Chapter One

Bookworms and Bookmarks

—His eyes were the perfect shade of blue and skin pale with little to no blemishes. A delightful quirk of thin lips adorned his face along with a pointed nose. Sculpted jaw and a slightly thick long neck rested between his broad shoulders. His dark hair fell smoothly and inversely against his alabaster flesh. He was the epitome of male perfection yet he was also hated because of it. Michael Law found that beauty wasn’t all it seemed to be.—

Antoinette sighed as a mental image of the lead character appeared in her mind. A man like Michael won’t exist in real life. Handsome, witty, and charming—those attributes are hard to find in a man that existed in reality. She bit her lower lip as she slowly turned the page. Her right hand flew underneath her chin as she rested the weight of her head against her palm.

What would it be like if she had a boyfriend like Michael?

She mused as a series of events passed by in a blur inside her mind. Scenes of her being in the center of attention at school caught up in her mentality. Michael would capture her in a fierce hug and whisk her away as overly jealous women ran after them. They wouldn’t tease her about her looks anymore. They wouldn’t judge her for her intellectuality and would actually try to be civil towards her more.

But it wasn’t what she wanted.

She wanted what Michael wanted. A normal life without judgment. But a life like that would be hard to actually gain. Because she was Antoinette Nicholls and she was the resident know-it-all bookworm at school. She was disliked by girls because of her looks and she was ignored by boys because of her intellect.

It was a tough life for her but she had to live with it.

—“Don’t you think that you’re taking it a little too far, Michael?” A voice reached his ears. He ignored the pang of guilt that crept unto his chest and continued with stuffing his bag with more clothing. “You’re going to leave us for something so… so foolish?”

He didn’t look at her. “Yes, I am, Lisa.”

“Why, Michael?” Her voice sounded pleading and weak but he paid no mind to it. “Why must you leave and change the way things are?”

He swiftly zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

“Aren’t you satisfied?”

He walked past her and froze as he felt her soft fingers encircle his wrist firmly. “Michael.”

“Lisa,” he softly murmured. “I don’t love you.”—

A painful tug wretched at her chest as Antoinette read more and more of the romance novel. She felt a twinge of pity for Lisa, Michael’s girlfriend, and ran a shaky hand through her entangled locks. She looked up at the clock that ticked above the entrance of the library and quickly stood up. She was almost late for class.

She hastily strolled at the counter and rang the bell. She smiled sheepishly as she spoke, “Oh, excuse me but may I borrow this book?” She fished out for her library card and held it out for the person.

A boy—more specifically, the boy who had helped her earlier—looked at her with his glasses still askew. She broke his glasses. She gasped and apologized profusely.

“I’m so sorry!” She squeaked. “I didn’t mean it!”

“I doubt you did,” he said with a tight nod. “It’s quite alright.”

She weakly smiled. “I… I want to borrow this book.”

He looked at the book and back at her. He took it from her hands and opened it at the last page. He stamped a small piece of paper at the back and gave it back to her. She gave him her library card with a coy bow of her head.

“Thank you,” she muttered. He just nodded at her direction and returned to his task: ignoring her.

She huffily went outside the library and sped towards her third period, Literature. She panted as she reached the second door at the right wing and opened it tiredly. The class was unruly and students piled up in different groups as loud chatter resounded throughout the whole room. The professor wasn’t there, in which Antoinette was fairly grateful.

But then again—

“Oh, look,” a smug blonde sneered at her direction. “The little bookworm bitch is here.”

“Don’t call her that, Karen,” a smirking brunette raised a brow at her as Antoinette walked past them. “She might read a book for you.”

Antoinette quietly sat down on her seat and took out her book. She patiently waited for the professor and listened to the conversations around her. She didn’t want to, but she didn’t have any choice. They were loud, obnoxious, and their words hurt her.

“Look at those shoes!” One squeaked. “They’re absolutely…”

“… horrible!”

Antoinette cringed as she bowed her head.

“And her hair!” Another laughed. “Have she ever heard of a brush?”

She consciously ran a hand through her wild dark mane. She frowned. These were too much. She has had enough. She looked at them fiercely and opened her mouth for a retort when a man strolled inside the room with an air of calm superiority. She stilled and inquisitively looked at him.

He was the boy from before.

“I’m Alan,” he introduced with a cool nod. “I will be substituting for Professor Gerland today.”

Antoinette stifled a gasp as she watched him take out a few books from his bag. But—but he was only a student! He suddenly looked up and caught her eyes. She fidgeted under his gaze while merely gave her a small smirk. She just noticed it right now but… he had pretty eyes.

Kind of.

She tried to look past the new black-rimmed glasses and he flicked his hand to take a piece of chalk from the box at his side. He wrote on the board a few detailed quotes from various books. After he finished a few of the quotes, he turned back towards them and looked at them seriously.

His light brown hair bounced against his forehead.

“Pick a partner and try and decipher the meaning of these following quotes.”

A chorus of whines and moans of dislike rang through the air. Alan glared them down.

“Now.”

Of course, after that word, the class became a ruckus of questions and partnering. Antoinette sighed as she wrote a few of the quotes on her notebook. A small sound of rustling of clothing was heard in front of her and she looked up. Alan raised a brow at her and frowned.

“Where’s your partner?”

Antoinette blushed and bowed her head. “I—”

“I said,” he said calmly. “—to look for a partner.”

She bit her lower lip unsurely and looked around. Everybody else had partners and she was left alone. Like always. But Professor Gerland knew that she would rather work alone than try to fit in and seem like she was trying too hard. But this boy—this guy—was telling her to find a partner and make a fun of herself in front of the entire class?

She had to say no.

“I—”

No.

“I think that—”

No, damn it!

“There’s nobody else available, Professor.” Karen cooed with a small smile. “Antoinette would rather work alone anyway,” she turned her attention to Antoinette with a quick glare. “Right?”

Antoinette lowered her head. “Right.”

Alan looked at her curiously and smirked. “I’ll partner up with you, miss—”

“Antoinette Nicholls.” She murmured softly.

“Miss Nicholls,” he took the empty seat next to her. “Let’s start, shall we?”

Antoinette avoided his gaze through her fingers and she whined softly. She was just going to embarrass herself badly in front of this guy. Oh dear.

oOo

End Note: Thank you for the wonderful reviews. I’m really grateful that at least a few of you have taken time to give me your feedbacks. I want constructive criticisms, by the way. Hint, hint. And please, a lot have put this on their alerts and a few on their favorites but please review.