From the many places she could go to at school after the exams ended, Melanie couldn't tear her gaze away from the scoreboard, which shown that she only managed to secure the second best position. With a frown, Melanie glared at the point difference between her and the top scorer, Jaden. She suppressed a growl, holding back her anger so the others passing by wouldn't think she had gone mad.
"Why are you still looking at those? It's already over. You can't complain, even to Dean, to change it anymore."
Melanie turned her head toward a young man standing right behind her, leaning against the wall. He smiled, making the girls around him grin and squeal uncontrollably. However, not for Melanie. She shot a sharp glare at Jaden, as if holding a million grudges against him.
"Just admit it, Melanie," Jaden said again. This time, he stepping closer to her. "You can't beat me and steal my position."
"It's not over yet!" Melanie shouted, which was met with Jaden's laughter.
"Oh? Really? Then, does that mean you want to challenge me at tonight's prom? Do you even have a date already?"
"Of course!"
Melanie deliberately lifted her chin as high as possible, trying to appear confident even though she had just lied. In her mind, she was busy sorting through which of her male friends she could invite to the event tonight. So preoccupied with solidifying her lie, she didn't notice the drastic change in Jaden's face.
"Hmm ... we'll see."
Jaden walked away after saying that, accompanied by the screams of girls who began to swarm around him wherever he went, just like bees swarming a fresh beautiful flower. Melanie clicked her tongue and quickly grabbed her phone to contact one of her best friends.
~later at 7 pm~
"You owe me big, Melanie. A super huge amount. Note that!"
Melanie could only chuckle when she opened the door and saw her best friend standing there with a deep frown. Meanwhile, another friends of hers was laughing from inside the car parked in front the yard. Not wanting to make her friend angrier, Melanie quickly pulled her date for tonight toward the car.
"Seriously, why can't you even spare us from making a scene, even just for a day, with that cocky bastard Jaden?" asked the one who's driving, Theo, while he glancing through the rearview mirror. "It's good you have Abe who never thinks of going to this kinda party besides gaming in his room. But what if he magically has a partner already? You'll be screwed and we can't help you."
"Don't underestimate me even if I don't party," Abe, who was sitting behind Theo, interjected after giving him a smack on the head. "I can take any girl I like if I want. Lemme remind you of three years ago when I took the cutie Lindsay with me."
"Alright, Abe, easy. We know you're just lazier compared to those years," added Susan, who was sitting next to Theo. Hearing this, Abe sighed harshly and sat quietly. Susan turned her gaze to Melanie. "It's a pity though. I thought Jaden would ask you out to be his date. So, you two are only destined to be arch-enemies, huh?"
"Excuse me?" Melanie folded her arms in front of her chest, returning Susan's flirtatious gaze with a deep frown. "He? Ask me out? Have you loose your screw, Susan?"
"But I thought so too," Abe chimed in, making Melanie glare at him too, but Abe was too busy thinking and continued, "You may not realize it, Mel. But in front of me and Theo, he always glares at us as if we want to rape his girlfriend at any moment."
Behind the wheel, Theo nodded in silence, causing Melanie to let out a long sigh and shake her head in disbelief. In her mind, that was the weirdest and most unreasonable assumption. To her, Jaden was just someone who always made her plans, targets, and obsessions of being the top scorer fail so easily despite her maximum efforts.
"Well, just let me go before 11, okay? I gotta go beat the last boss tonight so tomorrow I can make progress on the new mission and another map."
Melanie nodded in response to Abe's request so that this friend of hers wouldn't accumulate more debts that he would demand from her for tonight. She thought that two or three hours staying there would be enough as long as she showed proof that she wasn't entirely lying to Jaden.
When they finally arrived at their destination, the four of them entered the hall that was already bustling with classmates and some other guests. With full sense of solidarity, Theo and Susan followed Melanie and Abe who walked in front of them, searching for the one person who was their main focus tonight.
"Dang! That's sick!" Abe exclaimed as they moved deeper inside and stood at the edge of the dance floor. His eyes were fixed on the ten clock. "He brought a goddess!"
Melanie, followed by Susan and Theo, looked in the direction of Abe's finger and stared at the goddess he mentioned who was clinging to Jaden's arm, making them both look dazzling. Swallowing her frustration, Melanie approached the perfect couple while pulling Abe along with her.
"Took you long enough, Melanie."
Melanie nodded slightly, lifting her chin and staring at the couple in front of her while holding back the urge to compare herself to the pretty girl Jaden had brought. Since her effort was too obvious, Jaden introduced the girl to Melanie and her friends.
"Meet Rosalin."
"Nice to see you this evening, Rosalin. I'm Abraham. Beside me is my date, Melanie. And our friends, Theodore and Susan."
Melanie did her best not to roll her eyes at Abe who quickly grabbed Rosalin's hand, making Theo look at him disapprovingly. Beside him, Susan was already giggling and shaking her head. Meanwhile, Jaden seemed angry at Abe's attempt to approach his date. Melanie could only hope that Abe would still make it home safely.
Eventually, each of them began to enjoy the event. After hopping on the dance floor for a full song, Abe pulled Melanie to the food and drink bar. Staring at the pool across the hall, which was also filled with many people, Abe opened his mouth, "Did you see how he glared at me?"
"Yeah. I mean, you directly and openly flirted with his date. How couldn't he glare at you with that murderous intent?"
It seemed, Melanie misunderstood something when she saw Abe staring at her with confusion.
"Wait, what? You really can't see what I meant, Mel? Seriously? With that spectacular brain of yours?"
Hearing that, Melanie felt offended and without wasting more words, she asked to the point what Abe meant. Sighing, Abe explained slowly.
"I'm not lying when I say Rosalin is like a goddess, but she's truly not my type to flirt with. So, forget about her for a moment. Now, don't you carefully hear what I said before? Word for word? That I marked you as my date, so I thought maybe he'd show that glare towards me because of that. And he did. You also could see it yourself."
Melanie shook her head while sipping her drink. "No, Abe. He's pissed off because you touched and flirted with Rosalin. Why should he be so irked like that just because of your mere words? It doesn't make sense."
Hearing her resolute tone, Abe could only remain silent while staring at his friend with narrowed eyes. If only he hadn't heard the stubbornness in Melanie's voice, he would still want to argue his opinion and ensure that his view was correct and accurate. However, since he knew Melanie didn't want to hear anymore nonsense about Jaden, considering this was their last moment before moving on to university life, Abe reluctantly surrendered. He didn't want to ruin this precious time with something that could made her uncomfortable.
"Fine if you want to see it like that. We can end this discussion right here. Fin. Is it good?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, which Melanie replied to with a thumbs up. "Anyway, I still have 50 minutes, so I'll give you the right to my body until that time is up."
At that moment, Melanie got up from her seat, pulling Abe back to the dance floor, approaching their two friends who immediately welcomed them and invited them to move together to the rhythm of the funky song playing.
~15 minutes before 11 pm~
"Ugh, that girl! I already told her again and again, but she's still not here!"
"Calm your ass, bro! There. I saw Mel with her so-called enemy behind the pillar near the buffet. Let's wait for five minutes. Your game won't run away."
Not only watching from a distance, a few minutes ago Theo had also witnessed Jaden holding Melanie back as she had just exited the restroom. Since this involved both of them, Theo realized it wasn't his place to interfere even though Melanie was his best friend. So, they had to wait until Jaden finished his business with Melanie.
Meanwhile, in the corner near the empty drink bar, Melanie crossed her arms in front of her chest, staring dumbfoundedly at Jaden who was leaning against a pillar, silently watching her without blinking.
"What ... did you just say? Am I suddenly deaf?"
"I'm asking for your number," Jaden said, emphasizing each word. "Whilst I asked you nicely."
Melanie suddenly fell silent, then frowned. "What does that mean?"
"I mean what I said. I won't repeat thrice." Jaden sighed and pushed himself away from the pillar, standing upright. "So, will you give me your number or not?"
"No, obviously."
"Hm ... well. Fine by me."
As if his request didn't matter at all and was worth forgetting, he started to walk away from the ginger-haired girl. However, before he completely disappeared from sight, Jaden waved his hand with a mischievous smirk on his face.
"Farewell, Gorgeous."
Watching his back fade into the crowd, Melanie stared at him with a furrowed brow. "Was he just getting dumped by his girl?"
Not wanting to think about Jaden's problem anymore, she shook her head and walked toward her friends who were almost losing patience waiting for her.