I gasped and stumbled backward, earning a chuckle from the person who was standing in front of me with his arms crossed.

My gaze met with his blue orbs and I felt frozen.

His eyes were blue like the sea, crystal clear blue- shimmering and crashing and churning. Looking into his eyes, I could hear the waves falling against the shore and the foam flying into the air.

My eyes travelled down to his perfectly straight nose and sharp jawline where I wanted to rake my fingers.

"I never thought you like anything other than your books," he smirked at my frozen state.

I gulped and noticed there were two more boys standing beside him, looking completely amused by my situation.

What a fool I am!

"No one can resist the charms of Ashton," the guy with golden hair laughed.

"Yeah, you're one of them, Kelly." The other guy who was tall and masculine rolled his eyes, bumping his friend's shoulder whose name I guess was Kelly.

"Oh please, Jake," Kelly laughed sheepishly, covering his cheeks with both hands.

"Stop it guys," Ashton ordered and they both got silent, muttering something under their breaths. He narrowed his gaze at me. "Why are you smiling?"

What?

I immediately wiped the smile off my face, which I wasn't aware of. "S...sorry," I stammered.

"Leave it, Ashton. We don't deal with freaks."

I snapped my head into the direction of Jake and glared at him. "I'm not a freak," I tried to speak calmly but couldn't hide the anger in my voice.

"Really? Then what do you call yourself? Wearing that 80's style cap with those weird glasses and crappy clothes," he mocked, looking me from head to toe.

"Yeah, you're such a freak!" Kelly grumbled, looking disgusted.

So they were the one who sent that petite girl for the prank.

My blood boiled but I controlled myself and gritted my teeth from saying anything. These boys were trouble and I needed to stay away from them.

"Aw, our little nerd is getting angry." Ashton teased me to made me more angry, but I did the opposite to fail his attempt.

Just apologize and get the hell out of here!

"I'm sorry for bumping into you," I replied with a fake smile and was about to walked away but he stopped me by putting his hand out.

"Why're you in such a hurry, baby?" Ashton smirked, taking a step in my direction.

I'm not your baby, moron.

I clenched my fists in anger. "Please, let me go," I said desperately, trying to cover up my true feelings.

He narrowed his eyes, clearly seeing through me. "Why? Are you trying to hide something?"

My brain almost froze in horror as he tilted his head, waiting for me to respond.

What should I do now? My mind screamed at me. I couldn't apologize or say anything stupid! It could backfire on me.

So, I took my time to analyze the situation. What the hell did he want from me anyway?

I stared at him with my mouth hung open to show how stunned his comment made me.

Then, I took a step back, shaking my head and said, "I don't know what you're talking about but I'm genuinely sorry."

Maybe it was my sincere tone or my perfect broken expressions, but it worked. His eyes turned into something warm before Kelly laughed, sending him back to his angry mood.

"Dude, she is such an easy target," Kelly chuckled and high-fived his other friend.

As soon as I took a breath of relief, Ashton noticed it and smirked, "Or good actress?"

Damn!

"Um," I replied and took a step backward, trying to look helpless.

God! What to do now?

I scratched the back of my neck, doing a mind marathon to say something when I heard a familiar voice, causing Ashton to snap his head in that direction.

I quickly turned my head and found Melissa walking towards us. I sighed in relief, sending a prayer to the heavens.

She stopped beside me, putting her arms around my shoulder and glaring at Ashton, "Stop bothering her."

"It's okay, Melissa-" I started but she cut me in.

"Don't worry Ash... I mean Ashley." She quickly corrected herself and added, "I can handle my buttock brother."

My jaw dropped. I looked at Ashton, noticing the similar features and mentally scoffed for not realising this earlier.

"Mel," Ashton hissed but Melissa flipped him off, earning a chuckle from his friends.

"Let's go," She smiled at me, grabbing my hand and starting to walk away. Then she suddenly stopped and turned around, calling her brother, "Don't you dare mess with her. She's my friend."

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious, Ashton," Melissa gritted her teeth and I blinked at her, not getting what was happening.

I wanted to tell her that she didn't need to do this but then, it was in my favour. All I needed was to act like a helpless person.

I glanced at Ashton and found him glaring at me.

His eyes were intense, and unlike the rest of him they weren't at all expressive, they were cold, like ice. Most blue eyes are so captivating you swear that you could just dive into them with the peak of awe nipping at your facial features, but when you peered into his frozen irises you feel an electrical chill run down your spine, through your body, making your features numb, like ice.

It made me wonder how they got changed from being crystal clear to cold like ice. I tried to read him, but failed. It was like he had built a wall around himself.

When he didn't say anything, Melissa took it as a positive signal and walked outside, tagging me along with her.

***

"Well, your coffee is getting cold." I finally broke the silence and glanced at Melissa who was lost in her thoughts since the incident.

She didn't say anything but drank her coffee quickly.

I stared at her, fully aware of what was bothering her. "Melissa, relax! We were just having a conversation. You didn't need to burst out like that."

She sighed, placing the cup on the table and took a deep breath before saying, "Okay. I need to confess something."

That hit me like a unexpected blow, reminding me of the scene at parking lot, where I saw her with a bunch of students, probably laughing at me.

My heart begin to pound faster, thinking about the worst scenario only.

Damn! When I decided to make someone my friend, karma has to play it's bitch card!

I nodded with a blank face, not giving her a clue that it was eating me like hell.

She eyed me carefully and said, "When I met you in the bathroom, it wasn't... a coincidence."

I gave her a curt nod, signalling to continue whereas in real, I wanted to run away. I clenched my fists and got myself ready to face whatever she was going to throw at me.

"You know, that girl who asked you for the book and called you names..." She hesitated, lowering her face and added, "was our plan and I was sent to the bathroom to check up on you."

I should have listened to my inner voice!

"To see how I'm coping? Or to capture my emotional breakdown?" I asked bitterly, raising my eyebrows.

She quickly reached for my hand, pressing hers over mine and said, "I know that was awful of me but trust me, something shifted inside me when I saw you crying. It wasn't my intention. I was supporting them only for fun but I didn't mean to take it that far. I immediately ask them to stop doing such things with you."

"Such things?" I furrowed my eyebrows, causing her to stiffen.

"You know when..." She hesitated but continued, "you accidentally fell from the staircase? And the other time when someone bumped into you in the parking lot, causing that can of soda to fall... on your sweatshirt..." She trailed off, lowering her face in shame.

I stared at her open mouthed. How could I be so stupid? I never paid attention to any of those incidents but now, when I think about it, it made sense.

Maybe I was so engrossed in my own bubble that I never noticed it.

That's why they sent Melissa, so that they could get a reaction from me and I fell for their trap.

This was fucking unbelievable!