The rest of the week went by quickly in Michele’s opinion. However the classes she had with Gary made her glance at the clock every thirty seconds.
‘He is so annoying.’ Michele thought to herself as she glanced at the so-called prince of the school trying to ask her out before glancing back at the clock. Only one minute of Chem left. Thank god!

“Bring!!!”
“Michele!” Michele looked up and saw Gary flashing his signature smile at her and some giggling girls behind her. She warily raised her eyebrows in question. Gary quickly scooted next to her.
“So how about that –“
“No!” Michele cut him off abruptly.
“You didn’t even let me finish!” he whined.
“I didn’t need to.” Michele bluntly responded packing up her books before scurrying aware eager to escape the pesky boy.

Gary’s posse strolled into the Chem room only to find Gary pacing.
“Dude, it’s been a week and she hasn’t said yes”, stated Steve, one of Gary’s closest followers.
“I know that!” Gary snapped testily.
“What are you going to do? At this rate, everyone will think you have lost.”
“No!” Gary sprung up. “I have not lost! I will get this girl, whether I have to play dirty or not!” With that, Gary stomped away fuming with his posse following closely behind him.

Meanwhile, Michele was chatting with Millie under the tree they usually sat at for lunch. “Oh my god!” Millie exclaimed. “You actually live next door to Gary?”
“Yep. I swear fate loves toying with me. I mean, come on, I’m in like three classes with him; he flirts with me constantly and I live next door to him.”
“It’s like fate wants you two together.”
“Well I certainly don’t!”
“I know that.” Millie broke out into a giggle.
“But seriously, don’t you at least think he’s good looking?”
“Ok. He is good looking but his attitude is definitely not looking good.”
“How else do you think the gets so many fans?”
“Oh god! Heaven forbid he gets them by being nice!”
“Girls are suckers for the bad boys.” Both girls broke out into laughter at that statement. After catching her breath, Michele glanced at her phone to see what time it was.
“Shoot! It’s time for me to go home! Mom will be worried if I don’t get back soon.” She slung her backpack on before facing Millie. “Sorry about that, Millie.”
“It’s cool. I also have to get back home.” Millie reassured picking up her bag as well.
“Laters!” Michele said and waved before she rushed out. Millie waved back before heading back to her own house.

Once Michele got back home, she greeted her mom before dashing up the stairs to do her homework. She decided to open up the window to let the light in.
‘Hmm…’ Michele thought as she looked out at Gary’s house. ‘Gary’s not sending any paper airplanes asking me out again from his window.’ She pondered the thought before dismissing the idea.
‘Maybe he’s finally given up.’ She conceded before she took out her textbook. ‘That would be for the best.


The next morning, Michele got to school with some time to spare. She headed over to her locker and opened the door. A simple white note was hanging from the top of her locker.
“Go out with me or else…” the note displayed ominously. Plucking the note from her locker, she scanned it more, flipping it back and forth to see if there was any additional writing on it. There wasn’t. After picking up her books and closing her locker, she re-read the note again.
‘What is he trying to pull?’ she thought while scanning the note quickly, trying to surmise some hidden message in between the lines.

After a few minutes of additional reading, she gave up and headed over to her homeroom. She walked through the open door and was about to search for Millie before something strange caught her eye. Walking over, she inspected her desk only to find her chair missing. Looking around, she found Gary smirking at her.
“Very funny, Gary.” Michele shouted sarcastically before searching around the classroom for her chair.
“Michele!” The sudden call came from Millie. “I just saw your chair outside!”
“Lovely, I’ll just go pick it up then.” As she hurriedly dashed out the door, she passed by Gary who was still smirking annoyingly. Michele just rolled her eyes and continued running.

By the time she came back, Ms. Krawly was already there and the whole class was staring at her.
“How nice of you to join us, Miss Patterson.”
Muttering a sorry, she trudged back to her seat dragging her heavy chair along with her. ‘Stupid Gary’ she thought, ‘he made me go all the way to the other side of the school to get my chair.’
Millie turned and gave Michele an apologetic look. Michele just shrugged and paid attention to Ms. Krawly.


By the time, it got to lunch; Michele had shrugged off the missing chair incident as Gary simply being bored. After getting food from the lunch line, Michele walked to the sidebar to get sugar for her iced coffee. Once she got there, a sugar shaker was quickly passed to her. Not looking up, she shook the shaker over her coffee, only for the lid to fall along with an overload of sugar into her drink. Hearing a snicker next to her, she looked up only to find Gary Oaken snickering at her and smirking again. Miffed at her drink being ruined, she put the top back on the shaker and quickly fled the scene.

“What has gotten you miffed up?” Millie cautiously asked as Michele came closer to the tree.
“Gary’s just being a jerk, that’s all. He unscrewed the lid to the sugar shaker and I didn’t know it.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I am too. But at least it will be sweeter.” Michele conceded before drinking her coffee and spitting it out.
“This is salty! Seriously? Not only did he unscrew the lid, he also switched the salt and sugar shakers. Jerk!”
“Oh dear,” Millie started hesitatingly, “Has Gary sent you a warning letter?”
“If you count this note, then yes.” Michele pulled out her note. “It was in my locker.”
“I knew it. This means Gary’s serious.”
“Serious about what?”
“He has no longer decided to pursue you normally.” This earned a stare from the rest of their friends under the tree as well as a scoff from Michele.
“Since when has he pursued me normally?”
Millie continued explaining. “Now, it’s either you accept or war.”
“Well, in that case, I say bring it on!”