Beyond us (all of us #3) 18+

F I V E

C H L O E

"I fucking hate that bitch," Makenna seethes, eyes locked at whoever's at the end of the hall.

I don't even need to look to know she's going on about Marina again. Makenna's always had an issue with that girl since middle school.

It wasn't Marina's fault she was weird.

She just never fit in with the girls and she didn't seem to care to. She didn't want to sit around with us and play with make up or tag along on our after school mall trips. When that final bell rang, she ran to the basketball courts and played until the street lights came on.

She didn't mind getting grass stains on her white shoes. Scraping a knee. Her ripped jeans were unintentionally DIY from skidding across the black top. The girl only wore messy buns and tangled pony's to keep her hair from messing up her free throws.

But something changed that summer before freshman year. Drastically.

She walked onto campus the first day of school in a tight jean skirt and pink flip flops with matching pink toe nails. All dressed up in earrings, bracelets, lip gloss, and barrettes.

And who knew she had boobs bigger than mine under all the sweat stained baggy t-shirts?

I'd never openly admit it, but I was a little jealous when I saw how well she cleaned up. She was like the new girl in school, except that same old Marina was still in there. You can put the tomboy inside of a girly-girl, but you can't put the girly-girl inside of the tomboy, I guess.

Makenna went from hating her for being so different from all of us, to hating her her for being, in her words, a try-hard.

"I just know they've fucked at some point," she growls, her lip curling like a mad dog over the idea.

If you ask me, I think the reason she really hates Marina is because she has a relationship with Diesel she's never had. Marina's unlocked a different part of him, and she doesn't even have to get on her knees to do it.

Marina's high pitched giggling prompts me to chance a glance their way, but I force my eyes away just as quickly. My chest tightens as I turn back to my open locker and memories from Friday night completely take over my mind.

Makenna's furry pink scrunchie pinched around the gear knob. The sound of her lipgloss rolling around in the center console every time we took a turn.

The feel of his short, chunky, curls wrapping around my fingers.

The feel of his fingers pressing into my hips.

"I really doubt it," I force out, my teeth digging into my cheek. I find my chemistry book and swap it out for the even thicker English one just to keep my hands busy. Just so I don't have to look her in the eye. "I mean, him and Marina? Like, come on."

"Are you being serious right now?" she snaps. "Diesel's probably tongue kissed half the girls in just our tenth grade class, alone. You think she's not within that ratio?"

I can barely swallow my spit over her statement, involuntarily licking my lips like I can still taste the sweet flavor of him underneath my vanilla lip gloss.

I mean, maybe?

Diesel can get anyone he wants and he's well aware of that, but that doesn't mean he has. I think.

"Don't do that," He told me in a tsk-tsk tone, his grip on the steering wheel seeming to tighten slightly. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he almost pitied me for a second.