Not Your Girl

Chapter Ten

When I walked into the cafeteria I noticed that seating arrangements had changed. Joining Ava and Grace’s table was the new guy who looked out of place amongst the table of real sluts. Joining the cheerleaders table was Ryder and his gang, one of which was a jock. Ryder sat next to Brittany, an arm slung around her shoulder and I remembered their little… meeting… in the Janitor’s closet. I took a seat by myself at my usual empty table. Little did I know that two sets of eyes watched me sit down; Ryder and the new guy. The girls at the table next to me snickered as they glanced down at the school newspaper and then back up at me. Screw them. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear just as a bunch of whispers started up. I glanced over my shoulder to see that Ryder had teleported over to Ava’s table and was tapping Grace on the shoulder. Grace squinted at him and then gave the new guy a smile before standing and following Ryder out of the cafeteria. My eyes followed them curiously and Ryder glanced over. When our eyes met, he smirked and shot me a wink which I responded to by wrinkling my nose. What was Ryder up to? Perhaps Grace was his next date in the Janitor’s closet…

I gagged a little at the thought of it. Grace was officially apart of Ava’s group. They had all slept with Ryder. I glanced over at the table to where the new guy was glancing around awkwardly while the all the girls flirted with him except Ava who was glancing at her nails. Ava… had she slept with Ryder? A crease formed between my eyebrows as I thought about it. A girl like Ava would be assumed to have slept with a guy like Ryder but I had never heard any news about it, nor seen Ava with Ryder in that way at all. Perhaps… Ava hadn’t slept with Ryder. Perhaps she and I were the only girls in the school who hadn’t. A pair of eyes staring at mew drew my attention away. The new guy was staring at me again and when our eyes met, a small smile slowly grew across his face. No one had smiled at me in a long time besides Ryder’s smirks and teasing grins. I responded with a shy smile, tucking strands of my brown hair behind my ears and looking away. A couple of the girls at the table noticed that he was staring at me and desperately drew his attention back to them.

I turned my attention back to my food but I wasn’t hungry. I picked around at my uncooked brownies until I decided to chuck them out. My mother was starting to slack of on her cooking. She didn’t seem to have time to do much anymore. As I walked back to my table a Jock stuck out his food and I tripped. I reached out and caught myself on a nearby table. The jocks snickered and the one that tripped me called out,

“Whore!”

I swallowed, giving the jocks a glare before heading back to my table, forcing myself to look forwards and not to look back. I took a seat, fully aware of the taunting eyes on me. The bell went and the cafeteria exploded as students headed off the class. I collected my books together, piling one on top of the other as I slowly brought myself to my feet. Someone approached my table and I glanced up thinking that perhaps it would be Ryder or Ava or some else who wanted to annoy me but I did a double take when my brown eyes landed on the breath-taking face of the new guy. We stared at each other for a second and my breath caught in my throat. A smile slowly spread across his lips and he flashed me his white teeth.

“I thought that I should probably introduce myself,” the new guy said and rushed to extend a hand towards me, “I’m Christopher.” The smile appeared on my face easier than I had expected as I took his hand and shook it gently.

“Hi.” I managed to say through my suddenly quiet voice. His warm hand released mine and dropped to his side.

“You’re Jessica Southern, right?” Christopher asked, still bearing that gorgeous smile and I felt my heart sink. Of course he knew who I was. I shouldn’t be surprised. I was the talk of the school.

“I’m guessing you’ve been told things about me?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow slightly as I glanced up at him through my eyelashes.

“Nothing that I believe.” Christopher replied swiftly and my eyes lit up and both eyebrows raised in curiosity and surprise.