Chapter 2 Introducing

I watched in boredom as another group of preteens came in all sweaty and smelly into the pizza palace. I looked at them with disdain as they found their way to a spare booth, irritatingly rubbing against themselves.

"Where do they keep coming from? I mean I have served more than 20 tables since I got back from my lunch break," I whispered to my co worker and friend Lawrence.

I looked at Lawrence, whose eyes sparkled with humor, probably he meant to stop himself from laughing at me. He knew how much I hated working during noon.

"Don't worry Dani, I've got this table. You don't have to whine about it," hr said with a laugh. He patted me on my shoulder and head to their table.

I watched Lawrence's retreating figure leave with a grateful smile. I smiled widely as my eyes drifted off to his rainbow coloured hair.

I liked to make fun of his hair because he deliberately dyed it rainbow just so he could look so much like his favourite artist "6ix 9ine" though he doesn't have a tattoo yet I'm 100% sure he'll get one when he is older. The hair gave him a rugged look.

And contrary to what you might think that girls won't really like him, as a matter of fact girls often flaunt themselves around him and that made him a bit of a womaniser but still I had surprisingly become good friends with him since working here. I had assumed that he would be a snub or a douchebag judging from his looks and the types of people he hung out with but he was actually a pretty good guy and makes me laugh a lot.

Complaining and gisting with Lawrence were the only things that seemed to get me through my afternoon shifts, I prefer the morning shift were there are less awful customers. Take for instance, a few hours ago some snutty teenagers intentionally mocked me by placing an order separately when they would have just ordered once instead of making me walk tho and fro.

I was just about to get back to work and start making some toppings, when the door suddenly opened. A flash of dark brown hair came flying in haste. I smiled, immediately recognizing the unmistakable lush of curly hair belonging to my friend Tess.

As soon as she saw me, her mouth formed a grin, and she hopped over to the counter happily and threw herself onto the stool in front of me.

"I knew I'd find you here," she said with a smile.

"Well I work here, so where else would I be?" I asked with a snort, shaking my head at her in amusement.

"Duh! Can't someone say something without getting a sarcastic reply?" She asked as she eyed the bowl of ice cream laying on the counter.

"Ooo ice cream," she said excitedly, as she reached forward to take some.

I slapped her hand before she could touch it, causing her to yell in pain.

"Hey, what was that for?" She asked looking at me with narrowed eyes.

"That was for sticking your hand into something that doesn't belong to you," I said looking at her accusingly.

She just shrugged and murmured something inaudible.

Then I heard the door of the shop open once again. I sighed in annoyance, as I looked towards the door to see who it was that I have to deal with now.

My heart skipped a beat as I saw a flash of navy blue jacket walk through the door, which I immediately recognize as my high-school soccer team's jacket. The only thing that could make matters worse during this long shift, was to converse with some foolish jocks from my school.

"Wonderful, now I have to serve their stupid table," I murmured in annoyance.

Tess turned around on her stool to take a look at them, her eyes settled on something that made her smile.

"Hey, guess who is here Dani. Your boyfriend," Tess teased with a snort.

I furrowed my eyebrows at her and turned around to see who it was. My eyes widened in horror, as my eyes met a very familiar person standing by the door.

It was Jeffrey Campbell.

To summarize Jeffrey in a few words is very easy.

A prick.

He is most certainly not my boyfriend, thinking about that makes me want to throw up. He is my Arch nemesis and I hate him so much.

You may want to know why.

Because for the past few years since I knew him, the guy has vowed to make my life miserable and has succeeded so far.

I can't think of a day in school where he hasn't tried to humiliate me in one way or the other. I don't know why he has this sudden dislike for me because as far as I know I'm the only one he treats that way.

As if being such an idiot isn't enough, he was very good at everything. Sports, academics, dancing, popularity, computers etc. Infact EVERYTHING.

I tried to look away but I couldn't as I saw few of the preteens girls openly admiring him, staring at him in awe as she watched his every movement. He was saying something funny to the amusement of his friends. That was the most annoying part of Jeffrey. He was hot. Plainly HOT. I can hardly pinpoint a girl at school who haven't had a crush on Jeffrey before.

I can't exactly blame them, he has this mesmerizing blue eyes which suited him to perfection, with his very very gorgeous chocolate brown hair. Not only that, being an athlete made him very muscular and sexy, his muscles were very visible through the thin material of his white T-shirt. If he wasn't mean to me, I might have had a crush on him.

But thankfully, he was, and I was not dumb enough to fall for him.

"That's your table Dani," Lawrence said loudly, startling me.

"She can't hear you, she is mentally preoccupied right now, seeing her hot boyfriend," Tess teased, knowing how much I hated Jeffrey.

"Shut up Tess. Can't you see that I was glaring at him with hatred in my eyes and c'mon is this the only pizza palace in this city?" I snapped annoyed.

"Whatever..." She drawled looking unconvinced.

I just sighed.

Well, I have to do this 'cause that's what I'm paid for.

"Hey guys, welcome to Miss Wong's pizza palace. Can I take your order?" I said the exact line I use for every customer.

All three of them turned to look at me, I shifted nervously on my feet, I'm not very bold and it bothers me a lot. My eyes drifted over to Jeffrey's, he was looking at me with a mischievous smirk and I knew at once that he must stir up trouble before he leaves.

"Well, if it isn't cupcake," he said in amusement as he relaxed comfortably in his chair.

Cupcake was the awful nickname he insisted on calling me despite my best efforts to stop him. He claims that I remind him of cupcakes.

"I didn't know that they employ underaged children to work here," he said sarcastically.

I just tried to ignore him.

"Ugh! Don't start again," Miles groaned, sensing a forthcoming argument.

Miles was a fairly good looking guy of Australian descent, with light brown hair and a long hair that he tied into a ponytail. Despite hanging out with fools like Jeff, I actually don't mind Miles, he was quite funny and would make fun of Jeffrey whenever he wants.

Jeffrey was still waiting for a comeback but he was certainly in for a surprise.

"Why? Are you considering to apply for a job?" I replied smoothly.

This made the smirk on his face to fall and his friends to start laughing. This made him to shut up for a while, which gave me the avenue to quickly take down their orders.

As soon as I was done, I walked fast to the safety of the counter.

"How was it?" Tess asked with her mouth filled with ice cream that she had taken while I was gone.

"Just as I thought it would," I grumbled.

"And who told you to take that ice cream?"

"Well since I came to visit you and you refused to give food to me who is your guest, I decided to help myself to something," she said looking innocent. I just overlooked her, I have more bigger problems to deal with.

Once I have made their orders and stacked them on a tray, I walked to their table and dropped their orders in haste so I won't have to talk to the dickhead Jeffrey. I turned to leave but I stopped in my tracks, feeling a large warm hand wrap itself around my wrist.

Turning around, I saw that the hand belonged to none other than Jeffrey. I quickly removed his hand and snorted.

"What is it?" I snapped.

"Mine looks unhealthy," he said looking at me with a straight face.

"Seriously? What's my fu*king business? I'm not your dietician. Don't complain to me," I said gradually getting fed up with his stupidity.

"Shush! You shouldn't swear at a potential customer. Imagine what your boss will do if she hears this," Jeffrey said smirking.

Foolish guy.

"Infact I think I should complain to the manager," he said and walked to were the manager stood talking with someone.

I dragged him by his shirt to a court.

"Can you stop being a prick for just a second?" I asked in a pleading tone. No matter how much I hated this job, the pay is superb.

"Only one condition," he said grinning.

"And what's that?"

He smirked at me before coming really close to me that I had to step back, making me lean against the wall.

I looked at him with a confused expression.

"A kiss," he whispered.