The air in the halls was alive and Alaina wasn't the target of scrutiny.
Diverting the school's attention was child's play. People wanted gossip. Gossip that revolved around disputes and disagreements among their classmates. Gossip that centered around the lives of those in influential social circles. Gossip with scandalous secrets, whether it was speculative or truthful. All they needed was a story and they would turn it into something negative and damaging in an instant. You either learned to deal with the crowd otherwise you were left at the mercy of hyenas who didn't have any to spare.
There was no mercy towards their latest story.
People were shamelessly vocal with their criticisms about Paige and her crush. It was a curious occurrence, someone from a higher social class pursuing someone below them. The outdated perspective of incompatibility among clashing classes seemed to be an unanimous belief and Alaina used it to her advantage. It was a fitting form of vengeance.
While a decent person would advise against obtaining satisfaction from the misery of others, there had to be an exception for if that individual was someone like Paige. After her petty interferences and snarky remarks, she was confronted with the echoes of her own actions.
It felt liberating to be able to walk down the hall without prying eyes regarding the Red Card girl. Checking her phone, Alaina scrolled to a new post from Paige, an attempt to withdraw the words from her previous post. She proceeded to say the post wasn't her doing and insult the idea of dating someone of a lower social status, further destroying her reputation on her own. It was great hearing someone else become the drama, the right start to her day.
"She rejected me but goes for a guy like that?!" A male exclaimed in disbelief.
"It's just like Romeo and Juliet, forbidden love," a female romanticized.
"How lame!" The more critical comments were acknowledged over hers. "She's fallen so low to have such bad taste in men."
"It's Paige of all people too," A female replied excitedly. "Did you read her confession? Her dramatic 'I can't keep my feelings a secret any longer. Please be the white knight to my queen'!" She burst out laughing.
"Right? What a joke," another student added, giggling.
Heading off to study hall, Alaina took her seat alone at her usual table, taking out her notebook and finishing up some homework. She had a research paper to start for English as well, and there was no better time to get a head start on it than now. She made her way to the shelves with books about literary research. Standing across the shelf, she scanned the books, seeing a couple that appeared to be useful to her topic, which happened to be out of her reach.
Alaina wheeled one of the ladders near her over to where her books were, grabbing a couple of the books and flipping through the contents to check if they were useful to her topic. While she was occupied, Paige had already convinced her most loyal followers of her innocence, some of which had study hall first, and instructed for them to deliver consequences.
One of the students passed by, sliding a laminated sheet under one of the wheels while she was busy reading the books. The moment Alaina shifted, the ladder's stability gave in with her weight and the slippery surface, causing her to fall back against the rough carpet. The good thing was she landed on her butt and spared herself from a concussion, however, the same could not be said about her wrist.
Catching sight of the laminated sheet under the ladder, she sighed. "Well that didn't take long, did it?" She rose to her feet, wincing as she rotated her wrist with her dominant hand. "Great, first an ankle, now a wrist."
This was doubtlessly Paige's doing, despite not sharing the class with her. Alaina couldn't take immediate revenge, but her crush post was still trending and she remained the subject of their disdain. Still a win in her books, just one that came with a small casualty. Besides, lucky for her, no one had even noticed the fall, save the ones who'd set her up, keeping the attention away from pranks and her.
Excusing herself, she headed to the nurse's office to get her wrist wrapped up. There was no question about why she was back, the nurse clearly knew and did her job. It was a strange system, the staff helping the students with injuries that resulted from Red Card acts but not doing anything to prevent them in the first place. They turned a blind eye to the problem, and did damage control instead. The morals here were really something else, top notch.
Alaina was good to go before her study hall was over, she was relieved that she wouldn't have to miss another class. Walking out of the office, she took her backpack on her shoulder with her good hand, heading towards her next class.
"Alaina?" a voice called from behind her.
"Brendan, Cordie, hi." She met their curious gazes as they took notice of her exiting the nurse's office.
"What happened?" Brendan pointed.
Pulling against the bandage, she poked at an itch. "Oh, a little fall. No big deal," she explained, lightly waving her injured hand.
Cordie pursed her lips, glancing at Brendan briefly. The two of them seemed to have a conversation with their eyes alone. Cordie cleared her throat, looking at Alaina with a smile. "Be careful, okay?" she advised, her tone gentle.
"Take care of yourself, Wonder Girl," Brendan added, patting her back as they headed their separate ways to their next classes.
· · ·
A day passed with no more harmful plans, or so it seemed. Unbeknownst to Alaina, a bigger plot was in the works, privately discussed among the important students and spread by whispers to the rest. Once it was Friday, the usual clamor turned rancorous, excitement was at its peak after the long-awaited week. In spite of keeping the grand plan exclusive, it circulated the school fast, they had a bad record with keeping secrets.
As trouble loomed above, Damon and Chris relaxed while they awaited their next lesson. Chris was at a large marble engraved desk, eyes closed as he remained absorbed by the music on his headphones. Damon sat at his desk, stretching his arms out and folding his hands together behind his head, in an exceptionally good mood. Brendan and Cordie were noticeably concerned by his composure as they arrived.
"Wonderful morning, isn't it?" Damon greeted, his smile frightened the two as they passed him.
"Damon . . . I haven't seen you so happy in decades," Brendan said with a halfhearted chuckle.
"Right? I almost thought you'd forgotten how to smile," Cordie added jokingly. "What's with the happy mood?"
"Everything finally makes sense," Damon answered.
"She really is a piece of work, there's something oddly alluring about her." Brendan held a novel in his hand, leaning back in the large leather chair he had just imported from Italy. "She's made him happy and angry all in the same week."
Damon scoffed, "Alluring?" he echoed with displeasure. "You mean annoying, the way she has to disagree with everything I do."
Cordie perched on top of her desk, filing her long nails. "You know, she's the first to actually challenge you, Damon," she pondered.
Brendan turned the page of his novel. "But doesn't she remind you of someone?"
Cordie looked up at the ceiling and furrowed her brows in thought. "You're right. I was thinking that too," she agreed, "but who?"
Both gave it a moment of thought and then flashed looks towards each other. "Victoria," they both shouted in unison.
Damon's head whipped around. "What? Yeah right." The idea brought visible disgust to his face, clearly holding a strong sense of resentment over the comparison.
"No, no. They really are alike in some ways." Cordie argued, looking at Brendan for a second opinion.
"What do you mean they're alike? What could that tacky girl have in common with Victoria?"
Brendan laughed. "I'm sure you'd know better than anyone."
Damon waved him off, saving himself from an argument he was not in the mood for losing. "Just be quiet."
"So are you going to tell us why you've been smiling to yourself over there? You've been weird since that girl confronted you." Cordie asked, rearranging her curls in the mirror that was on the wall across from her.
"Maybe he's finally gone mad," Brendan teased.
There was an evident eagerness emanating from him upon the question being asked. He had been anticipating the opportunity to share his discovery with the V4, thinking long and hard about his conclusion. The question of Alaina's motive had been unclear and the confusion plagued him—why did she challenge him? The collective interactions and incidents all led to one very obvious answer. Then, after the last confrontation, the truth became unmistakable.
Damon continued to smile. "Haven't you noticed it yet?"
"What?" Cordie impatiently urged him to continue.
"She's fallen for me." Damon sighed with a smile, confidence written all over his face.
Cordie and Brendan grew wide-eyed. "What?" There were a million things he could have said at that very moment and that wasn't on the list.
"Damon, how in the world could you come to that conclusion?" Brendan questioned, trying to understand what was going on in his head.
"And you call yourself Casanova."
"Educate me then," Brendan pressed with insistence.
He sighed, seemingly perturbed by his failure to understand. "When a girl acts one way, she feels another. Yes means no and no means yes," he explained, his logic supported by fictional books and teen shows. "You saw the drama with that girl confessing her love for that kid. If that brat admitted her feelings for me, she would be put under the same scrutiny, so she has to hide her true feelings. As much as she screams that she hates me, it means—in truth—that she's head over heels for me and can't stand hiding it."
Cordie laughed, "You're being delusional." There was a big difference between Paige's confession and Alaina's behavior towards Damon.
"No, think about it. She doesn't like being misunderstood by a man she likes. Isn't that why she came to me herself and paid me a compliment? Calling me Pretty Boy. Already coming up with a nickname for me," he chuckled, that bit of the confrontation seemed to stick with him. "And when I suggested a solution for this to all be over, she said it wasn't enough, she wants to spend more time with me."
Damon was fully convinced of his idea and that tenacity manifested an opportunity. They were unable to change his mind before, but it appeared he had changed it all on his own. Overlooking the delusion, this could be the start of revising his approach towards the Red Card treatment. More importantly, the solution to avoiding any more arguments.
Cordie's attitude took an unexpected turn, trading the mockery out for praise instead. "Wow," she clapped. "The more I think about it, you might be right, actually," she added thoughtfully. "Girls do tend to do that, playing hard to get."
Brendan appeared confused by the switch-up, but a subtle gesture from Cordie persuaded him to join her. He began clapping as well. "Even after knowing you for so long, I'll never understand how you come up with these things. Truly brilliant."
Damon was too busy savoring the praise and reveling in his clever discovery to recognize the uncharacteristic agreeability. "I knew no one could be so blind against my charm."
Cordie and Brendan looked on at him in disbelief and amusement but nodded encouragingly towards him. They needed to believe in him, and further build up his confidence about his absurd interpretation so that he would pursue it in spite of Alaina's countering behavior. It was for her benefit, eventually.
"What a foolish tactic, no one could outsmart me," Damon sighed wistfully. "I'll get her to come around and confess. I have something big planned for her and she'll have to reveal her honest feelings then."
Cordie and Brendan only shook their heads. Damon truly was in a world of his own sometimes. Always thinking he's right. Their job here was done, he was so confident about his reasoning it was beyond change now. It was up to Damon to find a new approach and Alaina to work with this new attitude. They just needed a moment alone and a moment they would have.
"Oh boy," Cordie let out as she held her phone in hand. "Um, I think you should see this."
A/N: Delulu is the solulu, right? That's what the V4 seems to think, at least. Sometimes, the solution lies in feeding a man's ego, unfortunately. But it's up to Damon to test his theory and Alaina to prove or disprove his belief. An opportunity has risen, so let's see what they make of it.