Elizabeth POV

I was walking around the empty school when I heard someone shout, "My hand! My hand!" That sounded familiar! A deja vu.

I ran in the direction it came from and without my knowledge I was standing in the auditorium where the drama was been rehearsed. No one seemed to take notice of me when walked past them.

Everyone was busy staring ahead, they were surrounded something or rather someone when I suddenly was been pulled back away from the crowd and compressed in a corner where no one came to my aid.

"This is for what you did today! You better die and give me back my freedom!" a familiar attractive voice said from a dark corner. And suddenly it was suffocating! I was unable to breath...

I gasped but nothing went into my lungs. The next thing I know was me sitting up in my bed in the dark and gagging for air. My body sweated profusely like I had been in sauna instead of bed. What the fuck was that be dream supposed to mean?

I tried calming myself down by convincing myself that it was only a dream. I didn't realize that I had been chanting to myself, "It was only a dream. It was only a nightmare Lizzy, just a realistic nightmare!"

And it took me sometime to get back to sleep.

Next morning was the most horrible morning of my life! Never had I ever been treated like a shit.

After getting ready for the school in sky blue jeans shorts and light pink top, I thought the day was going to be fine as always but you never get what you want.

I wanted to forget the incident I had to feel with yesterday. But I couldn't! I couldn't forget his lips! They were so smooth, so plump and soft! I felt really ashamed about my foolishness, and the other students only made it worst.

They would look at me and whisper to each other as if I had committed the worst sin in the world. I earned his wrath, I agree with that. And I regretted it. Or probably not...

He hadn't come to school today and probably I was the reason. And everyone used that as an excuse to criticize me, especially Daisy.

She had actually been waiting for me by the main door, to let her bitch out on me right there.

As soon as I arrived, she strode up to me and shouted on my face, "you bitch, how dare you touch my boyfriend? I will be the one to kill you!"

She literally pounced on me with her nails towards my neck. Thanks to the coach who just came in time and pulled her back.

Daisy struggled in coach's grip while I let myself in.

I planned to avoid Daisy for the rest of the day while I was at school.

So that must have been why he was spitting fire at me because Daisy had been his girl all along!

That just made him my rival too! I should have understood it before all the mess I had caused. Especially when he and Daisy chatted like good friends, in fact flirted, I should have understood.

I had been nothing but a fool who got tempted for the forbidden fruit and lost the self-control. And now I was paying for it.

I kept my distance from everyone. Even my girls, Diana, Susie and Lola avoided talking to me. They got up to sit in another table when I joined them at lunch.

It was always Janet that stayed back for me, as she always had been there for me which I hadn't noticed before.

She was my only true friend.

It was the same even next day. The root cause of this mess hadn't come even to school. And I repented attending another torturous day.

I had received a call from my parents about their arrival next week but even that happy new which wouldn't had stopped me from celebrating, brought any happiness to my mood. I entered my first class and sat in the nearest empty seat but my neighbor vacated immediately. So, here I was sitting alone again and waited for the teacher to come.

Mr. Nicholas didn't take much time to enter the class and start the lesson. I tried hard to concentrate and not to cry though my tears were restrained only by a millimeter below my eyelids from flowing out freely. I had already had enough of listening people cursing me with words like 'slut', 'whore', 'bitch', 'witch' and all the other vocabulary they possessed. When did kissing someone in this modern world become such a big crime?

Man! It was ironic to hear those words when even my dating history was next to nada! Then how did they arrive at the conclusion to call me a 'slut'? The day went fine. Where fine got it's new definition with me and my miseries. If I had known earlier helping someone would cost me my reputation, I would have never helped that bastard!

I cried myself to sleep as I had been doing these last few days and soon drifted to sleep...

But then not even my sleep let me in peace. Another nightmare engulfed me.

I was walking alone. I don't know where but kept on walking in the pitch black darkness. And noises emerged from everywhere, "she's a bitch!"

"Yeah, even I haven't seen a slut like her."

"Yuk! Why is she here? She should be kicked out of the school."

"No way am I going to sit next to that whore."

"She deserves hell for what she did."

"No wonder why her friends left her and why Daisy hates her."

"Hahaha...that's why she has no real boyfriend! Because she tries to steel them from others but fails miserably."

"You bitch, how dare you touch my boyfriend? I'll kill you right now."

Nothing that wasn't heard by me today. I sat in a dark corner trying not to hear them curse while these comments kept erupting as a noise and echoing. I could feel tears roll down my cheek.

"Serves you right," I now heard that one attractive voice and could even make out the smirk in it.

I woke up and found myself literally crying. Tears had made their damp trails from the corners on my eyes. I turned to my side and cried out louder. Why do my dreams have to torture my like this? Wasn't my life enough? I hated him! I just hated him to the core!

And just like only seconds had passed, it was finally morning. Unwillingly, I got up and dressed into a navy blue, knee-length sleeveless frock. I wanted to be invisible today and hell, I didn't want to attend the school itself but there was an AP physics test which would be counted for finals, so I was left with no choice but to go.

Arriving at the school was same as usual, people had started with their mocking. They really made me feel the lowest of the low. I bent my head and made it through the parking lot when suddenly my eyes fell on the bad omen that had jinxed my life!

He was right there, holding Daisy by her waist and they were smiling at each other. I could already feel the tears brimming and clouding my vision. I wanted to look away but couldn't.

"Hey look! The slut is back into action! See the way she is eyeing at her victim!" Sheena exclaimed from behind me causing others to burst out loud laughing. Rome and Daisy turned to look at me. He didn't have a smile anymore. As if to showoff to me, he kissed Daisy's forehead and went away to the other side of the school.

Snivelling, I wiped the trace of my tears before making my way inside the school. Why should I cry over him? He never deserved my tears! He didn't deserve anything from me!

I made it to my first class and settled in the second bench when my neighbor immediately evacuated from her seat like I was plagued. It didn't take long for Mr. Nicholas to arrive. He started the class as usual.

But today wasn't the usual day. A new face appeared by the door frame asking for the permission to get in and since he was new, Mr. Nicholas allowed him in. I had never seen this guy before in the school. He was tall, tanned, muscular and handsome!

Mr. Nicholas conversed with him where I heard him being the new transferred student from South Africa about whom the whole school had gossiping about for a few days, if one excluded the gossip related to me. Mr. Nicholas asked him to introduce himself to the class. He stood there by the board and spoke in his loud accented voice, "Hi! I'm Duke Brown."

I could see the girls in the class letting out a few noises indicating their adoration but nothing changed in my mood. Mr. Nicholas asked him to take an empty seat and he came to sit beside me.

The whole class looked at me for a few moments as if it was unacceptable. Come on, I hadn't even whispered a word to the new guy yet, but there were whispers already floating all around the class!

Duke shouldn't have done that, it would only give them more things to talk about me.

I looked down at the bench feeling quite angry at myself when I felt him look at the side of my face but I still didn't raise my head to meet his eyes hear on.

"Hi! I'm Duke, you can call me D if you want," he reintroduced himself to me. I looked up at him, he was being friendly because he didn't know about what I was treated like in the school. When he'll know, he would treat me as same as the others did. Yet still, I introduced myself with a feeble voice which almost broke in middle, "I'm Elizabeth, but you can call me...anything."

I trailed off keeping the future as the reference. He may call me bitch tomorrow. He laughed, "So, I can call you anything?"

I just nodded.

 "So anything, why are you on a verge of crying?" he asked me.

My eyes widen at the sudden realization about what he just used to call me.

Did he just call me 'anything'?

"Hey! You called me 'anything'?" I asked feeling like laughing at myself.

 "That's what you asked me to call you!" he tried hiding a smile.

"I didn't mean that! I meant you can call me anything that you'd like!" I felt a small smile slip on my lips.

He smiled back and said, "See you look so much better when you smile, so keep smiling."

Those words of his just touched my heart. He was so sweet! But I was afraid knowing that I would be losing a friend like him shortly. Realization of that caused my smile to fade away and I turned back to focus on Mr. Nicholas.

"What happened?" Duke asked me, his voice sounded anxious.

"Nothing," I tried to hide the sadness in my tone.

"Please tell me!" he requested.

 "After the class," I replied just to stop him from talking to me in the class.

"I'll make you keep that promise," he said and I turned to look at him. He had warmth in his eyes and a comforting smile. It felt quite nice to see that again but I had to pull my eyes away from him unwillingly and focus on Mr. Nicholas' lecture.

The class was good, Duke was so funny and entertaining. I already started missing his carefree behavior. And then the class ended and my fear took over me. They would tell him those twisted things and he too would walk away from me.

He walked me out of the class and even accompanied me till the locker.

"Now, will you tell me what is it that is troubling you?" he asked looking at me with a serious face.

"If I tell you, you will drop the idea of being friends with me immediately," I told him looking away to hide my sadness.

"Try me," he encouraged.

I looked at him for a while contemplating if I really should or not. Anyway, he would learn about it pretty soon. He encouraged me again making me breathe out loud before telling him what had actually happened. He listened every word of mine intently as I narrated to him the entire incident with a basic background briefing about what had happened a few days ago.

Even after I had finished, he had his grimace directed to me for quite some time then suddenly he laughed almost making me jump in fright.

"I got you!" he said still chuckling. I tried not to laugh with him but couldn't prevent it.

"That was it? I thought that you had murdered somebody! Who was that lucky one who didn't value your kiss?" he asked almost catching me off-guard.

"You didn't feel bad about it?" I asked him surprised.

"Of course not! I wouldn't ever feel anything like that! In fact, I envy him! Ah, I wish that I was the beauty only for that moment to get that kiss from a beautiful lady, like... yourself," he smiled but I flushed like a tomato. He laughed at the coloring of my face.

He was so sweet! So carefree and amazing! And we were going to be friends!

Few more days passed with Duke by my side and Mrs. Veronica had got her new beauty, which was again none other than Duke.

To be honest, Duke was a really hot guy! He soon became the captain of our school football team. That made everybody's mouth shut when it came to me! They now feared of losing Duke and he never tolerated anything spoken against me.

Me, Duke and Janet hung out together most of the time and the school atmosphere had jealousy written all over it again. Just like the old times. But I didn't care, we had created our own little world created between us three where no one else was allowed in and I didn't even bother to see who was around or who was absent anymore.

Soon, I got my reputation back as one of the hotties of school! Our contact had severed completely with Diana, Susie and Lola. Now it was only D Z J, now. Duke, Elizabeth and Janet.

Some students became our hi-bye friends. And we were invited to almost every party! The nights were awesome because Duke totally knew how to party!

I felt my life coming back to me especially since I was excited about my parents' arrival this week. I didn't care about the gossips anymore as Duke would always be around lighting up my mood.

We traded classes with other students and got each other into almost every single class of ours. He had this great influence upon the teachers and other staff members and hence, it became so easy for him to get his work done.

The way he flirted his way with Ms. Anderson and got most of his work done was awesome!

"So, how are you, my pretty lady?" he would wink at her.

"As fine as silk," she would blush replying.

"That color really suits you! The other colors will be way to jealous of it, you see?"

"Oh! Duke! Stop it already! What can I do for you?" she would giggle it out.

And voila! There he got his work done! Wow! It really had me wishing that I was a boy.

Duke became my bench-mate partner in Mrs. Veronica's class too! It was good to have a handsome guy around like a friend, a very close friend, in fact one of my two best friends. I didn't feel odd to kiss his cheek and believe me when I say that it was he who had introduced it in our routine.

He had been really encouraging and entertaining. He didn't leave me alone even for a minute. If he did leave me he would return back to me as soon as possible. Whenever he went for the football practice, I and Janet would cheer for him from the bleachers. And most of the time we would see some jealous faces.

And that my friends, was really cool! I quite felt like myself again, the hot and stylish Z with the attitude of a diva. Duke made me lively again.