The Love Deal with Mr. Player

2. Liana + Asher = Disaster

Love is not a game to win; it is when you lose yourself to another person...

2: Liana + Asher = Disaster

(Liana)

My alarm ring tone was loud, ugly and that was why it was my alarm, or I wouldn't wake up. I groaned as I rubbed my eyes with a big yawn.

Ugh! I hate mornings!

I brushed, bathed and pulled a T-shirt and a pair of my pants on and bounced down the stairs with a tired frown.

Mornings were made to torture souls like me. I was made for nights, and books. Not mornings and people and school.

I put on my hoodie, that had holes in places I didn't want to mention, but still it had been my trusty sidekick for years now, I stuffed my face with the toasts my mom made and sprinted towards the bus stand.

"I am seventeen and I am still running to catch buses." I muttered to myself.

I was really unlucky in everything.

Not everyone was lucky enough to be blessed with driving skills. Accelerator, gears, brakes, steering wheel, mirrors, far too many things to focus on! Ugh!

When I went to get my license, my examiner told me that I would be a menace to the entire population of USA if he gave that license to me. He exaggerated, but... and yes, here I was, running to the bus stop, yet again, praying that the bus hadn't left.

Pushing my fingers through my messy hair, which stayed messy even after a rough combing, I let out a huge yawn. My mom would kill me if she ever saw me like this. Since she wasn't here, I took the liberty to yawn...

I saw a familiar car and rubbed my forehead with a wince when it stopped beside me. Asher rolled the window down and looked at me, that ever-present frown on his lips.

Ugh. I want to poke his eyes through the back of his thick skull.

"Hello loser, having a great morning?" His eyes scanned me up and down, before he scrunched up his nose in disgust. I studied him and his outfit. It was perfect. No hair out of place. Eyes bright with hatred. The casual devilish smirk.

How could a person get dressed impeccably and look cheerful this early in the morning? God, this boy didn't even know how to enjoy life.

"You look like you've just jumped out of a trash can, Liana. Have some mercy on yourself." He said, leaning his head out of the window.

I saw girls giving him flirty smiles. If only they knew what a monster he actually was.

Looks are not everything, people.

"Because I did and it is none of your freaking business." I said, and ran towards my bus.

"Be careful, don't break your nose or anything. You look ugly even without broken bones." He shouted to my back. I lifted my middle finger before I disappeared inside the bus. I took my usual seat - yes, I have an usual seat. That is how pathetic my life is.

"Liana, your stop. Open your eyes, girly or you will have to run back to school." Someone shook me and I opened my eyes with a groan. Mrs. Hickman! My bus buddy or more like my alarm clock. She woke me up every morning like clockwork.

"Oh God, what would I do without you, Liza? Thank you, thank you, see you tomorrow." I said to her and she nodded her head with a small indulgent smile. I waved before I got off.

When I reached my school gate, I was still tired as heck. I rubbed my eyes to get a better look at where I was going, it was kind of a hard work.

When I finally found myself across my locker - I zombie walked - I punched my locker code in and picked my books out if it. The noise was too loud, my brain was still out of loop.

And Asher was at his locker, flirting with a girl.And it was fate that made his locker exactly opposite to mine. Someone is having their kicks by messing with my life!

The girl with Asher, she giggled at something he said. Ew. She had no taste whatsoever. I pitied the poor girl. "You ..." I said and she looked up, looking slightly alarmed. "He is an ass. You deserve better."

She gave me a bewildered look and Asher glared at me. "Go away." He bared his teeth and I shrugged.

"Going. Going. Gone." I said as I walked away.

As soon as I reached my class with Mrs. Gibson, I found my empty seat, placed my bag down and leaned my head over the desk.

Whenever my teachers opened their mouth, I'd close my eyes. It was like an involuntary reaction. It had always been like that for me. My head was just so full of things that it had no space for words from the outside, especially words I didn't want to hear.

I am in no way a model student. or a model person.

"Miss Stan, move over here with Mr. Lawler." Mrs. Gibson's voice penetrated my sleep saturated brain. I slowly opened my eyes to see every pair of eyes looking at my direction.

"What?" I asked sleepily.

She gave me a disapproving nod and rolled her eyes.

"Move over here with Mr. Lawler." She said again, this time like she was speaking to a child.

"Why do I have to move next to him, Mrs. Gibson?" I stared at my teacher with wounded eyes. No way. I am not going to sit with that walking STD!

"Because I just told you."

"Why, again?" I blinked at her groggily.

"You are not at all in my class, are you?" She asked with a frown and rubbed her forehead like I was giving her a headache.

That is obvious, isn't it?

"Miss Stan you are going to do a project on human psychology. It's about human relationships, the nature of people, how their mind works and the way different relationships like friendship, family etc works... the dynamics of different kind of relationships, like the relationship between a mother and a daughter, a father and a son..."

Come on, I know the meaning of relationships. I am not that stupid.

Did she have to explain it like I was a kindergartner or something?

"And for that project, Mr. Lawler is your partner." Her words stung like a slap across my face and I was suddenly wide awake. I groaned as I pushed my head inside my palms.

"Is there a problem?" Mrs. Gibson sent a studious look towards me.

"Of course, it's my partner! Can I switch it with someone, I mean why can't I do the project with someone else?" I said with a groan. I was seriously in panic right now.

Mrs. Gibson sighed. She was well aware of our enmity and yet here she was, dragging me down with this dump of a human.

"IT! You're talking like I'm not even human." Asher said with a dark look in my direction.

"Of course you're not." I looked at him like he was crazy to think otherwise. "Have you seen yourself?"

"If anything it's you who's not human." He said. His voice shook at the end. His face flushed an angry red and that made my heart jump in pleasure.

Oh, I so love to make him lose it.

"Come on, it's you who eats like a pig, and it's you who acts like an orangutan." I smirked, trying to irritate him more. It was fun watching him when he get angry. All flushed and trembling and popping veins.

"You're the one who dresses like crap." He looked at me with a triumphant smile.

"Nice retaliation, but it missed the target. Try again." I chuckled. I pulled the book from the desk and stared intently at an opened page. "You might get it right one day."

"Shut up." He said, pounding his fist against his desk.

And I could faintly hear Mrs. Gibson's voice in the background.

Poor woman. She knew how we were and still she dared to partner us together. She had some great mental strength.

"It's the greatest comeback of the year, Mr. Lawler! You are awarded a shield and credit of 20,000 dollars. Bravo!" I announced dramatically with a bow.

There were titters all around. And laughter. I could be fun, when I was in the zone of teasing Asher and testing his limits. I knew all the right buttons I had to push...

He threw his pen at me. What the hell? Why would he do something like that to a lady? It was so unmanly, but what did I expect?

I threw my pen back at him and followed it with my sharpener and my ruler for an added effect.

That is so not like a lady! My subconscious voice, the traitor! I ignored the pesky thing. Not like I didn't know that petty fact.

"Liana and Asher, detention." Mrs. Gibson announced in an extremely calm voice, like she had done it over hundred times. In fact, she had.

I glared at the stupid boy. "It's your fault."

"How is it my fault? You started this." He snapped back. "You always start this."

"No, you started the fight while I was discussing peacefully about the project with Mrs. Gibson." I said, trying to control myself from throwing my thick psychology book at him. It could do all the damage I wanted to do to him, but I was afraid of Mrs. Gibson.

"You called me an It." He said with a pout in his voice.

Sometimes he could be so childish, but that was just sometimes. All other time, he was either rude or wicked or cruel or monstrous or...

We get the point. The pesky thing said.

Mrs. Gibson cut my thoughts short.

"Now Liana, pack your bag and move. Understand that this project is important. You fail this, you're not graduating. You hear me. NOT graduating and I know you want to graduate. I know you want to go to places. so..." Mrs. Gibson said.

She really does hate me. I know!

"Why can't he move here?" I said in a duh tone.

"Asher, please move over there and stop, don't argue." She said to him in a stern voice. Finitio!

"I'm not her slave. You always like... support her." He argued back to her. She looked tired as she rubbed her head. "You always do, Mrs. Gibson." His voice complained.

"I wouldn't want a manwhore as a slave even if you give me a billion dollars with it."

"Liana, can you please not talk like that in this classroom?" My teacher shouted, finally losing her calm. "One of you move over now or I'll mark you both fail right this instant." She said in a voice that was impossible to refuse to. Even for me.

I was almost ready to move over when I noticed that Asher was giving her a panicked look. Okay. I comfortably slid back into my desk when I realized Asher was losing the battle way before me.

After a few minute, I heard a chair being pulled roughly and a bag hitting the floor with enough force to make a hole in it. He muttered something under his breath which sounded like, 'why did God have to create an extra-terrestrial species like you?'

I just closed my eyes and ignored him. It was easy to ignore him than argue at this point.

"Liana, I want you to be awake in my class if you don't want another month of detention." Mrs. Gibson ordered and I groaned. I rubbed my eyes and stared at her.

"Good, first you have to start about the relationship between you and your partner." Mrs. Gibson droned on and on and I decided to stop listening.

My relationship with Asher! This was going to be one hell of a project.

Feeling quite bored, I picked a book and started reading it. Finally when the bell rangz I hurriedly left the place. I walked with Harry to my next class. He kept smiling at me like a buffoon. I didn't know when I was going to snap and throw a mean right hook. My brothers had trained me well after one bad incident in my life.

Sid was waiting for us on the way to art class. They started talking about the project that I was forced to do with Asher like I was not even there.

"I am right here, you know." I said to Sid and Harry and Harry shrugged as he grabbed his girlfriend and they kissed. Ew.

"PDA... too much." I said as they pulled away and I grabbed Sid by her hand and we walked inside the art class. My favorite class ever.

"Today you can draw whatever. And after that we are going to study about surrealism."

I grabbed a canvas from the storage room and placed it on the stand. I stared at the blank canvas for a moment.

Harry stared at his empty one.

My art teacher Ms. Greene smiled at our little display. She was such a cool teacher and I liked her so much.

My hand glided over the canvas. I used black for most of the drawing. Finally I used red to paint the face.

"Wow, you're really angry today." Trent smiled at the picture.

"Why is that?" I asked Sid.

"Well, see the picture for yourself." Harry turned me back towards the canvas.

The picture I had drawn was... ew... it was a nightmare. Really. He was wearing a black cloak; his nails were long and sharp with blood dripping off the ends. His teeth were sharp and extended over his lips. His eyes were sallow, with red surrounding the green. His shirt said Satan's Rep.

"It's not that bad." I commented after studying the picture. It was dark and haunting. A nightmare. Harry leaned in and studied the piece again.

"Don't you think it looks a lot like Asher?" He asked with a smug smile.

"Yes it does." Sid said with a smile.

"No, it wasn't." I said, much weaker than I expected.

***

Lunch break was the only thing I loved about school. Eating... Not that cafeteria food was better or anything, but it wasn't worse either.

I picked a tray and piled my food high on it. The warm aroma of food wafted past my nostrils and I smiled. I liked eating, it was like therapy. Food soothed my nerves and I felt less edgy when I was eating. That's a good thing, right?

"Hello loser." It was Asher. Ugh. I don't have time for this.

My stomach protested loudly, but I was so not going to walk away without replying to his comment. Or the smug bastard would think he had won.

"Yes jerk?"

"How was your date? I heard that Frank enjoyed it a lot." He said smiling. I had a niggling doubt that he didn't like it when I went on dates or something. We always had such dramas in the rarest days I went on dates.

"Oh that's great. I enjoyed it as much as him." I yawned. The food plate was heavy and I wanted to eat.

"Don't talk like you don't care, because I know you do." He said smugly and I shrugged.

"Like you know me... Yawn. Are we done yet?" I asked.

"You know what? You are rude and you pretend like you don't give a damn, but...".

"Are we done psychoanalyzing me? Do I need to pay you? I already am paying one." I said in a bored tone. I was, too. I was also hungry.

And you do stupid things when you are hangry! The pesky thing said.

"I know you do give a damn," he continued, as if I hadn't interrupted him. "Those books you read... you think you are going to find your prince charming, your soul-mate? Haha, you are so naive." He smiled with a small smirk.

I was stuck, really stuck. My books. He talked about my books. That was the line he should never cross.

The way he said it with contempt in his eyes, it stung my heart. I was always strong or at least most of the time, but I wasn't made of stone. I had feelings and I had a broken, beating heart. He should not do this to me. He was once my best, best friend.

He is not your anything, now...

I know but still...

"Go rot in hell." I spat at him.

"What, are you going to cry? You are going to be one of those old ladies, you know, alone, counting cats and knitting sweaters for them and oh, don't forget, reading those romantic stories. I think you're cursed." He continued without another thought as to how I would feel at that moment.

My heart crumbled as he spoke. That was really vindictive. What did I even do to him?

"I-I won't be alone. I-I will find someone." My voice shook. I placed a comforting hand on my chest, which felt like someone was squeezing it with iron fists. My eyes went blurry with unshed tears.

"You crying yet?" He asked, sounding cruel.

Why can't he just leave me alone? I get the memo that we aren't friends anymore, but why did he need to hammer the nail every damn day?

"Shut up, Asher. I get it. You hate me. Do you need to do this everyday? You are an asshole and that is all you will ever be." I looked down at him, and he looked like he just realized something. For a moment, he was silent and then he shook his head.

"And you are ugly" His voice was cruel, so were the eyes that once looked at me with love.

This was hurtful and had always been. I rubbed my tears away with the back of my palm. His eyes snapped towards mine and for a moment he looked like he actually regretted hurting me. Then his eyes went back to ice cold.

"Forget it." I said, biting my lips. That sob that was now forming in the back of my throat was subdued by my smirk.

"Then make me." He said and I looked at him confused. What did he mean by that? What was this, a damn comedy or something? Was anyone filming us, the ugly duckling getting mauled by the hot jerk?

But before he could answer, I heard Harry's voice.

"Say sorry, you prick." Harry yelled at him from beside me. I hadn't even noticed

"Why do I have to?" I could hear Asher's sidekicks laugh and he preened. Did it really matter that much to him, to hurt me and made them smile?

"Leave him Harry, let's go. He's not worth our time."

"Tell her that you're sorry." Harry growled at him.

"Pretty boy, I think you're going to get punched." Asher said in a deadly voice.

"Asher, this isn't funny anymore. You have crossed that line. Just say that, you didn't mean it and apologize." Harry said with a scowl. That look was kind of scary on him. "She will never cross your path."

Never crossing his path was not that easy. I had to see him, even if I didn't want to. That thing was called fate and it was cruel to me!

"Ok, I will say sorry, but..." Asher's voice pulled me out from my thoughts.

As soon as he muttered the word, the entire cafe went silent. I knew everyone was watching the drama. I wanted to run and hide.

I was so going to kill Harry for starting this and wait what's wrong with Asher? Was he sick or something? He couldn't have agreed to say sorry.

"On one condition," he looked at me. "I'll say sorry to you in front of the whole school, I'll beg for your forgiveness, I'll never humiliate you again. But like I said," he smiled sickly cute at me, his green eyes twinkling with happiness.

I gaped at him. What was the condition? What proposal could he make that would be worth it all.

If I won this, I could humiliate him for everything he had done. It is really too good to be true!

what is it? What is it?

"You have to make me fall," his voice trailed on and I found myself leaning closer to his table."In love with you."

There was a collective gasp and I stood there, stunned to silence.

I almost died of heart attack right then and there.

Thankfully I didn't.

___