Start a Revolution

Drew Hemingway plopped down in a desk beside her best friend, Lisa McCintire, in first period, smiling over at her in greeting. Students bustled and chatted around them, eager to share their stories of winter break and Christmas morning.

"So what were you up to for the past two weeks?" Drew asks her pal, pulling out a granola bar from her bag and crinkling it open. She took a bite in delight.

Lisa shrugs, leaning back, her lip gloss in hand as she applied layer number 50 onto her face. "Family, mostly. It was ridiculous though. My grandma and dad didn't stop bickering the entire weekend she was over, just because he forgot to put marshmallows on the sweet potatoes. As if my life weren't already a crisis—"

Drew tunes her out, feeling that this particular rant would be long.

But she didn't have to sit there idly for long, as two minutes later, Mr. Bobbet called the class to attention. Lisa shuts up the minute he begins roll call, shoving her lip gloss back in her front pocket.

"George Frankler," Mr. Bobbet drones on, clearly still stuck in vacation mode. "Sarah Gong. Drew Hemingway. Louis Ickens. Yvette Long. Lisa McCintire. John O'Callaghan—"

Drew's jaw drops just as the classroom door bursts open, none other than the devil himself strutting in.

"Sorry I'm late," John announces, making sure everyone in the room was turned and looking at him as he presented himself at the front of the class. "My dad ran out of gas on the freeway." His careless smirk made it's way onto his face as a few guys in the back of the classroom busted out laughing. The smirk grew.

"Charming," Mr. Bobbet replies flatly, rolling his eyes. "Class, this is Mr. O'Callaghan. He has transferred to Honors English on the account that he was too smart for regular English." He turns to look at John. "The seat behind Lisa is open."

Mr. Bobbet points to the girl he had mentioned, and John's eyes glance over.

At the sight of Drew, the smirk transformed into a shit-eating grin. Drew's own eyes narrowed in spite, her jaw clenching so tight that the muscle cramped up. John made his way to his seat, a skip in his step, before bouncing delightfully into the chair behind Lisa. His one binder thuds onto the surface in front of him, his eyes training directly on the back of Drew's perfectly curled hair.

Once Mr. Bobbet was finished with roll call, he began talking about the lesson they would be learning for the next couple of weeks. It had something to do with Romeo and Juliet, blah blah blah. Drew payed it no mind.

"Psst!" someone hisses. Drew doesn't even twitch. "Hemingway!"

She tenses up, her tiny button nose wrinkling up in disgust. She knew who was calling her. She just didn't find the need to answer the phone. Her back remained to John's line of vision, and she was going to make sure it stayed that way.

John, raising an eyebrow, leaned back in his seat easily. Just because his family despised the Hemingways doesn't mean he can't have a little fun with her.

No harm done, correct?



"He's barbaric," Drew scoffs, her metal locker banging shut with a loud clang. "A preposterous, perverted, lousy, animal." She sets her mouth in defiance. "I hope he rots in hell. God, what a fucking douche-bag."

"Woah, woah," Lisa interrupts, putting up a finger. "Remember who you're talking to. I think John's sexy. I don't agree with your accusations." She wiggles the finger she had up.

The dark-haired girl rolls her eyes. "He's anything but sexy."

"Not true," the blonde replies, following Drew as they waltz down the hall toward lunch. "He's the hottest thing to walk the halls of Corona del Sol High School since it was open. I have proof." She ticks off her hand like it was tally marker. "I've scanned every year book, and he is by far the most attractive student to go here in the last twenty years."

"The school has been open way longer than twenty years," Drew immediately shoots back, leading the way to the sub and salad lunch line. "So that is inaccurate information."

"Whatever," her friend shrugs this off. "My point is, he is a God."

"No, he's a dick. A huge dick."

"Why thank you," she hears behind them. "I do have a huge dick." Her stomach drops as she looks over shoulder, her eyes landing on O'Callaghan, his ever-present smirk plastered on his lips. She grimaces.

"I didn't realize they had let detention out already," she mutters, stiffly turning her back to him. Lisa was practically swooning beside her.

He shrugs indifferently. "They didn't. The teacher let me out early."

"I don't want to hear about your sexual escapades with cougars," Drew answers dryly, moving forward as the line does. "Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to speak with someone who isn't an enormous prick." Her eyes narrow into slits.

John laughs. "If you love me, all you have to do is tell me."

"Fuck you."

He winks. "You only had to ask."

Then he was flouncing away, his hips swinging grotesquely. Drew's face was red with embarrassment and anger, white hot rage boiling in the pit of her stomach. If John O'Callaghan didn't watch out, he was going to end up being dropped off a cliff.