Popular Nerd

Chapter Seventeen// New Friend

"Whatever. But still."

We step out of the car and Nathan kisses Laura on the cheek to say thank you for the ride. I watch him walk away and he meets Josh by the front gates. They begin to laugh and chat as if they have known each other for years.

I watch intensely, his eyes to his, his laugh in the air. He looks free, but not entirely happy. I can't read him; I don't think I have ever understood him. Now it even feels as if his name is foreign in my mouth.

"You ready?"

Laura locks her car and joins me as we enter the school through the main double doors. I avert my sigh off of Nathan and soon we pass students in the corridor. Laura stops to talk to them all, it is like she is high school famous. Well that's what you get for being a cheerleader with a fit boyfriend. With Nathan's transformation and every girl wanting to be with him, Laura is extra popular now that he chose her.

"Can I quickly go to my locker first?" I ask as we reach the turn down the corridor to my locker. "It's just here on the right."

She agrees and I swing open the door to load my bag up with the appropriate books for the day.

With Laura on the cheerleading squad and her being my new friend, I hope that today will be more positive in that the sniggers about Josh dumping me will fade. A girl named Gelsey Fredric got smashed on Saturday and ended up sleeping with Blake Anderson, who everyone labels The School's Bad Boy. So hopefully everyone will be gossiping about that and will have forgotten the scene about Josh and I.

"Hey, you still friends with that Lacy girl?" Laura faces me with an up curled lip.

"Not anymore." I scoff at the remembrance of her blaming me for kissing her boyfriend and how she had purposefully lied to me. She is no friend of mine. If she apologises, then I may think differently about the situation, but until then, I don't want anything to do with her. "How come you ask?"

"She's over their with Jace, giving you proper dirty looks."

I turn my head in the direction Laura described. Sure enough, Lacy is staring right at me, her foot pressed up against her locker with Jace by her side. Well I guess she isn't on planning to apologise any time soon.

It disgusts me to look at Jace or to even think about him. To look at her, with him. When she realises I am staring back, she turns her attention away from me and holds Jace's hand, tugging him away so they can leave the corridor. Good riddance, I don't want to look at her either.

"Oh, have you done that English paper for me yet?" Laura changes the subject. I dig my hand into my bag and retrieve the paper and pass it to her.

"I printed it off in size 14, I hope it's not too small to read-"

"Yeah it's great." Laura cuts me off and pockets the paper. She then checks herself out in my locker mirror.

"Um, are you going to read it?" I ask curiously, rather pleased with my work which took a total of three hours to complete Sunday afternoon. I also did my own essay which took an additional three hours to type, check and then finally print.

"Is the spellings all correct?" She asks, rising her head from her phone.

"Umm, yeah. And so is the grammar," I reply, noticing how bad hers appears to be. It is 'Are the spellings correct?' not 'Is the spellings correct?'. But I don't point that out as it doesn't seem like she is bothered.

Homeroom is rather eventful.

Laura invites me over to the centre of the room, away from my previous seat where I used to sit with Lacy. Now Jace sits there. I take a seat next to Bethany who automatically remembers me from the party. We converse for the first few minutes about last Saturday night until our teacher comes in.

I am just surprised she remembered what had happened that night, she seems pretty out of it after consuming all that cheap alcohol or whatever it had been.

Attendance is recorded then we can chat amongst ourselves before the bell rings, signalling the first period. Laura then calls over the rest of the cheerleaders. My stomach twists a rotation of ninety degrees. Seeing Courtney strut over with Josh isn't a very comforting sight. Half the team perches on one desk with the other around the table me and Laura are sat on. Then most of the football team joins us.

It is weird sitting here- in the middle of attention. Girls I hadn't even acknowledged before are wanting to talk to me, not as reluctant as they had been in previous classes when we were paired together in the seating chart. When usual conversations consisted of algebra or metaphors, it was nice to have a chance for them to talk to me about myself. 

It is a very bizarre moment. One girl even says she would want to go shopping with me, then do homework together. Another invited me to go to the library with her after school one day next week. I wouldn't say I was popular but it definitely is an experience I have never been used to. Even when I dated Josh I never received this much attention.

"Hey Paige." I turn around in my seat at the sound of my name.

I had just been talking to Gelsey about her night with Blake but as soon as I saw Ethan behind me I suddenly freeze. Now seeing him in bright light, it is clear why Beth described him as good looking. He is gorgeous! His eyes are brighter than before and his lips are just... Wow.

"Hi Ethan." With no more alcohol to stir me on, I panick about what to say. This is the second time I have spoken to him and I don't want to ruin any remote chances I may have with him.

"Did you get my text? We still on for tonight?" His smile is even more radiant than I remember. How come I never had a crush on him before?

Maybe because Josh never liked me looking at other guys.

"Yeah," I reflect his smile.

"Awesome, can't wait." We both stand up with the chime of the bell, signalling that first period is about to start. "What do you have now? I can walk you over if you like," he offers with a gentle smile.

"Math, you?"

"Same, I'm in room 31. How about you?"

"Room 32." I beam, grateful that Ethan wants to escort me to class.

We make our way down the corridor then up three flights of stairs. He slips his hand into mine and I don't pull away. It is kind of nice to have him by my side, despite the fact he isn't my boyfriend. But maybe, after I hang out with him tonight, he will be.