"And he thinks he's so cool. The worst part is everyone else seems to think so too. It's like I'm the only one who can see what an asshole he is."
Okay, maybe the whole 'ignore him and forget about it' plan hadn't worked out. Over a week had gone by, and Damien hadn't gotten any better, or any easier to ignore. Lucas used to enjoy work. It'd been a place to unwind, lose himself in familiar, rehearsed movements and smother any stress in the smell of caramel and pastry. But now it was a warzone, filled with sly comments and sharp remarks. And worse, he had the distinct feeling he wasn't winning most of their battles. Damien always managed to get the last word.
He was so frustrated that he'd had to let it out somehow, which meant that this wasn't the first time his friends had been forced to listen to a Damien rant. And, judging by the looks on their faces, they were getting tired of it.
"Lucas, I'm pretty sure this is the third time this week you've mentioned Damien. And that isn't counting the nine times last week. Ten, if you count that comment in Bio."
Alexandra Drake, Alex to everyone except her teachers, folded her arms and over the lunch table to give Lucas a very stern look. "And it's not like any of this is even news. Everyone knows Damien Castillo is human garbage."
"They do?" Mona asked, looking confused. Which wasn't surprising. She always seemed to have her head somewhere else.
Alex gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes, Mona. They do. How do you not know this? He's always in some sort of drama, and Lucas hasn't shut up about him."
Lucas had the decency to look a little guilty. "Sorry. I don't mean to, it's just...he's so frustrating, and this year was supposed to have as little distraction as possible."
Mona still looked confused. "Wait, how do people know him? He doesn't even go here."
Alex sighed again, clearing her throat. She'd worked tech on every production in the last four years, and apparently theatre kids gossiped, because Alex had an encyclopaedic knowledge of all the students at Sunnyview, and quite a few at Mountbank. He'd always felt she and Lisa would get along.
"Okay, Mona. I'm going to explain it again." Alex took a deep breath, looking exasperated, even though Lucas knew she secretly enjoyed sharing gossip. "Damien Castillo is the quarterback and captain of Mountbank's football team. He is also a massive jerk, which Lucas has just found out because he's working at the bakery with him."
"He's a massive jerk because he's working at the bakery?" Mona asked, looking even more confused.
"How are you both the smartest and dumbest person I know?" Alex asked, torn between finding it funny and being frustrated. Lucas grinned, shaking his head. "You're telling me you can do college-level maths but can't get this? You seriously haven't heard any of the shit about Castillo?"
"Well, even I've only heard a little. And that's mostly Mark's football talk." Lucas cut in, saving Mona from Alex's wrath.
Alex sighed. "Am I the only one...oh, forget it. I know I am. Point is, Damien is like the biggest player in town. Total manwhore. And he's a dickbag about it, too. You saw that video where he rejected Jenna Mays in front of half his school, right? He laughed at her."
Lucas grimaced. He did remember the video from last year. She'd obviously come up to him in the corridor, asking for something or other. The audio quality hadn't been good, and whoever filmed it had only started halfway through, but the conversation was clear enough. She'd asked him something, looking a little nervous, and he'd said something that'd made her recoil, and all his friends laugh. She'd run off, and the video captured something that had sounded an awful lot like a sob.
"I remember."
"I don't." Mona said cheerfully, flicking one of her braids over her shoulder and resting her elbows on the table.
Alex rolled her eyes. "Seriously? You live under a rock. Look, he agreed to a date with Liz Riley, then stood her up," she pointed to the girl in question, on the other side of the cafeteria, "he lead Lucia Martinez on for months, Ashley Delaney broke up with her boyfriend because he said he was into her, only he wasn't really. There'd be more at Mountbank."
Lucas pulled a disgusted face. As if Damien couldn't get any worse.
"I think the only person he's ever actually dated is...speak of the devil."
Lucas and Mona followed Alex's eyeline. There, sitting at his brother's table, was Mallory Montgomery. If Mark was the king, then she was the queen. With a mane of chocolate curls, a claw-like manicure and an ice-cold glare, she often seemed more like a lioness than a teenage girl. Fierce, jealous and ruthless. Everyone was just a little scared of her. Luckily, none of them had had the misfortune of ending up on her bad side. Not yet, anyway.
"He dated Mallory?"
"Yup. A month and a half, I think. A record."
Well, Lucas guessed that made sense. Mallory was gorgeous, and apparently, according to Mark, she had a heart of gold. Lucas would have to take his word for it.
"It's weird you know this much about people." Lucas said, turning his gaze from Mallory back to Alex and raising an eyebrow. "I wouldn't be surprised if you told me you'd stalked them."
"Not any weirder than ranting about a guy non-stop when you're supposed to be ignoring him." Alex shot back, flashing Lucas a gap-toothed grin.
Lucas was offended. "It hasn't been non-stop." He paused, rethinking the past couple of days. "Has it?"
"Nah, only joking. I get he's stressing you out or whatever. You've just gotta put up with him for another couple of months, right? Then you'll have enough saved."
Lucas nodded. Alex had a point. She was good at calming him down when he started to overthink, and he was always overthinking. Everything had to be planned down to the last second. But it would only be a couple more months, and then he'd have a decent amount of money, enough to hopefully support a new life in Massachusetts.