{Song in video: Sum 41 - In Too Deep}
The next few weeks of school were kind of weird. Clarissa, Yasmin, and Melody walked together without Addison. Since Addison was no longer popular, people either paid no attention to her or actually said mean stuff to her. One thing with Clarissa's clique is that if you messed with Clarissa or any one of her friends or family, then she can turn the whole school against you. She wasn't one of those typical controlling mean popular girls but she can be one when something came up.
What was also weird is that Amy is still acting secretive about something but me and Alexis can't figure out what it is. We figured it probably involved some guy she likes or something.
"It's so weird how someone can be popular and liked by the whole school for years and then all of a sudden become unpopular and no one cares about them anymore. Must be an extreme change," Alexis said while painting her toenails pink. It was Clarissa's nail polish but this time we had permission to use it. We were hanging out at my house.
"Yup, that's why it's worthless to be popular just so everyone can be fake with each other," Amy said, getting a scoop of cookie dough and eating it. "I wouldn't want that."
"Definitely wouldn't either," I said, also eating cookie dough. "Besides, who cares who's popular? Just have friends and don't worry about people's business."
Amy stood up and walked away. "Where are you going?" Alexis inquired.
"To the bathroom," Amy paused and replied, giving her the 'duh' look. She continued to walk and went out of my room.
"I'm going to go look for Infamous First Light," I said. "We can play it when I find it." I got up and looked around my room to find the video game. After searching for the past few minutes, I said, "I can't find it...Oh wait it's probably in Dylan's room." Me and Alexis walked out of my room and barged into Dylan's room. What I saw completely shocked and disturbed me, him and Amy were kissing each other.
"What the..." I said but I couldn't even finish my sentence because I was that shocked.
Dylan and Amy were just as surprised too. "It's not what it looks like," Amy said.
"Really? It looks like you two were having a make out session." I crossed my arms and then turned to me. "That's why you've been acting weird. I knew something was up."
"I'm sorry, Ky. I didn't know how to tell you..." She fiddled with her thumbs and winced.
"How long has this been going on?"
"Almost a month," Dylan said.
He put his arm around Amy but she smacked his arm away. "Not now Dylan," Amy said, gritting her teeth.
I rolled my eyes. "I'm not dealing with this right now." I walked back into my room.
"Ky, are you okay? I'm sorry if it's weird to you, that's why I was being secretive about it. I knew it would make everything weird and I just wanted to find the right time to tell you-"
"I'm not mad, just really shocked. I don't really want to think of it right now because I'm already feeling a headache from this," I said. "I mean really, Dylan? I don't know how this even happened." I made a disgusted face.
"I don't know either." She chuckled. "I'm still your friend; I just hope this won't be too weird for you."
I sighed. "It's just a lot for me to take in."
Amy turned to Alexis. "Are you okay, Alexis? You haven't said a word..."
Alexis' face was blank but then she snapped back to reality. "Yeah I'm okay," she said. "I'm just shocked too I guess. Are you two dating?"
"Um...I don't know if we'll call it that yet but he did take me out a few times." She paused. "Well I guess we are dating..." She grinned.
"You two know that you're dating the most annoying guys in the world, right?" I said as I realized it.
They exchanged glances and laughed. "That's so weird, right?" Alexis said.
"What about Luke? Poor guy, he's probably lonely. He's one of the nicer ones and you all had to choose Cayden and Dylan." I laughed.
"Luke is...I don't know," Amy said. "I guess he's too shy for me or something."
"Luke is sweet," Alexis said. "He's also cute but I like Cayden more."
At first, I felt okay with Dylan and Amy being together but then I realized that he's dating one of my best friends. I know I'm dating one of his best friends so what if he's just using her? I seriously had to talk to him about this. "I'll be right back," I said to Amy and Alexis.
I once again marched into Dylan's room. "You're using her, aren't you?" I said to him. He was playing Call Of Duty and ignored what I said. I unplugged his game.
"Hey what the hell Kyler?" Dylan exclaimed. "What's wrong with you?"
"I said you're using her, aren't you?" I glared at him.
"What are you talking about?" He gave me a bewildered expression.
"Oh you know what I'm talking about. I'm dating Seth, one of your best friends, and you're dating Amy, one of my best friends."
He sighed and shook his head. "You've got it wrong, Ky. I'm not using her, I actually like her. I'm not that bothered with you and Seth dating anymore. I know Seth's a good guy and wouldn't hurt you. To be honest, I'm glad it isn't any guy but him. I do trust him with you; it just took a while for me to realize that."
I squinted my eyes at him and crossed my arms. "Are you sure?"
He rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes I'm sure."
"Fine but I've got my eyes on you." I made the I'm-watching-you gesture with my fingers as I walked away. Dylan snickered at me and then went back to his video games.
I went back into my room and the three of us watched a few movies until it was time for them to go. When they were gone, I laid on my bed and listened to music, and then all of a sudden there was a knock on my door. I opened my door and saw Seth standing there in his Walmart uniform. "Oh hey," I said to him, surprised. "What's up?"
"Hey..." Seth said, having a straight face. "Um I have to tell you something..."
I looked concerned. "What is it?"
He came in and sighed. "It's about Jared." He looked at the ground.
"Is he alright? What happened?"
"Yes he's alright...Is he here by any chance?
"No he's hanging out with some of his friends. Why?"
He took a deep breath and sighed. "I was working earlier and he..." He looked nervous at this point.
"Go on..."
"He tried to steal something."
I gasped. "What?"
"I'm sorry, Ky. I caught him trying to steal a shirt."
I closed my eyes and sighed. "Is he in any sort of trouble?"
"I stopped him of course and I had no choice but to call his parents. I also talked to him and explained how serious shoplifting is."
"Thank you for doing that and for telling me."
"Really?"
"Of course. You did the right thing. Stealing is wrong and he knows that. I wonder why he did it though...I'll talk to him later about it when he gets back. Well I'm sure mom and dad will talk to him but I'll still do it."
"People do it for all sorts of reasons. He was with his friends and since they were together, we had to search them and make sure they didn't steal anything but they all were trying to steal different things. It was most likely peer pressure. When a few kids do something stupid, then everyone else gets afraid of getting made fun of so they do the stupid thing."
"Poor Jared. In high school it's only going to get worse. I just hope he's prepared for that."
"He's going to be okay. I know Jared and he's a nice and good kid." He came closer to me and we kissed. When we pulled away, he said, "Well I've got to go. Tonight I have to help my parents cook."
"Oh yeah, every Wednesday right?"
"Yup." He grinned. "Oh and by the way, my parents would like to meet you sometime this week..." He looked at the ground again and scratched his head.
"Oh okay. That's cool." I smiled, not sure what else to say. All this time I have known Seth, I have never met his parents. "What day?"
"Um...is tomorrow at six okay? They kind of want to meet you as soon as possible...unless you can't then they'll understand."
"Tomorrow's perfect." I smiled.
"Oh okay cool." He smiled back. "Well I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow." He gave me a quick peck on the lips and walked away.
A few minutes later, Jared got home, and I heard my parents sounding mad at him. They didn't shout or yell but they were raising their voice more than usual at first. They quieted down after a while. After a half an hour later, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and I peeked through my door, seeing Jared going to his room. I took a deep breath and sighed, deciding to walk in Jared's room. "Hey..." I said awkwardly, thinking of how I could start.
"Hi," Jared mumbled. "You know, don't you?"
"Yeah..."
"Just to let you know, I really didn't want to do it. In fact, I don't even know why I tried doing it."
I came up closer to him. "I know you wouldn't do something like that yourself. Do you know why you did it?"
He sighed, looking ashamed. "I was with my new friends and they all of a sudden were taking some food and other things and putting it in their pockets and bags. At first, I didn't want to do it but they kept calling me chicken and other names so I tried to steal a shirt but got caught by Seth. They tried running away from me but he told them to stay where they were and they got searched. Seth and some other workers said they had to call our parents."
"New friends? Are they by any chance, popular guys?"
He slowly nodded. "Well yeah they're cool..."
I sighed. "They may be come off as cool to others but they really aren't. They tried to leave you while you got in trouble. Real friends wouldn't do that. Real friends wouldn't make you do anything you aren't comfortable with in the first place. What happened to your other friends?"
"They're still my friends it's just that I wanted to be cool so I can start high school being popular, like you, Dylan, and Clarissa."
"Me? I'm not even close to being popular." I laughed. "And I don't care to either. Dylan to some degree is liked by a lot of people but he's not popular."
"Clarissa's popular."
I sighed. "She is popular but that doesn't mean you have to be. Did you know when you're popular, you're more likely to have fake friends? Do you really want to be friends with someone just because they're popular and known by many? It's better to have a few real friends rather than a lot of acquaintances you barely know."
He paused for a moment to think. "I guess you're right. There's nothing wrong with my real friends anyways. Plus to be honest, it wasn't that much fun hanging around the cool crowd. All they talked about was parties and girls. Me and my friends usually talk about video games and fun stuff like that."
I brushed his hair with my hand. "See? As long as you have your real friends then you will be alright, even in high school." I glanced around the room. "So are you grounded?"
"Yeah unfortunately, but I know I deserve it."
"How long?"
"Two months. I can't play video games or hang out with those guys ever again. I have to take out the trash and mow the lawn."
"That sucks but maybe if you're extra good then they'll cut your punishment short. I'm not saying they will but they might."
"I sure hope so."
"Well I'm going to bed. Sleep tight little bro." I smiled and then walked out of his room.
I went to my room and got ready for bed.
**********
A/N: So a few things happened in this chapter. Amy and Dylan dating, plus Jared tempting to shoplift :o
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