Secret to Love

Chapter 3

Juliette's POV:

It had been two weeks since since joining high school and I already couldn't wait to leave. The homework seemed to have doubled since middle school and the teachers seemed to be ten times more strict. But there were some positives, I had made three friends so far which for me is a record. 

First was Amy, an athlete who specialised in track and swimming. She's very tall, with wide shoulders and golden hair of multiple shades of blonde, brunette and ginger.  She was beautiful.

Next was Rachel. She was shorter than Amy and me at 5'4 and her hair was a plain brunette. But she had the figure of a goddess, with no imperfections visible. A Victoria Secret model in the making. I was closest to her so far, we both discovered our profound hatred for our science teacher and bonded from there.

Last was Freya. She was the shortest at just under 5'3. I wasn't as close with her yet but from what I could gather her parents had a lot of money considering I had never seen her wear the same pair of shoes twice. She was also dating a guy in the year above us, Mitchell. I was yet to meet him, not being there the day that she introduced him to the group but I knew enough about him. She wouldn't stop talking about how incredible he was and what he was like behind closed doors, specifically in the bedroom. He seemed fine. 

"You need to meet him Juliette, come with I'll introduce you to him" Freya exclaimed pulling me up from my seat in the canteen and motioning for the others to follow. Stuffing the last of my sandwich in my mouth I let myself be dragged over to the bleachers, somewhere on the school grounds I was yet to have explored and made us walk along the rows towards a group of boys. 

They turned towards us as we got closer and my eye lock on a familiar face. Shit. No. Please no. Why Freya does your boyfriend have to be friends with him of all people. As they turn towards us I shoot my eyes straight to the floor, maybe if I try hard enough I can burn a hole into the ground large enough to swallow me completely so I never have to interact with August again. Sure he hadn't done anything wrong specifically but after a year of not seeing one another it was an extremely awkward circumstance.  

"Mitchell, this is Juliette the one I told you about," Freya says as she sits herself on his lap and wraps her arms around his shoulders. He turns towards me nodding his head.

"Nice to meet you Julie," he says raising an eyebrow to try and gauge my reaction at the nickname.  Not only is your boyfriend friends with the one person I am attempting to avoid, he is also an arsehole Freya.

"Yeah, you too Mitcharoo," I say holding eye contact with him to challenge his cockiness. If he wanted a staring contest he should know I never lose. I hear the other laugh under their breaths as Mitch looks me up and down. 

"Guys why don't you introduce yourselves," Mitcharoo says looking towards the other boys on the benches beside him. 

"Blake." He seemed like the leader of the group.
"Luke" He seemed like the clown of the group from the way he hadn't stopped smirking since I called Mitchell 'Mitcharoo'. We would get along well.
"Alec" He seemed dull, typical jock stereotype. I could see why Rachel hadn't taken her eyes off him though. He was a looker. 
"AJ" He didn't look at me, his eyes focused on the ball he was throwing around in his hands. 

It hadn't clicked before that the boy AJ that Freya had mentioned was in fact August Jenkins, I guess he didn't want anyone to know his real name. I'll play the game, for now. 

"Nice meeting you all," I say and they nod. 

Silence. No one had anything else to say to one another, the only person connecting the two friend groups distracted by her boyfriend who was whispering in her ear. You know when that silence gets so awkward and no one knows what to say. I somehow always feel the responsibility to fill it. 

"One in six people in America get raped," I say. 

Really brain that's the only thing you could come up with, way to lighten the mood. They all look at each other questioning what I'd just said. Trust me I was questioning it too. 

"Umm yeah I heard about that," Amy says confused at my sudden outburst of information that had no connection to the non-existent conversation we were having. 

"Sorry I spurt random facts when there's nothing left to say. Now I'm going to pretend I've just had a really important text and leave to have a nice day everyone." 

"Bye Julie," Mitcharoo calls after me as I run down the steps of the bleachers and out of their sight. The embarrassment is real. 

As far as first impressions go that was definitely the second worst, my first being the time I introduced myself to one of my mother's work colleagues and ended up throwing up the quiche I had consumed all over her dress. Turns out egg doesn't agree with my insides. At least now August would have no reason to associate himself with me and we could go our separate ways, forgetting the fact we had ever had a conversation. Well, forgetting that I had ever spoken at him whilst he sat their in silence. 

He ignored me completely, maybe that was for the best him not acknowledging my existence. Maybe that would stop my ever growing thoughts that his white polo shirt looked really good on him. 

Authors note: Yes I did throw up all over my mum's work colleague when I was eight and now refuse to eat quiche. 

Next chapter will be out on Monday! 

Also anything you want to see happen, (A party or a possible tutoring pairing maybe...)

vote & comment <3