4.

Ryan and Miguel make sounds at the back of their throats when they see that she's spotted us and she's heading this way. It's hilarious how they make it obvious that they don't like her. And she doesn't care. Either that, or she genuinely doesn't see it. I think if someone shows me time and time again that they don't like me, I'd stay away from them.

But not her. And here she comes. I always try to be nice to her out of guilt.

"Hello boys," she says condescendingly as she stops in front of us, flipping her hair to one side. Doesn't her wrist get tired?

"Hi, Cara," I nod, glancing at the two who are completely ignoring her. I sigh, faking a smile as I think of what to say. Then I remember she flew out last weekend to 'get a fresh view'.

"How was Thailand?"

She chuckles, tucking some blonde strands behind her ear. "Humid. My hair got completely ruined. But luckily, my hairstylist did his magic and I'm back to looking flawless," she says, and I swear I could barf.

"The local people were really sweet though. They tended to my every need and I felt like a queen," she went on, and at this point my face had to have told her I'm really not interested.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," I force myself to say.

"Oh, it's nothing like the Maldives last of last week, but it was... special," she rolls her eyes subtly, snorting as she shrugs as if the experience was not up to her standards. "Anyway, it was nice catching up with you. See ya around," she says, blowing me an air kiss as she continues strutting to class, a new sway added to her hips.

"I felt like a queen," Miguel mimics, bursting into laughter as soon as she's out of earshot.

"Bitch can't even earn her own money," Ryan bitterly says, opening his locker to take out a textbook and handing us ours. We share a locker, because it's easier that way. Besides, we don't keep much in them, except heavy textbooks that are too much work to carry around all day.

The doors burst open and a girl with black hair runs down the stairs, almost tripping when she runs down the stairs. I tilt my head, wondering where she's off to in such a rush. Then she stumbles as she speeds past us and I quickly step in to catch her before she fell.

"Talia, slow down," I warn as I help her stand upright. She tugs her hair behind her ear, and breaths loudly, crouching as she catches her breath.

"Did you run all the way from your house?"

"Nah, I took a cab up until the intersection down there," she points in circles, and I nod. I know where the cabs stop. They can't come all the way up to the school, for some reason. "There's apparently a Physics surprise test?"

"No, she said it's cancelled. She had to take her cat to the vet today," Miguel explains. She lifts her stands straight and adjusts her reading glasses, before smiling, showing her perfect teeth. One would think her mom is a dentist. I know of most girls who would kill to have perfect teeth. Even her smile is priceless. Miguel would know.

"Really? So I ran all the way for nothing?"

"Why weren't you in school anyway?" Ryan asks as he shuts the locker and we fall in line, strolling to the next class.

"I didn't feel like coming in today," she shrugged, adjusting her strap. I noticed that there's still some weird energy between her and Miguel. They were in a relationship for a few months but it ended unexpectedly. We never got to learn why, and he never bothered to explain either.

But Ryan and I still hung out with her and would often sit together in class and at lunch. It was like this before the two started dating, and we didn't want to pick sides by abandoning her just because Miguel wasn't man enough to face whatever happened and move on.

We come to the class and a few students are standing outside, still chatting. A few seconds before the bell rings, they start filing in the class. And I happen to be the last one to enter.

"You have a 'late pass', mister?" Mrs Schnapper of Geography asks me.

I almost scoff. She's always picking a fight with me. "Don't need one," I say, loud enough for her to hear.

"But you're late," she scowls. On cue, the bell rings and I make a face at her. Her face visibly reddens in anger and I smirk as I make my way to my desk. I am certainly not having detention on a Friday because of her.

I don't know why Mrs Schnapper dislikes me. All I did, along with Ryan and Miguel, was superglue her phone, her handbag, her file, her pens and all her other personal belongings to the table the first week of high school. You wanna tell me she's still bitter over that?

Now that I think about it, maybe she hates us because we hacked her computer and changed the test's questions to bull shit questions such as how many kids she has, which year she got married, what she did before becoming a teacher and the like. She can't blame us for that, can she? After all, aren't we encouraged to get to know our teachers? She knew it was us, but she has never been able to prove it to the principal.

"You know she's just going through some menopause shit," Talia says, slamming her textbook on the table and getting a nasty glare from Schnapper.

"She could do without giving me crap every damn day," I reply, irritated that she picked on me so early in the morning on a good day.

"Maybe cancel the next prank and you won't have to get shit from her," she replies with a smirk, raising her eyebrow to challenge me to deny I haven't planned a prank. I chuckle, rolling my eyes as I sink into the chair and listen to her voice drag on for the next hour.