Loathing You by Amina Khan

Chapter THREE

A d a l i n e

Why did I have the worst luck on the planet? Why is the universe conspiring against me?

When Professor Khalid ushered me into his classroom and told me about being assigned as Juliette’s tutor, I bursted out laughing. I only stopped when I saw the rage on Juliette’s face. That’s when I realized that Professor Khalid wasn’t joking; not in the slightest.

That was ten minutes ago. Now, I’m standing in his classroom, Juliette is standing next to me shooting glares at him and all I can think about is how I’m going to strangle the two of them and get away with it.

“I can’t tutor her. She’s Satan’s spawn!” I holler thunderously, slamming my fists down on the table and he flinches.

I would never usually behave this way with Professor Khalid, he is my favourite teacher after all. Or at least he was, until this moronic decision.

“I’d rather not be tutored by a dyke like her either!” Juliette retorts, hands on her hips.

I refrain from kicking her blonde, little head. Bitch.

“That’s enough!” Mr Khalid slams his hands down on the desk. “First of all, that type of homophobic language will not be tolerated Miss Kingston.” His eyes turn to me, “Secondly, Adaline, I apologize. I know you do not get along with Miss Kingston. I’m hoping you can put that aside for the sake of tutoring her.”

I gasp. “Absolutely not!”

Seriously, was he on drugs? Why would I put my pride aside? I’m not an arrogant or prideful person, but when it comes to Juliette, my pride rockets tenfold. There is nothing on this planet that would make me agree to tutoring Juliette Kingston—

“Not even if I offer you a commendation letter for Oxford?” He interrupts my thoughts.

Okay. So maybe there is something. I narrow my eyes at him gently. I can tell he is trying to refrain from smiling. He knows that my dream school is Oxford, so this letter will really help my chances of admission, especially since he used to work at Oxford himself when he was younger.

Am I really going to let Juliette get in the way of my future? Of course not. I sigh, defeated and Juliette does the same. She’s probably terrified her mother will cut off her allowance if she fails biology. Spoiled cunt.

“Fine. You can come to my house and you can start tutoring me now,” Juliette says hastily and tries to yank my arm.

I snatch it away instantly and recoil, not missing the way she narrows her eyes at me after I do so.

“What have I told you about touching me?”

“Don’t start—”

“Ladies. Both of you need to stop fighting.” Mr Khalid exclaims loudly. “You both have something to gain from this. Juliette you get to stay on the team and Adaline, you get your letter.” Oh, so that’s why Juliette is agreeing to being tutored. “Just try and cooperate with one another, you might even be able to put the hierarchies of this place behind you.”

“I want to proofread the letter and be able to make any suggestions,” I blurt out, truly not listening to a word he’s saying. I hear Juliette slightly giggle under her breath at my comment and Professor Khalid just looks exhausted.

Who cares about getting to understand Juliette Kingston or hierarchies? Does he think that speech is going to suddenly make me ecstatic about tutoring Juliette? Maybe it would have a few years ago, when I was a little softer. Right now, I could care less.

“Yes, whatever you’d like,” he says, leaning back in his chair. “I’ll email it to you. Make any changes you want and send it back. But I’ll only send it off once Juliette passes her final exam.”

“Fine. I’ll tutor her,” I grumble in agreement and he smiles. I’m sure Juliette is satisfied too, although I don’t look her way.

“That’s great. Now, I’d love to enjoy my lunch. So, you guys can go.”

Juliette and I don’t even waste a second before we leave his classroom.

***

I make my way down the hallway and to the outskirts of school, instantly finding my motorbike. In the sea of Teslas and Lamborghinis, my shabby, Yamaha V—star 650 Classic motorbike stood out.

This bike was wrecked when it first landed in my brother’s garage, but thankfully, he fixed it up and gave it to me. Sometimes, having a mechanic brother works out.

I harness my helmet on my head and get on my bike, ready to leave.

While there aren't many nice places in my side of town, there is still Miss Kim's dumpling shop. The best restaurant in this city if you ask me and coincidentally, where I work, which is where I'm going to right now.

I've been working there since I was eleven. It was cash in hand first, to avoid getting the restaurant in trouble for employing a minor.

Miss Kim is actually my neighbour and was the one to take me in when my father died, which was a few months after my brother, Adam, went to prison.

I didn’t have many other options considering I didn’t want to go into foster care. She has been a family friend for years and did an unbelievably gracious thing by taking me in.

She signed any papers she had to and fostered me, but let me live alone in my house—after I begged her—just checking on me around fifty times a day from her house was enough.

I didn’t want to be anyone's burden, but that never stopped her from constantly helping me out over the years. Even when Adam came out of prison and regained guardianship over me, she never wavered.

I park up beside Miss Kim's restaurant, a smile gracing my features as I take in the faint smell of scallions.

“Reporting for duty!” I holler loudly as I walk into the restaurant.

Miss Kim smiles brightly as she sees me. She is always so adorable, with her small, five-foot-one stature and her chubby build. Her dark chocolate brown eyes and curly black hair also amplified her cuteness. She didn't look fifty at all.

“How was school?” she questions warmly, handing me the apron. I take it and tie it around my waist.

“Boring, as usual,” I respond, getting ready to take over the cash desk.

“I made an extra batch of dumplings for your brother and you,” she says excitedly, showing me the red box she had packed them in. If you couldn’t already tell, her love language is cooking me food.

“You spoil us too much.”

She puts her hand on my shoulder. “It's not spoiling if you're family.”

I clench my jaw, repressing any tremor or tremble that I know my body is about to feel at that comment and I just nod in a gracious manner.

Hot meals. Kind words. Constant calls. She has been like the mother I never had and I guess I’ve been like the child she’s never had. She doesn’t have a spouse either, but she always assured me she loved being single and having her own space. I can always relate to her in that way.

“I'll be in the back,” she whispers before pressing a kiss to my head and leaving to cook up more food in the back.

I shake my feelings off and start getting ready to take orders. We’ve only just opened, but lines are always exceedingly long here. I take about a dozen orders before I see a familiar face.

“Hey, Addie.” My brother greets, his six-foot-four frame towering over me. People often say we look alike. He shares my green eyes, tanned skin and black hair, although his was now buzzed off.

“Here to pick up your free dumplings? Fat ass.” I joke and he mockingly gasps, putting his hand on his chest in fake outrage.

“He's a growing boy,” Miss Kim calls out from the back in his defence.

“He's twenty-six!”

“Exactly!” she laughs, handing me the red box of dumplings through the kitchen gap.

“Don't be jealous because she loves me more.”

“You wish.”

I notice that no one is behind Adam. I bite my tongue and ponder on whether or not I should bring up what's happening in a few weeks and his thoughts on it. Every year I ask him and every year he declines.

“Before you go …” I gesture for him to lean in and he does. “Do you want to come with me to visit dad's grave?”

He shakes his head. “No, you shouldn't even be going.”

“But—”

“Please, drop it.” He cuts me off, agitated and I do just that. He practically sprints out of the restaurant after that.

Adam isn’t like me—I run away from practically every problem presented to me—he faces everything head on, except dealing with my father's passing or even visiting his grave.

I try not to press too much, but frankly, I only visit his grave out of moral decency more than anything else, so I can’t really blame Adam.

He’s really the best big brother a girl could ask for. He has everyone scared shitless, letting them know that he would skin them alive if they tried to mess with me in any way.

He wasn't overprotective in an unbearable way though. Thankfully, he has no idea about mine and Juliette’s tumultuous relationship or how cruel she’s been to me over the years—and I’d like to keep it that way.

He wouldn’t be able to do much to her anyway, her family is too powerful for that. Not to mention Adam had quite a reputation after being in jail, plus everyone's preconceived notions about him that he was a drug dealer or a pimp. But really, he's harmless, unless you mess with someone he cares about, which pretty much only consists of me and his fiancée, Olivia.

I also got roped into these rumours; everyone started labelling me as a misfit, so I just decided to actually be one. I fought and vandalized and did foolish shit, but nothing that would get me suspended, just enough to scare people from messing with me. It did work, because no one did. Well, besides—

“Look what we have here …”

Ah. Speak of the devil.

Juliette is in front of me, still in her school uniform just like me. She had two girls behind her; one redhead and the other, a brunette.

She often had girls with her when she came here to harass me, which she did often. Clearly, she has nothing better to do seeing as she comes here frequently.

I sigh. “What can I get you ladies today?”

“My usual.” Juliette smirks at me as she clinks her nails on the desk, her minions are completely silent behind her.

“What's your usual?” I feign innocence, peering up at her through my eyelashes.

She clenches her jaw in response, staring deep into my eyes with her stunning blue ones. “You know what my usual is.”

“Is that so?”

One order of vegetable dumplings, three egg rolls, one chicken ramen with extra chicken, and no bean sprouts.

“You little—”

“Hey, hurry up.” A voice snaps us out of our little match. I hadn't even realized a line had formed behind Juliette and her little minions; I was too entranced with our argument to notice.

“Do you even know who I am?” Juliette questions, offended and staring down the boy behind her, who I immediately recognise.

Uh. Oh.

“Just give us a minute, Lucas,” I say gently towards him and he nods in response. He is always a pleasant boy and a regular. He’s around my age too, so we often make conversation.

I know I have to diffuse this situation or Juliette will make it a gigantic deal and then turn his life into hell. She has done that quite a lot.

I turn back to Juliette and she's now staring at me, her eyes narrowing as she looks back and forth between me and Lucas.

“I'll put your order in. You can sit and wait.” I wave my hand in her face dismissively and she completely ignores me.

“Do you know him?” she questions, her tone low and her eyes curious.

“Yes,” I answer tiredly. I need to move this line along, so it's best I just answer her.

She leans closer. “Have you slept with him?”

Unbelievable!

“Sit down, Juliette,” I grit out, trying to contain my anger at her question.

In the few years I’ve known her, Juliette has always borderline harassed me with inappropriate questions. It still never stops being shell-shocking to me though. Who does she think she is asking me shit like that? Especially where I'm working!

She glowers at me. “I asked you a question.”

“It's none of your business.”

“I'm not sitting down until you answer.”

She's being serious, unmoving, and latching onto my every movement and word. Even her friends are staring at her, puzzled at her behaviour as it looks like her jaw will explode based on how hard she's clenching it.

I look behind her and see that the people in the line aren't really paying attention to us, so I don't have to worry about anyone listening.

I lean forward. “No, I haven't slept with him.”

It takes three seconds for her face to relax, her jaw to unclench and for that devilish gleam to reappear in her gorgeous eyes. She doesn't say a word, she just smirks at me and clicks her fingers, gesturing for her clique to follow her as she takes a seat.

So unbelievably dramatic.

I spend the rest of my shift taking orders, while her eyes are on me the whole time. She did that often, stared at me like she was either going to eat me alive or bury me six feet under.

I notice that she's still here and we're about to close in five minutes. Miss Kim herself has left because she had an appointment.

“We're closing,” I announce, wiping down the last table. I ignore her as she stands up and walks towards me.

She reaches forward and leans into me, her breath tickling my ear. “You're coming home with me.”