The Popularity Game

{ t w o } Operation: Date Crashers

Dedicated to i_rauhlyou

_

I rushed into school on Friday morning, thinking that I was late. When I saw that everybody was still loitering in the hallways, talking to their friends, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally." I heard an all-too-familiar voice say.

Speak of the devil.

It had only been two days since Kent and Chloe announced their "relationship"—which, by the way, I still didn't believe—and things could not be any worse. Whenever they were together, they always acted so lovey-dovey with each other, which was entirely the problem. They acted too lovey-dovey, it was physically sickening. They acted as if they never even hated each other. As if Kent hadn't put a bag of spiders in Chloe's locker just last week.

Which he actually did, by the way. I mentally grimaced at the mental image of the creepy crawlies all over Chloe's history book.

"Sorry. I overslept." I said simply as I turned to face the blonde beside me. She had her hair up to form a messy ponytail, and her ocean blue eyes gleamed with excitement.

I could tell that she wanted to tell me something, but she couldn't. I knew that face. It was her I-need-to-tell-you-something-but-you-need-to-ask-me-about-it face. "Alright, spill it. What's happening that you're oh so very excited about?" I said as we made our way to our lockers.

She blushed.

She. Blushed.

The Chloe Collins never blushed.

Well, that's it. The world's officially about to end.

"Nothing." She said a little too quickly. And when I raised an eyebrow at her, she sighed, "Okay fine. I'm going out tonight, and I just wanted to ask your opinion on what I should wear."

I knew that she was trying too hard to pass it off as nothing, but I could read the girl like a book.

"Formal or casual?" I asked as I tried to read her expression, although her face was impassive. I leaned on my locker, still eyeing her carefully as she grabbed the books that she needed for first period.

"Formal." She shoved her books in her bright pink prada bag. "I need to impress some-" She cut off, realizing her mistake, but it was too late. I had caught on.

"You need to impress someone?" I asked her suspiciously, but she avoided making eye contact with me at all cost. "So it's a date then?"

Her silence was all the answer that I needed. I rolled my eyes; this was horrible. I needed to tell Jason about this pronto.

I opened my locker and was about to reach for my books, but something caught my eye. A yellow sticky note that was put on top of my locker door. I grabbed it and saw that it was hastily written on.

Room 208, 3:00. Don't be late. -J

I looked towards the hallway, and immediately locked eyes with Jason. He was with Kent, and I could tell just by the way that Kent was running his hand over his head that he had let his plans for tonight slip too.

Looks like we had a plan to make, and it seems like it would involve crashing a dinner date.

_

"Took you long enough." Jason said as I entered the classroom.

I glared at him. "My last class was at the other side of the building." I said, stumbling into the classroom and sitting on one of the armchairs, gasping for air. "You couldn't have chosen another room that was closer to civilization?"