Empty Bottles

[Wicked]

​

Max was fiddling with his pen, occasionally writing things down on his notebook, half-heartedly following the lesson. Math had never been one of his strong points, nor such calculative or mechanic way of thinking overall. All the rules in math felt too restricting to him, and he always felt the urge to bend those rules which ultimately made him fail most of the tests. So truth to be told, he was really struggling with this class, and the only way he managed to stay afloat was to cram always just before exams and hope he was lucky enough. And like always, his interest was quickly turned somewhere else from the chalkboard, and the golden eyes wandered around, the teacher's lecturing turning into distant background noise.

The brown haired girl in front of him seemed stiff. She had not said a word to him since the class had started, but the way he shoulders were tense, Max knew she was aware of him. It pleased him to know that she was, which was the reason why Max found himself staring at the back of her head more than often with a smug crooked smirk gracing his features. It made him want to tease her like before. There was just something satisfying about it to see her show so many emotions because of him, to have her snap back. It was like a challenge of sorts. And for some reason he really wanted to touch her hair. Was it as soft as it looked like? What scented shampoo did she use? What would it smell like?

Max licked his lower lip, and forced his attention elsewhere from her, before he would actually reach out and grab her hair to find out, forcing the growing urge down. He might have been an irritating smart-ass, but he did not go around grabbing girls like a douchebag. Before long, his attention was turned to the red haired girl who was talking with a guy seated next to her. Max had anything but forgotten how she had talked to him in the cafeteria, and even though he had decided she did not matter to him, truth to be told, she really pissed him off. You did not just go around calling people with rude names you did not even know! And now she was sitting there, being all cute with the other guy, making it feel like the terrible personality she had shown to Max earlier was almost like he would have only imagined it. If Max would have not seen it himself, he would have probably thought this was completely another person. Did she have split personality or something? The poor guy who she was flirting with did not obviously know where he was getting himself into.

Biting his lower lip in thought, Max reached out for his eraser and started shredding little pieces off it. Yeah right, she did not matter to him. But he would show her that nobody would just talk to him like that and expect to get away with it. He was Maxwell Everett, not some run-of-the-mill guy. It would be only fair to teach the chick how real world worked, and save the poor dude from her evil clutches.

Max took one of the many shredded pieces of his eraser, put it on his thumb and his forefinger behind the piece. Then he aimed, and flicked it across the classroom, trying to hit the red haired girl from where he was sitting. The teacher was turned towards the chalkboard, and not paying attention.​

 

[TerminaPianist]

Jason woke up drowsy, tired, and restless. ''Huh..? Oh, thanks, heh..'' he said, gently patting Brianna on the head. He sat up and realized his earbud was out. ''H-Hey! I'm listening to Sleeping With Sirens..''he said as he plucked it out of her ear, for revenge. He chuckled when he put the one that was in her ear in his, and the other that was loosely hanging in hers. ''There we go!''

 

[DANAsaur]

Brianna smiled, feeling the small affection given to her by Jason and continued listening to the music "Wow, this is pretty good." she said while bobbing her head to the beat. But her smile quickly turned into a frown when she felt something hitting her. She looked down on her desk and saw a piece of eraser. Picking it up, she looked around like a lost puppy finally focusing her attention to the blonde boy and mouthed "What?"

"What the hell is wrong with him?" she mentally thought to herself and turned her attention again to the boy beside him "Is this nightcore?" she asked.

 

[TerminaPianist]

Jason smiled with glee, for how happy he had suddenly been. Most stereotypic people would guess some idiotic answer like Scream-o. He spoke in shy happiness. ''Yes..! It is!'' Jason looked over Brianna's shoulder and spotted the boy behind her. He waved with a warming smile. ''Hello.''

 

[Wicked]

When his catapulted eraser piece hit the mark, Max smiled victoriously. The redhead turned around to look where it came from and found the source soon enough. It was rather obvious, since Max did not bother to hide the fact that it was him. What would have been the point of that? He wanted her to know. The girl mouthed a quick what, as if she was a saint that had never done anything to deserve it in the first place. Now that was really two-faced of her. Max raised his eyebrow at her, as if silently asking if she was being serious. But she just turned around, focusing on her male companion. And speaking of the devil, he turned around to look at Max soon too, waving at him and throwing one of those smiles at him. He was trying to be the alpha male in the room, trying to show that this was his female. Max could not help but snort in amusement. The dude was being just as intimidating as a koala with a wooden butter knife! The guy could keep the ginger for all he cared, he was the one who would eventually regret it when he would find out how much of an ill mannered bitch she was. For what Max gathered, the way she behaved around the other boy, it was all just a facade. People like her pissed him off. She definitely had a fine looking high horse she was sitting on, but she should learn to keep it in the stables.

The fair haired boy was not intimidated, as he just tilted his head to the side, a cheeky smile adoring his lips. He did not care about the other blondie buffing his chest, he did not matter. He just wanted to torment the redhead a bit, to teach her a lesson that you just do not mess with people like him and behave like you are untouchable. There would be consequences. She had made her bed, so she better lie in it. Max smiled like a cherub to the other guy, and picked up another eraser piece, before launching it at the redhead again. However, after sending out the second missile, Max decided it was enough for now. He would have a word with the ginger eventually when he felt like dealing with her more than this. Right now, she was not worth his time more than petty bullying in the class. With a click of his tongue, the blond boy turned around his seat to face the front of the class again, leaning on the palm of his hand.

 

[DANAsaur]

She felt another eraser in her head and she knew it was from the blonde. Heck, who else would throw a piece of eraser to her except him? She was clearly annoyed by his childish behavior but she maintained her attention to Jason and said "I love listening to nightcore! but mostly I listen to the creepy ones. hehehe~" she laughed cutely at the boy, completely ignoring Max.

She made a mental note that she'll talk to the blonde after class, whether he like it or not.

 

[TerminaPianist]

Jason's smile grew, as he had been getting to know her. He blushed at all his thoughts, his heart consuming his brain, or emotions taking over his brain, the slight blush was just the beginning of what went rampaging in his head. ''Heh.. Me too, well, J-Just a little.. Eheh..''

 

[OlympusBlood]

Cassia knew something was happening behind her but she willed herself to not turn around. To not throw herself in a battle that wasn't hers. She looked up at the board again and was actually beginning to understand. But she knew she'd have to understand a hundred percent to pass the exam. There were so many things she didn't understand that the ones that did she couldn't make stupid mistakes on.

Yet, from the shadows of her mind something came out. Her dad. It'd been half an hour and he may have not had been giving her the silent treatment as a punishment. What if he was worried, or he only started ignoring her after this class because she had done the same. It made her feel sick. She felt selfish and unfair, and she had to find a way to leave the class even if only for a few minutes. Yet, even more, she had to do this. Her grades slipped because of her dad, who still expected her to pass. It could never be a win-win situation. And Cassia didn't know which one was more important.

She turned her head to look at Maxwell, willing herself to ask him the question on her mind. How did you know? But she still told herself not to, and she felt pathetic because she couldn't ask him a single question.

 

[Wicked]

Max had started to fiddle again with his pen, and he was bouncing his right leg up and down under the table. He was the kind of guy that tended to have that nervous energy, having hard time trying to remain still in a class situation, which made focusing on things like math nearly impossible. So in short, he was not only a troublemaker within students, but he was showing signs of learning disabilities such as ADD, but not receiving the kind of help he needed from his learning environment as he struggled forward with his studies. His mind wandered easily, and Max found himself doodling on his notebook instead stick figures that were all in various stages of fighting each other rather flamboyantly. There was not really any point of listening to the math teacher's droning when he did not understand what he was getting at anyway. Max would try to learn himself before the exam from reading the text book and getting some guidance from the internet. Thank God for the internet.

The brunette seated in front of him moved, and automatically, Max glanced up. Suddenly he was staring straight at her dead in the eyes, and for the first time, he realized to pay attention to their color. Green. A nice darker shade of green, a foresty color, like the moss or pine needless, but not quite as rich. Like it was being toned down with a shade of grey, making it more pleasant to look at. She was not the kind of girl that was very eye catching with her looks, and what Max would call, mediocre. He was not saying she was ugly, because she definitely was not that. She was pretty, a nice sight for the sore eyes, but not the type of pretty that demanded attention from the male population and commanded the room full of lustful teenagers with too much make up, perfume, too short skirts and way too allowing necklines. She was more subtle, but once you looked at her, like really looked at her, you would realize that she was actually really beautiful.

And he was over analyzing.

Max flicked his gaze down to his notebook with a frown, getting back to doodling quickly. "What?" He asked quietly, to avoid getting the teacher's attention, voice thrumming with low vibrations.

 

[DANAsaur]

"How cute~" Brianna cooed over Jason and let out a cute laugh "So, what else do we have in common hmm?" she asked while nudging his shoulders "Do you like sweet things?" she asked but before the boy could answer she already answered her own question "I think you like sweets. I mean, who doesn't like sweets? I love sweets!" she blabbered, not really paying any attention to the teacher and to the entire class.

 

[OlympusBlood]

He stared at her. For ages. It was an expectant look. Cassia had turned around. Yet she hadn't expected him to notice so much. "How?" she asked him, "How did...how did you know that...I, well," she struggled with her words. Take care as if I am the adult, she continued in her head. She didn't know how to say it out loud. All the judgemental looks she had received in her life for missing a parent. She didn't want another one. His eyes seemed so cold and she wasn't sure why she was risking another detention. She could just ask him after class, right? Cassia mentally told herself no. She had to check her phone. People must think she was addicted to it or something. Perhaps she was, so many calls that one out of place was abnormal.

The frightening kind of abnormal. The one that screamed an accident, or worse. The one that sobbed a pain, or the one that hides a secret.

 

[TerminaPianist]

Jason chuckled, knowing that the boy behind them could be eavesdropping. He playfully ruffled her hair and stated in a playfully tone, almost as if he couldn't be taken seriously. ''If I didn't like sweet I wouldn't be talking to you.'' and then he touched the tip of her nose with his. He had done it, his first flirt in what? First years of High School? He was never really good at it so he tried to stay away from flirting. Oh well. He removed his finger and picked up his pencil, tapping it against the desk to make beats.

 

[DANAsaur]

"Geez!" Brianna whined and pouted "No need to ruin my hair" she said as she fix back her long soft red locks.

She really hates it when someone mess with her hair. While she was in preschool, a mean girl suddenly chopped off her red locks, giving her an awkward haircut. Since then, she never trusted anyone with her hair. And when someone did mess with her hair, she makes sure that they'll pay for it. But feeling that the boy beside him has no idea what she's gone through, she let it slide and ruffled his hair back in revenge "now were even" she snicked then stuck out her tongue childishly.

She heard him say something about sweets and felt his finger touching the tip of her nose. She blushed slightly and covered her red face, looking away from the said boy. This isn't good she thought to herself, thinking about what is really happening between the two of them. Could she be falling for him? she asked and laughed "Never in a million years" she muttered under her breath.

She then heard annoying ticking sounds beside her, seeing Jason tapping his pencil to make beats. She sighed annoyed and looked at him "Could you please stop making beats? It's kinda annoying." she asked him sweetly then looked out of the window.

Shit. Something is terribly wrong with me.

 

[Wicked]

Max waited patiently her to finish the sentence. But when the rest did not come out, he glanced up again. She was squirming in her seat, obviously hoping the blond boy to fill out the blanks for her. Thankfully for her, Max was not stupid, despite being constantly referred as such by his classmates, by his teacher, by his father, by the neighboring cat lady next door. Even though he was able to count together one plus one (after all, they were in the math class and studying algebra, so if he couldn't do that much, he would be utterly screwed), it did not mean he was anymore willing to play along. He waited for few unnecessary heart beats to prolong her torment, before he just flicked his gaze back down to his notebook of stick figures 101 guide to martial arts.

"I don't know what you're talking about," He said with a straight face, but a smile coating his husky voice, "I'm just your regular high school problem student. What in the world makes you think a loser like me would be able to figure out anything?"

 

[TerminaPianist]

Jason chuckled once more, then pouted as well when she messed up his hair. ''Noooooooo!'', it came out in a playful and soft voice. He fixed the hair up, bending at the near-roots and pointing them downward. He smiled until she asked him to stop tapping his pencil.

Jason looked at her with an angered face, his eyes returned to the pencil in which he lifted. He snapped it in two, then in four. He dropped them on the floor. He was silent, then burst out laughing. ''Alright, I'll stop.''

 

[OlympusBlood]

Cassia rolled her eyes. Was he really going to act dumb? That was...dumb. "You are messing with me right?" She frowned as she tried to work out what he was trying to get across to her. "You used about five words I didn't know the meaning of in that detention. You're joking. You are joking?" She was actually nervous. Did this make her stupid? That was one of the things that caused disappointment, and disappointment was her second biggest fear (her first was death). She turned to the board as the teacher said something, biting her lip as people were asked questions and hoped her name wasn't called out.

Then she turned back around, "You know, you're really good at getting under my skin. Congrats." This really bugged her. "But you've made an enemy." If he wasn't going to help her out here, she was going to find a way to make his life difficult. Even if it took her all year.

 

[Wicked]

When she started questioning him, Max leaned his elbows on the desk, entwined his fingers together and placed his chin on them, amber eyes twinkling in amusement. She sounded so sure at first, but then faltered until the claim started sounding more like a question. The girl kept turning around in her seat, unable to choose if she wanted to turn her back to Max or face him after all. All the while the blond boy just observed her behavior with an impish smile on his face.

"You flatter me." Max barked a quiet laugh under his breath. Then he leaned forward, adding, "Having enemies sounds awfully exciting. Now if it wouldn't be so time and energy consuming, I would love to play this game with you." He reached out to poke her arm with the tip of his pen, voice falling into low velvet, the tawny color of his eyes seeming to turn darker; "But I do like the idea of getting under your skin."

Then, he withdrew back, the expression brushed away as he smiled like the Chesire Cat. "...Just kidding."

 

[OlympusBlood]

"No you're not," she muttered under her breath, and the pen came in contact with her sleeve. A scowl appeared on her face, and she narrowed her eyes, because she was unsure of him joking with her or not and studied his body language. Why did everybody seem so difficult to understand? Had she distanced herself that much that she couldn't understand over people? Cassia wasn't sure. Again.

Then she heard herself being addressed, "Cassia Hart." Being asked a question. Oh. She tried to work out the question as quick as she can, "Three?" she guessed and blushed as she seemed stupid. It was obviously incorrect. She didn't even have to be told that. Because when she looked a little harder, she realised she'd forgotten half the question, but the teacher moved on, and Cassia sighed. All the lessons I concentrate I never get asked. The one I don't becomes the one I am asked. My bloody luck.

Nonetheless, Cassia turned back to Maxwell. "Game on," she muttered.

 

[Wicked]

The crooked smile was back, and the boy leaned on his hands so that the smile was mostly covered behind his hands. Deep within those amber eyes a fire was lit as they looked the girl dead in the eyes, entertained by her spunk and determination. "If you insist. I'll be awaiting for your move, then."

But then he reached out the hand again that was holding the pen, wrapping a brown lock of hair around it, and tugged a bit. "Now obviously I must know the name of my newly appointed nemesis, it would be only unfair of you to know mine alone. If we're going to establish such a relationship, I want us to be in equal ground when we leave this classroom."

 

[DANAsaur]

Is he a bipolar or something? Brianna thought as she watched Jason breaking the pencil into four "Woah, dude. If you're mad at me, don't take it on the pencil." she said while looking at him straight in the eye, ignoring the laughter he had a couple of minutes ago. She hated how people always have different sides, how people can't decide which side they'll choose, good or bad. And because of that, she hated herself even more. Seeing Jason's behavior made her see who she was a couple of years ago. She can feel the sudden change in the atmosphere and she loathed it. Sighing she looked out of the window and said in a strained voice "You know, you'll never get what you want if you don't show them the real you."