Fame Is Overrated

Fame is Overrated (chapter 6)

“Amy Watts and Jake Reynolds; Pamela Brown and Josh Baker; Skye Hamilton and Leah Abbott; Chelsea Morgan and A.J. Pearson...” Everyone, including Avery, let out a collective groan as soon as they heard Chelsea was to be paired up with her best friend. Avery’s lips curled up in disappointment as she watched the two girls squealed, trading looks of delight.

Avery continued drawing tight spirals. Now that all hope was loss, she had pretty lost all interest and hope in the project.

Mr. Hutton read on, “Lastly, we have Riley Landon and Seth Kingsley! Alright, now that everybody’s settled and sitting with their assigned partners, please focus your attention on the slides where it would tell you more about...”

WAITAMINUTE!       SETH? SETHKINGSLEYISMYPARTNER!?

Seth – of all people – was going to be her partner? This can’t be right! Avery pinched her arm and squeezed her eyes shut. But as soon as she opened her eyes, Seth’s face was just inches away from her’s, staring at her intently. He cracked a grin. “Howdy partner.”

“AHHHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” she screeched, pushing herself away from the table, almost toppling over in her chair. The whole class burst into muffled laughter and Mr. Hutton stared at her. Oh great. Now the whole class had seen her freaking out and making a fool out of herself. And her hair was probably all over the place. She self-consciously smoothed out her hair and shot Seth a glare as he lazily dropped himself on the seat next to hers.

“Nothing,” he snickered, his bright blue eyes twinkling. “I just trying to figure out what you were doing...” he shrugged.

“So…Riley.” He grabbed her textbook and studied her doodles. “I think we’re going to be great project partners.”

Avery ignored him. Instead, she stared blankly ahead, pretending to be in deep concentration. This was pretty much impossible with the hot yet annoying presence sitting next to her.

“You know, I think we started off the wrong track. Let’s start all over again, shall we? My name is Seth Kingsley. I’m single and love doing math homework on Saturday nights and taking long walks by the beach.”

Avery cracked a tiny smile, before it quickly dissolved into a frown.

Seth picked up her purple pen; he started to expertly twirl it at top speed using his thumb and index finger.

Avery snatched it out of his hand and snapped, “Pay attention.” She didn’t know what caused her to act like such a bitch. Maybe it was the fact that having Seth as her history project pretty much confirmed her doom that she was never going to be passing this class. Maybe it was the way his green eyes twinkled that somehow made her feel like it was mocking her. Wait, green eyes?

Avery tilted her head and studied Seth’s side profile to confirm what she saw wasn’t a trick of the classroom’s fluorescent lights.

Seth semi-turned his head and smirked, whispering, “Are you staring at me? The whole stalkerish look you’re giving me is kind of creeping me out you know.”

Avery gasped, offended. She smacked his arm, “I do not have a ‘stalkerish’ look. I was just wondering, aren’t your eyes blue? Not green?”

Seth eyebrows rose, like he was surprised she noticed his eye colour. Then his eyebrows knitted together like he was confused himself. Finally, he rolled his eyes dismissively. “I don’t know. I guess my eye colour kind of changes depending on whatever. It can be blue, green, amber, whatever.” A playfully amused smile suddenly played on his lips. “You sure ask some weird questions, Landon. Are you sure it isn’t some lame cover-up for me catching you checking me out?”

This time Avery stomped on his feet. She might have forgotten the fact that she was wearing her 3-inch patented red pumps.

“OWW-CHH!” Seth yelped, leaping out of his seat and hopping around on one foot. “What was that for?” Immediately, everyone in class whipped their heads around to look in their direction. Avery blushed furiously.

“Fight, fight, fight.” Snicker-chanted a guy in an army green hoodie sitting behind them, fishing out his Motorola Razr from his baggy jeans and switching to camera mode. His friends all followed suit. Avery scowled at them until the whole row of guys stowed away their phone, mumbling sheepishly.

Seth lowered his foot and grinned, though pain still etched across his face, “Trust me, you do not want to go into a losing battle with a woman with heels.”

The class cracked up. Mr. Hutton did not find it very funny, unfortunately.

“Mr. Kingsley and Ms. Landon, detention after school.” Mr. Hutton growled. “I’ll see you both in this room as soon as school is over, alright?”

“WHAATT! Detention?” Avery got to her feet in protest. Her cheeks burned as she stammered out, “Mr. Hutton, I – I – I…We – we…”

“Will be there after school, sir,” Seth slung an arm around her, saluting slightly.

Avery jerked out under Seth’s arm to protest again, causing him to stumble unsteadily forward, but the bell had already rung. Glowering at Seth, she hurriedly grabbed her bag and raced out of the classroom. She couldn’t stand being around the Seth anymore. It was like he was it was his sole mission in life to bring her misery and pull her into trouble. And it seemed like he was enjoying himself too.

“Riley! Are you mad at me? Aww…don’t be mad. Detention’s just a load of overrated shit,” Seth called after her, putting an arm around her again as soon as he caught up.

“You get detention a lot?” Avery inquired; blatantly ignoring Seth’s shocked expression that she hadn’t shoved his arm away yet. Hell, she shocked herself too. But, hey, she was feeling curious to find out more about Seth’s life.

“Hell yeah, I do.” snickered Seth as soon as he recovered from his shock, almost sounding proud. His mind seemed to wander, as if he were remembering all the stuff he’d done to get into trouble, a faint smile visible on his face.

“Riley!”

Seth glanced over his shoulder. “I think your friends are looking for you.”

Oh right. Her name was Riley here. Not Avery. Avery! Get your head in the game man! Avery spun around and smiled as she watched Sloane and Tori walking towards her.

“Oh, we didn’t mean to interrupt you guys,” Tori blushed when she noticed Seth’s arm around her.

Sloane’s eyebrows shot skyward, disappearing behind her blunt bangs, and whistled. “So, what’s going on between the two of you?”

Avery hurriedly shrugged Seth’s arm off, not wanting Tori and Sloane – or anybody else in the hallway for that matter – to get the wrong idea. “It’s not like that.”

“We’re history project partners, detention buddies and star-crossed lovers,” Seth deadpanned at the exact same time, wearing a cocky grin. Avery glowered at him again.

“HEY! KINGSLEY! GET OVER HERE, DUDE!” hollered a guy from a huddle of boys near the locker who were appraising girls as they walked past.

“See you after school!” Seth waved cheerfully, before loping off to join his friends.

“Seth Kingsley? Okay, he’s totally hot. But you can do better than settle for his manwhore ass. His totally hot manwhore ass. Okay, beside the point. Wait, aren’t you after Cory?” Sloane demanded, as Tori and her flanked her on both sides, guiding her towards her next class.

“Seth Kingsley? Are you kidding me?” Avery shook her head slowly, her wavy hair brushing against her shoulders. “Darling, I maimed his foot in class with my shoes because he was annoying me. I would never in a million years fall for him.” The three of them were silent for a moment.

“Wow, you’re not kidding.” Sloane sucked her breath in through her teeth while Tori grimaced as they both eyed Avery’s 3-inch heels.

“Oh, no, I’m not,” Avery agreed. 

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SO? haha, did you like the chapter? LOL. MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLINGS:P