Chapter Five
Jamie Vandeviere
First period went by like a blur.
Bryce, Luke and I were one of the last ones to enter Mr. Lawrence’s classroom, and when Luke jokingly saluted to the teacher with a smirk, Mr. Lawrence turned to the whiteboard in a huff. The other students gaped at us like we each had two heads and I could feel every pair of eyes following me as I took my usual seat in the back. It was such a relief that Summer wasn’t in my first period. It made things a whole lot easier.
I gave Samantha Mathews a wave when I spotted her speculating my every move from the seat beside me. She seemed bewildered that I was acknowledging her even with everyone’s attention; her skin turned pink as she turned away, flustered.
“Sorry, we’re late, Mr. Lawrence,” Candace Walker waltzed in after sending two knocks to the door, smiling the sarcastic smile that always seemed to be plastered on her face. Beside Candace was Amanda Reese, who quickly fell into step beside her after throwing an apologetic smile at the teacher.
Candace and Amanda were Summer’s best friends. Even though they were often referred to as Summer’s sidekicks, they weren’t the typical, airheaded bimbos that you see in the movies, blindly following the Queen Bee. In fact, Candace, and Amanda were doing pretty well at school, both taking AP classes and stuff.
Like Summer, Candace was a blonde while Amanda was a brunette. The three of them talked similarly, dressed similarly, and were practically inseparable. Before Summer moved to Roseville, Candace was actually the most popular girl at our school. She was popular, but not mega-popular like the way Summer was now- you know, head cheerleader and the girlfriend of the star QB. Oops. Make that ex-girlfriend. Anyway, it was quite a wonder how they became best friends so quickly. I mean, there was no fight, no drama… It was like Candace was okay with being overshadowed by Summer.
Candace, Amanda, and Summer all had one thing in common though: they all thought people who were not a part of the In-Crowd were completely below them.
I started dozing off when Mr. Lawrence picked up from where he left off yesterday on The Cold War, the sleepiness finally catching up with me. I dreamt of being in a closet that was even bigger than Sienna’s, yet somehow it had all of her clothes. I started running when the clothes began floating to here I was, like they were trying to swallow me alive. “Pick! Pick! Pick!” Sienna’s voice chanted at me from every corner of the room yet she was nowhere to be found. I remembered frantically calling her name with uncertainty, and when that didn’t work, I screamed Luke’s name.
A ball of notebook paper hit me on the head and interrupted my nightmare. Startled and out of breath, I opened my eyes and found Luke pointing at the crumbled paper lying by my feet. Cautiously, I bent down, picked the paper up, and found Bryce giggling like a little girl, sneaking peaks at me from the corner of his eyes as he watched me unfold the note.
The sound of Mr. Lawrence’s throat-clearing made me jump in my seat. Tentatively, I raised my head and saw him slowly advancing to my table, a smug look on his face.
“Anything you wish to share, Miss. Vandeviere?”
I swallowed. “No, sir.”
“Why don’t you read the note out to the entire class?”
I hated how Mr. Lawrence made it sound like I had an option when it was really a demand. Luke was going to get a piece of my mind for getting me into trouble like this. I mean, I thought he wanted to make me popular. When did “embarrass Jamie in front of the entire class” become a part of the plan?
Slowly, I spread out the paper. I blushed when I read what was written on it.
“Miss. Vandeviere?”
“Sir, I really don’t think I should-”
“Read it! That’s an order,” he cut me off with a glare.
I wanted to die. I was so screwed. There was no way I was going to pass this class.
“What does it say?” he asked.
I looked down to the paper and grimaced. “It says… The teacher’s fly is down.”
The class burst into laughter and I ducked my head, wishing I was anywhere but here. The smugness had vanished from Mr. Lawrence’s face and in its place was total mortification. I shot an angry look at Luke, who was doubling over with laughter, then at Bryce. He was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his face. Idiots.
“That’s enough!” Mr. Lawrence bellowed after discreetly putting a textbook in front of himself and zipping up. “No more passing notes in class. And as for you, Mr. Anderson, detention for the rest of the week!”
“What? Why me?”
“That note has your stink all over it,” Mr. Lawrence gritted his teeth.
“But-”
“Did you or did you not write that note?”
“Yes, but-”
“Silence! Or I’ll make it two weeks.”
Bryce, throwing an incredulous at Luke, pouted and buried his head in his hands. The rest of the class continued laughing, and even though I shouldn’t find any of this funny, I couldn’t help but do the same.
**
I changed out of my sundress and put on my gym clothes, stuffing Sienna’s purse and leather jacket in the locker. Gym had always been my least favorite class since I sucked at sports.
“And I was like, dude, pink and black together is so last year…”
I froze at the sound of Candace’s voice, my entire body turning as still as a statue. The SAC Trio- a name Lucy made up by taking the first letter of Summer, Amanda, and Candace’s names- always came to gym together, so that would only mean one thing.
Summer was here.
Then I remembered what Luke said last night: Summer smelled fear like sharks smelled blood. Straightening myself, I closed my locker with a loud bang when she entered the locker room with the grace of a ballerina. Amanda and Candace stopped walking momentarily when they spotted me and they mouthed something to Summer, who was still laughing at something Amanda had just told her.
When Summer whipped her head around to face me, I drew myself up with a smile as a display of confidence. She quirked her eyebrow as she quickly gave me the once-over.
“Excuse me,” I said to the three of them, inwardly doing a happy dance in my head since it was the first time in my three years of high school that I had spoken to them. I was proud of myself for not hyperventilating when Summer stared straight into my eyes challengingly with her eyebrow quirked, like she expected me to melt under her gaze.
“Sorry,” she said sweetly, moving out of the doorway. Candace and Amanda uttered something unintelligible to her but I did catch my name in the middle of their muttering. So they did know that I existed! How amazing, considering Candace and Amanda never as much as glanced at me in History. I couldn’t wait to share the news with Luke.
P.E. was an absolute torture. The coach decided that it was the perfect day for soccer and everyone in class were forced to participate in the game, much to my dismay. By the end of second period, I got kicked in the shins so many times that I lost count.
“I can’t wait to hit the shower,” said Lucy, drenched in sweat as we made our way back to the locker room. “What are you doing after school today? Want to come over?” Then smiling a secretive and suggestive smile, she added, “That is, if you haven’t made plans with Luke.”
I rolled my eyes at her. Lucy and Clara were under the impression that almost running Luke over was the best thing that had ever happened to me in my seventeen years of life, and I was lucky that Luke seemed to think that I was good enough to challenge Summer. I called them crazy, of course.
“No plans with Luke,” I said. “I’m hanging with you guys.”
She flashed a smile, squeezed my arm, then ran over to Josie Parker by the fountain, who was also on the swim team. Their first meet was a week away, and as co-captions of team, Josie and Lucy were planning a Welcome-To-The-Team party for the new members. Slowly, I strode back to the locker room alone, feeling lazy like I normally did after P.E.
“Jamie!”
I stopped in my track, craned my neck, and was surprised to find Sandy Flemmings, Roxanne Delavan, and Mackenzie Ackerman sprinting toward me like we were long lost friends who hadn’t seen each other in ages.
“Hi,” I said, secretly wondering where their enthusiasm had come from.
“I love that shirt that you’re wearing,” said Sandy in an exaggerated tone, falling into step beside me while Roxanne and Mackenzie nodded their heads in agreement. The shirt that I had on was a washed-out Boston Celtics t-shirt that I bought a few years ago and I’d worn it in P.E. a couple of times since sophomore year. Funny how she never complimented it before today, even though we also had P.E. together in our junior year.
“Thanks, Sandy.”
The three of them chatted about some sale at the mall on our way back to the locker room. It was weird how they tried to include me in their conversation like the four of us were good friends, even though up until today I’d only spoken to them once in sophomore year.
“So that guy from Hollister was like, ‘No, Miss. This is the price after the discount-’”
I gasped, cutting Sandy off before she could finish when my shoe got caught by something on the floor. My body slammed into the lockers with a loud “Bong!” and I closed my eyes just before the left side of my face collided with the metal.
“Oh my gosh! Are you okay, Jamie?”
Tripping over someone else’s gym bag on the third day of school in front of everyone in the girl’s locker room- nice going, Jamie. Luke’s going to be so pleased you’re your disastrous performance.
“I’m okay,” I said to them, feeling embarrassed when all the girls formed a circle around me in concern. Casey Rich, the owner of the bag, apologized over and over again and I assured her it wasn’t her fault. I was a natural klutz; her bag just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
“You should be more careful, Jamie.” My entire body stiffened when I heard Summer’s voice from the other end of the locker room. I lifted my chin, hoping to appear confident when I felt her approaching, and braced myself when she stood directly in front of me with a smirk plastered on her face. “I mean, you wouldn’t want trip or anything. That would have turned out to be a nasty fall.”
The way she said it made it clear she was referring to something other than what had just happened. Her eyes were practically signaling threat.
Mustering up all my courage, I smiled at her. “Thanks. But I’m sure it won’t happen again, Summer.”
Senior year is going to be so different.
----------------------------------------------------
Hey, guys! I’m sorry I disappeared for so long. I won’t bore you with detailed explanations but I want you all to know how sorry I am : (
I am incredibly grateful to all of you for reading “Project Popularity”, and your support for this story means the world to me. I promise I really am trying my best to balance my writing with my real life obligations, and I apologize for the long wait I’ve put you through. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for your patience and understanding. You guys are the reason that even with everything going on in my real life, I still stay up till three or four in the morning to work on this story. I am so lucky to have your support, and it means so much to me that you’re still reading.
I know some of you are very upset with me for my lack of updates and I’m so sorry that I’ve kept you waiting. If you’re annoyed with how long it takes me to update, it’s okay if you want to delete this story from your library. You don’t need to let me know, and I completely understand. Thanks.
Next chapter… Hmm… PARTY? : )
Love you all! And thank you all so much for the reads, comments and votes! I still feel like doing the happy dance every time I get an email notification from Wattpad telling me someone has commented, voted, or fanned. Thank you so much!!!
This chapter is dedicated to BabeVEVO for making the amazing book trailer on the side:) Go check out the video. It looks amazing! :)
-Mel