17 Greetings From Hell

"You laugh. I laugh. You cry. I cry. You jump off a really tall cliff. I yell -DO A FLIP!"

"Come on, cupcake. Do it for me?" She batted her eyelashes and stupidly pouted.

"Snow White, stop it. You look disgusting."

"Yeah, girly isn't me."

"I agree. You're an awesome tomboy!"

She smirked. "Did I hear a compliment?"

"Take it or leave it."

I stared at the building- the building which we called 'school' for moments before entering. It was the first day after the six of us decided to be friends and well- a couple to back each other up.

"I'll take what I can get." She smirked. "Race you to 103!"

"You're on."

We dashed towards the room 103. The students in the hallway stared at us to see why the hell were we running before continuing their usual gossips or minding their own business.

"I win!" I exclaimed, fist bumping in the air. The students in the class gave me weird looks.

Or that was what I thought.

"Why don't we sneak out off school during lunch, cupcake? You know, school lunches suck!" Alex uttered, a smile evident on her face. Her voice was loud enough for everyone to hear and now they were waiting for my reaction. Alex expectantly stared at me, hoping I'd play along.

Well, I did sign up for this.

"Sure, babe. Why not?" I returned her smile. "Just don't let the teachers know, ok?"

Why did it sound so long ago, when all I wanted was to be in the teachers' good graces?

"You got it."

We both sat beside each other, trying to relax and pull the trick off. It was weird - to say the least. Alex was never the type to sweet talk with people and definitely not the kind of girl who would have a boyfriend. It was strange to see this new side of her.

And I could tell, both of us were quite uncomfortable with this.

Soon, the teacher walked in and started the class without any delay. As the two of us decided, we sneaked glances every minute - sometimes, I even winked. For those who didn't know - I was barely comfortable having friends and now this, was a whole new level.

We were 'pretending' to be a couple - which was harder than pretending to be 'friends'.

"So, class." The teacher - Ms. Heather - started. "I want you to write an essay which revolves around the topic of 'friendship.' I want to know your point of views and also include how you met your friends and how your friendship began. It is an individual work and the marks you receive will be added in your finals. Understood?"

"Understood, ma'am." Richard sneered. "But there is one problem."

Ms. Heather looked confused. "What is that , Richard?"

"Ms. Snow, here, doesn't have any friends. How is she going to write it?"

Alex looked unfazed.

I really wanted to beat the crap out of Richard. After 'threatening' him to stay away and stop bullying, he still had the nerve to start again.

"You don't have to worry about that, Richard." A girl said. "She does have a boyfriend, though."

"Yeah, right." The guy behind me uttered. "I still don't know why he's dating her. She's an illegitimate young lady. No one likes her."

"Students, cut it off!" Ms. Heather scolded. "Start your essays, now. I'll be right back."

For the time being, the class quieted down as the students began to scribble down notes. The only sound in the room was of pens running on the paper and the scribbling on the table. I glanced at Alex to check on her - but she was too busy writing her essay. From the looks of it, she was okay. She knew they would keep talking trash about her no matter what , and now they'll start talking trash about me too.

But, I promise you Snow White, this will soon be over.

Maybe after this.

With that, I started on my essay. The students, who thought Alex didn't have friends , were so wrong. Even if we only pretended to be friends , there were a bunch of people to back her up. Someday, if we really turned friends - this would be an awesome story.

"Friends. I never had the privilege of having friends for as long as I could remember. People were only around me because of my wealth and my family's connections with so many powerful people. I could never be my own person in front of my so-called friends.

And then, I met them. Six strange creatures who are exact opposites of each other. Somehow and for some reason- maybe it was fate or destiny -whatever you call it- was the reason why we all came together. People say, "Friendship is the only thing in this world that is chosen by us. We are not stuck with them since birth." Well, that's really not true. Even , such beautiful relationship with another human being is decided by God, himself. We never meet people just like that ,without any reason. We cross paths with someone for a purpose - either they change our lives or we change theirs.

It's always strange when these words come from my very mind. But truths must be told. We, humans, were never born to be alone. We are like puzzle pieces. Each one of us is an incomplete puzzle piece. We spend all our lives finding our 'perfect match' . Believe me when I say, the most amazing thing we find in life is when our 'perfect match' turns out to be our best friend."

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"When are we going to receive our notebooks?" I asked, as we walked out of the room, hand-in-hand.

"Someone's excited to get his essay back." Snow White taunted. "No matter, how hard you try, you can't score higher than me."

"Is that a challenge?" I smirked.

"Maybe?" She drawled.

I smiled, confidently. "Challenge accepted."

The hallway was crowded with students -either waiting outside of classrooms or gossiping in the middle of the hallway or exchanging books at the lockers. Both of us parted ways to exchange our books at our lockers since our lockers were poles apart.

Once I was done exchanging my books, I walked towards Alex's locker to pick her up. I was supposed to walk her to class like any other 'caring' boyfriend would do. She smiled at me - but it looked forced. We'd spent a few days - I get it- but I could distinguish between her forced smiles from her real ones. Her body stiffened when I slung my arm around her shoulder.

"Walk you to class?" I squeezed her shoulder, reassuringly - if that was a thing.

She smiled, a genuine one. "Yeah."

She tried to look unfazed but I knew her better than that. While I held my head high and strode confidently towards our next destination, Alex kept her head low. The hallway filled with whispers which went something along the lines of-

"What is Hottie McHotterson doing with the Lone Wolf?"

"It's definitely a charade, no way in hell would these two be together!"

"I know right, I mean - Jake, darling doesn't even know who he's with."

Oh, I know!

"That illegitimate kid sure knows how to score."

"She doesn't have much to offer."

"I heard, Jake Matthews is like crazy rich - She's definitely a golddigger."

"Just like her mother."

That last statement was enough trigger for Alex.

I could see she was fuming in rage, waiting to beat the crap our of whoever said this. If she were a cartoon character- there would be steam coming out of her ears. That would've looked pretty hilarious.

Alex struggled in my grip but I held her tight. She stared at me in confusion.

'Trust me.' I mouthed.

I walked her to her next class and then walked towards the witch who had last commented about Alex.

"Jake, darling. Finally, you've seen the light." She clutched my arm and dug her nails. It took a lot from me to not wince in pain.

I smiled. "It's a lot coming from someone who resides in Hell. I'm sure the only reason you're here is because you brought greetings from Hell."

She blinked.

I leaned down, whispering in her ear. "Would you like to go to Hell on your own or should I send you?"