Chapter One

Jonathan and I have been at this staring—or should I say, glaring—contest since we were called to the principal's office just twenty minutes ago. And to be honest, Jonathan's winning.

His green eyes taunted me and, after a few unbearable seconds, I had to look away.

"Miss Wendylyn Elise Craft," Mr. Powers, our principal, said, opening a folder. My left eye twitched. I bet it was my student record. "Can you tell me what exactly just happened?"

Glancing at Jonathan, I could tell he wanted me to lie even though he knew how much of a bad liar I could be.

I wouldn't have probably ended up here if I hadn't met Jonathan. See, after my brother, Mark, graduated, he threw a huge party in our house. Of course, my parents allowed it, oblivious to the fact that bad things could happen during that party. Alicia, Mark's girlfriend, was there the whole time. In fact, she helped with planning the party. If you asked for my opinion, I was okay with everything. Just as long as I didn't see anything that I wasn't supposed to see at my age.

When everything was according to plan, the party started. I was surprised by the amount of friends Mark had. In fact, there were so many of them, I had to lock myself up in a closet! I couldn't access my own room because I locked my keys in! Whenever I called for Mark's help, he would always wind up talking to a bunch of guys I barely knew. One of them even tried to hit on me so I had to run and hide behind Mark's back!

Left with no other choice, I called my best friend for help. She came right away but she ended up partying like the others. I couldn't blame her, though. Gennifer has low resistance for parties. So, in annoyance, I walked around until I bumped into to this blonde dude. To my realization, it was actually Jonathan. That time, though, he seemed as if he was the type of person who didn't like to talk. He would give me this look that seemed to burn a hole on my face whenever I started a conversation. To think I even thought that it was a blessing when Alicia and Mark came in the scene to stop the awkwardness surrounding the both of us.

"Oh, I didn't know you knew my brother," Alicia smiled.

"We don't know each other," I replied plainly. "We just happen to bump into each other."

"Is that so?" Mark said mockingly. I punched him on his arm. "Alright! I get it!"

"Anyways, this is Jonathan," Alicia said enthusiastically. I looked at Jonathan. He didn't seem to be happy. "Jonathan, this is Wendy. God, I can't believe you don't even know each other! You're both in the same grade."

I swear to God, I saw Alicia wink at me, as if she was trying to imply something. And if she was, I wouldn't bother trying to find out what she meant. Whatever it was, it was probably better if I didn't know.

Since that night, Alicia brought Jonathan around the house every time she could. Mark would spend the day with Alicia in his bedroom while Jonathan and I would be left out in the living room, watching television. It was just awkward. At least, until Jonathan opened his mouth.

"Switch the channel," Jonathan commanded.

Pouting, I did what he told me to do. "You could've asked me nicely!"

Jonathan just looked at me. I bit my bottom lip and looked away.

That was even more awkward than the first time I've met him.

After a few days, I got sick of Jonathan. It didn't take time before he became this big bully around me. He told me what to do and what not to do. Sometimes, he would talk to me about some things, making me believe they were true. He was a big fat liar! And a meanie! I can't believe I just said that, but it's the truth!

The thing I hate about Jonathan the most was when he suddenly grew this obsession of embarrassing me in public. I don't need to elaborate any further. You get the point. As if having a big older brother who makes fun of you isn't bad enough. This was totally a whole new level. It's like playing Fast Ball during level forty-eight on an iPod touch and you can't jump through those double pointy things. It get's irritating to the point where you wind up throwing your iPod through the window.

Yes, that happened to me. It's even included in the list of the most embarrassing things that happened in my whole entire life. Why? Because after I got my iPod touch fixed, Jonathan freaking loser Collins had to finish the level for me! You got that right! He. Finished. It. For. Me.

"Give me that!" Jonathan said, taking my iPod touch and replaying Fast Ball. My eyes widened, trying to take my iPod away from him. He pushed me away and played with it. A few seconds later, he gave it back to me. "You're such a loser. It was so easy."

"Why you little—"

He smirked at me. He freaking smirked at me!

What an idiot! It's so obvious that I could do it by myself! But nooo! He had to interfere with my life and made me look like a total dweeb and a fool! It was embarrassing! So what? I couldn't make it through the next level! But was it really necessary to do something so mean?

Ugh. Let us get to the point.

The reason why I'm here at this stinking office was because I punched Jonathan in irritation. Normally, I wouldn't punch anyone. But he made me do it! How? Well, then let me tell you how it started.

The first thing I did when I woke up before the first day of school starts was brush my teeth, change my clothes, and prepare myself. I was eating breakfast peacefully when dad told me about the news that Mark was coming home tomorrow. When I asked dad why, he told me it was because Mark got kicked out of college for getting in trouble with this drug addict friend of his.

I didn't wanna know what else happened so I told dad that I got his point. The doorbell rang and I opened the door, only to see Jonathan.

"What are you doing here?" I asked curiously, raising a brow. "Mark's not here anymore you know."

"I was gonna walk you to school," Jonathan shrugged.

"What am I? A kindergartner?"

"You might as well be. Now hurry up or we're gonna be late!"

I should've known that that was just a part of his evil scheme to embarrass me. But I was so naïve that I never even thought about it! And when we got to school, that's when it all happened.

Jonathan left me for a second and told me to wait. Being my stupid self, I agreed to do so until he came back with one hand, behind his back. I tried hard not to make a big deal out of it and cause some riot. But then, he hugged me.

Yep. He hugged me.

I froze at that moment, not knowing what to say or what to think. My mind was malfunctioning and I couldn't do anything about it. When Jonathan pulled away, he had this smirk on his face. At that point, I knew something was up. I was right all along. Because then, he showed me the can of coke in his hand and then flicked it up open, pouring it on me slowly. My mouth was opened the entire time. Everyone around me laughed the entire time. The moment when he stopped, I clenched my fists tight and then whipped it around vigorously as it found its landing on his face. He fell down on the ground because of the impact.

Jonathan's eyes widened, looking at me while touching the work I've done on his face. Everyone stopped laughing and just stared until Mr. Powers came around, shocked.

"Principal's office," Mr. Powers announced. "Now!"

Remember when I told you I had this list about the most embarrassing things that had happened in my life? Well here's another one. Back when I was in kindergarten, I got caught stealing from the cookie jar so I had to sit on the corner and wear this really weird hat on my head.

And let me tell ya . . .

This was definitely more embarrassing than wearing that weird hat on my head while sitting on the corner.

Revised – 11/01/2011