NINETY- SIX

School from that day was different. Everyone was apologizing to Ruby for being abandoned at the altar and being mean to Mack.

Even his own friends deserted him. Despite the fact that Ruby tried explaining what had happened, everytime one person understood, two new people who despised him came.

It wasn't just the boys though. The girls were no more attracted to him, seeing him as unfaithful and scared of commitment and he actually used to like the attention.

The teachers were the worst. They gave him bad grades and useless tasks no student should do, they also punished him severely for the smallest mistakes, sometimes even for no reason and when he asked why, they said the same thing,"That is for being a bad fiance."

Ruby didn't like the extra sympathy or apathy one bit yet no one listened to her, they all tried comforting her for the trauma she must have been through.

She even explained to them that it was what she wanted but they said,"Of course it's what you wanted, he must have been a terrible boyfriend."

On the other hand, the boys saw a new ray of hope as Ruby was now ' available '.

Because Mark had fostered Mack, his parents were trying everything in their power to take him back. They tried suing Mark—which he won—they tried intimidating him, but he was the toughest guy ever, and they even tried talking to their son, who had no plans of returning home.

But Mark hated it when people gave him comments about Mack that,"If the boy wanted to live alone, then you should let him fend for himself."

And more.

Mark always defended Mack and often blew off the nozy people who were ' just trying to help '.

One time I went to the library to return a book when I saw Ruby there. She was asleep in one of the stalls.

Oh, she looks so cute when she's asleep!

I checked what she was doing on the desktop. She was solving a complex equation I didn't understand, with several huge math books near her.

I checked in the notebook on the desk and saw, she had a really messy handwriting, but in a cute way.

I turned back several pages and saw the handwriting typical of a dyslexic person, with many letters and numbers backwards, especially the ' quadruplets ' as I liked to call them. Lowercase bs, ds, ps and qs.

She stirred and I pushed away some of the firey hair on her face so she could breathe better.

Just then she started getting up and I squealed.

She woke up and said,"Tommy, what are you doing here, beside me?"

I came out from the pile of math books I was hiding in and said,"Oh, nothing... what's that equation?"

She looked at it and said,"It's the basically impossible equation to explain turbulence. It has a one million dollar reward for whoever solves it and I've been working on it for days."

It looked like a whole different language to me but there was one thing I understood...

"Why don't you multiply that variable through by every term?"

"Because that's not how it...works...but if I changed that constant into a variable, it makes so much more sense, thank you Tommy!"

She hugged me and I felt her soft, silky hair, her warm, smooth skin and her rosy scent.

I patted her back and said,"You're welcome."

She had only gotten in three hugs in all her life and they were all with me.

I stayed with her and watched her solve it and she yelled after an hour of cancelations and restarting,"I've got it! I've finally solved it!"

I said,"Congratulations, so you understand turbulence now?"

She nodded then I said,"Then submit it and get your prize money."

She shook her head and said,"That would attract too much unwanted attention."

"But you need it, to help your grandparents and not only them, but you can donate it like what you did with the science fair reward money."

She seemed to consider it then nodded. She recopied the solved equation onto a clean paper and submitted it and she got a congratulation letter, soon after and a million dollars was sent into her bank account.

She actually felt a strong feeling of accomplishment as she walked out with me.

Just then, a guy pushed me away from her and said,"Hey Rose..."

She corrected him,"Ruby."

He said,"Well the both of you look equally beautiful, that's why I can't tell the difference. So, after that jerk left you, I decided to make you feel better, why don't we go on a date?"

That jerk sacrificed everything for me.

And no I'm not interested...

Wait, I suddenly am...

She said,"Okay."

I dropped my jaw as he left excitedly.

I asked her,"Why? He insulted Mack."

"Everyone does it, besides, I've got an idea..."