Dedicated to @duahalgadi for the awesome trailer (video on the right) that she made for Project Popularity!
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jamie Vandeviere
I didn’t even have the chance to ask Chloe who Clarisse was since a tumble of words then started pouring out of Chloe’s mouth, like the story had been alive inside of her just waiting to come out.
“My cousin was dating Adam before she got into that horrible car accident. She’s been in a coma since then.” Chloe’s eyes got a little misty and at once it dawned on me that she was the cousin of Adam’s ex-girlfriend.As I internally berated myself for being so slow and stupid, she glanced at me from the side of her almond-shaped eyes, as if she was afraid of my upcoming reaction. “I didn’t mean to scare you with those texts and I’m so sorry if I freaked you out. I just got so pissed off when I learned that you and Adam had started dating. It’s like he forgot all about my cousin, like it didn’t matter to him whether Clarisse ever wakes up from her coma or not. I wanted to keep you away from him because I didn’t think he was being fair to Clarisse. I mean, she was only out that night because of him. If he hadn’t made her go out that night-”
“Chloe,” I interrupted. “You do know that Clarisse was the one who called Adam and asked him to meet her that night, don’t you? So she could break up with him?”
The startled look on her face told me she didn’t. The anger on her face turned into confusion and surprised dismay. “She broke up with him that night? How do you know this?”
“Adam told me.”
Chloe fell back a step in shock and stared absentmindedly at the floor for a long ten seconds or so. “But…. but Adam never told us. He visited her almost every week and I always thought it was because he felt guilty for dating you when Clarisse was technically still his girlfriend. Clarisse’s mom and dad blamed the whole thing on him. We all thought it was Adam’s fault that Clarisse was out that night. Adam’s never said anything to us, not even when Clarisse’s parents went ballistic on him. He just kept apologizing for not taking better care of her.” She raised her head with a frown knitted on her face and whispered, “He didn’t tell us she dumped him.”
Of course Adam wouldn’t stand up for himself against Clarisse’s parents. That sounded so… Adam. I still remember the anguished look on his face when he told me about Clarisse. He was so utterly convinced that it was his fault when no one should have been blamed.
“Well, Chloe, trust me, he still loves your cousin very much. He hasn’t forgotten about her,” I told her, putting a hand on her shoulder since the expression on Chloe’s face was heartbreaking and the poor girl looked as if she could barely stand. I’d never been close to any of my cousins since most of them lived on the west coast and I’d only seen them like twice or three times throughout my entire life, so Chloe’s loyalty to Clarisse was odd but at the same time admirable to me.
“I know,” she said, sniffling. “I know he cares about her now. Thank you, Jamie, for telling me. Clarisse’s always been like a sister to me so I was only looking out for her. I’m sorry for scaring you.”
“It’s okay.” Chloe didn’t struck me as the kind of girl who did things like this willingly or comfortably, so it must have taken her a lot of courage to send those messages to me. I tried putting myself in her shoe, if what happened to Clarisse had happened to Lucy or Clara, wouldn’t I have done the same?
Chloe expression turned sheepish as she looked around us. “I’ve wanted to tell you it was me since I heard about you and Adam breaking up, but you’re almost never alone and I always chicken out at the last minute. Then I overheard Luke talking about the texts earlier today and…” she gulped. “I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. He looked so mad….”
I laughed, recalling how pissed Luke looked when he found out. Luke angry was definitely a scary sight.
***
Luke came over on Saturday and had dinner with my parents and honestly, it went better- a thousand times better- than what I’d imagined. I had been pretty nervous about the dinner, especially after learning my dad’s history with Luke’s dad, so the whole time Luke was here I watched how my dad acted around him with scrutiny. My dad was pretty quiet throughout the first half of the dinner and left most of the talking to my mom, and it was only when my mom asked after Luke’s parents, as a polite gesture, I suppose, that my dad added nonchalantly, “You know, I went to high school with your dad.”
Dad wasn’t aware that I knew about his being bullied by Luke’s dad back in high school. I didn’t tell Luke because I didn’t want him to act awkward around my dad, so imagine my surprise when Luke, in response, sighed and said, “I’m sorry, sir. I hope he wasn’t as much of an ass then as he is now.”
Luke pretty much won my dad over with that one line. I don’t remember ever seeing my dad beam like that. Luke apologized for his language as soon as he realized what had just slipped from his lips but my mom assured him there was no need. It seemed that no one had a better word to describe Mr. Archer.
The first half of the following week was also pretty good. Summer lost a good portion of her followers due to her cheerleading suspension and somehow, everyone at school managed to find out that it was Jonathan and I who told on Summer. I assume it was Amanda who spread the word since Summer did say she saw us walking into the vice principal’s office. I suppose she wanted people to hate Jonathan for snitching, but unfortunately for Summer and Amanda and fortunately for us, their plan backfired. This information seemed to have made Jonathan a hero among other students, especially those who had been picked on by Summer in the past, and Jonathan was enjoying his unexpected fame.
Anyway, I said the first half of the week because on Thursday, Summer decided she had had enough and should take her anger out on me, whom she blamed entirely for her suspension.
There was an away game that night so Luke and the guys had left the campus early. I wanted to be there to support Luke since it was his first away game as my boyfriend , but Luke said it was too long of a drive for me and promised that I wouldn’t miss out on anything since the opposing team sucked and Roseville could beat them with our eyes closed. Plus, he said Bryce would just give me the play-by-play the next day to gloat about our victory.
After last period, I walked to my locker and was hoping to take off as quickly as I could because that new Emma Stone movie was playing on TV for the first time and I really wanted to see it. But… things didn’t really go the way I’d planned, and once again, it had something to do with Summer. Or to be more precise, her suspension. The students that’d hated her had been complimenting me on a job well done since last week. To be honest, I just wished they would drop it. It didn’t feel right to rejoice over Summer’s misery. If I did that, wouldn’t that make me just as terrible as her?
“I just want to tell you how much I admire you for having the guts to stand up to Summer,” said Stacey Lance from my Marketing class for the thousandth time. “You’re like, my new hero. I mean, like, I’m going to name my first born after you.”
She had followed me all the way from the classroom to my locker and while we were walking down the hall, more people began flocking to us and joining in on the conversation. They went on and on about how Jonathan should have ratted Summer out a long time ago, and I didn’t understand why this conversation couldn’t take place somewhere else and had to be done right in front of my locker when I wasn’t even trying to be a part of the conversation. I had to go through at least five students to get to my locker.
“God, why don’t you tell people who you really are, Vandeviere?”
I stiffened when Summer’s shrill laugh rang clearly into my ear. It was amazing that I’d somehow become so alerted by Summer’s voice that I could pick it up even with her standing so far away from me and with at least half a dozen people talking around me all at once. Within seconds, the chattering around me faded and students hanging by my locker moved out of Summer’s way when she began marching to where I was with a scowl on her face.
Here we go again. When does it ever end?
“I’m so freaking sick of people thinking you’re this sweet, innocent angel who can’t ever do anything wrong,” she spat. “I wonder if they’ll still feel that way when they learn what you’ve done.”
I had no idea where she was going with this. No idea.
“So you guys think Miss Jamie Vandeviere here is so perfect and wonderful and put her on a pedestal, huh?” she said with a malicious smirk on her face as she scanned the thick circle that had formed around us. “I hate to break it to you, but she’s nothing like she seems. This is just an act to cover who she really is.”
I was tempted to tell her that she had caught me and yes, I put on masks and fought criminals at night. But I didn’t think she’d appreciate my joke. “What are you talking about?”
She ignored me and turned to the people around us. I caught a glimpse of Lucy and Clara at the back of the crowd, the two of them trying to push their way through, but the human wall surrounding me wouldn’t let them. “Did you know that Miss I’m-So-Perfect-Here is now dating Luke Archer?”
A murmur of curiosity rippled through the crowd and the girls seemed either pleased or disappointed by Summer’s confirmation. I knew a lot of people had been guessing if Luke and I were more than friends but since we never did anything coupley like holding hands at school and we pretty much just brushed off all the questions without giving a definite answer, no one other than our group of friends knew for sure.
“The funny thing is, she made a move on him while she was dating Adam Bryant.”
My entire body grew rigid as the people around us gasped and emitted murmurs of disbelief. Summer, pleased with my speechlessness, crossed her arms in front of her chest and eyed me with a triumphant smirk on her face.
“Did you enjoy kissing my ex, Jamie?” she asked, before I had the chance to think of a good comeback. “You’re such a hypocrite. God, I can’t believe you had the nerve or the face to give me all that crap for cheating on Luke when you’re no better yourself. At least I admitted to doing those things and didn’t pretend to be saint.” The corner of her lips lifted into a sneer as she took a step away from me, like I was turning the air she was breathing filthy. “I’m so freaking disgusted by you. I don’t know how you live with yourself.”
I wanted to tell her and the growing crowd around us that she was lying, that I was nothing like her, but the pain hit me like a jab in the heart when I realized that she was right. I wasn’t better than her. I made mistakes and I did kiss Luke before breaking things off with Adam. How did she know though? The only people who knew about that night were Luke, Adam and Lucy, and I knew they would never tell Summer anything.
My entire body turned to stone when Adam pushed his way through the crowd with Paul following closely behind. Paul was looking at Summer with a horrified expression on his face as he looked from her to me whereas Adam just stared straight at Summer with an inscrutable look on his face.
Oh God. Adam told her. He must have told her. Why else would he be here?
The words that came out from Adam’s lips next shocked me to the extent that I didn’t know if I was somehow conjuring all this in my mind or if it was really happening.
“Summer, what happened between Jamie and me has nothing to do with you or them, for that matter.”
I wasn’t the only one surprised by what had left Adam’s lips. The people around us, as well as Summer, were all gawking at him like he had lost his mind when he walked over to stand beside me. I couldn’t even look at him. I didn’t know what I was supposed to supposed to say.
“Why the hell are you defending her? Are you stupid or something, Bryant?” Summer shrieked, when she recovered from her momentary bewilderment. She was counting on Adam to yell at me in front of the whole school, I suppose, since just seconds ago she looked pleased by Adam’s sudden appearance and now she looked pretty pissed. And confused, like me and everyone else around me.“She cheated on you. She kissed another guy behind your back. Do you not get it or something?”
“Summer, enough!” Paul, wearing the same horror-stricken and embarrassed expression, cut her off with a hand held up towards her. “Just… stop. Please.”
I didn’t know why Paul was still at school when the rest of the guys on the football team had left for the game. Summer whipped her head to Paul, like she had just noticed him standing there, and seemed hurt and betrayed by the disapproval in Paul’s tone.
“Did you hear what she did, Paul? She-”
“You don’t have to repeat yourself, Summer. I heard you loud and clear, alright?” Paul interrupted, his face turning pink when he found everyone staring at him. The people around us were watching the scene before them unfold like it was a soap opera that was being shown live for their personal amusement. Did they not have anything else better to do? “I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Paul lowered his voice so that only those of us standing close to Summer could hear, “After what we’ve done to Luke, you’re in no position to accuse him and Jamie of something that is none of your business. Just stop with all this drama, okay? You’re embarrassing yourself.”
The look on Summer’s face… you’d think Paul had just slapped her or something. Summer was utterly speechless.
“C’mon,” Adam murmured into my ear, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”
I nodded, still lacking the strength to look at Adam’s face as he led me away from the crowd. As we began walking towards the parking lot, I caught a glimpse of Aimee glaring coldly at me from further down the hall.
It was then that it became clear to me that it was Aimee, who had expressed how much she disliked Summer in front of me plenty of times before, who told Summer.
I guess ignoring me wasn’t the worst she could do after all.
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Sorry for taking so long! I had no idea it would be so difficult for me to get Internet while I'm traveling. My trip does not end for another three weeks, but I will try to get some writing done in the meantime (: I know I'm also very behind on responding to messages, but I will try to get back to all of you ASAP. Please don't think I'm ignoring you or anything (: It just takes a lot time for me to go through all of the messages.
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