Stubborn

Travis decided to take a seat next to me when we entered the lecture room together. He seemed like your lay-back kind of guys as he ignored all the looks from the other students. Even a few girls who so badly wanted to make eye contact with him. "So, am I ever going to know your name?" He asked from next to me. "I thought you are good at figuring stuff?" I asked facing him.

"Mysterious. Headstrong. Tough exterior. You are making it quite difficult for me to figure you out. But there are a few things I can say with confidence. You are a fan of extreme sports, have good taste in music and you are a girl with her own principles." He said looking quite impressed with himself. "You are quite observant but that still doesn't help you out." I replied. "Playing hard to get? I did not expect that from you. You just give me no choice but to keep on calling you sugar." He said. I looked heavenward.

"It's Jaylin. Not sugar." I corrected him.

"Hmm, I would've never picked you to be a Jaylin." He said. "Is this your kind of game to get girls to like you?" I asked cocking me head to the side while looking at him.

His smile faded and he leaned closer to me looking me directly in the eyes. "I'm a forward kind of guy. I don't play games, sugar." I quirked an eyebrow at his stupid endearment for me."I just gave you my name and you still continue to call me, sugar?" I asked when he scooted back into his seat. "I think I like rattling your cage and I think I like calling you sugar even if you are far from being sweet." His smile was back.

After classes, I didn't bother to entertain Travis any further. I dropped my skateboard and skated my way back to the dorms where I at least got in a few tricks with my board before reaching the building. I took the stairs up to my room and found both of my roommates back from their classes. Janelle didn't acknowledge me when she was seated on her bed, holding up a mirror and applying makeup.

"Going on a date?" I asked sitting down on my bed that was opposite of hers. "That has nothing to do with you." She answered. "I can play this game. You have been crushing on him since high school but you can't have him because he is dating your enemy?" I said making her lower the mirror to look at me."How can you possibly know that?" She asked. "Am I wrong?" I asked kicking off my shoes and lied down on my bed.

"She's not my enemy. She's the captain of the cheerleading squad." She answered. "And it doesn't matter if like him or not. He will never feel the same way. Because I'm not a fake ass Barbie." She mumbled. I just smiled looking up at the ceiling. "Would it be rude of me to disagree?" Ruby asked looking up from her book. "I didn't ask you for your comment, nerd." Janelle replied. "Stop calling her that." I warned with my eyes closed. "And Ruby has the right to say what's on her mind." I continued. "Because you too would agree with her. You say that you are not a fake barbie. But look at your reflection. Is anything real when you look at yourself?" I opened my eyes and turned my head to look at her. I caught her looking at me. "I don't have implants. Or work done to my face." She replied. "You colored your hair to fit in. You wear layers of makeup. And you are not true to yourself. You don't need to have plastic surgery to be fake." Janelle got up from her bed. She looked unsettled and mad at the same time.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked her when she pulled the door open. "It's got nothing to do with you." She snarled before shutting the door behind her. "Don't let her get to you." I said getting up from my bed. "Where are you going?" She asked. "It's my second day in L.A and I'm not going to pass up my time by just staying in my room." I answered. "Oh." She mumbled. "You want to join me and stop me from getting into trouble?" I asked. "Are you only being nice to me because you feel sorry for me?" She asked. "Not a chance. I don't play the sympathy card."

Ruby agreed to join me and together we looked for a place to chill at. We found a bar that looked like a great place to hang out for the night. Ruby seemed uncomfortable as she made sure to stick to my side once we entered the bar. We sat down at the bar and ordered ourselves drinks. A beer for and a soda for her. She kept looking around like someone was going to hurt her. "Were you picked on a lot back in high school?" I asked her. She turned her head and faced me. "Almost every day. I even tried to fit in at a point by replacing my glasses with contacts. The biggest mistake I've ever made. It just made things worse." She answered.

"Was Janelle one of them?" I asked knowing it was sacred ground I was stepping on. "No, it was always Isabella. And her high school gang but they didn't follow her to College." She explained. "She used to like embarrass me. Once she got her gang to take a picture of me while I got dressed for PT. My mom used to buy me full and ugly underwear and they liked teasing me about it. She went as far as showing the rest of the school including the boys. It was humiliating." I tried not to react but that was just sad for someone to do that. "At one stage my mom wanted to pull me out from high school but I refused to let her get to me. I finished school with honors and it got me the scholarship I've wanted. I just didn't know that she will also attend the same college as me."

"Sometimes we just have to remind ourselves that bullies strive on fear. In Isabella's case, I just think she's sick to the head." Ruby snickered. "I feel sorry for Damian who gets to date that." Ruby murmured. "What is with that? Janelle crushing on him while Isabella dates him?" I asked. "Before Isabella start dating Damian. Janelle and Damian had a thing but it was never permanent. Isabella then kind of forced herself between them and from that day they have been dating and Janelle hasn't been taking it too well." Ruby said.