Popularity Rules

by Shamika Lindsay

  “Of course, we can find someone else but she knows too much to just let go.”

  My eyes met Avery’s, whose were wide with terror. I held my breath, afraid that even the slightest movement of air would give up our hiding spot. I briefly wondered what Avery knew that Elijah thought was so detrimental to him.

  Elijah continued, “And I bet she told that little fan boy of her’s all about it. I just can’t leave them and expect them not to talk. We’ll have to get rid of them.”

  My heart sank. ‘Get rid of’ didn’t mean a five-star getaway, I’m sure. Instead of looking as alarmed as I did, Avery merely hung her head as if she was remorseful, sorry to have witnessed whatever she did. Gravel crunched nearby and I belatedly noticed they were coming our way. There was absolutely no way out, we were directly beside his car and the car on our right was so close to the wall, it was almost touching it. Leave it to Avery to choose her ex-boyfriend’s car to stand beside.

  They would’ve gotten to us in a matter of seconds and I could easily foresee what would happen if they saw us here, it’d be too easy—too simple. It probably wasn’t the smartest idea, but it was the only thing that readily came to mind. I grabbed Avery by the arms and planted my lips on hers. She was surprised but didn’t have the reaction I thought she would; thank God for that. Otherwise, this would’ve been awkward. It was easy to get lost in the moment and act as natural as possible, given that our ruse would be over if Elijah noticed otherwise.

  There was silence for a while as I pulled Avery closer, feeling the strain on my lungs but the buzzing in my head. Avery wrapped her hands around my neck forcibly and pulled my head down closer to hers. If anything, we were pulling more attention to ourselves, but I knew from experience that public displays of affection tend to make people uncomfortable and they’d avert their gaze once in close proximity. I felt someone push by me and I had a weird inkling it was Elijah. I heard the person mutter something before roughly pulling the door back and narrowly missing my back.

  “People these days,” I heard Elijah’s snarky comment from the car.

  Thankfully, they pulled out and I quickly pulled away from Avery, my heart pounding. I was glad the diner’s parking lot was dimly lit because, otherwise, this would not have worked. Before I could say anything, Avery roughly pushed me away shooting daggers.

  “I can’t believe you did that! I have a boyfriend.”

  “I think he’d understand the dire circumstances,” I retorted, sarcastically, folding my arms, annoyed to be caught up in her web of deception—all feeling from the adrenaline fueled kiss gone.

  Avery rubbed her hands self-consciously. “I don’t know what to feel, it’s the Jonathan thing all over again.”

  I raised a brow at her before sighing. “You’re comparing me to Elijah, I’m nothing like him.”

  “But Dylan is so nice—”

  I snorted. “He’s flirting with my date. Besides, if you have to convince yourself why you’re with him, I don’t think you should be with him.”

  Avery pouted and I noticed the tinging color of her lips. I chuckled, pressing the back of my hand to mine. “What’s so funny?”

  I shook my head momentarily. “Just that if we go in now, there’ll be a tell-tale sign of what just happened.”

  Avery opened her mouth to speak but stopped midway and sighed. “This whole dinner was a travesty.”

  “Yeah,” I admitted, stepping closer to her and smoothing her hair back down. “Well, at least we’ve learned something from this.”

  “What? That I’m an impeccable kisser?” she teased.

  I smiled at her and nodded, agreeing. “Yeah, that and the fact that we’re screwed.”

  “Elijah wants us gone,” she uttered thoughtfully.

  “Don’t forget the fact that you probably have to break up with your ‘boyfriend’ now.”

  Instead of fuming like I thought she would, she smiled, one of her genuine smiles that always took me by surprise. “That’s probably true, but I really do need to explain everything to you.”

  I nodded and she reached up on her toes to give me a kiss on the cheek. It was sweet, a little too sweet considering what we just heard. I wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her a little off the ground.

  “What about Dylan and Chantal?”

  I shrugged, giving her a full-on grin. “You started it.”

  Before she could protest, I leaned in to kiss her. Because despite how dire the situation was and how much we’d have to be looking over our shoulders and watch our every move, I was finally comfortable—here with this odd girl with her mysterious beauty. Right now, all I needed to keep me sane was her, right here, so warm and solid in my arms and no one else’s.

  What can I say? I may have been a little selfish.

  Translations:

  1Do you know French then?

  2I do, I'm in the honors class at school.

  3 Wow, that's amazing.

  4 Your hair is really pretty, I love it.

  Chapter

  XXV

  After we had gone back inside, after some demanding on Avery’s part—we found Dylan and Chantal in a rather heated scientific discussion. In fact, it took a while for them to notice that we had sat back down. When they did, the table fell into an audible silence and I subtly shook my head, this dinner was an absolute travesty. I lost all appetite and simply used the fork to push the pasta around on the plate. I stole a glance at Avery who had her lips pressed tightly together and staring into the distance. I sighed inwardly, hopefully she wasn’t making a comparison between Elijah and I again.

  I also looked over at Chantal whose eyes were fastened on the table. Her food was mostly finished but she stared into the plate like it had the contents of Pandora’s box. Dylan had his fist holding his head up from where his elbow was resting on the table. I had to admit, he looked a little grumpy, possibly irked at the fact that we interrupted his animated conversation with Chantal. It was ironic, isn’t it?

  “Chantal I—” Avery began much too loudly, making all of us look up. She cleared her throat and started again, this time more softly, “I’m sorry, I just—I…,” she trailed off and met my gaze, I smiled encouragingly at her. “I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m sorry, you didn’t deserve that. And I have no reason either, I guess niceness upsets me,” she finished with an uncomfortable laugh.

  I snickered at her vast inability to even apologize, Chantal smiled too, not quite meeting Avery’s gaze. “It’s okay, I think I understand,” she muttered, giving me a sidelong glance.

  My eyes widened at what she was implying, though she was right. I was pretty sure we weren’t ready to have this conversation right now. Dylan was looking back and forth between Avery and I and then at Chantal.

  “Uh, Chantal, I’ll take you home now.”

  Chantal opened and closed her mouth a few times before nodding. I knew it was probably customary to get dessert after dinner but staying here any longer would have Dylan get more suspicious and I didn’t want to confirm his suspicions just yet. Especially since I didn’t want to push Avery any further.

  “Wait, you can’t leave now, it’s still so early,” Dylan pipped up, barely reaching out, as if he wanted to hold Chantal in place.

  I was about to give some reason why we had to go but Chantal beat me to the chase. “Dylan I’d love to stay, but I’m really tired,” she muttered, and as if to prove her point, she feigned a yawn, “and I’ll talk to you later. It was nice.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief for Chantal’s willingness to cover for our asses. I pulled money from my pocket and rested it on the table, hoping it was enough for Chantal and I and to some extent Avery. I didn’t stick around to find out though, I hurriedly led Chantal out the diner and into the crisp air of the parking lot. She followed wordlessly, letting me use her arm to lead her.

  The apprehensive breath I was holding in finally broke free as I stuck the key into the ignition, immediately turning it. I put the vehicle into reverse at t
he same time when Chantal rested her palm on my hand. I hit the brakes and met her placating gaze.

  “Slow down Jason, no one’s chasing us.”

  I nodded and inhaled deeply. Chantal was probably right; I was acting a bit jumpy but I had all means, knowing what I knew. I had already confirmed her suspicions and I felt horrible. I discretely pulled my hand from under hers and ran both hands over my face repeatedly. After a moment, I backed out of the parking lot, a lot calmer than before. I kept both hands on the wheel despite how uncomfortable it was and kept my eyes glued on the road before me, while Chantal gave me appropriate directions every once in a while.

  Pretty soon, we were on the road leading to Chantal’s house. I noticed it was pretty close to Marc’s, which explained why he even knew her. There was an odd sensation of finality when we pulled up to her rustic looking house. It was nice, very modern and I couldn’t take my eyes off it, especially because I wanted to avoid the inevitable with Chantal.

  “Thanks for an amazing night out,” she commented lamely, looking at her intertwined hands.

  I laughed shortly. It was a quick exhale of air. Chantal looked startled. “Listen, Chantal, you don’t have to lie to me.” I took a quick look at the dashboard clock before continuing, “It’s some minutes to nine, Chantal. I really don’t think it was an ‘amazing’ night out. I’m sorry.”

  Chantal bit down on her lip, hard and I winced, this is not how I saw tonight ending. “I mean… I—It’s okay, I guess.”

  I sighed and released my seatbelt so I could turn in my seat to look at her. “I don’t even know what to tell you Chantal… I’m sorry,” I said again.

  “No, no, no, it’s fine,” Chantal said way too enthusiastically, pushing all the sadness behind her. “Avery’s a great girl.”

  We lapsed into silence as I mulled over what she said. Avery was not a great girl. And I meant that in the best way possible. No one knew the real Avery so anything they said about her would’ve been an assumption and, truth be told, she had many flaws, as much as I probably did.

  “So, Dylan made me know how famous you are at school.”

  I grimaced slightly and hung my head. The one person who didn’t know just had to hear and it was so irritating. “Yeah,” I muttered unconvincingly.

  “Why aren’t you happy? Everyone wants fame, don’t they?”

  I measured her for a moment and saw she was as naïve as the rest of them who fought for my coveted spot. “I don’t want to be famous,” I said shortly, noticing the outer lights of her house flicker on, apparently that was her cue in. “I’ll explain later but I think your family is deciding whether or not to shoot me.”

  Chantal laughed, one of her inevitably infectious laughs and I smiled too. “Thanks Jason,” she said with an easy smile, releasing her seatbelt and grabbing her bag at the same time. “I’ll see you soon,” she said, grabbing a hold of my face and kissing me on the cheek. I pressed my lips together as she climbed out, giving me a small wave goodbye.

  I waited until she was safely inside before starting off down the road. I didn’t like this game of hurting people, especially when they really didn’t deserve it. After a moment of mulling over what Chantal had said, I had a realization. Though I sometimes resented being popular, I was afraid of what lurked beyond its cushioned forces. My mind couldn’t even conjure up the possibility of people not rooting for me. Ultimately, I didn’t like being popular, but I feared life outside of it. I turned the radio up to clear my mind and tried to listen to the vague rock song blaring from the speakers.

  As if on cue, large raindrops hit the van simultaneously. I flipped on the windshield wipers and checked the time once more. With my luck, I hoped I could catch up with Dylan and Avery before they left. I drove by the diner slowly, making sure to scope out the area properly, though difficult because of the torrential rainfall. Everything outside the van was blurred, I slowly started off, trying to make something out but it was tedious and an intense strain on my eyes. I tapped my fingers impatiently on the steering wheel while other cars drove by. I gave up looking and decided to go to Aspiration Park and try my luck there, hoping the rain wasn’t as heavy. But with my luck, it was worse, much worse. I finally figured that driving wasn’t going to help, I parked near to the sidewalk and grabbed an umbrella I’d haphazardly left on the back seat.

  The wind combined with the raindrops that stung didn’t do much to help with my mood, especially the fact that the umbrella was totally useless, only covering a tiny portion of my head. I fought the impending urge to go back into the van and call it quits, I headed to a nearby bus stop where a few people were huddled. My clothes were already drenched so I was a sluggish mess. Thankfully, everyone else was wet so no one cowered away in disgust.

  “Jason?” I heard an oddly detached voice call.

  I turned around quickly, trying to find the source. I squinted in the darkness and saw Avery slowly approaching me with her denim jacket covering her head. I sighed in relief, happy that Elijah had not gotten to her.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked coming to a stop in front of me. She then pointed to the van, a little down the street that I could barely make out in the rain. “I thought it looked familiar.”

  “Trying to find you, that’s what,” I muttered, wiping my face slightly. “You weren’t planning on going home, were you?”

  Avery sniffled a little and shook her head. “I haven’t been home,” she stated simply.

  “Then where’d you get clothes?” I asked, a little confused.

  Avery bit her lip and dropped her eyes to the ground where the water level was rising. “That morning I came to your house, I figured going home would be the wrong choice because Elijah’s letting someone go means he only has worst planned for them, so I packed some clothes. And… I left them at some 24-hour café near here. The lady knows me and—”

  I raised an eyebrow as she stopped abruptly and looked up at me. I could tell she was embarrassed telling me this and I probably wasn’t helping by being this quiet, not to mention the group of people standing only a foot or two away. I smiled briefly and looked over her head. I know people had the idea that standing in or the in the vicinity of rain was romantic, but it really wasn’t. Having water constantly running down your face and back was the exact opposite actually but Avery seemed unaffected, so I humored her for now.

  “Where do you sleep?”

  Avery bit her lip and shrugged. “Here and there, wherever is open you know,” she said casually with a nervous laugh.

  I frowned at her response and sighed. I wish I had tried harder to face her when she avoided me, or when Dylan was always there hovering protectively. But I guess my ego couldn’t handle Avery’s or anyone’s rejection for that matter. I took hold of her elbow and began leading her to the van.

  “Wait, where are we going?” Avery asked, pulling back slightly on her arm.

  I tried my best to give her a genuine smile, one that would erase all her fears. I could tell it wasn’t working because of how quickly she sighed. “I’m taking you somewhere safe.” Avery raised an eyebrow at me dubiously and I pulled her along anyway. The people had the bus stop still had their curious gazes on us, but I tried to ignore them to the best of my ability, hurrying out of the freezing rain.

  The leather seats of the van did nothing to counteract the incapacitating cold as we sat down. I turned the heater on and cringed as it blew cold air for a few seconds before heating up. We rode along in silence, the radio gently crackling along creating more tension. The drive home ended relatively quickly, and I could see how apprehensive Avery was in coming back here because, in all honesty, although I told her everything would be okay, I feared my own family.

  “Jason, I’m not so sure about this,” Avery muttered, as soon as I pulled into the driveway.

  Me neither. “It’ll be fine,” I muttered innately, hoping she wouldn’t catch on to my inward thoughts and feelings.

  Avery shook her head skeptically but stepped out anyway
, falling lightly on the concrete ground. I followed silently, seeing through her ruse of being unaffected. I pushed my key in and turned the knob, trying to be as quiet as possible, hoping no one was downstairs. But, as usual, my luck wasn’t great and my mother called out.

  “Jason, dear, is that you?”

  I sighed heavily and gave Avery a brief glance. “Yeah, it is.”

  “Come on, we’re just starting a new game of monopoly.”

  Apparently, everyone was in a good mood tonight because I could even faintly hear Jade’s murmurs in protest at my invitation. I gently pushed Avery behind me to buy time from making my parents know she was here. In the living room, everyone was seated around the coffee table on small cushions. Everyone looked up at me as I entered, and their faces fell.

  “Why are you wet?” my mother asked, probably aghast that I was dripping all over her floor.

  Before I could even answer, Jade’s mouth fell open in disbelief and she pointed behind me, her finger shaking as she tried to force her mouth to form a cohesive sentence. “Avery?”

  I stiffened as my mother’s head snapped around so quickly, her neck must’ve hurt. The light papers of money fell from her grasp and floated toward the ground. Avery stepped out from behind me uncomfortably and forced her gaze to the floor while my mother shot daggers at me from her narrowed gaze.

  My father seemed oblivious to the tension in the room and smiled at Avery, snapping his fingers as he remembered her, not being privy to what had happened not too long ago. “Avery, isn’t it? I’m happy that you’re here,” he said in delight.

  “Hi Mr. Forbes,” she lilted with a slight smile but continued under her breath, “That makes one of us.”

  I shook my head slightly at my father and pursed my lips at him in amusement, I could tell he was glad Avery was here because she found him funny, which was more than what I could say about any of us, he didn’t even react when my mother gave him a stern glance. I guess you could say we were two for two on this matter because Jade looked ready to snarl at us both.