Bad Influence - popular girl x nerd boy

4- Lucas

Sitting in my room, surrounded by clothes and opened drawers, I have never felt more hopeless.

I've tried on almost everything in my wardrobe and nothing looks right on me, especially for a party. I look like I am trying to pretend to be a teenager, which believe me, is not attractive.

I hear Zoya's loud four-runner truck approach my house long before she pulls into my driveway. I am nowhere near ready for the party - mentally or physically - and now I'm out of time.

I collapse onto my bed, giving up, with my arms thrown over my head to hide from the world. I consider shooting Adrien a "won't be able to make it, maybe next time!" text but I hear my front door open and know that it would be pointless to even try.

"What are you wearing?" Adrien leans against the wall once he enters my room, weak from his laughter. "I knew you would need help, but I didn't know you needed it this bad."

I threw off my black jacket (which I was proud of because it matched my pants, but I guess Adrien has higher standards than that).

"Fashion is stupid," I whine.

"Calm down," he rolls his eyes, "this is such an easy fix, I'm disappointed in you."

Adrien looks around my room silently like he is in a trance. Slowly, he pulls different pieces of clothing out of the pile on my floor and then hands them to me.

"God, if only your closet wasn't so monotone..." He mutters.

"I wear the same hoodie to school every day, you should have expected this."

I look at the clothes he gave me: a red button-up with small tan details across it, black vans, and a gold chain necklace. I look at him skeptically but change into the new clothes. When I am done I stare into the bathroom mirror, refusing to admit out loud that Adrien did a good job. I walk back into my room and Adrien gasps as if I looked like an entirely new person.

"God, I'm so talented," Adrien ruffles my hair before I swat his hand away.

"All the talent is from the model." I tease him with more confidence than I feel.

I won't lie, I look good. It's rare that I ever put effort into my appearance, and that drastic change makes me feel almost as different as I look.

Adrien pretends to be hurt by my comment, walking out of my room with a hand covering his forehead like he is going to faint from the emotional pain.

"I am going to be honest, I was definitely checking you out." Zoya's first words to me once we enter her car.

"You're both so dramatic, I look the same." I rub my neck, hating the sudden attention on me.

"You don't even sound excited! It's your first ever party." Zoya pulls out of my driveway and enters the road, officially starting our adventure and stopping me from going back on my word. I consider opening the car door and falling out of it as we move, watching my house get tinier in the distance.

"Hey! It's totally not my first."

"Yeah, he was probably invited to birthday parties in elementary school."

Zoya looked me up and down using her rearview mirror. "I doubt it."

I kick her seat while Adrien laughs. 

The house we arrive at is massive, with a gate going around the property and a yard filled with trimmed, green grass. At the side of the mansion is a cement path that leads to a pool where kids are already dancing around. Once we are out of the car I turn back to Adrien, too many questions forming on my tongue.

"How do you know these people?"

"I don't," he grins, "not really. But being friendly gets you places, Lucas. You should take some notes."

Zoya huffs at that. "For you, being nice gets you into a girl's pants."

"I wonder which lucky girl tonight." Adrien ignores her and pretends to think hard, counting on his fingers and mumbling as if he had a million options. Well, he probably does.

I wipe my hands on my pants, suddenly overthinking what I should do when I enter the house. Will I know anyone? What should I say to all these strangers? Why am I even here? I stop Zoya from opening the door once we are a foot away from it.

"Maybe this was a bad idea..."

"Look at me," Adrien pulls my arm. "Nothing bad is going to happen, we will be here the whole night and the second you want to leave we will take you home. It's okay to try what scares you sometimes, and you won't even remember why you were scared in the first place. Everything will be alright."

I take a deep breath and walk into the party.

~~

rome's point of view!!

"Somebody come get her," Chloe sings. "She's dancing like a stripper!"

I cheer her on, jumping around to the beat of the song. I pull her closer to me as she dances seductively and then breaks out in laughter. For the past hour, we had been controlling the speaker in the living room of the house, inviting people to dance and being the energy that everyone else lacked.

I'm not bragging and I don't mean to sound egotistical, but I've always been the life of the party. I encourage people to join us or do things that on their own they would be too shy to attempt, and it makes these events way more fun for everyone involved.

The people who have joined me in the room are mainly the popular kids from my school, but when I'm taking a break from the make-shift dance floor I go around meeting everyone new.

"Rome, over here!" Alyssa calls out to me. A beautiful girl with confidence radiating off her, Alyssa and I met when she started dating one of my guy friends, and I have loved her since. She is friendly with everyone and is the type of person you could talk to for hours. Knowing how easily she meets people, I should have seen her next words coming.

"I have a friend you should talk to!" She gets up to greet me and pulls me into a hug. Quietly, she says, "Emmette is a really cute, D1 athlete for an Ivy League, and he's totally into you."

I roll my eyes and she grins, walking away.

He looks up at me from his seat on the floor beside a coffee table. She did not lie about him being cute.

With a blinding smile and green eyes pointed toward me, he raises one of his hands, showing that it's filled with a deck of cards.

"Want to play a game?"