Love at First Fight

Chapter 26

There it was. Officially official. He had said it out loud. I kept my face even, but I couldn't say the same for the others. Maya masked it the quickest, but not able to keep herself from shooting me a confused glance. 

Miles spoke up first after an arguably uncomfortable period of silence, "Hi, I'm Miles. I was with Lucas the other week when you asked him on that date." He said, giving her a smile. 

Katie gave a small smile, "I remember you." she said. 

"I'm Tyler, this is Cole." Tyler said in introduction, pointing to himself and then Cole, who gave a curt nod with a smile. 

"And I'm Maya. Nice to meet you." Maya spoke up, only giving a tight-lipped smile. 

"And you remember Ariel right?" Lucas spoke up, pointing to me. 

She gave me a smile, "Of course. Hi again." she said.

I returned the smile, "Hi." I replied, not wanting to strike up a conversation during that moment. 

"So you two are official now then?" Tyler spoke up, asking the question the rest of us were too scared too.

Katie spoke up before Lucas could, "Yup. We've only been on two dates but I guess it just felt right." She said.

I smiled into my food, noting how cheesy her words sounded, but I kept my mouth shut. 

"Ariel help what does this mean?" Miles asked me, reaching over to show me his notebook as he pointed to something on his study guide. 

I scanned it quickly before replying, "You're probably not going to need to know that for an essay, if anything it might be a multiple choice but the answer is the Know-Nothing Party." I said.

"How do you know this shit?" Lucas exclaimed from his spot next to me. 

I just shrugged, "I have a good memory." I said simply. 

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and we collected our things and made out ways to our next classes. 

Maya caught up with me and fell into stride next to me, "You okay?" She asked me.

I shrugged, "I kind of saw it coming. We talked about it the other day when I was babysitting. This is probably what needs to happen, right? Now he's off limits." I said. 

She didn't say anything for a bit, "I guess. I just have a feeling this won't end well. She seems so fake." She said. 

I shrugged, "We need to at least give her a chance." I said, keeping my voice down in case they were nearby.

"You're too optimistic for your own good." She said with a grumble before we parted ways when I took a right and she kept going straight. 

I went about the rest of my day, trying to get the idea of Lucas and Katie officially being an "item" out of my head. I shouldn't have cared. It shouldn't have bothered me. But it did. I couldn't help it. 

As I was putting things into my backpack for the weekend at the end of the day someone came up behind me. I turned around, expecting, Tyler or Cole or any of the others, but was met with a smirking Jackson. 

"Hey princess." he said smugly. 

I made a face as I closed my locker, "I thought we've been over this. You don't get to call me that." I said, crossing my arms. 

"You wound me." he said sarcastically.

"What do you want?" I asked, not in the mood to deal with him. 

"I need your help." he said. 

"With what?" I asked.

"Fighting." he answered bluntly.