Love and Fame Games (Book 1)

06 (Part Two)

"Why were you skanks talking to Seth Frasier of Off-Kilter and what did he say?" she demanded, blocking my way and folding her arms across her chest.

Was this a joke? Why did I suddenly have to explain something I had been doing since the dawn of time? This girl had some nerve, getting all up in my face like this.

"How is that any of your business?" I snapped. I cast a puzzled look at my three friends who were standing by my side. They all had similar expressions on their faces as me and only shrugged in response.

"I'm just looking out for him," she replied with a smug look. "I am his biggest fan."

Silence followed that statement. Nobody really knew what to say to that, exactly. I furrowed my brows and cocked my head sideways and tried to think of an appropriate response.

Suddenly, my friends, who never really cared about being appropriate, started elbowing me and laughing-right in Cassidy's face. Although I couldn't help but feel like some of the laughter was sort of directed at me, too. We did just talk about something along these lines a few days ago.

Tears formed in the corners of Beth's eyes, which she wiped with the pad of her thumb. "A challenger appears," she murmured. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

"Just how big of a fan are you, Cassidy?" Erin asked, feigning interest. The younger girl did not even seem to notice. She actually seemed eager to talk about this topic.

"I follow him on all of his social media-"

I lifted an eyebrow. Just this statement made her impossible for me to take seriously. Seth did not do social media, okay? He just didn't. End of story.

"And he very recently followed me back on Twitter." More laughter erupted from all around me. Cassidy fumed. "I don't see what's so funny. It's a verified account."

At least, he didn't use to. But then again, I didn't know about the YouTube channel, either-or anything about him anymore, really. So maybe the joke was on me.

My mood change went unnoticed and the sound of my friends' laughter filled the small space of the girls' bathroom, as Cassidy turned red. Even her two friends, who were standing guard at the door, appeared to be cringing from secondhand embarrassment. I was this close to feeling bad for her, too, when she spoke again.

"Watch your backs, skanks," she told all of us. And then, narrowing her eyes unmistakably at me, added, "especially you."

With that and a hair flip, Cassidy and her two sidekicks were out the door, leaving the four of us confounded.

Alex was the first to react. "Did that really just happen?"

"That was pretty bizarre," Erin breathed. She turned to Beth, who nodded that it was, indeed. I thought so, too and was glad we were on the same page so I joined in on the conversation.

"So weird, right?" I mused. "Who knew Seth was on Twitter? Why?" I wrinkled my nose. "What would he have to tweet about? Like, do I even wanna know?"

I trailed off and continued this train of thought internally. Seth on Twitter, I rolled my eyes. To be fair, the character limit would suit his manner of speaking.

Who else was he following from school, I wondered, and why wasn't I among them? An involuntary huff escaped my lips and then, I realized that the room had gone silent.

"What?" I asked my friends. Alex was facepalming and Erin looked like she wanted to strangle me. Beth, however, simply smiled.

"Never change, Adrian," she said, chuckling. Nothing fazed that girl.

Before I could ask what she meant, our Vice-Principal, Mr. Tinsley stuck his head inside the bathroom door to tell us to wrap things up and get to class. So inappropriate. We all huffed and glared at his intrusion but he acted like he didn't even notice. Maybe he didn't; he was really old.

We did as he said and left the bathroom. None of us had classes together next period and were just about to part ways when Erin stopped abruptly and turned to me, nose wrinkled. "Seriously, Adrian? Cassidy Albert threatens you and your biggest concern is Seth joining the Twitterverse?"

My eyes widened. Was that how it sounded? "She threatened all of us," I said dismissively.

"Especially you," she said, mimicking the last thing Cassidy said.

I started to fret. "That's insane. Why should I be singled out? I was barely even laughing at her."

"'Cause you're the skank that Seth Frasier had eating out of his hand, obvi," Alex said, snorting. Upon hearing that, I let out a strangled cry. Beth, Erin and I all turned to her and Erin whacked her on the arm, making Alex protest. "Cassidy's words, not mine."

Beth, for maybe the first time ever, had a little crease between her eyes as she spoke to Alex. "I can't believe you, of all people, would-"

"Stop it, you guys," I told them sharply. I ran both palms over my face once and gave them a serious look. "You see? This is exactly why you can't say things like that anymore. Not everyone will get that it's just a joke."

"That's their problem," Alex said, huffing. "Besides, I'm not scared of some snotty tenth grader."

"I don't need any more bathroom drama in my life, okay?" I wailed.

A look of understanding registered in her Alex's wide hazel eyes and her features softened. "I'll tone it down," she conceded. I let out a small sigh of relief. Alex could be reasonable, if it was important enough.

"But not when it's just us," she added. The other two agreed to the same terms and I decided to let it go.

The four of us finally did part ways after that. My next class was located in another part of the building but I knew I could make it with minutes to spare before the bell rang, so I took my time walking over there so I could be alone with my thoughts.

Things were good, I told myself. The guys were back, and things with Seth seemed to have sorted themselves out. As long as the girls kept their word and didn't make any awkward comments, everything would be back-to-normal soon enough.

I should be relieved. All the tension and worrying should have left my body at this time and yet, I still felt like something inside me was about to burst.

Maybe it was just that single coffee bean and the girls were right and I should have let the girls take the jar away after all. Hmm...

Nah, I decided, and kept walking.

As I had predicted, I found myself outside the classroom where my next class would be held with minutes to spare. Although, judging by the noise I could hear just from standing outside the door, it was already filled with students.

What I saw when I opened the door didn't help the way I felt at all and just made me stop in my tracks. There was someone sleeping at the very back of the room. I couldn't see his face: He had his back to the door and his head his head was down and turned toward the window but I knew it was him. The perfect fitting, nice white shirt I almost ruined earlier gave him away.

I refused to believe my fate at first. I checked my printout to see because there had to be some mistake. I couldn't possibly be having this class, with that boy, in this room full of periodic tables and scientific equipment, at this very moment. This had to be a joke, I thought-a cheap one, at that.

No such luck. Even the universe was a comedian today, it seemed, and it had the exact same sense of humor as three hormonal teenage girls I knew.

Chemistry with Seth, I scoffed inwardly. Like, when did my life start to get so ridiculous?

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A/N: Hope you like it. Thanks for reading, voting, commenting, etc. ILY all! <3