But just before he could make contact with Jayden's skull, his fist was caught midair by a stronger force. His eyes widened in shock as he saw who it was that stopped him. It was none other than the number one herself.
"I warned you once before, Carl. And yet, you decided to cause trouble. No more warnings for you," Tasha muttered with a deep frown. She was anything but sweet at the moment, it was like she had become the goddesss of the heavens there to pass down judgement.
Carl saw the look in her eyes and he suddenly felt a wave of fear wash over him. He had to find a way out of the situation, immediately. "Tasha I... Arghhhhh!" he was cut short by the intense pain that suddenly erupted in his body. Right from his arm that was still in Tasha's grip, to his entire body was a painful jolting sensation. Tasha has electrocuted him with her lightening abilities.
The lightening kept entering his body, passing it's current through every cell and tissue. It lasted for a whole minute before Tasha finally released his fist, hitting his chest in the process, sending him flying across the hallway like a ragdoll. His body crashed into the wall and he passed out instantly.
Tasha turned to face Jayden and Jessica, who were still stunned by the entire scenerio. They didn't even know how or when Tasha had arrived. All they heard was her voice, followed by a loud cry.
Jayden was fazed. "Woah. I didn't know she was this strong," he thought, clenching his fist.
"She has gotten stronger again. But how?" Jessica pondered. "She hadn't even been training for the past few weeks, and yet she still managed to power up,"
"Are you guys okay?" Tasha asked, her tone laced with worry.
Jessica smiled and hugged her sister. "Yeah, thanks to you, sister. What would I ever do without you?" she said, in a playful gesture.
"Alright, that's enough hugs, Jessica. Dad's here already," Tasha muttered, breaking free from Jessica's embrace. Then she shifted her gaze to Jayden and smiled wryly.
Jessica noticed the... whatever the hell was going on between her sister and Jayden. She took it as a cue to leave.
"Okay, so I'll be waiting in the car. See ya," she voiced out and quickly walked away. Probably because she didn't want to get involved in whatever was going to happen next, or maybe it was because she truly couldn't stand the thought Jayden and Tasha being together. But one thing was certain, she wasn't over Jayden, she just didn't know it yet.
"Are you alright?" Tasha asked Jayden with a genuine look of worry, the indifference she was acting towards him in the morning completely gone.
Jayden nodded. "I'm fine, thanks for stepping in," he said calmly
Tasha smiled, forgetting that she was supposed to be un-nice to him. "It's nothing, and once again, I'm really sorry about Carl. He's an idiot," she sighed
"Yeah he is, and thanks to you, he won't be bothering anyone for a while," Jayden muttered with a slight smile, catching Tasha offguard.
She blinked in surprise, Jayden had just smiled at her, while giving her a subtle compliment. But Tasha was no fool, she had learnt her lesson. She knew Jayden was just saying these things out of courtesy, not affection.
So she remained silent and returned the smile, trying hard to convince herself that he didn't feel anything for her. But his next words contradicted those thoughts.
"I read your poem, it was beautiful," Jayden said casually
Tasha smiled, she was extremely happy to hear those words directly from his mouth. She knew Jayden enjoyed poetry and philosophy, it was one of the things they had in common.
"You liked it?" she asked
"I loved it," Jayden replied softly, while maintaining eye contact with Tasha.
Tasha blushed subconsciously, she was beaming with happiness inwardly, but she composed herself. She had to keep her emotions in check, this was the room incident happening all over again.
"Well I... I wrote it when you were still at the hospital, hoping you wouldn't... die," she muttered, quickly shifting her gaze to the ground.
"I know, Jessica told me." Jayden muttered. "Thank you for caring, Tasha. It means a lot,"
Jessica smiled in response, she didn't know what to say. Her feelings were in a bit of turmoil at the moment, and she couldn't even explain it. Hours ago, she was mad at Jayden and decided to become uncaring towards him. But here she was, blushing like an idiot, and probably falling for the same trick again.
Meanwhile, Jessica was somewhere out of sight at the end of the hall, watching and listening to them. She had pretended to leave earlier just so she could eavesdrop on their conversation. She had been listening to them the whole time.
"That foolish girl, he's basically playing her again and she can't even see it," she clicked in annoyance, watching how her sister acted around Jayden. This made her really angry, because Tasha was to drunk in love to understand that Jayden can't feel the same way about her. Or maybe she was just furious at the fact that they were together and Jayden might actually feel something for her sister. It made her scared and insecure.
"Argh, I can't take any more of this. I'm out," Jessica muttered in frustration and finally left.
Jayden was still staring at Tasha, he was looking for a way to apologize to her about the last night's incident. But he didn't know how to lay it down, so he began with compliments and made her feel happy.
After seeing the way Tasha smiled and behaved, Jayden began. "Look, Tasha. About yesterday, I..."
"...Ah, my head," a voice interrupted Jayden in the middle of his sentence. It had come from someone at the far end of hall. It was Carl, and he was awake having already recovered from the previous attack from Tasha.
He had been forgotten and ignored as the school was almost empty with no one in the halls anymore. So when he passed out, there was no one to rush in to help. And Jayden, Jessica or Tasha couldn't care less about his wellbeing.
"What happened?" Carl asked with a puzzled expression as he slowly stood up
Tasha sighed and turned to face him. "You disobeyed me, so I taught you a lesson. And I'll gladly do so again," she said sharply, clearly annoyed at the timing he had chosen to wake up. Jayden was about to say some things to her, but now it's been interrupted.
"Huh?" Carl muttered, just before the memories before he passed out came rushing back into his mind. How he was electrocuted and tossed away like a weakling.
But he wasn't angry, atleast not at Tasha. She was his precious. "You didn't have to hit me that hard, Natasha dear," he said with a smile, brushing off the dust on his body.
"Oh, I did. And I'll do it again if you don't leave this instant," Tasha voiced out with a frown
Carl chuckled and began walking towards them, he was a bit annoyed that Tasha didn't give a crap about him, but he still had hope that one day she'll accept him. "Sure, I'll leave. Anything for you," he muttered with a smile. But Tasha rolled her eyes in frustration and sighed, it was like she didn't even care if he lived or died.
Carl kept walking and finally arrived where the duo were. He glanced at Jayden who was still standing beside Tasha, and all he could feel was hate, hatred for the bastard that almost took his life years ago. And the same bastard was now standing in the way of him getting the girl of his dreams.
"You know he doesn't feel that way about you, right?" Carl said to Tasha as he walked past them.
Tasha gritted her teeth, she already knew what Carl was talking about, and she knew that he was probably right.
But she didn't care. "Whatever, I don't care. All I know is I'll never agree to be your girlfriend, never. I'll rather be single for all of eternity," she stated with a clear digust for Carl.
Carl paused in his step, her words had clearly hit him hard. And it hurt a lot, to see the girl of your dreams reject you so many times. Only for her to fall for someone who doesn't feel the same way about her.
"You really like him that much, huh? Or maybe you just hate me that much," Carl muttered softly, there was a hint of pain in his voice. "Well, whatever it is, just know that he won't be able to make you happy. He's weak and will always be, useless and can't even discover his abilities. I mean look at him, you always have to come and save his ass every single time. How pathetic,"
Jayden frowned and clenched his fist, he was indeed weak and even after receiving a system, he was still playing around. He knew that if Tasha hadn't showed up in time, Carl's punch would have definitely landed. He hated the fact that he had to be saved by her again, and this only fueled his rage.
Tasha noticed the change in Jayden's demeanour and it made her instinctively take a step further from him. She turned towards Carl and frowned. "Leave!" she demanded with an intimidating aura.
Carl smiled and continued walking, he knew that he had succeeded in making Jayden angry, and this would make him look bad in front of Tasha. "Okay, okay. I'm leaving, but when you get home, do ask your sister about her opinions concerning your feelings for Jayden," he muttered with an enigmatic expression
"What are you talking about? She's cool with it," Tasha replied with a confused look
Carl's smile grew mischievous. "Is she? Or maybe she still has a thing for him but won't tell you. Or maybe I'm just crazy," he stated, and turned to walk away, leaving Tasha and Jayden with their various thoughts.