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  Avery used the hand that wasn’t searing red to hold onto the knob of the door while she narrowed her eyes at me. “God, you’re so cocky. I bet they swoon over your ‘luscious’ hair and ‘gorgeous’ eyes. And you know what, I bet a guy like you has a rock hard stomach,” she said sarcastically, letting go of the knob and feeling my stomach. I cringed inwardly at the disbelief that coursed through her eyes.

  For a minute, all the ice was gone, and I saw fear as clear as day imprinted in her eyes. She was afraid of something, of someone. I could’ve read everything going on in her mind through her eyes if the nurse’s door hadn’t been flung open abruptly.

  “Jace,” Gina said, her brows pulling together. “What’re you doing here?”

  I gestured to Avery. “Chemistry experiment gone wrong.”

  Gina looked over to Avery with innocent eyes. “Wow, that looks bad, I think we’ve got something to soothe the pain.”

  Avery glanced at me uncomfortably. “You’re the nurse?”

  Gina looked at her in confusion then burst out laughing. “No sweetie, I volunteer here.” I watched as Gina pulled her along into the much-needed warmth of the nurse’s office.

  The middle-aged nurse took one look at Avery’s hand and began bustling around for some rash cream. Gina took the opportunity she had to walk over to where I was and tip-toe to reach my lips. I was acutely aware of Avery standing a short distance away. Instead of pushing her away, I wrapped my hands around her waist, she was my girlfriend, after all, I had to make her happy. I knew what Gina was doing anyway; she was marking her territory, telling Avery to back off without speaking.

  She pulled away from me first and smiled. “I didn’t expect that,” she commented, snaking her hands into my hair.

  I looked over her shoulder to see Avery staring at a small cot in the corner angrily. She was right, I was an ass.

  Chapter

  II

  My parents still acted as if they were teenagers in love. Anyone looking in from the outside would think we were the perfect family. Sometimes, I think even we thought so. But, like everyone else, we had a ton of problems that were not easily shown. Like tonight, for example.

  “Did you pierce your ear again?” my mother asked Jade as soon as we sat down at the table.

  Jade looked uncomfortable with all the attention now on her. “Yeah,” she admitted, holding her head down and making me see the small stud at the top of her lobe.

  Jade was what we’d like to call a rebel; she did everything that my parents frowned upon. She made it look effortless; sometimes as if she wasn’t actively trying to disobey them. Because of that, my parents would almost always forgive her instantaneously. I chewed thoughtfully and pondered on the events of the day. After Avery had gotten her rash cream, she pulled her bag away from me so forcibly that I was surprised that she hadn’t tumbled to the ground. Gina seemed oblivious to the obvious resentment Avery harbored against me.

  I hadn’t even known the girl for a day and she already despised me.

  “How was your day, Jason?” my father asked after he finished the long-winded lecture he’d just given Jade.

  I raised my eyes to meet his and shrugged. “Good, I guess. There was a new girl today.”

  Jade snorted. “Has she fallen head over heels for you yet?”

  I sighed; I had quite the reputation—even at home. Jade was known at school as my little sister and nothing more, as much as she wanted a name for herself, she couldn’t get one. “She hates me actually.”

  There was a strained silence of everyone’s surprise. Jade broke it first by laughing. At first, I felt a little irritated, but I had to laugh too. I bet they’d never thought that would’ve happened to me. There was a first for everything, I guess.

  The crack of dawn was unappealing to me as I stepped outside of the house into the chilly, wet atmosphere of the morning. The only reason I was even willing to get up this early, voluntarily, was because I had swim practice and I couldn’t force myself to sacrifice my afternoons to train. A thin sheen of frost escaped my lips as I sighed. Sometimes, I wished things were different for me and I’d be lucky enough to be a nobody without these responsibilities and reputations to live up to.

  I stepped into the large van I’d just gotten a month before and turned the headlights on. I jumped, in surprise, at a figure turned away from me. The person was drenched from the rain that had just ceased and their clothing hung off them.

  I opened the door and hurried over to whoever it was. I turned them around swiftly and my eyes widened at the sight of Avery. Her lips were almost blue, and she was trembling slightly. If I wasn’t mistaken, she had tear streaks on her face, possibly indented from the salty water that swam down her cheeks.

  “Avery?” I asked in disbelief. “What’re you doing here?”

  She looked up at me in confusion as if she didn’t even know where she was. “I—I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her eyes.

  I couldn’t respond; the girl that was snarling at me yesterday was now apologizing. I just stared at her for a moment before coming to my senses and ushering her inside. She didn’t look around as I expected her to—as what most people would do. She just let me lead her to the kitchen.

  My mother was already down in her jogging clothes and sipping coffee. She raised her head as soon as we got in. Instead of spitting it out like on television, she swallowed it and started choking, holding the counter for support. I raised a brow at her as she basically convulsed in the kitchen.

  I left Avery to sit on one of the wooden stools at the island and got her a towel from the closet. When I returned my mother was rubbing her arms and looking at Avery uncertainly. I tried my best to ignore her and draped the towel around Avery’s shoulder.

  “Do you live near here?” I asked, sitting on the stool next to her.

  She looked at me for a moment, her orange-brown eyes burning holes into my face. “Where is this?”

  Another look of disbelief crossed my face. I shot a look at my mother, who looked concerned. Despite her bedraggled state, Avery still managed to look radiant. As I tried to decipher what happened here, I mentally calculated how much training time I was losing. I couldn’t tell if I cared or not.

  I belatedly noticed how red one of her cheeks were and had to stop myself from touching. “What happened?”

  Avery kept her gaze firmly fixated in her lap. I felt that overwhelming urge to protect her come over me again. It was so absurd to realize what sheer attraction could evoke. She sniffled a bit and shrugged. “I just went for a walk.”

  My brows furrowed; who goes for a walk in the rain? “At 5:30?” I asked, unconvinced.

  “I didn’t go for a walk just now,” she replied, managing to sound irritated.

  I sent an alarmed look to my mother, there was something going on here and I wasn’t sure she’d let me in—she already had me pegged as the narcissistic bad-boy, womanizer type. Maybe I was a bit arrogant, but I definitely wasn’t the bad-boy. My mother excused herself from the room, leaving Avery and I under the much too bright fluorescence bulbs.

  “Where do you live?”

  She shrugged and stared off into the distance. I could tell she was closing up again, already reluctant to divulge any information. I didn’t even learn anything out of the ordinary about her. Thankfully, my mother saved me from the smothering awkwardness. For some strange reason, though, she still looked visibly uncomfortable, even as she handed Avery some dry clothes.

  As soon as Avery left to get changed, I turned to my mother. I was thankful that she had thought of getting her dry clothes while I didn’t. Her attentiveness was practically saving her from the possibility of suffering from hypothermia but I was still a bit suspicious of her discomfort.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  I could see she was trying to look flippant. “Of course, I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  If she was okay, she wouldn’t have said that. I was sure of it. Something was wrong and I could tell. Guilt was playing acr
oss her features along with slight fear.

  “Do you know Avery?”

  “Why does it even matter?” She looked at me with a deep frown. “And besides, I don’t appreciate you bringing strangers into our house.”

  I ran a hand over my face and let out an irritated sigh. “She’s the new girl I was telling you about yesterday.”

  I wasn’t surprised that she paled a bit, but now, I was positive that something was wrong. My mother wasn’t one to normally feel threatened, especially not by a teenage girl.

  “Jason, I have a bad feeling about this girl.”

  Before I could come up with a coherent reply, Avery walked in, only slightly shaking; a direct contrast to a few minutes earlier. I didn’t know if she heard anything. Her facial expression was impassive. The clothes that my mother had given her were Jade’s. Although Jade was younger and a bit more petite than Avery, only the distressed tee looked a bit snug.

  A thick silence encompassed the kitchen and I belatedly realized that I had just over an hour and a half to get some swimming time in. I decided I’d have to talk to my mother later, mainly to diffuse the palpable awkwardness.

  “Avery, I can take you home and—"

  “No!” she shouted quickly. I stared at her a bit surprised until she recomposed herself. “Um, I mean, I have something at school to do.”

  I nodded uncertainly and looked over to my mother—she looked as if she’d seen a ghost. I knew I had to leave before something equally suspicious happened. I motioned to Avery to come along and I left my mother holding the counter for support—again.

  Outside was colder than it was initially, and I made every possible effort to get Avery to the car quickly. We pulled away from the house in silence, the only noise being the blare from the heater. I tried to process everything. My mother may or may not have known Avery. And for some reason, she was terrified of her. It made no sense to me. No one could seriously be afraid of someone so fragile looking.

  Before long, the unflatteringly grey building of the school loomed over us. I pulled into the parking lot. Avery looked a bit unnerved at the fact that only a few cars were scattered about, likely driven by staff. I was accustomed to it though, the feeling of being alone was so rejuvenating, more so than she could even imagine.

  I hopped out of the van and pulled my swim bag out with me. Avery mirrored my actions and closed the van door with more force than I appreciated. Instead of going wherever she had to, she merely stared off into the distance. I decided not to push her any further and just suggested she accompany me to the pool. To my surprise, she didn’t decline.

  The pool that I practiced in was indoors. I led Avery through the school corridors and to the gym downstairs. I was the only person privy to have a key to the indoor pool. No one else was there yet and I wasn’t expecting anyone else until about 20 minutes later. I quite enjoyed the freedom to be able to open up for the team. Avery was silent beside me as I flicked on the bright lights. As soon as the room was properly illuminated, I left her to go change. She even looked as if she was afraid to be left alone for a few minutes.

  While changing, I thought about Gina. Although I wasn’t necessarily doing anything with Avery outside the bounds of being platonic and a decent human being, a feeling of guilt was gnawing down my throat that was hard to ignore. It wasn’t as if Gina hadn’t offered to come and watch me practice because she had, she asked way more than I felt comfortable declining; swim practice was my quiet time, where no one knew me as Jason.

  I almost wore a shirt to cover up my chest because of how I knew she’d react. She thought of me as arrogant enough already. It turned out that I didn’t have to worry. Avery was sprawled out on a bench in the corner, sleeping deeply. All evidence of worry and fear was erased off her face. The only thing that worried me was the small tremor that she had. I took my swim jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

  As I was watching her, I belatedly realized something; my life was about to spiral out of control. As much as I wanted to hold the strings together, they were beginning to unravel right before my eyes. It had just started, I could tell. I already cared too much, after knowing her for only a day. There was something magnetic about her.

  Ever since we left the pool, the swim team had been hammering me with questions. I decided to ignore them after a while. The first guy who came in morbidly assumed I’d murdered her, as insane as it sounded. When a majority of the team got there and was trying to figure out how to proceed, she woke up in a fright, almost wringing her neck.

  I couldn’t blame everyone for being startled, her movements were jerky and erratic. It was interesting that after only her second day, Avery was speedily labeled as a freak. She finally ran her hand over her hair nervously and tightened my jacket around her shoulders before hurrying out the door without looking at anyone. I didn’t call after her because I was sure my name would’ve been swirling around on the grapevine.

  “I’m guessing she’s either with someone already or she’s a thief,” a burly guy walking with us declared.

  I tried to force myself not to comment but the mechanisms in my mouth thought otherwise. “Why?”

  The guys turned their attention to me. “Where’d she get that swim jacket then? She either stole it or she’s already with someone from the team.”

  I gritted my teeth in irritation. People took every opportunity they could get to be judgmental. Instead of defending her as I wanted to, I let my eyes roam the courtyard. We had a free period now and I decided to hang with the swim team, I was sure Gina wanted to be with me, but I still felt guilty about earlier and facing her would only make it worse.

  “Hey Jason,” a slender girl called, waving at me.

  I blinked the blinding sunlight out of my eyes and gave an unenthusiastic smile. My eyes drifted just pass her to a wooden bench under a tree where Avery was seated. I called a ‘see you later’ to the guys and headed over to her acutely aware that they were still watching me and probably making their own summations but not caring enough to go somewhere else.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, sitting beside her.

  She looked up from the grayish colored book she was reading and stared at me for a moment. Without answering or any indication that she intended to, Avery looked back at the book and went back to reading.

  People were beginning to stare. “Um, about this morning—”

  “God, stop trying to get into my pants!” she shouted, before slamming her book shut and storming off.

  My eyes widened at what she was implying. There were a few snickers about as my face burned in shame.

  “Jason,” a girl behind me sang. “Call me,” she finished, putting her thumb next to her ear and her pinky finger to her mouth.

  I narrowed my eyes at her before shaking my head and looking away. It seemed as if a sickness was encompassing the girls at this school.

  Chapter

  III

  “I heard what happened,” Gina said, running towards me with her ponytail bouncing all over the place. She was acting as if I was involved in a drive-by or something equally as detrimental. The only thing shot was my ego.

  “I’m fine,” I replied, with an audible sigh.

  Gina pinched my cheeks and moved my head from side to side. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  I pulled her hands away from my face and held them. “I’m fine,” I repeated with more emphasis this time.

  “Don’t worry about her. I’m sure she’s just crazy. I mean, who transfers in the middle of the school year?”

  I nodded in reply as she ranted on and on. A normal girlfriend would’ve attacked me about what she’d heard but instead, she asked me how I was. Despite some of her issues, Gina was a really nice person, way too nice for me. Maybe I was the one with the problem.

  To stop her from talking and making me guilty, I grabbed her face and kissed her. As much as I didn’t think Gina and I were meant to be together, I still cared about her but not in the way she wanted or deserved.

 
; Breanna, one of Gina’s best friends, approached us and cleared her throat. I slightly hoped whatever phlegm she had there would choke her. She was the school’s judgmental brat, as bad as that sounded, and although she wasn’t a part of our group, she still succeeded in making her friends’ life hell and that included Gina.

  “If you’re quite finished playing tonsil hockey, I’d like to speak to Gina.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her as I stepped away. For some reason, Breanna decided that she despised me and that she despised my relationship with Gina even more. As hard as she tried, the yearning she had for a heightened level of acknowledgment wasn’t recognized by the students in our school. Although I suppose if she was as popular as she wanted, I could’ve gotten off a little easier. I didn’t even know why Gina was friends with her because they were polar opposites.