3: 3
I looked at the tough girl one more time.
My head was buzzing.
Across from me, Melody was still running her mouth.
"Three years of high school and you never dated once. I know why, sis. You just never met the right one."
"She's a friend of Lester's. Goes to a vocational school. Face, style, character, there's nothing to fault."
She narrowed her eyes and smiled.
"Sure, she's not on my level, but she's plenty good enough for you. So stop pining over me, okay?"
"So? This one, you like her or not?"
I let out a furious laugh.
"I don't like this one!"
"And I'll swear it on my life. If I ever liked you, Melody Dickerson, may I go blind on the spot!"
Melody froze.
Lester panicked all at once.
"No way! You are not allowed to like my Melly!"
The tough girl tilted her head, confused.
"That's not right. High school boys, there's not one who doesn't like me."
Then something dawned on her, and she stared at Melody, shocked.
"She doesn't like women?"
Melody went stiff all over, grabbed onto Lester, and glared at me on guard.
"Don't you touch Lester!"
It hit me like a bolt out of nowhere.
So in Melody's eyes, I not only lusted after her, I lusted after her boyfriend too?
I was neither man nor woman.
I was a pervert.
"The three of you couldn't scrape together one working brain between you!"
I couldn't be bothered with any of them. I turned to leave.
I hadn't taken two steps before the tough girl chased after me, shoved a two-dollar soft-serve cone into my hand, and lifted her chin.
"My spending power. Satisfied?"
"What you think doesn't matter. I've got my eye on you, so you're my man now."
"Stick with me, and there's all the ice cream you can eat from here on out!"
I was completely dumbstruck.
"Move!"
Lester looked baffled.
"Sis Simon, my friend here is a big deal at her school. You're being a little too picky, you know."
Melody shook her head in disdain.
"Sis, she buys a two-dollar cone without blinking. A woman like this? If I were you, I'd have thrown myself at her already."
I drew in a deep breath.
Then I mashed the cone straight into Melody's face and smeared it good.
"You're overheated. Cool off!"
Lester stared at the cream all over Melody's face, helpless.
"Melly, what do we do, what do we do…"
The tough girl sighed, pained.
"If you're not eating it, give it to me. What a waste!"
I put some clean distance between us.
"Melody, don't contact me again. We're not from the same world. There's no need to force it."
Melody licked the cream at the corner of her mouth, her voice going cold.
"I'm a top recruit for Capital University's nuclear physics program! The only student in the whole state they took!"
"Simon Flores, you're a community college kid. What gives you the right to look down on me?"
I gave a dry little laugh.
Then I turned and walked off.
"Take one more step and see what happens! We're done being sisters for good!"
I broke into a run.
Behind me, Melody was screaming her lungs out.
"Fine! Simon Flores, from now on you are not Melody Dickerson's sister!"
I stopped.
I turned, ran back, and drove my foot into the back of her knee.
Her leg buckled, and she went down.
"What are you doing!"
I smiled.
"Paying you back for that elbow earlier."
"Call me your sister again, and every time I catch you at it, I'll beat you."
Melody's face went livid, but she didn't dare move.
After all, I'm a black belt in taekwondo. She couldn't take me.
So under the three of them glaring, I strolled off without a care.
Back home, I blocked every one of Melody's contacts.
A boundaryless freak of a classmate like that, best I never see her again this lifetime.
I was about to set my phone down when the class group chat blew up.
Melody had posted a photo of her and Lester cheek to cheek, making a heart with their hands.
"My boyfriend."
The others sent congratulations while getting their digs in at me.
"Sis Simon must be heartbroken now, huh? No hope left at all."
"Three years and Sis Simon still couldn't land Melody. Really hopeless."
I replied with a pinched-nose emoji.
Melody fired off a voice message right away, smug as anything.
"Sis Simon changed her college applications from the Ivies to a community college just so Lester and I could be together. Thank you, Sis Simon!"
The whole class started up again.
"Sis Simon's such a diva! Sis Simon, so noble!"
"A genius on paper, a fool in love!"
"That hurts. That hurts so much."
Melody tagged me.
"About today, sis, I didn't think it through. I'll try to keep you from running into Lester from now on, so you feel a little better."
"Don't stay mad. Sisters don't hold overnight grudges. Don't act like some little girl."
The others chimed in.
"Right, Sis Simon, be gracious about it."
"We women shouldn't be so petty."
Melody added one more line.
"It's fine when I call her my sister, but the rest of you can't, got it!"
