Davina- ish ;)
Today was going to be a long day. Not only did Ms. Samba want a project proposal by the end of the day, it was also Tuesday which meant I still had to sit through four more days of lectures before the weekend. Not that I looked forward to weekends, but at least it was a couple days I didn't have to worry about academics or getting to class on time before the bell rang. That bell hated me.
I was walking around the hallways, though I was technically supposed to be in calculus. It wasn't often I raised my hand to leave the classroom, but Finley had texted in the group chat- which went on a hiatus every three months. I made my way to the bathrooms, seeing Finley and Cody talking beside them. Finley saw me and waved, a nervous smile on his face. He was worried about Ms. Samba's project. Cody turned around with a grim smile, a pronounced black bruise resting comfortably on his jaw. I wanted to kill that man. Cody was tough, debatably the toughest person I had ever met, but his dad knew how to swing and the bastard- even drunk- hardly missed.
He rolled his eyes at my glare, "I know what you're going to say and the answer is no. I'm fine, Nash, really." I scoffed, like I cared about his rehearsed speech, "why won't you come live with me?" Cody looked down at his brand new Air Force 1's, a heaviness in his eyes. He didn't want to be a burden, and as many times as I've told him he wouldn't be one, he refused to believe me. Cody's parents had a nasty divorce only a week after his eleventh birthday; they hated each other and both wanted to forget the existence of that time period of their lives. Unfortunately, for Cody, he was a constant reminder of their failed marriage. It was the main reason his mom wanted nothing to do with him, he was a burden and a product of her marriage to Christopher (Cody's dad). It was the same for Christopher, it didn't help how much Cody resembled his mother, part of the reason why Christopher didn't mind messing up his face every now and then.
It didn't matter who Cody was with, everywhere he went he was a burden, and so, he believed himself to be one no matter who tried to tell him otherwise. "I'm okay, it's not bad. Just one hit really." I narrowed my eyes, not missing how his hand nonchalantly grabbed his shoulder. I pushed at his hand, and he hissed in pain, stepping away from me. "Shove off!" I rolled my eyes, "save the attitude from someone who doesn't care." "Stop it!" Finley shouted, catching the two of us off guard right as Cody was about to advance on me.
Finley's eyes were glassy, his bottom lip quivered subtly, He hated fighting, he had to hear enough of it from his parents much less to hear it from us, the closest thing he had to family. We mumbled a sorry, glancing around the hallway awkwardly. Cody pointed at a pamphlet behind Finley's head stapled to the wall. Finley carefully pried it off, reading over it with a curious look. He held it up to show us, it was a pamphlet about joining a club.
"No way. I'm not joining some weird nerdy club who's idea of a fun night is a boxing chess marathon." I had to agree with Cody on this one, clubs were boring, especially the ones at Whitley. If they weren't about bettering your studying skills, helping clean up an orphanage, or volunteering for a rich snobby neighborhood- then it wasn't approved. "No, no, I'm not saying we join one. I'm saying we should create one." The idea was ridiculous, we had far too much going on in our personal lives and trying to keep up with this hell hole to run a club. "Fin-" "Hear me out!" We both raised our hands, giving him the floor to speak.
"I've been thinking about the project for a few weeks now. Ms. Samba's hot topic in class, as we know, revolves around love. Every book we read, every short story we write, every homework assignment we're given is all about love and the importance of it. But, what if we combat this idea?" He was smiling, the kind of smile that led somewhere. Cody smirked, "you mean like speaking out against love?" "Think deeper." My eyes widened as a sinister smile stretched my lips, "beating Ms. Samba at her own game, right where it hurts. Proving love is fake." He beamed at me, shaking the brochure passionately, "If Ms. Samba is so sure love is real, then she'll be ready to defend and prove her standing. She'll have to let us do this project, to prove her faith to herself and the student body."
Cody wrapped Finley in a side hug, messing up his hair as he did so, "Finley, you're a downright genius." The smaller boy did his best to knock Cody's muscular arm off of his head but even I knew it was no use. Just like that we had our idea, here's to hoping Ms. Samba would approve it- and for all three of us. It wasn't long before lunch rolled around and the day had met its halfway point. Cody would be making his way from the showers, Finley's fingers to his elbow would be covered in paint he always scrubbed relentlessly to wash off. I had just left Ms. Samba's class, surviving yet another day with poison being poured into my ears. Love was nothing but an idea people created to give them some sense of purpose, Ms. Samba would know that soon enough.
I walked into the cafeteria and strolled over to the lunch line; turkey, potatoes, and macaroni, not bad for a high school menu. I grabbed my styrofoam tray and a small carton of strawberry milk before I headed over to the familiar circle table we normally always sat at. There were plenty of students already sitting and eating their lunches, but everyone stirred clear of our table. It was out of respect, not that we did anything to deserve it really, just threw a few bullies in their lockers and helped the victims learn to walk again. Like I said, bullying was a huge problem, so we did our best to clean it up.
It didn't take long for Cody to arrive, wet hair and all, walking sluggishly to the table. I smirked, it must have been conditioning day. Finely all but skipped over to us, a packet in his left hand and a glint in his eyes; he was conspiring and I had a feeling it had something to do with the packet he carried. Cody fell into the chair, groaning as he did so. Finley sat down eagerly, looking at us expectantly. I raised a brow and he slammed the packet down in the center of the table. "A club form!"
Oh, yippie. I forget how much little things can cheer him up, he gets so excited over them. Then again, he doesn't have much in his life that excites him other than his paintings. He regarded me nervously when I picked the form up, glancing over the requirements to create said club. Finley looked to me before he did anything, if I thought it was a bad idea, he wouldn't do it. If I said blowing up the school was the best idea in the world, he would agree and light the fuse. It scared me a little, how much my opinion weighed on him, sometimes I didn't know how to handle it.
I took out a pen from the pocket of my backpack and signed my name, passing it to Cody to do the same. He signed and nudged it back to Finley, moaning about how sore his muscles were and how badly his legs ached. It was then I noticed how loud the cafeteria became, not the typical loud either, the orchestrated kind- the kind that had every kid craning their necks to see what was going on. Cody put on a charming smile, I knew then who had walked in, Davina. Right, she came during lunch yesterday, so naturally, this would be half of Whitley High's first time setting eyes on her- a girl too beautiful to be real.
"And there she goes," Cody cooed as Rachel Rights bolted from her cheerleading/pretty girl table. At the same time across the cafeteria, Bradley James made his way over from the jocks/athlete table- minus Cody, he stayed with us. Finley sighed, his earlier excitement had been flushed down the drain, he was bummed about it all. It was hard for him to talk to people, especially girls, and he had liked Davina. He knew his social standing, she would never talk to him again. Our little trio wasn't at the bottom of the pecking order though, Rachel, Bradley, and I were perched at the very top- golden thrones and all. The only difference between them and I, was that I didn't go looking for recruits, I kept my circle small.
"Nash, wave her over!" Cody urged, his eyes honed in on the conversation between Davina and the two rulers. I shook my head, "if she wants to sit with them, she will." He groaned, "do it for me, please?" I gave him a flat look before I glanced over at the social competition. I casually waved, but it somehow had managed to catch Davina's attention. She shared a few more words with Rachel and Bradley before she made her way over to our table. Cody had a goofy smile on his face, while Finley was oblivious to it all, still stuck in pity and disappointment.
He sighed, looking up at Cody, "why are you smiling like that? Davina is never going to talk to us again." I nudged Finley softly with my shoulder, enough for his depressed look to turn into a meaningful glare. "Let me be sad."
"Did Cody say something to you?" Finley's face lit up as Davina sat down at our table, plopping her black leather lunchbox on its crumby surface. "You're sitting with us?" She nodded and Cody grinned victoriously, "see Finley, I did something good." Davina frowned, "Nash... waved me over?" "Yeah, but I told him to." Finley narrowed his blue eyes at Cody, "why didn't you?" The blonde boy scoffed, "I'm not one of the rulers, you know that, smart-alec." "Rulers?" Davina asked, glancing between Finley and Cody.
Finley addressed her with a smile. It was nice to see him relax around her. "There are three top dogs here. Bradley James, the guy that came up to you, is one of them. He's the varsity quarterback and captain of the football team, above average looks, but his pros stop there. He's a class A douche which is why I'm confused as to why girls sleep with him and guys kiss the ground he walks on. Then, there's Rachel Rights, the girl that came up to you. She's the cheer captain, the kind of girl a guy can appreciate look-wise, but she's as fake as plastic... which is kind of an insult to plastic." He cleared his throat, "Nash here, does absolutely nothing to make him popular. He doesn't get into fights or threaten the underclassmen to vote him homecoming kind; he's more of the silent type and has a way with words. One cold look from him and most people turn the other direction; you never know what he's thinking which adds to his reputation. Cody and I here have free rein."
Davina might as well make a fourth ruler with her looks and cool demeanor, she could bring anyone to their knees. "What are you thinking?" I smirked at her, "who says I have a thought in my head at all?" She digressed, a dangerous smile playing on her lips. I wasn't sure what it meant, but I knew it was nothing good. She redirected her attention towards the packet in front of Cody. She picked up the form and skimmed through it, "an anti-love club, interesting. You all have mommy and daddy issues?" She was abrasive, I'll give her that.
Cody nodded, "we're all on both sides of the problematic parents, it's hard living in the best of both worlds." I chuckled, leave it to Cody to add humor to neglectful and downright awful parents. She narrowed her eyes at the bruise on his cheek, but if she knew where it came from she never said anything. She kept her mouth shut, and I respected her for that, she knew there was a lot more to the story than just crude jokes to cope with rejection. A feeling the three of us thrived in. She picked up my discarded pen Cody had used to sign his name and signed her name. Finley's eyes were sparkling at this point, "you're, you're joining our club?"
She handed him the packet, boredly rolling the pen between her fingers, I noticed then the fresh black polish on her nails. "Mommy and daddy issues?" Cody mocked back, raising his voice slightly to match her tone- which was physically impossible for a teenager with a natural baritone voice. Her eyes flashed with an emotion, one quick enough to be easy to miss, but I was known for paying attention. Sadness. She was sad. A smile stretched across her pretty face, her eyes back to the normal playful glint she used to analyze the world, "not in the slightest, football boy."
Cody feigned hurt, "downgraded to the sport I play? Ouch, biker girl." She rolled her eyes, amusement lighting up her face, but I knew what I saw. She wasn't as good at hiding her emotions as she thought. Her green eyes flickered to me, only for a moment, and when I didn't look away, I knew she knew. She knew I didn't miss the way her bright eyes dulled, eyes that were swimming in pain. It was then I saw a different emotion from her usual flirty playful persona; it was fear, fear I would start digging into her life before she had a chance to fill in the holes. I kept my eyes locked with hers until she looked away, a bit feverish. She wasn't as perfect as she looked, then again, some of the prettiest people had the ugliest lives.
All I wanted to know was how ugly was her's?
A/N-
I'll be the first one to say it... I friggin' love Davina!! She's just a cool, confident, mellow female character.
What do y'all think of her? If you have any suggestions drop them... I haven't mapped out this book 😅