The Outcrowd [Wattys 2015]

Chapter 3: Scott's POV

I spent a good part of the rest of lunch screwing the world and cursing Lauren, Melody, and her friends over and over again in my head as I tried to find a good place to camp out alone. The Fuse article, itself, hadn't been severely damaging. There was a lot of whispering and wondering, but no one seemed to find it a bad thing, necessarily, that I was secretly making babies with someone other than Lauren McKinley. Some people thought it was cool that I had been able to sneak around the Inner Circle queen's back for so long without being discovered. I thought that it would inevitably lead to Lauren's downfall, thus keeping my reputation safe.

But then, at the beginning of lunch, she had taken the liberty to very publicly and oh-so-ungraciously remove me from the Inner Circle. Somehow she had twisted everything around to turn me into the bad guy, and that was what had set off the chain reaction of betrayal. When she sent me away, not even my best friend Jake tried to stop me.

The entire time I roamed around the halls like a loser, I couldn't stop wondering how such an offensive insult had tragically befallen upon my shoulders. I thought that my breakup plan had been perfect—everything had been written down in my lists. The only problem was that I hadn't followed the first part. But I refused to believe that one small alteration to my plan ruined the entire thing. Half of me said that it didn't matter whether I had shredded the beginning of my list or not, because Lauren always got what she wanted; the other half was convinced that I should've stuck to the goddamn plan.

I was almost glad when the bell rang to signal the end of lunch. At least I had an excuse to not wander around like a loner anymore. Fifth period was a nightmare, but sixth was even worse.

The second I stepped into English, the class went silent; a second later, whispers broke out. Head bowed shamefully, I watched as my feet stepped one in front of the other. Right, left, right, left, right, left. I turned left at the last row of desks and proceeded down to the seat in the back corner. It was only I after I had slumped down into the chair that I realized who sat right in front of me.

Actually, it took me a little bit short of a while to register the familiar way her dark hair waterfalled down her slim back and the modest posture in which she held herself. Of all the seats she could've sat in, it just had to be the one in front of mine.

"Aw, look at the happy couple. When's the wedding?" I groaned internally when I heard that unwelcome and all-too-familiar voice.

I glanced up and saw Lauren and one of her minions, Bethany, at the front of the room, looking as perfectly high-maintenance as usual; both of them also had very unflattering sneers pasted across their faces. Behind them stood my best friend (I suppose he was now my ex-best friend), who found a sudden interest in the glass paperweight that sat on the teacher's desk. I tried to make eye contact, but he refused to acknowledge my presence. A hush had fallen over the room and all eyes were on us.

"So, made anymore babies with your not-so-secret-lover while I was gone?" Lauren snickered, strutting down the aisle of desks room towards me with Bethany in tow. For someone who had just found out that her boyfriend had supposedly had a kid with another girl, she didn't seem very devastated. I couldn't believe that she was still continuing the charade from last night when she herself totally knew the truth about the kiss.

"It's nice to see you again, too," Melody said calmly, nodding once to Lauren and then to me. She seemed to be completely unabashed by all the stares around her.

"How does it feel to steal my boyfriend?" Lauren asked loudly. "Thought you'd embarrass me, huh? Perhaps take my spot? Well, how did that turn out for you?" She shot her questions in rapid-fire succession, probably with the intent to intimidate Melody. But unfortunately for her, it didn't work in the least bit.