I lean on the locker beside JD's, watching my friend as he tries to yank his bag into his locker.
"Y'know, Jason, it'll never fit if you keep trying to force it like that."
"Whatever." He unzips it, pulling out two textbooks and placing them in the top compartment. He finally gets the bag out of the locker. I applaud him sarcastically.
"Bravo!"
"Shut up," he groans, taking out the textbooks. I grin at him. "God, you're like the annoying sibling I never had. And I never want to have one."
"Hey, fate brought us together, JD. Don't pretend like you don't adore me." He rolls his eyes.
"Keep thinking that."
"Ouch." He grins. "You're such an asshole..."
"Well, you've stuck with me thus far, so I'll assume I'm not too bad." I mutter under my breath, mimicking his voice. "I heard that."
"Whatever." We start to walk towards the doors.
"Hey!" We hear someone call out gruffly. I glance back. The two idiot jocks, Kurt Kelly and Ram Sweeney, follow behind us.
"Hi," I say in response. I grab JD's arm and hurry him along. I know why they're here. JD was reckless and made fun of them right in front of them today. I guess right now is revenge. "You're such an idiot," I mutter to him.
"I don't regret it."
"Stop talking and walk." I push him along. Some days I feel more like his babysitter than his friend. I'm suddenly yanked back by my backpack. I stumble to the ground. "What the hell?" I demand.
"Get outta the way," Kurt says to me, honing in on JD. I stand and grab the back of his jacket, pulling back. "Hey- Get off me!"
"Little bitch," I hear from behind me. I whirl around and am promptly shoved away by Ram. I hit the floor.
"Shit...," I mutter to myself. I push myself to my feet, hurrying towards the three boys. "Hey. Hey, can we all stop? Listen, you're all mature enough to put this aside." Of course I'm trying to be reasonable. But when push comes to shove - which it looks like it already did - I'll abandon hope for a nice compromise.
"Tell your girlfriend to shut up," Kurt says harshly. I scowl.
"You shut up," I retort, pushing his shoulder. He turns to me, eyes alight with anger.
"The fuck did you say to me?"
"I said shut up." Him and Ram meet eyes. They both look at me.
"You're a snappy one, huh?"
"Y/n, this isn't yours to deal with," JD says. I hold up my hand.
"Yes, it is." I turn back to the two jocks. "So kindly fuck off."
"Ooh, so scary," Ram says. "What're you gonna do?" I clench my fists, drawing back a hand.
"Woah!" Someone loops her arms under mine, holding me back before I deck Ram. "No fights in the hallways, guys. Come on." I glance back at the speaker. It's Veronica. The fuck?
"Veronica, let us deal with these two," Kurt says, glaring at JD.
"No can do, Kurt. That'd be irresponsible of me." I look back at her.
"Let me go," I mutter.
"Anyways, you guys are all mature enough to know better. Especially if you're on the football team." Ram frowns.
"What?"
"Well, obviously, if you get suspended or expelled, you won't be able to play. Even if you only get suspended, your reputation is tarnished forever." She smiles slightly. "So, really, that's not the smartest thing to do, is it?"
"... No," Kurt mutters.
"Exactly." She lets me go after I struggle for a few seconds. "I can deal with them. You two just... Be on your way. See you." She spins us around and walks us to the doors. I glance at JD and we seem to share a silent confusion.
"What the hell was that, Sawyer?" I ask, turning to face her.
"You looked like you needed help."
"But... We were dealing with them." She cocks an eyebrow.
"Getting pushed around by them is definitely not dealing with them." I frown.
"We can fight, is the point y/n is making," JD says. I nod in agreement.
"Yeah, you didn't have to step in like that. We've both had our fair share of school fights." Veronica rolls her eyes.
"And you'd rather be pegged troublemakers?" She gives me a side-eye. "You'd be singled out even more. You honestly want that?" I look down.
"I don't know," JD says.
"Not really," I say.
"That's what I thought." She holds open the door for us.
"I owe you, I guess."
"Nah." I open my mouth to protest. "No, y/n. You don't owe me. I did that because I wanted to give you guys a chance. Don't say that."
"Veronica-"
"No." JD and I make eye contact. Is she really this good? It's gonna be hard to keep hating the popular kids here if one of them is this nice. "Even if you did owe me, I'd hold you to that. Which I don't."
"Okay..." I pause. "Thank you." We reach JD's bike. He gets on. I can see on his face, he still seems to be processing this entire thing.
"See you, y/n."
"Mm." He drives off. I watch him go. I glance back at Veronica.
"Yeah, I wanted to keep you and your boyfriend out of trouble. No Bonnie and Clyde shit, okay?" I frown.
"Boyfriend?"
"JD... He's not your..." She trails off. "Nevermind, then." I blink, then smile.
"You thought we were dating."
"I mean, you don't have anyone else, do you?" She clamps a hand over her mouth. "Oh my God, that was so rude. I didn't- I meant that as in... You don't hang out with anyone else, so I kinda... Assumed. I'm so sorry, that was rude."
"You're good." I pull out my keys. "But... No. We're not dating. I don't think either of us could be into someone who's so similar to ourselves. I mean... Of course we're not the exact same. But there are enough similarities that it'd almost be narcissistic, we've agreed."
"Huh."
"Plus, I... I guess I'm just not really into people like that."
"I guess that makes sense."
"Mhm." I grin. "We've heard it all, so we assumed at least one person would think we're together. Couldn't be more wrong." She nods.
"You two are observant."
"You learn to adapt." I turn away. "Anyway, bye. I'm gonna go now."
"Oh. See you, y/n." I nod in acknowledgement, heading towards my car. I unlock it and get inside, slipping my backpack off and placing it in the passenger side.
"What the hell..." I start the car.
Maybe I should give popular people a chance, if at least one of them is like that.
I turn on the radio, pulling out of the parking lot.
I pull my earbuds out, listening to the announcement over the intercom.
"Good afternoon, passengers. This is a pre-boarding announcement for flight seventy-two B to Dayton. Anyone with small children and..." I tune out the rest. It'll be my turn soon. I close my eyes. It's a while until I board. I scan my passport and ticket, then walk down the hallway to the plane.
I find my seat, placing my bag under the seat in front of me and buckling up. My heart is kickstarting that annoying flutter as I finally process what I'm doing here.
I'm on a plane, headed to Ohio.
I'll be there for half a month.
Here goes.