The Populars

Chapter Five: Slapping Ryder

++Chapter Five: Slapping Ryder++

"Even the smallest act of caring for another person is like a drop of water-it will make ripples throughout the whole pond," -Jessy and Bryan Matteo

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The first two blocks past by quickly, and I am finally greeted by the lunch bell. I bolt out of pre-calculus as fast as I can. I stride down the hallway, people move out of the hallway for me like usual. I guess that is one of the advantages of being popular.

I head straight to the cafeteria, not wanting to miss a second of fun with my crazy friends. I pull open the door leading towards the huge room, that is full of bustling hungry students. The cafeteria is painted just like the rest of the school, in a dingy white that is to yellow to be considered white, but a little too white to be considered cream. There are pairs of table pushed together to form one large table. We have around twenty of these pairings. My school does have a lot of people in it, so they make sure they have room for everyone.

I, of course only sit at one table, and that is the popular table. There are still two tables pushed together to form one long one, but the popular table is centered in the middle. It isn't located close to the trash cans, and it isn't located near the food line up. It is located in the perfect position.

I look over at our table, to see several people sitting there. I smile, I hate being the first one there. I stroll towards the table, and I examine the people sitting at the table. I quickly slide into my usual chair and glance across the table at Jade, Allie, Nate, Jake and..... Asher?

Asher's light blue eyes make eye contact with mine and he smirks evily. He runs a hand through his light brown fluffy hair. How long does that kid spend on his hair? It is absolutely perfect!

"What are you doing here?" I spit at him, shooting him a glare.

Asher gives me a confused look, "What are you talking about?" he asks innocently, giving me a little pout.

I cross my arms over my chest, "Why are you sitting here?" I ask again, more agitated this time.

I feel Allie grab my arm, obviously trying to calm me down. I glace at her, and give her a look of betrayl before I snatch my arm away from her. I scan the rest of my friend's faces and they all look just as confused as Asher. Except their expressions are genuine, his is clearly fake.

"I sit here every day, Clara," he says, frowning.

My eyes widen, how come I have never noticed him before? How am I that blind that I have never seen Asher before in my life, before Monday? Does this mean he was being serious about going to school with me for around six years? Am I blind?

"No, no you don't! I have never seen you before Monday!" I exclaim, shaking my head in denial.

"I am in two of your glasses, well one I never attend... but the other I always go to! We have Biology and Photography together!" he exclaims, loudly, still playing the innocent card.

He is an evil narcissist bitch, now isn't he? He is pretending to be an innocent puppy and makes me look like the bad guy! I look around at my friends to see them all looking down at their food, and not making eye contact with me.

I shake my head, "No," I state, and quickly slide off of my seat.

"Clara, please don't go!" Allie yells after me.

I turn on my heels and quickly bolt away from the table, away from my friends, and away from Asher. I push open the doors of the cafeteria and bump into someone.

"Oops my bad," the annoyingly husky voice says, and I can almost hear the smirk in his voice.

I shoot Ryder a glare, and feel something sticky on my chest. I look down to see a glob of red sticky string on my new striped shirt. My eyes widen and I do my impulse decision, and that is to slap Ryder. The anger pulses through me, so  I bring my hand up next to his cheek.  I quickly make contact with his  soft cheek and I try to ignore the stinging pain that runs through me. I smile in satisfaction, he deserved that.

Ryder gives me a stunned look, and looks lost for words. I stare at him in the eye, and see the pain appear, he looks nearly... hurt. My lips part in amazement, that is the first time I have ever seen Ryder emote in any other form besides smirking.

"Ryder are you okay?" I find myself asking, pitying him.

I want to slap myself for even asking the question, that shows I care about him. What else am I supposed to do though? Leave him behind as I stomp off? I just slapped the boy, and he is showing me a genuine emotion. Even when we were dating he never even emoted, besides to tell me 'he liked me a lot'. He never cried, smiled genuinely at me, or even looked upset.

He shakes his head at me, "I—-I never thought you would hurt me Clara," he says quietly and quickly walks away, dropping his can of silly string on the ground.

I watch his retreating figure in pure awe.  What did he mean by me hurting him? I slapped him, and for a one hundred and ten pound girl, it probably didn't hurt much. Is he talking about how our relationship ended? Or is there another twisted meaning behind his simple words?

I shake my head at myself, I need to stop caring about people who simply don't give a fuck. I turn around and walk down the main hallway. I feel my body collide into yet another person, and I bring my gaze up to look the person in their eyes.

To my shock, the mysterious blonde boy stands there in front of me. His hazel eyes examine my face, and they quickly light up. He grins at me, exposing his dimple on the right side of his face.

"Hi Clara, I am Storm, I have meant to talk to you for a while," he says smiling.

Storm? Storm as in new kid storm? The new kid? Oh god, I sound like Keelian. I stare at Storm for a while, and take a mental image of him to store into my brain.

"What have you meant to talk to me about?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow at him quizzically.

Storm smirks at me, and shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know, I just hear a lot about you from Ryder and I guess Asher too. All that boy does is bitch about you," he says rolling his eyes.

I fold my arms over my chest, "What boy bitches about me?" I ask, widening my eyes at him.

Storm chuckles, "Both, but mostly Asher. All he does is complain about how self centered and evil you are. He claims that you care about no one but yourself, but I am not sure I believe that. After all, all they see is on the surface, right?" he asks, reaching his hand out to caress my cheek.

 I feel his warm fingers graze my cheek, and I almost yelp. I stare down at his hand, and quickly slap it away. What type of creep is this guy? Seems like all Ryder's friends are absolute jerks.

"Well, uh—nice talking to you, I have to leave," I state, and quickly walk away.

So I have learnt a lot of things today as it appears. One, Asher is an idiot, who is in the popular crew, and preaches against me. Two, Ryder can actually have human feelings, and I need to apologize for slapping him. Three, Storm the supposed 'hot' new kid, is also incredibly creepy.

Damn, popularity does not come easy, does it?

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Wow! Ryder was hurt by Clara? Asher bitches about her and knows her friend? We finally learn the blonde boy's name, Storm! Hmmm.... Interesting name, do you think a "storm" is coming?

To the side is Ryder!

-Misaxx