"It's like he's at the top of a cliff, and I'm tied to a rope that he's holding from the top. I'm trying to climb my way to where he is, but he's distracted or irritated or something, and he lowers the rope ever so slightly. He keeps lowering and lo...
"Lola, you have a chance to be with Jake Mueller, to be a part of an exclusive group. He really likes you–"
"He doesn't know me."
"But he will! He wants to get to know you, but if he or someone sees you talking, closely, like you were, with Alex, he'll get the wrong idea. He's not in our group, and he's not welcome in it."
"Why? That doesn't make any–"
She huffed and got closer to me. In a low voice, she said, "Lola, if Adrian doesn't like someone, they're out. And she and Alex, there's bad blood there."
"What do you know about Adrian and Alex, and, their, blood," I mumbled. She narrowed her eyes at me, and I felt as if I was saying too much, even though she was the one with all the information.
"You don't have to wander around school alone, spend your weekends alone. Hang out with us, go out with Jake, there's more to college than just class, you know, you can have fun," she whispered quickly. She was barely audible over the loud cheers and sounds inside the gym, but I clearly heard every word. It burned into my face as I realized how stupid I felt. This wasn't going to end with Me, Emily, Mary and Connor becoming our own group, it was all about getting me in The Group and, I don't know, strengthening it. I didn't know how much of an asset I could be, all I knew was that group included Adrian Windsor. And she terrified me to my very core.
"Adrian, over here!" Emily called out to someone behind me and I turned around and saw a stunning Adrian, her shoulder length black hair framing her face perfectly. Her bright pink lipstick was eye catching and yet threatening at the same time. She radiated confidence, and it made me self conscious because it wasn't exactly an innocent aura of confidence.
"Hey, Em, Lola," she smiled at me, my name rolling off her tongue delicately. I gave a small smile back, but I couldn't stop thinking about how sweet she was talking to us and how sour she was to Alex. I wondered if she passed by him on the way in, or if he saw her. He probably thought I was close friends with this witch.
The truth was, I only talked to Adrian a handful of times before. Now, with her, there was no doubt she's popular. Her dad owns some company and they're loaded. She's also a star field hockey player, she's won state competitions and everything. Her impeccable looks are just the icing on top, but she was already taken by some senior on the football team.
She's a leader, but a harsh one. And the (scary) unique thing about her is that she is never obvious. She would never explicitly tell you she doesn't like you, or call you names or any of that cliche mean girl stuff. At least, she never did it around other people, as evident with her, uh, conversation, yesterday with Alex. Everything she said was encoded but lethal. Around others, she was sickly sweet; alone, she must have been a bitch.
I didn't really know her otherwise, because I tended to stay away from the large crowds that tended to form around her, and because she was too intimidating and you already know I'm intimidated by bleachers. Could you imagine if I tried to talk to Adrian? I only talked to Emily or Mary, but when they were alone. It was obvious I was a loner, Emily had just done a good job of pointing that out, but it seemed like they were in on something to change that.
I didn't want to humiliate myself further, and I needed to process everything that had happened, so I faked sickness to go home. Adrian gave me a concerned look that I wanted to believe, while Emily frowned at me.
"Just, you know, cramps." I clutched my lower belly in emphasis. Yeah, totally wasn't humiliating myself further.
"Well, I hope you come around to more events, Lola," Adrian added, while Emily just muttered that she'd text me later. I nodded, and did my best to smile. As soon as they were out of sight, I bolted out the door and took a big breath of fresh, cool air.
It refreshed me instantly, and I just stood there, not really knowing what to do next. Although, the fact that Emily's soda could be exploding all over her, and hopefully Adrian, at that very moment, gave me so much joy.
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