There was that familiar gooey feeling in the pit of my stomach again. All it took was for her to grace me with a slight glance, a soft smile tugging at the corners of her lips, a knowing glitter in her eyes and I was a goner. She knows she has me wrapped around her little finger, but it wasn't always like that. There was a time when I thought I hated her and her, well she was adamant.
We went to school together, for fourteen years. We did not belong to the same circle; in fact I made sure I never had to interact with the likes of her during the entire time. She was the quintessential high school bitch, or so I thought. You see, I hate to admit it and when I do, she never lets me hear the end of it, but I used to overdose on teenage drama movies during my adolescent years. In my warped 17-year-old brain, High School had the crème de la crème -the jocks and cheerleaders, the too school for cool- class presidents and know-it-alls, the majority- the ones that faded in to the background and the ones at the bottom of the ladder- the so-called losers.
My darling Tamara, belonging to the first group used to stand with a distant smile as her 'boyfriend', let's call him Jock, tortured the latter groups. His football skills and bulging muscles had girls swooning all over him and made him believe it was his right to run an autonomous regime in the school. Me, I liked to spend my time in the library or in the computer lab or in the homeless shelter when I am not busy with school president activities and I wasn't one to stand by and watch people getting bullied. This meant I used to butt heads with Jock on a regular basis. Although I had convinced myself that I am asexual, even I could not, not notice the beautiful, shapely minx by his side every time we were in a fight. And by fight, I mean clawing, thrashing and biting. It did not matter that I was a girl, the teachers usually had to pull us apart and drag us to the principal's office as a worried Tamara followed us.
It was my final year, I already got scholarship to a great university and if just stayed out of trouble, soon after I turn 18 I could go away from these imbeciles and start a new life in the grown-up world where everyone brings something to the table and the smart ones are given their due respect. But being me, I couldn't let one of Jock's snide remarks at Joe go ignored and took a swing at him.
Long story short, after one of those meetings with the principal, I had gone to the ladies' room to wash the blood dripping from where Jock scratched my arm, to find Tamara staring at the mirror. I snorted. As she was jolted out of her reverie, she stared at me with a look of confusion.
"Stare long enough, you may be able to convince everyone you are not ugly inside," I spat.
She looked hurt, "Why do you hate me so much?"
I expected her to come at me or make a snide remark or even call the Jock to settle it out with me, but this was a reaction I did not anticipate. "Huh?" I asked dumbly.
"I asked why you hate me. We have never interacted. I don't think you even know my last name. Then how are you so confident I am not worth liking?"
"I.."
"How are you any different from Jock?"
"I am nothing like that jackass. He thinks it's his right to bully everyone around. I stand up for those who get bullied."
"But you were bullying me just now."
"I guess... I was.. But I did not think.. I...umm.."
"You did not think what?"
