When Hottie Met Junkie - Adam Woods, Ishita Garg (best beach reads of all time TXT) 📗

School was a bad idea, I should have taken more time to heal, I thought, listening to the boring teacher with her wild red hair drone on about Napoleon and the battle of Waterloo. I was sitting at the corner last desk of the class, trying to keep awake. I looked around, taking in my fellow classmates, chewing at the end of my HB pencil. Stephanie, I remembered, was sitting on the second bench. Her bony body and her sweet nature made her come off as a little, innocent and cute creature who couldn’t kill a fly. But now Steph dyed her long and perfect strawberry blond hair jet-black and cut them in a bob. She used to wear bright colours but was now dressed in all-black- a Bob Dylan black t-shirt with black jeans and worn out black sneakers. Creepy.

What is wrong with Steph?

I typed in my Blackberry and sent it to Chloe, sitting in the desk next to mine. She was wearing a cute dark blue top with semi-half sleeves, hot-pink cropped jeans and her dark blue suede ballet flats with a tiny bow at the toe. She was day dreaming about God knows who, twirling her wavy chestnut hair around her index finger. Chloe was one of my best friends, cute and sophisticated, and was a huge flirt. She was one of those girls who boys did not really have to work hard to get.

I saw Chloe take out her phone from her pocket, glance at me once as she read my name and frantically type in her iPhone.

The usual. Ben cheated on her. Crying. Heartache. Go goth.

I pulled a sympathetic face in her direction. Poor Steph, she just seems so breakable.

While I was empathising with Stephanie, Matt gave me another one of his googly-eyed looks. I really wished he would stop that. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Another text from Chloe.

By the way, how does this memory loss thing work? How do you remember us?

I will tell you all about it after the class, okay?

I saw her shrug lightly and looked at my other classmates. Most of my friends I remembered, but a new girl was an exception. She had joined Albert Einstein High School a few days after the accident. I hadn’t met her before. With her dark brown shoulder length stick-straight hair, she dressed conservatively, hiding her tiny figure.

Ramona hadn’t changed a bit. She was dressed her usual self, deep v-neck green top with a mini blue denim skirt and high, pointy-heeled shoes. She had been throwing  me her irritated glances all through the class which was a little distracting added onto Matt’s lovey-dovey stares. Something was up and I needed to ask one of my friends about it. I had missed a lot since the accident and not to forget about the memories of last year being taken away from me. I surely had a lot of catching-on to do. Just when Ramona glared at me like I had tried to kill her the last summer, the bell rang. I quickly looked away and started shoving my books in my bag.

“What’s up with Ramona?” I asked Chloe who was now by my side.

“Oh, that’s an interesting story that you would love to hear.” She chuckled lightly.

I checked my schedule and groaned. Calculus. Another boring class.  Just when I walked out of the door, Matt was standing in front of me, leaning his back on the wall, and, clearly, waiting for me. He took me in his arms, something he loved to do, and kissed my cheek.

“Hey, baby. What do you have next?” He asked me.

“Calculus,” I said, looking at my schedule and avoiding meeting his eyes.

“I have Spanish, but I can walk you to your class, querida,” he said, enthusiasm in his tone.

“No need, Matt. Chloe has calculus too. You go to your class or you’ll be late,” I said with a small smile, trying to hide my irritation.  “Come on, Chloe.”

I dragged Chloe with me, leaving Matt behind.

“Please remind me how I ended up going out with him,” I whispered to Chloe.

“That’s an interesting story too,” she chuckled again. “But first, tell me about the memory loss thing.”

“I’m sure the other two would want to hear it too. So I will tell the three of you together, after school? You guys can come over to my place.”

She sighed heavily. “Fine,” she said.

***

Lunch at Maine High School has always been a big deal. The school cafeteria was packed with students sitting on their respective tables. Just like before. This place hadn’t changed a tiny bit.

“God, I missed the school cafeteria,” I said to Jane. She was another one of my best friends. She looked totally sweet and adorable in a pink slip dress with a pair of ballet flats of the same colour.

“And this place missed you,” she added sweetly.

I walked down the school cafeteria and my cheeks were blazing. I was holding almost everybody’s stare. Wherever I walked, people fell silent and started whispering. Lauren, Jane and Chloe were besides me. They were clearly enjoying the attention I was drawing.

Chloe elbowed me and whispered in my ear, “Everybody is staring at you, Ms. Popular.”

“Oh, gee, Chloe, thanks for telling me, I didn’t know,” I replied back, sarcastically, which caused Jane and Lauren to crack up.

We went to the cafeteria line and picked up a tray each.

“Tacos, ew,” Jane said, grimacing.

“Looks like it’s going to be just salad for me, today,” I said, moving to the salad bar. After filling our plates with unappetizing raw vegetables and fruits, the four of us chose an empty table at the far end of the cafeteria to sit on.

“Hey, babe,” Matt said as he slid his tray next to mine and kissed my cheek, lingering his lips there for longer than he should. He was wearing his dark blue football jersey with a black True Religion jeans underneath and red sneakers, his blond hair tousled and sticking out. He was followed by Ramona.

Ramona? Why would she want to sit with us? I looked at Lauren, who was sitting next to me, questioningly.

“I will explain it all later, I promise,” she whispered

Well, a lot had changed and I surely had to get used to it.

“Hi,” I replied back with a tiny smile, completely grossed out by how he had slid his chair closer to mine and how he was practically breathing on my cheek. Ramona settled next to Matt, giving me another one of her irritated glares, with her three cronies following her lead.  I remembered two of them, Whitney and Alisha, while it looked like Ramona had added another member to her slutty group, Megan. I knew Megan, but not as one of Ramona’s friends. She used to be a sweet girl who dressed normally and didn’t look like her tongue had been down every guy’s throat in this school. But, unfortunately, now she did, in a dangerously low cut black Armani top paired with a green denim mini-skirt and black knee-high boots. I wondered what these figures were doing on our table. The four of us always sat together with our boyfriends. Our little group was joined by Matt’s football teammates, Heath, Brandon, Julian and another guy whose name I didn’t remember, with Ramona’s fellow cheerleaders. And, just like that, we were the popular students of the AEHS, surrounded by jocks and cheerleaders.

Wow. How did that happen?

“So, how was your day, honey?” Matt asked, with his mouth full.

God, manners, dude. That’s not how you impress girls. I resisted my urge to roll my eyes at him.

“Fine, until now,” I said, giving him a forced smile, trying my best to be polite.

I must have gone completely insane to choose him out of all the other guys to go out with. Suddenly, the bell rang and I was the first one to hop out of my chair, eager to get away from my supposed boyfriend. But, unfortunately, we had political science together next. I sighed.

School actually was a bad idea, I should have waited some more.

***

Finally, school was almost over. I was sitting in the school lawn enjoying a moment of peace while Chloe was busy flirting with Brandon, the jock. Lauren and Jane were attending their last class that was running a little late. Chloe started walking towards me, looking cheerful after all the flirting, her two pigtails bouncing on her sides as she walked.

“Someone has a crush,” I said teasingly.

Her eyes widened and cheeks blushed slightly.

“Me? Duh, no. It’s just that I love flirting,” she said, winking at me.

I rolled my eyes at her and said, “Sure, whatever you say.”

Just then, we noticed Jane and Lauren, walking out of the school building in a hurry.

“Calm down, LJ,” I said, “There’s no hurry.”

They were both red-cheeked and looked tired from the boring class.

“Sorry for being late,” Jane said.

“Come on. Let’s go now,” Lauren said, still in a hurry.

Just as she said that, a black BMW Convertible pulled up in front of us. The driver’s seat’s window rolled down and there was the great Matt, grinning up at me with those artificially white set of teeth and his light blue eyes crinkling up at the edges.

“Hop in, babe. I will drop you,” he said.

I looked at the other three, asking if they wanted to ride home with him. They shrugged.

I gave Matt a flirtatious smile. “Can Lauren, Jane and Chloe come too?”

His face fell. “I don’t know where they live.”

“Oh, that’s nothing to worry about.  They are coming to my place only. You know where I live now, right?”

He nodded, still disappointed about missing a chance to be alone in a car with me.

“Sure, they can come along,” he finally said, half-heartedly.

I sat in the passenger’s seat and the rest three settled in the back seat. HIM was playing on the stereo and the air conditioner was on full blast. The leather seats were black and comfortable under me. I felt guilty for using him like that, but ignored it. It was just a ride, no big deal.

***

Lauren, Jane, Chloe and I were sitting on my bed together, facing each other, deep in discussion.  The light blue and hot-pink striped wallpaper plastered on the wall looking as new as ever. The floor-to-ceiling windows, with the curtains undrawn, made way for sunlight to enter the room and light it up. A night lamp of the same pattern and colour as the wallpaper was sitting on the dark-brown mahogany bedside table, matching the decor of the well designed room.

“So, tell us?” Chloe asked excitedly.

“Tell you what,” I asked, puzzled.

“The memory loss thing, dumbass,” Chloe said.

“Oh,” I replied, tugging at the hem of my grey wool Anthroplogie skirt, not wanting to talk about it.

Lauren squeezed my hand and said, “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, really,” giving Chloe a warning look.

“No, I might as well just get over with it now,” I said to her, giving her a weak smile. I looked around at my friends, searching for words in my mind to describe my situation.

‘California Girls’ was blaring out of the speakers of my iPod dock. Jane, who was sitting in front of me wearing a pair of black Wolford pants and a red Ralph Lauren button down shirt, gave me an encouraging smile. Chloe was staring at me, twirling her hair strand in her finger,