“You were fine with very rudely telling me off when you’re the one who ran into me. Words can hurt, too, you know.”
“What I’m trying to say is that I didn’t mean to send you to the hospital,” he says, growing visibly more frustrated. “Plus, the shit you said to me was ten times worse than what I said to you.”
“Aw, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” I say in an exaggerated love-struck voice, putting my right hand over my heart.
He sucks at this whole apology thing. So far he’s said nothing that didn’t make me want to punch him in the face for being so aggravating.
“Are you ever not a bitch? I’m trying to apologize here, but you’re making it extremely difficult.”
“Are you ever not an asshole? And that is probably the worst apology I’ve ever heard. It doesn’t even deserve to be in the category of an apology. It was more of a subtle insult with some underlying tones of very scarce concern.”
“There you are, babe!”
Kaitlyn.
She walks past me to stand extremely close to Aiden, then turns and narrows her eyes at me. “You left me to talk to her?”
Technically, we haven’t even really met yet, and I already know I hate Kaitlyn. Up close I can see she has a little stud nose piercing and icy blue eyes.
“I told you not to call me babe. We’re not together. Where I go is none of your damn business,” says Aiden, clearly annoyed.
“You could do better things with your time than talk to this outcast. Why don’t we ditch fourth and go to your house for something much more worthwhile.” She trails her hand down his chest.
“Never gonna happen. Seriously, Kaitlyn, give it up. I’m tired of this shit.” He pushes her off of him.
This no longer concerns me, which gives me an out to head to my locker, figuring there’s no point in going back into the cafeteria since lunch is almost over. Turning the corner, I hear someone jogging to catch up with me. Aiden’s suddenly blocking my path, and he’s managed to get rid of Kaitlyn.
“Look, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine. And I’m sure Mason or Noah told you that I don’t blame you, so you can sleep soundly tonight knowing that they weren’t lying. You didn’t know my ribs were healing, but do everyone a favor and refrain from kidnapping and throwing girls over your shoulder in the future.”
I step around him and continue along my course.
Everything about Aiden is aggravating. His stupid body, his stupid face, his stupid eyes, his stupid personality, even the way he runs his hand through his hair is stupid. It really angers me that I could easily replace four of those five stupids with perfects—his personality really is a waste.
After getting my books for English, and with five minutes until the bell rings, I head to the other side of the school for my next class.
“He’s way out of your league you know.”
Kaitlyn. Again.
She’s with that other girl—I think it’s Melissa or Marcella or something—and her group of followers surrounds them. Somehow they even managed to surround me, leaving me no other choice than to endure this crazed confrontation.
“Excuse me?”
“Makayla, do you think she’s deaf?” Kaitlyn looks at her black-haired second-in-command, who gives me the up and down.
“SHE SAID HE’S WAY OUT OF—”
“I’m not deaf, no need to shout in my ear,” I snap.
“Good, then you’ll hear me when I tell you to stay away from Aiden. He’s mine. Always has been, always will be,” Kaitlyn says.
Wow, is Kaitlyn ever delusional.
“Did you hear the same thing I did two minutes ago? I distinctly remember Aiden telling you to get lost.”
“He’ll be mine. Everyone knows we’re practically together. I’m warning you—stay the hell out of my way or else we’ll have a problem.”
Good grief, I don’t even want Aiden. He’s a jerk—a hot one, but after a while, we’d eventually have to talk. And while my body is attracted to him, every time he opens his mouth, my brain gets mad.
“I don’t have time for this.” I try to get around Kaitlyn and her drones but they block my path, clearly not done with me.
“If I throw a stick, will you go chase it?” I huff out, getting tired of this.
“Bitch, I’m trying to be nice and give you a heads-up. If you don’t stay away from my man, shit will go down, and you’ll want to crawl back into that hole you climbed out of.” Kaitlyn narrows her eyes at me.
“Don’t worry about me, worry about your eyebrows,” I say.
She gasps and her hands fly to her face. There wasn’t anything wrong with her eyebrows, but I knew that would get her. Shoving my way through the group, I see Mason leaning against a locker on the other side of them, looking amused. He steps in beside me, matching my strides.
“You’re full of surprises, koala.”
I look at him, confused. “Did you just call me a koala bear?”
“Koalas are not bears, they’re marsupials, but yeah, it’s fitting. You look all cute and innocent, but once you’re aggravated, you turn all vicious—just like a koala.”
“I don’t know if that’s meant to be a compliment or not,” I say.
“It could be.” He winks. “That’s the second time I’ve seen you in a confrontation with a notoriously vicious person, and you came out on top both times. I was going to intervene this time, but it was damn entertaining. And it’s obvious you didn’t need my help.”
It’s easy to see why Mason’s such a heartbreaker. I could see myself doing something stupid, like falling in love with him, if I wasn’t as smart as I am. Or if I wasn’t dead set on not getting into any trouble.
“I’m glad I amuse you, and thanks for not telling Aiden about what happened, like you promised.”
“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit,” he jokes.
“If I didn’t use sarcasm I’d have to flat out tell someone they’re an idiot, which is considered rude, and I was raised much better than that.” I return his smirk with one of my own.
Mason laughs at me and we stop at a split in the hallway, facing each other. “Always have an answer, don’t you?”
“The smart girls always do.” I wink at him and turn down the left corridor, silently praying he’ll turn right, because that was a damn good last word, and it’d be awkward if he ended up having to come the same way. He turns right, and I mentally high-five myself.
I get to my class and see Chase sitting on top of a desk with his back to me, talking enthusiastically to a bunch of guys. Not wanting to awkwardly cling to Chase, I walk to the middle of the room and sit down at an empty conjoined desk. While I’m pulling out my notebook, the chair directly beside me is pulled out, and a girl with long dark-brown-almost-black hair sits down beside me.
“Hey, you must be Amelia, right? I’m Annalisa, but call me Anna.” Her dark-red lips part in a smile.
“That’s me. Let me guess, you’re wondering how I insulted Aiden and lived to tell the tale?”
“Aiden might be an ass sometimes,” she says, laughing, “but honestly, he’s one of the best people I know.”
“You’re friends with him?”
“I’m dating his best friend, Julian. Aiden’s really not bad—he’s kind of fun to be around once he opens up. He’s amazing to the people he cares about, but he definitely knows how to be scary,” she finishes.
“I’m not scared of him.”
She laughs again. “I know, I got there in time to hear you tell him off—I was laughing so hard! The guys always rip on each other, but it was fun seeing someone else do it, especially someone so innocent looking!”
“Mason and Noah said almost the same thing.”
“They’re really laid back—they found it hilarious—but you know, boys and their prid
e. That’s why Aiden reacted like that. He feels really bad about what happened though. He never said it out loud, but if you’re close to him, you could tell that it bothered him.”
“He apologized to me today . . . sort of.”
“He what?!” she chokes out. “Tell me what happened!”
I told her what Aiden said in the hall, omitting any parts relating to Kaitlyn.
“Wow, he must really like you. Or at least care.”
“I should feel honored,” I reply sarcastically, feeling momentarily confused.
After the teacher walks in, the class starts and Annalisa and I have to stop talking. But after class we realize we both have a spare period, so we go to the empty cafeteria to sit and talk.
Despite Annalisa being close with that group of boys, I find myself actually liking her. I’m surprised because I didn’t picture one of those guys with someone like her. When Charlotte told me about Julian’s girlfriend, I pictured him with someone more Kaitlyn-like.
Annalisa has blue streaks in her dark hair and her fair skin and bright-blue eyes are accented by her dark-red lipstick. She is slightly more on the goth side, but not so much that she seems unapproachable. Despite not knowing Julian, I was proud of him for settling down with someone different from the obvious popular girls in school.
But is she friends with Kaitlyn? They were both eating at Aiden’s table. Julian is friends with Aiden and would therefore sit at that table. And Annalisa is dating Julian, so she, too, would sit at that table—with Kaitlyn and friends. I have the worst luck. I actually make some cool friends and one of them is friends with Kaitlyn and her bitches. As much as I like Annalisa, I don’t think I can be friends with her if she’s friends with those mean girls.
“What’s wrong?”
I decide to just ask her and find out. “How do you feel about Kaitlyn?”
“You mean Satan reincarnated? She’s actually quite pleasant to be around . . . when she isn’t talking. And isn’t looking at you. And is in a different room, in a different state, in a different country. With no cell service or Wi-Fi. So if all these conditions are met, then sure, she’s cool.”
I laugh. “What about if she’s in the same room as you, or at the same table?”
“You mean if I had to actually interact with her? Ew. Can’t stand her. She knows it too—knows everyone in my group of friends hates her. She’s just so in love with Aiden she still tries to find ways to hang out with us.”
“Anna, I think we’ll get along great.”
I’m actually really glad we’re becoming friends. But why would someone as cool as she is be dating one of the Boys, as I’ve dubbed them in my mind? Maybe Julian isn’t all that bad, since Annalisa doesn’t seem like the type to put up with bullshit. Julian is the only member of the group whom I haven’t met yet, and seeing as everyone except Aiden is cool, maybe my first interaction with a member of the Boys just happened to be with the one asshole of the group.
Annalisa and I trade numbers after spare period ends and promise to sit together again tomorrow during English.
I feel a tinge of guilt sweep over me. I’m not supposed to be making friends. I’m supposed to keep to myself and just get through school. But can I really just ignore people? Especially ones I get along with so well? It’s human nature to crave interaction with others, right? Plus, it’s not like I’m going around putting up flyers that say “Please be my friend! Here’s my phone number, let’s hang out!” It’s just a couple of people; I can handle it. For the risk that every new friend I make brings, I’ll be equally as vigilant about keeping my secrets. I can do it.
3
I walk into sixth and last period still thinking about the Boys, even though I wish I wasn’t. I stand at the front of the room awkwardly looking for somewhere to sit in the room full of conjoined desks, when suddenly all the breath is sucked from my lungs. There’s only one seat left unoccupied in the room—right beside the one and only grouchy pants himself: Aiden.
Checking the room once again, in case my eyes are playing tricks on me, I realize I have no other choice but to sit right beside Aiden. I feel someone glaring a hole into my skull, and turn to notice Kaitlyn sitting on the other side of the room with Makayla. Great, she’s in this class too.
Aiden’s talking to the two people sitting at the desk behind him—Mason and Noah. At least they’ll make this experience less awkward. It can’t be that bad now that Aiden (sort of) apologized for being an asshole. Maybe we can count this as a starting over of sorts. As I reach him, I’ve made up my mind to be friendly, but not so sweet that he thinks I want to be friends—like the respectful kind of approachable that you automatically switch on whenever your mom introduces you to her co-workers.
When I get to the desk, all three boys look up at me, two of the three breaking into big grins.
“Hey,” I say with a small smile. “Is someone sitting here?” I indicate the empty seat beside him.
He looks at me, seemingly having some kind of internal struggle.
“No,” he answers finally, and moves his bag from the chair beside him to the floor, to make room for me.
“Amelia!” Noah enthusiastically greets me. “I’ve missed you! How was your first day?”
“Noah, I saw you, like, four and a half hours ago.”
I get the sense that Noah’s the type of person you just can’t help smiling around. He’s like a cute, innocent little brother, except not so innocent, considering he’s probably slept with more girls than I can count on two hands.
“So! That doesn’t mean—”
“Okay, class, today you’re working on pages 57–68.”
Noah is interrupted by a very disinterested looking teacher. I turn back to the board and take my book out.
“Take notes and answer the questions on pages 69–70. Do it in pairs, individually, or in groups, I really don’t care.”
I sigh inwardly as the teacher goes back to his desk and opens his laptop. Clearly this is one of those classes where you have to teach yourself everything.
“K-bear, be my partner?”
I turn, realizing Mason is addressing me. “K-bear?”
“Short for koala.”
“I thought koalas weren’t bears?”
“They’re not, but it’s much cuter if I call you k-bear than k-marsupial.”
I hate myself for blushing. “Why don’t you just call me Amelia?”
“Because everyone calls you Amelia—it wouldn’t be our thing.”
My blush deepens. Are we having a moment? I think we’re having a moment. Beside me, Aiden’s rolling his eyes. What’s his problem? Wait, why do I care?
Focusing on Mason again, I look into his eyes and take in how rich and chocolaty his eye color is. He is quite the charmer—I see how girls fall for him so easily. He really does—
“Hey, no fair!” I’m torn from my dreamy stare and brought back to earth by the sound of Noah’s voice, and turn to look at him.
“I want to have a thing with Amelia! Amelia, why don’t we have a thing?”
I shrug and offer him a small smile. “Wrong place, wrong time I guess.”
“Starting now, I am making it my life’s goal to find a thing for us!” Noah declares.
Our laughter is cut off by a very irritable Aiden. “God, why don’t you guys get a room. I’m trying to learn about human society and your pathetic flirting is making it really hard for me to concentrate.”
I guess he’s back to being an ass.
“He’s just jealous he doesn’t have a thing with Amelia like we do,” Noah stage-whispers to Mason.
“I am not jealous!” Aiden roars, causing the whole class and, surprisingly, even the oblivious teacher to look up at us.
“Care to enlighten us as to what it is that you are not jealous of, Mr. Parker?” He addresses Aiden.
Aiden’s eyes narr
ow to slits. I can almost feel him trying to hold back an offensive response that would surely get him sent to the principal’s office.
Mason seems to pick up that vibe as well and jumps in before Aiden can get himself in trouble. “We were just saying that Aiden is jealous of us since we got the answer to a question that he didn’t, but don’t worry, we’ll explain it to him.”
The teacher, seemingly bored of the topic already, takes this as an appropriate response and goes back to his laptop.
“What the hell, man?!” Aiden turns his deadly glare to his best friend.
“Dude, Mason saved your ass. You can’t get suspended again, and we all saw it coming if he didn’t jump in,” Noah points out.
“You could’ve at least thought of a better excuse. One that’s more believable. We all know I’m way smarter than you kids.”
“Are not! I can out-sociology your ass any day! This isn’t math,” replies Noah.
“Noah, you get lost tying your shoes,” Mason points out.
“What’s that got to do with anything?!”
“Are one of you geniuses going to help me with question two or am I on my own?” I decide it’s time to intervene in their display of male bravado. God, boys are so competitive over such trivial things. Aiden mutters something under his breath as he turns back to his textbook.
“Screw that. Let’s talk about Halloween!” Mason says, completely abandoning their little dispute.
“What about Halloween?” I ask, fully turning my chair around to face them.
Noah looks at me like I just asked him where babies come from. “It’s this Friday.”
“And?”
“Do you have plans?” Mason asks.
I honestly didn’t really think about this Halloween. I used to love getting dressed up and going out with friends. I remember loving putting on makeup and dressing up as anything I wanted, and the best part was that no one could judge because the crazier the outfit, the better. Halloween was the one day you could be anything you wanted.
One year, my best friend and I went as a pair of giant pink fuzzy dice, like the stereotypical kind that would hang from a muscle car’s rearview mirror. We even had a fake giant rearview mirror with thin cardboard strips imitating string that attached us. We laughed all day as we kept bumping into everything.
She's With Me Page 3