The Popular Crowd

Chapter 4

“Cool. Are you new?” He eyes scan my body and I try not to feel self conscious.

I glance at Simon. Crap. He’s not even looking at me, just talking to Dylan Madge and a couple of other girls.

“No,” I say distractedly. “I’ve lived here for a couple of months actu-“

“Class take your seats,” Mrs. DeMaria called. “We have a lot on our agenda today, starting with balancing equations!”

I quickly take my seat in the back row, and stare straight ahead. I can feel people turning their heads back to look at me, mainly guys. I couldn’t believe this. Did they really not recognize me, even though I’d moved here months ago?  Did I really look that different?

Mrs. DeMaria droned on for forty-five minutes and the whole time I couldn’t take my eyes off of Simon. He hadn’t even looked at me. Every other guy in the room had, but he hadn’t so much as glanced at me. The whole point of this transformation had been to get Simon’s attention and I may as well have been some flat as  a pancake 11-year old.

I stand up at the end of class and slip out of the classroom. This was a total failure. Who did I think I was? Did I really think Simon Loughlin, one of the hottest, most popular guys in school? Did I really think he would think I was even remotely h-

“New girl,” someone calls and for a moment I think it’s him. I really do, my stomach drops and my heart beat races and-

I turn around and there’s Dean, smiling at me.

“Oh, hey,” I say a little more naturally.

“Why don’t I show you a tour around school?” He offers.

“The thing is,” I try to laugh. “I’m not new. I’ve lived here for three months. I’m in some of your classes.”

His mouth practically drops. “You’re kidding me?” He starts walking so I follow suit.

“Yeah…” I say.

“You look different,” he says glancing at me with that same leer. I feel sort of uncomfortable, but I know that this is a step closer to getting to Simon, so I fight the urge to run straight into the bathroom and change into my gym clothes.

“So…I’m guessing you know the school already, huh?”

I nod my head. He actually seems pretty nice. I smile. “Yeah, but you could walk me to my next class.”

He grins and puts his hand on the small of my back. “Let me show you something,” he guides me over towards the water fountain and bathrooms.

“What’s this?” I ask, laughing a little bit. What was this guy doing?

He’s suddenly in front of me walking towards the wall until I’m pressed against it.

“There’s this party next week,” he says, his breath hot in my face. I flinch.

“Oh,” I say. “Tell me about it later…I really have to get to class…”

He put his hand on the small of my back. “I bet you’d be a lot of fun at parties,” he chuckles a little bit and leans in closer to me.

I’m about to push him away when I hear I hear a voice.

“Hey man,” I hear a voice say and Dean and I both look over. Simon.

“I think your girlfriend’s looking for you,” he says, holding back a smile.

Dean loosens his grip and stands straighter; I crossed my arms in front of me.