the left."

I whispered to myself while I turned my head from left to right. I was the only living thing roaming in the hallway and was in the process of assuring myself that everything would go smoothly as planned. It took me few minutes of self confab before I started to effectuate my dark schemes as if I was some kind of a mighty villain. Speaking about villains, I was then reminded of Spiderman.

"Hmmp, with that I also need to peek up ahead..."

I looked up and saw the white-painted ceiling where a chandelier-like fan was hanging in the middle. I thought of how silly I was for thinking Spiderman might be lurking from up ahead. Yet, no one could tell if superheroes were true and in case by chance Spiderman decided to drop by, he might caught me doing this. So I had to look up and see. To be fair, I also looked down to check, saw the marble floor, and thought of how beautiful it was.

There was no one else in this hallway apart from me. I was pretty sure of that. I could hear the voices of the other students from a canteen nearby. It was lunchtime, so all of them were probably busy with food and chitchats.

If only I could hide myself incognito. The thought of being caught still made me uneasy. However, last five minutes ago I had already decided that I would pursue this plan.

I sat on the left side of a long bench. There were few bags that were left unattended, but I was more interested on the plastic envelope at the other side. Earlier, I accidentally had a peek on the envelope's contents. That was what made me interested. I needed to see it again to confirm something.

The bench was quite long so I struggled my way to the other side without standing. I just simply moved my hips towards it. I was freaking nervous at the time. Sneaking into someone else's stuff did made me guilty. Guilty to the point that even the small hairs at the back of my ears stood up in rebellion to what I did. But there I was, beside the violet bag and was about to pull over the envelope. When I had a grip on it, I heard footsteps that made my heart leap out of nervousness!

"Hey Xhem!" A girl appeared in front of me. Her skin shone brightly in her green school uniform. She had long, midnight black hair that was pulled up neatly. Her crescent shape eyebrows complimented her almond hazel eyes perfectly. Her face was full of smiles.

"Hi Dian." I flashed a smile in response as I tried to hide my fear of getting caught. Did she just catch me?

"What is that?" She innocently asked while she pointed to the envelope in my hand. She was still wearing her smile and it revealed her cheerful character. However, despite that, the sophistication in her actions was vivid enough for me to realize that she came from a wealthy family. Also, the uniform she was wearing confirmed it.

"E-e-envelope". I lowered my eyes trying to escape her gaze.

I broke into sweats. She remained smiling in front of me without any plans of leaving, so I felt the need of explaining further. However, I couldn't think of any other words to say.

"Envelope...to cover my head!" I abruptly said and proceeded to cover my head with the envelope my hand was holding. Honestly, that was the most stupid joke I did in my entire life.

"What???" She asked, bursting into laughs. She looked at me with fascination. Obviously she was quite entertained with my actions.

"It's quite hot here! I don't have an umbrella so I'm using this envelope as an alternative" What an alibi, wasn't it? I was aware that my reasoning was crooked, but she was already fascinated so I just exaggerated things over so she wouldn't notice my true dilemma.

"Hot? In here? Crazy! We are inside the building so you don't need an umbrella. Also the ceiling fan is turned on!" She responded, still couldn't hold her laughter. How pretty. Even the way she laugh was very sophisticated. I wonder if she had unrefined moments? She seemed too perfect.

"Xhem, you're really out of this world! Why are you here all alone? All the students are in the canteen, while you're here all by yourself." She added as soon as she finished laughing.

"I like here alone. Also I'm pretty tired, mingling around will just exhaust me further."

"Oh I see, in that case I should leave you for a while to rest. I'm heading to the bathroom. Do you happen to know where the bathroom is?"

"Oh yes, I went there earlier. Just go straight and turn left."

"Alright. See yah around"

She left. I sighed out of relief. I almost thought that it was already my end. Good thing she didn't notice that I did something wrong. The idea that I might get to the news headlines tomorrow made me tremble.I looked at the envelope I had in my hand. This time, I opened it hastily and scanned the papers inside one by one.

"I'm right, this is it! " I whispered to myself.

"Oh yeah, that is it."

"Yes, and it's the same with what we had earlier right?"

"Yes they are indeed the same."

Wait… What the heck! I didn't move a muscle as soon as I realized that someone was behind me and had also been looking at the papers in my possession. My hands started to shake. I was so occupied scanning the articles I didn't notice someone already stood beside me. I bit my lips as I slowly turned my head to see the person who just caught me.

I swallowed upon the realization that I was caught and when my eyes landed on the person who caught me, I swallowed a bit more.

A set of deep and catastrophic eyes were looking at me. This close, I could clearly see his gorgeous hazel eyes. His rich dark eyebrows curled against each other as he looked at me with suspicion. I sat there motionless; the shock of being caught paralyzed me at the moment.

"Who are you?" Those were the only words I managed to utter.

"Why do you have those?" He asked suspiciously as he glanced at the papers in my hand.The tone of his voice seemed like he just captured a criminal. "You are one of the contestants too right?" He added with certainty.

I was not able to respond, instead I gaped open in front of him. My eyes were too busy studying his looks that I couldn't hear a single word he said. Who is this person? Was he also a contestant? But I clearly didn't saw him earlier in the room where the competition was held.

I was confident that this was the first time I saw him and with the kind of face he had, it was impossible that one couldn't notice. He had that kind of face that could stop one in their tracks.

He wore a denim jacket and a pair of faded jeans. His face looked young yet his angular jaw made it strong and well defined. He had dark eyebrows, which sloped downwards in a serious expression and his pale skin made him look devilishly handsome. His dark luxurious hair and sturdy mold finished off his perfect looks.

I blinked. Not only once, but a couple of times. He was too gorgeous that he couldn't possibly exist.

"Those links and articles are not supposed to be given to anyone. How come you were able to print them? Did you familiarize the articles and links before the competition? That's cheating, a no-no in this competition!" His accusations were severe than I thought. He was so serious in a way that he wanted to eat me up whole alive!

I tried to respond, but I was clearly awestruck by him and shocked by his accusations at the same time. The words he uttered were taunting. It was disappointing to see a handsome face accusing me for something I didn't do.

I was agitated. For me this handsome stranger resembled a monster now. A gorgeous beast who tried to prey on me. To put it bluntly, the man was a pain in the ass!

Now I felt the need of defending myself, but a lot of emotions ran down my veins. I was afraid, angry and pissed at the same time. I couldn't clearly tell whether I was afraid on where his accusations would lead me or he was just too handsome that I was lost for words.

I cursed myself in silence.

"Hey? Are you not going to say anything? Psh... stupid girl!" His last words woke me up in a snap!

What did he say? I clearly heard the word stupid. My eyes glared and my eyebrows crossed as an inner fire was about to let go. He dared call me stupid! Let's see who is stupid then!

"These aren't mine!" I mustered all my strength to respond.

"Then who owns them? Your coach maybe? Is your coach that influential that he was able to get you those?"

"You clearly got the wrong idea and don't dare to say anything like that to my coach!" I was completely infuriated. More of this could awaken the inner Hulk inside me!

"Don't dare to say what? That he is a cheater? Or that you are a cheater?" His last words ended with a smirk.

I was lost for words. I twisted my mouth in disbelief. I didn't expect that a man with that kind of face could be so distrustful and unreasonable. I was so mad that I couldn't help but shout loudly at him.

"Excuse me Mister! Be careful of your words. You don't know who you're messing with and you don't know what I'm capable of doing!"

I made up my mind. Since I was too distracted to argue, I was determined to get physical with him. I didn't care if he was a man and that I was a girl. As I remembered correctly, my punches were strong enough to send a classmate of mine to the infirmary when I was in first grade.

I pulled up the sleeves of my uniform to my shoulders and made a fighting stance. This is it! If this was a novel, then this moment would be the climax!

At the count of three, I'd hit him. I would hit him bad till he realized that he was wrong for messing up with me!

One, two, three!

"KYAAHH!!" I screamed desperately as I closed my eyes and struck heavily. I wasn't used to violence, so I had to close my eyes to avoid such sight.

A loud bash was heard all over the place as my punch landed perfectly. A feeling of relief and victory made me more energetic than before. My punch surely did not frustrate me today. Now that I had punched him, I wanted to see his damaged face so I hurriedly opened my eyes to check.

But then...

As soon as I opened my eyes, I froze at the view of him. My head formed lines as I wondered what could have possibly gone wrong.

I could see that he was quite shocked over what I did. However, I didn't see any casualty in his face. Where was the black eye? I was pretty sure my punch landed perfectly, but never expected his face was that strong. My punch didn't leave any trace at all!

"Xhemin Lae! What do you think you're doing?" A familiar voice yelled at me.

"Ehhhh, Coach?" I gasped at the view of my coach lying on the floor. "Why are you on the floor?" I surprisingly asked.

"And now you are asking after what you-"

"Did you crawl your way up to here?" I asked, cutting the last words he was about to say.

"You crazy child! You hit me badly that's why I fell on the floor! Look at my face now, oh my pretty face!" He responded bitterly as he checked his self-proclaimed pretty face for any trace of casualty.

I bit my lips as soon as I realized what happened.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to punch you."

What happened was as I was about to hit that gorgeous beast, my coach got caught instead. He could've run all the way here when he heard me screamed. I did close my eyes when I was about to punch so I didn't notice that I hit him instead.

To make the situation worse, a lot of people surrounded us now. I thought I screamed loudly earlier that it caught their attention. The canteen was nearby so it wasn't impossible for them to hear the commotion. I just became an instant celebrity!

"What's happening here?" Another coach asked out from the crowd. I could tell that he was also a coach because of his uniform. He rushed to my coach's aid when he saw him on the floor.

"Hey Coach!" The gorgeous beast called.

"Darryl, I've been looking for you and what is this?" He asked while trying to help my coach recover from his fall.

"Ask that cheater!" He pointed at me.

I glared at him as my white face turned blue out of humiliation. How dare he called me cheater in front of everyone! I felt the need of running away to escape the crowd, but that would be a very cowardly thing to do. If only I could evaporate! I thought of something to remedy the situation but it was clearly out of control already.

As I was contemplating on how to defend myself in front everyone, a light bulb flashed in my thoughts. I now have an idea!

"Hey speak!" He barked after moments of silence. "Why don't you tell them how you cheated in the--"

Blag! The view of me slowly falling made the crowd gasp.

"Xhem? What happened to you?" My coach called with anxiousness.

"She fainted!" A girl shouted from the crowd.

"Hey, hey wake up! " The handsome beast was surprised as my body landed on his.

I intended to fall. I faked it and intentionally swayed on to the beast's side so I could fall in his arms perfectly. I just wanted to cause a little inconvenience to him since he was the one that caused me this humiliation.

But then, as soon as my body landed on his chest and with his arms around it, an unfamiliar feeling rose within me. His muscles were so firm and strong and his scent intensified the feeling. An electrifying heat gushed over the back of my ears!

"She passed out! Bring her to the clinic Darryl." I heard his coach hurriedly commanding him what to do.

I was in shock when he carefully carried me in his arms. I didn't think he would agree on carrying me to the clinic by himself.

I smiled a bit at the thought that he somehow had that "gentleman thingy" in him.

'Okay fine, he is handsome and a gentleman, but he still is beastly!' I reprimanded myself silently.

Dug-dug-dug-dug-dug.

My heart pounded. I could hear my heart pounding uncontrollably while he was carrying me in his arms. I didn't move a muscle though, afraid of being caught again for my fake fainting this time. I convinced myself to remain calm no matter how uneasy the feelings were gushing over my whole body now.

"What happened to her?" A voice asked surprisingly when we entered the clinic.

"She passed out Miss," he replied hurriedly.

"Lay her on one of the beds"

"Yes Miss." He nodded and carefully put me on a bed, the same moment that I was about to lose my breath.

Certainly, fake fainting wasn't easy. My muscles relaxed when I felt the soft covers of the bed.

"Tss..." I heard him smirked and let go of a small laugh.

He didn't leave immediately which made me uneasy again. I bet he was looking at me and since my eyes were closed, I couldn't really tell what he was up to. The idea of a handsome man staring at my oily face and messy hair made me worry. Out of all the circumstances, why now?

I suddenly felt his both arms sinking on the bed just above my shoulder. What was he doing? Seconds later, I felt his face slowly lowering to mine.

The electrifying feeling gushed over me again! Is he trying to kiss me?

Oh my goodness, my first kiss! I couldn't let him steal my first kiss!

I couldn't do anything now. The thought of being caught of fake fainting was scarier than him kissing me. So no matter how uneasy and frustrating my situation was, I didn't dare to move and just patiently anticipated his kiss.

When his face was an inch away, I froze my breathing and prepared for his kiss. However, the moment I thought I was about to taste his lips, his head shifted to the left side of my neck near my earlobe.

It felt hot! I could feel all the heat of my body rushing to that side where his face was.

What is this boy doing? Is he going to kiss me on the neck first like some kind of a foreplay?

Is there even foreplay in kissing? But on all the novels I read, a man kisses the lips of his woman directly. They only kiss the neck when they were going to do something else. Is he planning to do that 'something else'?

The heat inside me was about to explode when he opened his mouth in front of my ears.

"You are such a good actress... but the show is over now, cheater." He said coldly.

So he caught me again. I wondered how.

"Your blush betrays you"

Then he left.