The Downside of Popularity

16|Contamination

Alina
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It was quite obvious Pablo was looking for a fight. He had already gotten Jake riled up. "Are you being serious right now, everyone knows Alina and I are a couple now," Jake said in a snarl, angrily raking his fingers through his thick brown hair.

"You can keep fooling everyone else Hardy," Pablo jutted his chin at Jang and Cole. "But you can't fool me with that crap story. I'll speak to whoever I want, whenever I want," Jonah finished, giving Jake that classic and daring 'you-can't-do-nothing' look.

It felt like Pablo knew something concerning Jake and me that he didn't wasn't to spill before Cole and Jang-min.

Watching Jake take another step forward and coming nose-to-nose with him, I was scared that if I didn't do anything, they might end up exchanging punches right here.

"Wait a minute Jake!" I yelled, placing myself between the both of them and pushing Jake's chest to make him stumble away from Pablo. More than grateful to the stars that the hallway was empty, with no one but Jang and Cole watching this.

I could only imagine the sort of rumors and talks this would stir when people found out that both Hollywood stars were having a heated argument that had resulted in a fight. A fight that I was the subject matter of. It would provide the gossip mill with enough grist to run it until maybe, next semester when they would have gotten tired of blowing the story out of proportion.

"Hey!" Cole interrupted, snapping his fingers at Jonah. "Don't try to start a fight on our turf, man," he pulled me from my spot in their middle, taking my place instead.

I clamped a hand over my mouth, my heartbeat racing faster than the speed of lightning, tiny goosebumps forming all over my skin. This was going to be it, I thought. There was no way someone wouldn't throw a punch now. Especially since this was not a very fair fight—both Cole and Jake against Pablo— my guess was that Pablo would throw the first punch. I could tell from the heated way he was staring at Jake like he was going to rip his throat off right that instant.

Just like I'd predicted, Pablo lifted his fist in the air, then stopped. He gave Jake a once-over and decided he wasn't worth getting detention for. Instead, he slapped his fisted hand against his thigh and moved backward.

Grateful for the intervention of reason, I shut my eyes tightly, releasing a breath I had no idea I was holding.

"Word of advice man, choose your fights wisely around here. Next time, we might not go so easy on you junior," Cole's eyes raked over Pablo, his lips curling with venom, blatant distaste etched all over his face.

"Whatever," Pablo huffed, slinging his locker open with a loud bang.

Cole's devious smirk remained in place as he watched Pablo angrily toss books into his backpack, his platinum blond hair reflecting the sunlight in the hallway, clearly glad his message—Don't mess with us cause you're just a junior and we're the ass-kicking seniors that rule the school— had been passed across.

"It's alright Ally, everything's fine now," Cole said, turning to face a not-so-stable me. The devious grin on his face less than a second ago had been effortlessly replaced by an ethereal smile as his grey eyes flickered with innocence and he shoved his hands into the pockets of the varsity jacket he always wore.

Now that I think about it, I could say that this piece of clothing was just as constant on him as the discomforting heels the popular girls paraded the school in. Maybe wearing the jacket all the time was his way of announcing his presence in a crowd or showing loyalty to the team he captained. I don't know for sure. But my point exactly was that you could never catch the Cougar captain without this gold and green attire masking his shoulders. Never.