Gia’s father just kept screaming at her and her brother just kept laughing. She learned quickly about the family war, her father ground it in her head, scaring her with his anger. She decided to keep as far away from her natural enemy as humanly possible and never get on her father’s bad side again. That was the day Gia learned that sometimes it was better to be ignored.
***
Gia found out the next morning that avoiding the boy that sat right next to her in class was not possible, especially if he held a grudge.
Maddox noticed she wore a red bow in her pretty hair and he was angry with himself for still wanting to touch her curls. Being torn between his father’s anger and his own need, he decided to yank the bow out of her hair. It was the only way he could touch the long silky strands and not betray his father.
That was how it all started
"Give it back!" she yelped, rubbing the sore spot on her head as tears of anger pooled in her eyes.
"Make me." he hissed.
She glared at him before hurling her pencil in his direction, and then smiled as it hit him in the forehead. The anger that crossed his face, increased Gia’s smug smile and Maddox decided the best form of revenge would not involve letting her know that she had pissed him off.
"You want it?" he grinned.
“Yes.” she nodded warily, not trusting his sudden change in demeanor.
"Pull Luna’s hair." he pointed to the big girl with the long, sandy-brown braid sitting before her.
Now Luna, who happened to be 11 and still in the third grade, was the bully of all bullies. No one dared to mess with her! Rumor had it, that the reason she had failed so many times was because she had beaten up all of her teachers. Not to mention the urban legend of poor Fife McGee, a girl from Luna’s original third grade class. The small, brave girl had allegedly stood up to Luna one day, then the next day she had just vanished without a trace and no one had heard from Fife since.
"No way." Gia said. She was no fool, she knew what Maddox was up to.
"I dare you." The words came out slow and deep.
In the third grade, a dare was your honor, and any honorable third grader knew that not completing a dare meant serious repercussions from their fellow peers.
"Scared?" he grinned smugly. "What else could I expect from a Love." he spat out her last name with disgust.
That did it.
With all her might and built up anger, Gia yanked Luna's hair and then immediately turned to see Maddox's shocked face. Smirking at him, she held her hand out and he reluctantly albeit respectfully gave her the bow.
“I win.” Gia whispered and Maddox frowned for a moment.
"Bonus." Maddox chuckled, his smile full of evil as she looked at him strangely.
“Bonus?”
"Yes, you get detention
and
a beat down." he explained. She looked over to her angry teacher, who was on his way to grab her, and then looked up to see that Luna was still crying as she glared at Gia. Despite the repercussions to come, Gia felt a satisfaction she had never felt with herself before.
"I still win." she whispered with a smile that infuriated him, before the teacher led her straight to the principal‘s office.
It would not be the last time that she would win.
The next day, as a form of revenge, she dared him to stand in the middle of class and moo like a cow until the teacher physically removed him from the room. As the teacher led him out, Gia tossed the little red bow to Maddox.
His smile was a look of triumph despite the fact he was headed to the office. Maddox was excited to pay Gia back and he stewed in detention while planning his next dare.
By Gia and Maddox’s senior year, their pranks had escalated to a destructive level. They had become obsessed with testing each other’s limits, nothing was sacred and nothing was forbidden. They constantly tried to out-do each other as well as themselves, developing new dares that made their previous attempts look like child’s play. No matter how extreme the dares became, neither would dare give in, even hesitation was considered a weakness, so it continued. They dedicated themselves to devising the ultimate dare, the one that would force the other to forfeit and crown the sole victor.
It was a battle of wills that had evolved from a game to a way of life for them, a natural instinct that the two of them seemed to share. It was the one and only thing they could control in their lives. In their game, they made the rules with no outside interference. It was a secret between just the two of them, one that they cherished deeply.
The high school was their battleground and although the politics of high school gave Maddox the upper hand, he refused to use that power in their game. Maddox had it made at school, Mr. Popularity had an easy ride in an establishment full of friends as well as admirers. Due to his father’s annual contributions to the school, every member of the staff adored him, even their loud mouth, teen-hating principal seemed to love Maddox. He was virtually untouchable in the school, and able to do as he pleased without the slightest repercussion, which only fueled his ego.
The six foot three, black-haired hunk was a natural choice for Prom king and had been voted most likely to succeed, back in the ninth grade. The fact that he had single handedly led the football team to an undefeated status by the end of the season had made him an official celebrity in their town.
Everyone wanted a piece of Maddox Payne, all the guys’ wanted to be his friend, and all the girls just wanted him. He had dated every member of the cheerleading squad at one point or another over the years as well as any other beauty that came along. He was the epitome of the teen dream sensation, materializing from the poster on their wall and depositing himself into their real life. Any girl at their school would give their right eye for a chance to be with Maddox,
Every girl except Gia Love, that was.
Gia was not impressed with his physical attributes or his athletic skills. There was only one thing she wanted from him and Maddox was more than willing to give it to her.
Gia, unlike Maddox, shied away from the limelight. She only dated the books, preferred studying to socializing and craved any other form of knowledge. She did have two best friends that she would die for, but that was the extent of her social interaction. Like Maddox, Gia’s physical appearance was the very definition of attractive, but unlike him, she was not aware of it. Even if she had been aware of it, she would not have cared what she looked like. She had more important things to worry about then her beauty, boys or any other typical-teen, over-dramatic and possibly self-induced crisis.
Sure, she had her fair share of boys asking her out, but it was more of a nuisance to her. Considering some of the guys at school did not take her rejection well, she had quickly become the target of slander. Although she made the conscious decision to be ostracized by her peers in favor of maintaining her A+ average, she did not think it was fair to be labeled the schools official ‘ice princess’ because she wanted a good education. Was she strange because she preferred studying to dodging S.T.D’s and pregnancy?
Gia was tired of confronting the weak-minded individuals she attending school with and decided to alter her appearance to prevent the boys from being attracted to her. She began wearing baggy clothes, pulling her hair back in a long braid at the base of her neck and sporting a pair of horrific looking glasses that would repel the opposite sex.
Her plan worked and the boys avoided her like the plague, giving her the freedom she needed to focus on studying. No one in school was the wiser, except her two best friends, and although they did not understand, they still supported her.
Gia just did not care, she needed to make school simpler for herself, since her home life was anything but. She needed to achieve a great level of success and help her father back on his feet. She just hoped it would be enough to give him a reason to care about life, quit drinking and maybe even love his daughter again. Not to mention she would love to rub it in the face of her loser brother, that she alone brought the Love family out of ruin.
***
For Gia’s eighteenth birthday, Maddox had dared her to stand in front of the school when everyone was around, singing a dirty-little birthday-ditty he had written just for her. Needless to say, the excessive profanity and perverse lyrics had landed her in detention for a week. Therefore, she in return had dared him to kiss Gretchen Wheeler for five full minutes,
with
tongue, dead smack in the middle of the crowded lunchroom and in front of all of his friends.
Gretchen was a rude girl who considered herself an 'all natural' hippie. She rarely bathed, refused to shave and had no problem wearing the same hemp outfit for days in a row. She was also a vegan who would protest at the drop of a hat and at least once a year held a demonstration against the schools lunch program, which usually involved tons of fake blood and stuffed animals.
Five minutes was a long time when you were kissing a girl whose lack of dental hygiene had left a thick fleece blanket of plaque covering her teeth. Despite the fact that it was one of the worse oral-experiences of his life, he still managed to hold on for the full time.
Paige Chancellor, the conceited head cheerleader who believed she had exclusive rights over Maddox, had dropped to her knees dramatically, yelling “Why Maddox, why?” at the top of her lungs. Then within moments, Paige was back on her feet threatening to beat up Gretchen if she did not stop kissing Maddox. Gretchen just smiled at Paige as she continued to kiss him, opting to fight instead.
Maddox held on, looking at his watch, the only thing going through his mind was the nasty form of revenge he was going to take on Gia. When it was finally over, he turned around to see the girls looking repulsed, Paige on the floor crying, his friends looking like their hero had stumbled, and Gretchen behind him saying something about a date. However, regardless of the chaos the kiss had created, he was excited, he could not wait to tell Gia her new dare.
***
Maddox caught up with Gia before their next class, grabbing her arm before she walked through the door, then held up the red bow.