Chapter 2
Darren POV
They all hated me. I could see it in their eyes as I walked down the hallway, as I sat down in my desk.
But it was easier that way. I wanted them to hate me, needed them to hate me.
Now I know. I sound like the stereotypical, whiny teenage boy. But here’s the thing- I’m not a normal teenage boy. No, I would do anything for that.
Luckily, I got into school late that day. I had a dentist appointment. Of course I would be telling my friends I had been ditching, although this was the farthest from the truth because the school principle had threatened that if I was late one more time, he was going to send an escort out to my house every day that would break down the door at 7:30.
Yes, I have a tardiness problem. So what? The only reason he cares is because I’m one of the key players on the football team and he wants me to set a “good example.” That one geeky kid who pushes up his glasses too much, he comes into geometry late almost every day, and no one says a word. Okay, so there’s a small possibility he goes to the nurse to take medication. But whatever.
Walking in, the bell rang, and a bunch of freshmen girls came out of an English one classroom. Here’s the thing about freshmen girls: they’re annoying. I can’t stand them.
And of course, just like most of the world, after that day, they hated me.
“How could you?” Spat a girl with hair whose brown hair had been colored so badly it almost appeared green.
I smirked. I found her expression comical due to the fact that only yesterday I had overheard her giggling with her friends (who had equally poor dyed hair-was this some sort of club?), and wondering if she should talk to “the cute junior boy.” “What?” I asked.
“You cheated on Aerona!”
I rolled my eyes. So Beth sent texts to freshmen now? Not surprising, but still annoying.
The girl kept glaring at me, as if challenging me to say something. But what could I say? It was her fault, but I could never explain that to them, they wouldn’t believe me anyway.
So instead I looked the girl straight in the eye, turned my eyes on “cold” and responded, “It’s not my fault she’s obsessed with me.”
And walked away.
As I was walking, I realized that answer hadn’t really made sense, but shrugged. Like it mattered. A guy came up and high fived me. Now I call this guy “nameless jock #2”. Why? Because I never really bothered to learn any of the names of the guys on my football team. They’re self-absorbed, hair gel worshiping idiots. Which is exactly why I hang out with them.
Nameless Jock #2 looked really pleased about something. Since #2 is often worse than the others, I usually don’t listen to him and just nod with the occasional “dude” or “cool” thrown in to contribute, but, since I felt like being amused, I decided to actually listen.
“Greet job scoring Gwen!” And yes he did say “greet” as in saying hello. That’s not how you pronounce it though. He thought it was an extremely clever mixing of the words “great” and “sweet” Why he decided to do this? I really can’t say, I wasn’t listening when he explained.
“I know, pretty tight right? She came to me.” I suddenly realized that was probably the longest sentence I had ever said to him and fought back the urge to laugh.
“But like, dude, I thought you and Aerona were using the loooveee word.”
I paused for a moment to think of what my nameless jock friends would say, and came up with a good answer. “Gwen’s hotter.” #2 high fived me again.
Why exactly was I with Gwen? Yeah that part eluded] me. I remembered talking to her, then everything was a little blurry…then the next thing I remembered was Aerona seeing us kissing and that look in her eyes…but I shook my head. It didn’t matter now. Gwen was the kind of girl who went from guy-to-guy in a week, so I would just wait for her to break up with me.
“Speak of the—ugh, what is it?” As #2 searched for the word to finish his phrase, which would of course be “devil”, Gwen walked up to us in boots so high I wondered how she didn’t fall straight on her face. I hadn’t lied about the hot thing- if I had cared about that- because, well, she definitely had some features that were bigger then Aerona’s. And she also had that whole foreign-intrigue going for her, pin straight black hair, tan skin, and huge lips that you just don’t find on American girls.
“Heyyy,” she said, putting her arms around me. She looked upset about something.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, although I already knew what it was.
“Aerona’s back.”
“So?” I didn’t look into her eyes as I answered. The truth is I kind of wanted to see her.
“So…what if she’s like, super jealous or something and tries to hurt you?”
I raised my eyebrows, because I could tell this wasn’t really what was bothering her. Aerona couldn’t hurt anyone if she tried. One time, some lower girl had robbed her locker and stole an important paper, for some reason that’s still unknown today, and when Aerona found out what it was, she didn’t do anything to them, just asked the teacher for an extension on the paper (and they all love her, so it was fine), and said that the girl probably had an significant reason.
I quickly deciphered what was really on her mind. “Are you sure you aren’t worried that I’ll feel something for] her?”
She bit her lip. “How do you know everything?”
I smirked. “I don’t know everything. Just a lot of things.” A lot more then people might think…
“Well yeah, I mean, you said that you loved her…”
I couldn’t wonder how the hell everyone knew that. Had Aerona told people? We had agreed that was a private thing, but Aerona was a girl, and girls told other girls private things, who told other girls…
“Yes, I did,” I said slowly. What to say, what to say…if I chose my words carefully, I could either extremely piss her off, which would probably mean another annoying blast from Beth if she started shouting at me, or possibly get myself deeper into a relationship I had no desire whatsoever to actually be in. Dangerous waters indeed.
But I never had time to think of something, because at that moment Aerona walked down the hall.
She looked- different. For a second, I couldn’t tell what it was. Her hair was still blonde, long, and wavy, her eyes…it was her eyes. Now the thing about Aerona is if you look into her eyes hard enough, you can always see what she is feeling. They sparkle a little when she’s happy, when she’s sad the color gets deeper, and when she looked at me…well anyway now they just looked blank. It was almost like a cloud was covering them. She was smiling though, talking to her friend Kegan or Tegan or whatever. That girl had always been annoying, obsessed with social-climbing, although she was just too awkward to ever actually make it.
But the smile didn’t reach her eyes. That look, I had seen it somewhere before, not on Aerona but somewhere else…I couldn’t put my finger on it.
I hoped that maybe if I put my head deep in my locker and stayed very quiet they would just walk by and life could go on, but for whatever reason Gwen couldn’t let it be that way. She stepped deliberately in Aerona’s path. “So you finally show your face.” I rolled my eyes. What was her motive? Did she LIKE to embarrass me?
Aerona’s eyes grew colder, but were so obstructed you barely noticed the difference looked and sounded so much more put together then the messages she had left on my cell phone, begging me to call her and just explain. I hadn’t responded to any of them. Yes, I’m a jerk, an a-hole, whatever people may want to call me. Don’t care. It’s not like it was easy.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Aerona flipped her hair back, which was kind of a clichéd preppy girl thing, and surprised me coming from her. She had always hated anything clichéd.
“As in, after I took your Darren and you made that ‘scene’ at the football game, no one thought you’d show your face.”
I wondered if Gwen was really thinking about what she was saying, since it seemed more of the school was actually on her side, but decided it was best not to get involved. Nameless jock #2 seemed very excited, obviously hoping for a catfight. I pondered for a moment what it would be like to be him, with such a one-track mind, but decided in the end that I wouldn’t like it, despite how care-free he appeared.
“Please, like I care!” Aerona laughed, but it didn’t sound like her at all. I frowned. Aerona didn’t laugh like that.
“Oh Darren, please, please call me back, you’re everything to me’” Gwen quoted mockingly. WHAT THE HELL, she had listened to my voicemail? Hadn’t I deleted them all right away anyway?
For the first time since the encounter began, Aerona looked at me. It was just for a moment, as if to confirm if Gwen’s word was true. I had to admit it did make me sound even WORSE, if such a thing were possible. Chills went straight down my back as she looked away a second later, as if nothing even hurt her anymore.
“I no longer feel that way. I feel absolutely nothing towards Darren.” The words faltered as she began, as if what she were saying didn’t really make sense to her.
But she wasn’t lying, I would know. It was painful enough, being so close to her. And I couldn’t even look into her eyes…because those were definitely not her eyes….and now…she didn’t care….I shook my head and concentrated.
“Prove it.”
“How?” Aerona raised her eyebrows.
“Ask someone out, right now. Unless you, of course, can accept that no one will say yes.”
“Fine.” Aerona looked in the crowd. Wait, she was really going to do this? Aerona would NEVER do that. She was a sociable girl, but she was also very polite and didn’t take very many risks.
I saw her look over at Gavin, wasn’t that the guy friend of hers that liked her? It would be a safe choice, he would obviously say yes.
But instead of asking him, she continued to blow my mind. “Attention fellow juniors!”
People stopped, because well, Aerona was still somewhat an Upper, and people respected her (except for those really smart kids who wear plaid and think we’re all overrated, which of course we are, and those few social rebels).
“Who would like to be my boyfriend?”
I saw Gavin, stumbling from the back of the throng, try to raise his hand, but someone with bright blonde hair and blue eyes (really a male version of Aerona if you will, except for a completely ridiculous black stripe in his hair that serves no purpose), pushed him out of the way and stepped forward. It was Trystan. I groaned. Trystan was notorious for breaking girl’s hearts. Him and Gwen would probably do splendid together. Whatever he planned to do to Aerona was not good…
Wait, why did I care?
“I will,” he said, nodding his head as he continued to stop Gavin’s attempts to move forward. I felt a little bit sorry for the guy, no one even bothered to help him when he fell flat on his face.
I could see the distaste in Aerona’s face, she hated him. But Gwen was watching, half of the junior class was watching, so refusing him would seem a cop-out. “Fine,” was all she could manage to get out. Trystan put his arm around her, and it was all I could do to stop myself from punching him before
I remembered I wasn’t supposed to care anymore.
“So, give me your number?” He asked.
Aerona took his wrist and wrote on it with permanent marker. Also something she would never do- and where had that marker come from? She wasn’t carrying a purse today, or a backpack for that matter.
Gwen looked floored, and I seriously wondered if she was going to faint, especially due to the excessive] height of her footwear. Gavin, who had finally picked himself off the ground, walked over to Aerona and whispered something to her, looking very upset. Meanwhile Tegan looked so nervous/excited I wondered if she was about to pee herself. She seemed to live vicariously through Aerona. I would have suggested the nearby girl’s restroom, but that would have been rude, and also kind of random, because we probably had only exchanged about 3 sentences.
And with that, the bell rang.
