Project Popularity

Chapter Eleven

“We don’t always get what we want,” I snapped at her when she gazed at me with anticipation, like she was expecting me to say, “Hey, you know what? No hard feelings. So what if you hooked up with my best friend behind my back? It’s all cool.” I wasn’t a saint and I certainly wasn’t the kind of guy that gave forgiveness easily. Especially to people who didn’t deserve to be forgiven. 

Hearing my response, her face fell with disappointment and she swallowed hard. I diverted my gaze from her, not wanting her to get to me. I’d rather deal with her hostility than this. Normal guys probably would have caved in and felt guilty for upsetting her but Summer was forgetting one thing: I dated her for two years. I knew all of her games and plays so there was no way I was going to fall for her act and feel bad for her.  

The ten minutes that the teacher had given us was insufferable since the whole time Summer just stared at me with the same wretched expression like I killed her favorite purse. To worsen my day, Mr. Borelli announced that there was no need to go back to our old seats and we should just stay as we were until our project was done and over with.

At the sound of the bell, I jumped to my feet and darted to the door, wanting nothing more than to get out of the stuffy classroom. Upon reaching my locker, I punched it open- the lock hadn’t been working right since day one and I’d stopped trying since the third day of school, figuring I never store anything of importance in there anyways- put my book in, grabbed my gym bag and made my way down the hall.

As I moved down the hall, I couldn’t help feeling like I had forgotten something. And it wasn’t until Jamie’s back figure came into view in front of her locker that I’d realized what I had forgotten. I usually walked out of class with Jamie that period but today I had been so annoyed by having Summer behind me, her cell phone buzzing with message notifications every three seconds or so, that I had forgotten all about her. Stopping in my tracks, I tapped lightly on her shoulder and she responded by jumping in surprise. Seriously. That girl was more oblivious than anyone I had ever met.

“Hello to you, too,” I said sarcastically.

She punched me square in the shoulder. “Jeez, make a sound when you decide to drop by my locker next time. You scared me.”

“I didn’t realize I had to announce my arrival,” I remarked, leaning against the locker on the side. “Should I start wearing a bell?”

She gave me a pointed look and snorted. “Did you flyout of the classroom? By the time I looked up you were gone.” I could hear disappointment seeping into her tone as she spoke and oddly, that made me smile.

“Sorry,” I said ruefully. “I shouldn’t have taken off like that.”

“Why are you apologizing?” She emitted a small laugh. “I was just worried about you. I thought you took off so quickly because Summer said something to provoke you. I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time today that she ran that awful mouth of hers,” she mumbled, clearly still disgruntled by what had happened earlier this morning. If I had learned one thing about Jamie after knowing her for two weeks it was that she cared about her family and friends. A lot. And I admired her loyalty to her best friends- probably because I just got backstabbed by mine not too long ago. “So I guess group discussion didn’t go so well, huh?”