After School With Mr. Obnoxious

Prologue

“Hey, Aaron! You imbecile creature!”

Aaron Lanter stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he heard his name and the derogatory word that came after it. He did not like it. He’s Aaron Lanter, the most popular guy in school and every girl’s dream guy and every guy’s object of jealousy. He was the Aaron of Lediville High. Who on earth would call his attention by calling him an imbecile?

The culprit was none other than Samantha Banks, who stood proudly by the countertop with her rather worried friends in the kitchen.

“What did you just call me?” Aaron asked.

The party was beginning to bore him. He and his friend, Zack, had decided to leave the party when they passed by the kitchen.

“Imbecile,” Sam answered coolly. “Hey, spell imbecile, I-M-B-E-C-I-L-E.”

“You’re screwed, Sam, like, down-the-sewer kind of screwed,” a girl who looked like a gothic doll said.

Sam frowned at her. “That doesn’t even make any sense, does it? Oh, I feel warm fuzzies.”

Chloe was nodding her head between Sam and Gothic Girl to the rap music blasting loudly. “This is an amazing party.”

Sam had never been drunk in her entire existence. But in that gusty, Friday night, she let her best friend, Chloe, influence her decision on how she should spend her evening. If it were up to her, she would be curled up in bed, watching classic TV show reruns. In fact, it was what she had planned, but when Diana, one of Lediville High’s cheerleaders, announced a house party before the first period even started Monday morning, everything changed.

For days, Chloe wouldn’t let the topic rest; she begged Sam to go with her and promised her they would leave the party before midnight. And on Thursday, Sam finally gave in and agreed to go with her. Chloe victoriously manipulated Sam to join in on the fun with half of the population of Lediville High.

After a few arguments about the smell of alcohol in the entire house, Sam finally agreed to stay for four hours. It was the first party of the school year, and everyone was partying like it was their last. The place was already swamped, but surprisingly, the kitchen wasn’t, so they decided to hang out in there with two other girls from one of their morning classes.

It only took three bottles of beer to turn Sam as pink as salmon—and a bit deaf—to start laughing and talking louder than normal. When boredom slowly crept in, the girl with the shiniest red hair whom they called Ginger suggested that they play Truth or Dare.

“I agree. Let’s play that ’cause this party sucks,” another drunken girl agreed. She had her nose pierced and couldn’t seem to stop playing with her pierced tongue. Her eyes were locked on a guy and a girl pinned on the walls, making out.

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Just because nobody wants to make out with you doesn’t mean the party sucks, Martha.”

Martha frowned. “Who’d want to make out with jerks?” She started to stare at the two girls standing in front of them who were surrounded by four guys.

Ginger suddenly stood up and almost spilled her beer all over Sam. “Okay, let’s entertain ourselves and play truth or dare,” she suggested again.

“This is Diana’s house. She’s a popular cheerleader. Why don’t we look around and maybe we’d find some weird stuff? Wouldn’t it be fun to discover something about one of those perfect cheerleaders at our school?” Martha said.

Chloe shook her head. “You have issues you need to fix.”

Sam got up. “Chloe, I think we should go. I’m starting to feel weird. I can’t feel my hands.”

Chloe checked her watch. “Sam, it is a quarter to ten. We agreed to leave fifteen minutes before eleven.” She offered Sam another bottle of beer while the other two had additional bottles too. After a couple more beers, Ginger proposed again that they play truth or dare.

And they all finally went for it. When it was Sam’s turn, she didn’t even hesitate to choose dare.

Dare.

Samantha Banks chose dare, a choice she made which she would regret making for the rest of her senior year because as soon as Ginger saw Aaron and his other jock friend passing by, she was doomed.

“Kiss Aaron Lanter. On the lips. With your tongue. For ten seconds” was the dare.

Chloe, Ginger, and Martha froze as Aaron walked toward them.

*        *        *

“Oh, Sam, did you really have to call him an imbecile?” Chloe muttered. She was growing nervous as few people started to gather around, waiting for what was about to happen.

“Who are you?” Aaron asked Sam. He looked really pissed.

Sam, on the other hand, was drunk and didn’t really care what was going on. “My name is Samantha Banks, your majesty, a humble servant from nowhere land.” She further ridiculed Aaron with a curtsy. “Actually, I know you know me because we had four classes together last school year. But you just pretend you don’t have a clue since you’re the so-called heartthrob, and you’re brainlessly following this preposterous social structure where a socially well-accepted person such as yourself would, only acknowledging other popular people’s existence. And since I am obviously neither cool nor popular, hence the ‘Who are you?’”

“Excuse me?” Aaron said.

“Is she drunk or high?” Martha whispered to Chloe.

“Let’s go, Sam. I think we drank more than enough booze for tonight,” Chloe said. She had more than five bottles; however, Sam’s alcohol tolerance was low compared to hers.

Sam had already turned red, not because of the tension in the room but rather due to the effect of the fourth bottle she had. She walked over to Aaron, smiling. “Listen, my friends and I are playing truth or dare. I chose dare. Now, I have to kiss you.”

Some giggled, and some just stood there with uh-oh looks on their faces.

“Is she serious?”

“Where’s Nicole? She’s got to see this!”

“What did you just tell me?” Aaron couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Whoa, dude. Nerdy got hots for you. Respect!” Zack mocked.

“Oh, please.” Sam rolled her eyes. “Like you’ve never kissed before? It’s simple. My tongue plays with your tongue, and then we swap spit. Like this.”

And before Aaron could even express his displeasure, Samantha Banks, Lediville High’s nobody, grabbed his collar and slammed her mouth against his before everyone’s very eyes.

“What the freak?” Ginger covered her mouth in shock.

“Could this really be happening?” Chloe thought she might faint.

“Is it the end of the world already?”

“The Illuminati is real after all,” someone cooed from the crowd.

Sam could only care less about the over-the-top comments from the stunned spectators because much to her surprise, Aaron’s mouth opened as soon as their lips touched. Her tongue forcefully whirled around his mouth. And the second she felt the heat inside his mouth and the warm and sweet smell of his breath, her head started to slowly spin. Without a shroud of ambivalence, she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer.

“Way to go, Sam!” Martha teased.

“s**t! Nicole’s coming.”

As soon as Chloe heard someone from the crowd mentioning Aaron’s girlfriend, she knew she had to do something.

“Okay, that’s enough lip-locking.” She yanked her friend away, abruptly ending a semiperfect example and display of how nerd girls could turn wacko when drunk. “We seriously have to go.”

“I think I’m gonna throw up,” Sam moaned.

Aaron looked down at her, speechless and in total disbelief just like the rest of the people who witnessed the shocking highlight of the party.

“What’s going on here?” someone asked.

And just like that, the crowd parted like the Red Sea for Nicole’s arrival.

“s**t. Nothing. We’re outta here.” Chloe hurriedly grabbed Sam, dragging her out of the house and saving her from Nicole’s wrath.

Music was still blasting from the living room and others were still busy in their own world, but in the kitchen, the atmosphere was utterly different. No one said a word.