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He thought she looked expensive.
When Alma walked out of her house, she didn't appear to be from a almost middle class neighborhood. Her blazer and skirt were matching, the white tank under glistened slightly, clearly having it be silk. Her shoes were shiny, the heel pushing her up two inches, possible three. She had neatly done makeup, her eyelids shined, lips glossed. She looked like she belonged in one of the neighbors he'd look at on zillow just as a joke, wondering what it would be like to live there.
Plus, in his eyes anyways, he couldn't tell the difference between knock off brands and the actual expensive kind she'd never afford.
"Hey!" he had to call louder, standing from the other side of the street. Alma paused, holding her car handle as her eyes glanced over, "I'm Ethan."
Alma eyed Ethan, the body type matching the annoyance waver from the night before, "Why are you yelling at me from across the street?"
She spoke normal, and he heard her perfectly fine. Embarrassment flooded his face, realizing he'd yelled for no reason. Apart of him wanted to stay silent, yet that wasn't what he did, "I'm Ethan."
"So you've said." Alma said back, turning to lean against her car and look his way.
"So.." Ethan trialed off, rocking on his heels, "A: I tell you my name. B: you tell me yours."
"Wouldn't A be you yell at me from across the street, and B, I ask you why you're yelling?" Alma nodded at her own words, eyebrow raising toward the boy standing in his driveway.
Ethan blinked, feeling mocked in the slightest, "Maybe."
Alma had to smile, she'd never once met anyone who matched even the smallest bit of her introduction energy, "I'm Alma."
"Right, i'm Ethan." he said again, flushing slightly with a shake of his head, "Sorry, I've said that three times. I, ugh, live here."
"Well, that's a relief. I was starting to think you'd broken into this house and stood in their drive way just to say hello." Alma opened her door, throwing her bag in the back but not getting inside, "Like the tethered from US."
"Oh, I loved that movie." Ethan admitted, earning a smile. It was clearly her best feature, gorgeous and kinda made your heart flip around, "Do you, like, go to East Highland?"
Alma felt slightly unease, eyeing him, "If you're in on something, just get it over with so I can just go to school."
"What?" Ethan gave a odd look.
"What? Are you a freshman that has to go through Nate Jacobs initiation to be on the football team?" Alma asked, because it wouldn't be the first time it happened, "Is someone gonna jump out and throw water balloons with paint at me? That's really old, you know? Freshman year and sophomore year were enough."
Ethan looked taken back, blinking his slightly tired eyes, "I'm not really a sports guy, and i'm a junior."
Alma frowned her eyebrows slightly, realizing how close they were to being late to school. If he was in on something, he'd have done it by now, "Are you taking the bus?"
"Looks like it." Ethan shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked on the new vans, "My sister left without me."
"How rude of her." Alma commented, blinking and glancing at her car, "Do you want a ride?"
"You're a stranger." Ethan said back, though it didn't appear he was denying her offer.
"So is the bus driver." Alma said back, palms tightening on the car, "Only difference is if you get on the bus, you'll be with a stranger that has bad BO and is driving a bunch of hormonal teenagers, or you ride with me and have to listen to unsolved murder mystery's on a podcast and probably find a few empty bags of sun chips."
"Oh, now you've ruined it, I hate sun chips." Ethan said back, making Alma laugh slightly.
"I'll meet you at the end of the road." Alma said back, finally getting in her car.
"Wait-" Ethan began, a look of confused across his face.
"My mom would go into cardiac arrest if I gave a random person a ride, i'll see you down there." Alma flashed him a small smile, shutting her door and driving down toward the stop sign before stopped.
"Okay." Alma ducked down when they pulled up down the road from the school, "If you just jump out right here, i'll circle the block and come in the other entrance."
Ethan flashed her a odd look from the passengers seat, "We could just go that way if you want, I don't mind."
"You're not gonna wanna be seen getting out of the car with me." Alma laughed, sitting up again and pulling the sunviser down to hide her face, "I'm saving you from a year of people thinking you have chlamydia and brain damage."
"You've got chlamydia?" Ethan asked her.
"No." Alma said back, looking at the clock, "Could you get out? I don't wanna be late."
He hesitated, because truth was he had no clue what she was talking about but it was clear him dwelling on it was pissing her off, "Yeah, yup."
"If you didn't catch on yet, no, Alma didn't have chlamydia or any other STD people liked to say she did. And no, she didn't fuck the entire football team, not even one of them. Zero brain damage, and absolutely not a stalker. Again, no, she didn't even have a twin in the womb to absorb, even if she did it wouldn't make her bad either. Nor did she follow Maddy around school and become obsessed with trying to be her friend, she'd actually really hate to have Maddy as a friend. Most of the shit people said about Alma wasn't true. The only thing that was ever actually for real, with the rumors about her, was what happened between her and McKay last year. But anyone believes you when you're someone in the school, and Maddy and Nate were, so was McKay, so was the entire football team."
"Look who it is!" Nate shouted loudly, laugher in his tone as he leaned against his truck. Alma had done what she said, circling the block to come through the other route and park, "You're looking very pretty today. Why don't you come to the locker room, I'm sure the guy would want to see you again."
She didn't say anything, continuing on.
"What? Can't compare to McKay?" Nate called behind her back, "I miss you, baby!"
A few people in the parking lot laughed with him, high-fiving him like it was some huge accomplishment to humiliate her. Alma hurried behind Maddy and her friends, making sure they hadn't seen her as she slipped into school. Ethan realized, from where he's been walking up on the side walk, why she warned him to not be seen with her.
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kylie speaks
fucking nate jacobs. *que him on fire while rue shoots him*
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