The Heaven I Found In Hell (5 page)

Later I realized why she had that look. Kendra told me that Cindy was getting jealous.

If I quoted her…

"Don't worry about it Alex. Cindy's just jealous because you stole her spotlight. The guys' eyes were all on you, and not anymore on her. I'm glad you came. You up staged her. Oh, and don't worry about earlier…the girls will probably apologize tomorrow."

Tomorrow came, and I found myself getting upset again. The moment I woke up, due to Riley's constant screaming, I saw myself looking at a newspaper which had my name in big, bold letters in the Entertainment part of the news. I read the heading.

Supermodel, Alexandra Levi, cries for being called a porn star.

And after reading the title, I read the story, but stopped halfway.

Okay, I get it…I'm a porn star…that was basically what this whole news was going to talk about…

Victoria's Secret Angel, Alexandra Levi, was found crying as she went back to her dorm room yesterday at around 5p.m. in the afternoon. Apparently, Alexandra was called a porn star by her fellow schoolmates.

According to a close source who also studies at Ridgeway, some of Alexandra's fellow seniors were teasing her for not being able to play soccer. Alexandra, who is all known to us for being extremely talented for posing for magazine covers and walking down runways is apparently capable of only doing such things.

I decided to stop.

A week passed, and I found myself in my Calculus class completely clueless as to what my teacher was talking about. For three years, I was home-schooled spending my time reading novels and answering basic Math equations and simple Science essays. I looked at the board over and over again just trying to comprehend what was written on it, but nada. I was lost.

I copied everything that was written on the board, without understanding it. As much as I wanted to 'get it,' I couldn't. What Mr. Taylor was teaching was too advanced, and to my further humiliation, he called my name and asked me to answer an equation that was supposedly 'simple' and 'easy,' according to him.

I got up from where I sat, and stood on the platform. I took the whiteboard marker that was on the ledge of the board and uncapped it. I eyed the equation, and tried to burn it with my gaze. I absolutely, positively had no idea how I was going to solve it. Mr. Taylor apparently saw me fidgeting, and asked me if I needed help.

"I'm sorry Mr. Taylor, but I really don't get it." I apologized to him. I stayed standing on the platform, and waited for his reaction. He looked at me, and then shook his head. He went over to where I was and started to solve the equation.

"Can you continue now what I started?"

I looked at what he wrote down. His solution was complex for such a 'simple' and 'easy' problem, as what he had said earlier. I shook my head at him, and whispers and murmurs started to erupt from every side of the classroom. I could see my classmates looking at me with a 'what-the-hell' look, as they whispered things to the people beside them.

Great…not only was I a porn star…but an idiot too who knew nothing else but to walk down platforms in four-inch heels…

"I can't. I really can't." I said, as I shook my head continuously.

He nodded at me dejectedly, before he told me to go back to my seat. He called another name, and that person was able to answer the problem effortlessly. I buried my head in my hands and cursed myself in my head. I then felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I looked up, and noticed Nathan's concerned look. I had forgotten to mention it, but Nathan was my seatmate, and the whole time he had been sleeping. He woke up when my mortification started.

"It's okay." He said to me with a small, comforting smile. "Calculus is Calculus; no one can ever perfect this subject."

I turned my head to him, and gave him a raised brow. "Didn't you see me? I was far from perfecting this subject. I was humiliated Nathan," I said in a loud whisper.

"No, you weren't." He said, smiling a small innocent smile at me before he opened his notebook and started to copy the notes on the whiteboard.

"Right…"

He saw me roll my eyes, which apparently made him frown.

"Why are you frowning at me?" I asked with a small smirk. I turned my gaze back to the blackboard, and still not comprehending the lesson, I looked back at my seatmate who was eyeing me innocently.

"Hmm?" He said, thinking deeply as his eyesight stayed on me.

"What are you thinking?" I then changed my question.

"How about I tutor you?" He asked using a casual tone of voice. I thought about it carefully, as he waited for my response.

"You know who's really good in Math?"

I asked him, "Who?"

"Cindy's a genius at this subject." This caused me to widen my eyes and cover my opened mouth with my hands.

"Cindy? As in 
that 
Cindy?" I asked.

Has the Earth gone loco? Cindy was the last person I expected to be good academically, and here was Nathan who had a serious look on his face. He could not have been joking. He didn't look like he was teasing.

"Yes, that Cindy. She's number one, lucky her."

I shook my head in disbelief. "No way…"

"Way…" He said with a small smile. "I can tutor you, if I have the time as long as my soccer and football practices won't get in the way." He said thoughtfully.

"Nah, don't worry about me. I'll just ask Cindy."

"You sure?" He said. I took a look at him, and he had this sort of dejected appearance on his face. It made me smile.

"Why do you look sad?"

He straightened his posture up, and coughed in a manly way. "Me? Sad? Really?"

I waved him off. "Forget about it. I don't want you to ruin your masculinity by worrying about me." I teased.

He stuck his tongue out at me childishly before he called me a loser. A few minutes passed, and Calculus ended by Mr. Taylor calling me up to talk with him. He was actually concerned, and asked if I was having a hard time. I told him the truth, and he asked me if I wanted to have one-on-one lessons with him. I politely rejected his kindness, and told him that I'd get help from Cindy. He smiled at the effort that I was trying to make before he dismissed me.

Cindy. I needed to find her.

"Hey," I said to a certain blonde who was busy checking her well-manicure nails for chips and cracks.

School finally ended and I found myself at the school's local coffee shop, trying to ask Cindy for help. I crossed my fingers behind my bag and hoped for a 'yes' from her.

She looked up from her nails and at me, and gave me a smile before she asked me if I needed anything. I opened and closed my mouth a few times before I finally told her the kind of help I needed. I asked her if she could tutor me in Math, and I was now just waiting for her reply. I looked at her hopefully, and she returned my helpless look with a grin.

"I don't think I can." She said simply, as she turned her gaze back to her nails.

I cursed her mentally in my head, before asking her again. "Please Cindy, I'm a fast learner anyway, and I promise you I won't take up most of your time. Just an hour every other day would be enough."

"Alex, an hour?" She asked, crossing her legs as she looked rather degradingly at me. I sat on the chair across from her ask, and asked her one last time.

"I don't want to fail…"

Please say yes…please say yes…please say…

"Yes…" She said trailing off. "Only if you don't steal the guys I have my eyes on."

So this was why she didn't want to tutor me earlier…? Because I was stealing her men…

In the first place…I wasn't stealing any of them…secondly, why did she feel so threatened?

"Any specific names…?" I asked, not the least bit amused. I crossed my arms over my chest, and waited for her to open her mouth.

"She took a sip of her Frappe before telling me two names that made me question her.”Blake and Nathan…Nathan especially."

"What happened to Anthony?"

"Oh him…" She said, somewhat apathetically. "We went out last year."

I nodded my head slowly and took in what she said. "Oh…okay."

She nodded back at me, and I questioned her about something I had been meaning to ask her since last week.

"Do you feel threatened by me?" I asked, very bluntly, as I slumped back comfortingly on the chair. I knew it was a very random question, but I just wanted to know if she did.

Her body stiffened and she sent me a firm unyielding look. She opened and shut her mouth repeatedly before telling me to just mind my own business in a rather cruel, harsh tone voice.

"Why do you care?" She asked, looking at me in a suspicious way.

I got her sudden change of attitude as my cue to stand up and leave, and I wondered if we were ever going to get along. She seemed sort of nice when I first met her, but as the days passed, I felt her distancing herself away from me. She even told me not to steal 
her
 men.

I didn't need an answer from her. She was threatened, and I might have just lost a tutor.

"So, did you find yourself a tutor?" Nathan asked me the moment I opened the door, and let him inside Riley's and my room.

He closed the door for me, and we headed over to living room area, before we slumped down on the couch. The TV remained off, and I waited for him to do something.

"Nathan, Riley's not here." I told him, before giving him a small friendly smile. He looked at me and grinned.

"I know. I was just on the phone with her a while ago before I went here." He said. "We're eating out by the way…after your tutor thingy…"

I frowned, and he asked me why I had that kind of look on my face. I told him the events that took place at the coffee shop, and when I finished, he started to talk.

"So your tutor is non-existent at the moment?" He asked, laying his legs on the small table in front of us. I nodded at him, as he looked at me thoughtfully before he told me he could tutor me.

"Maybe I can squeeze you into my schedule…" He said with the considerate and caring look still on his face. "…maybe in between my practices and org meetings. But I'm only free after seven-thirty…"