blindsided

•chapter six•

"i still don't understand why you would give him a second chance. " maleana says from beside me as the three of us walk down the crowded hallway.

"well what do you want me to do? i mean, he explained himself!" lacy fights back.

apparently her and jake are 'giving it another shot'. he explained himself by saying it was just a misunderstanding. he said that him and amanda were working on a project. i highly doubt that considering he 'cheated' on lacy a week and a half ago and we only just got partners a week ago. jake said that amanda was over his house for the project and he told her to answer jake's phone. he groaned because he was having trouble finding ideas. believable, but not well thought through.

"whatever. i don't feel like explaining myself. hey there's a party this weekend and i got us invites! are you coming?" lacy asks us. i look down at my feet as i walk to class, trying my best to shrink away from the subject.

"im in!" maleana cheers. of course she is, you don't even have to ask her. she's a little ball of energy and up for everything, no questions asked.

"alright, how bout you nicolette?"

i look up and two pairs of pressuring eyes are on me. i think quick and reply with the answer i always give.

"i'll have to get back to you on that. "

before either of them could reply, i hurry into the biology room and take my seat in front of ronan. maleana takes hers in front of holten and lacy's in front of condos.

"i'm giving you this class period to work. so get with your partners and discuss your projects and maybe even get started. " mr. rogers instructs.

i turn around to face ronan. today, his dark hair is styles messily but he still looks good. his deep, intimidating eyes move up to meet mine and butterflies fill my stomach.

"alright let's get this party started shall we?" he says and rubs his hands together as i situate my desk to face his. i shuffle through my notes papers as i ramble to him about my projects.

"alright so since we already came up with the idea of-" my voice is cut off by the squeaky flirtatious giggle of amanda. i look up and ronan is smirking, chin in his hand and his eyes trained on amanda. of course. i couldn't hell the twinge of jealousy that courses through me and the muscle in my jaw clenches. "are you even listening?"

"what? oh sorry princess. "

"yeah well can we flirt some other time please? i kind of want to get a good grade on this project. and for the tenth time: my name is nicolette. "

"for the record it's only like the third. and jealousy isn't a good look on you, and you have a lot of good looks." he remarks, now his attention trained on me. i roll my eyes at him.

"whatever. lets just get this over with."

"over with? ouch princess that one hurt. " he puts his hand over his heart in mock hurt.

"oh i think you'll manage. " i roll my eyes again and begin to jot down things we need for the project. after listing all of the supplies, i hand the paper out to ronan.

"pick out the things you can get or already have and i'll get the rest. "

"well that's not fair you barely have to get anything then. " he whines like a two year old who's sibling had gotten more cookies than them.

"i'm supplying the house, the food, and i'm putting the whole project together so i don't want to hear it. "

"okay okay! how about this, you get half of the stuff on the list and i get the other half and i'll even bring you some coffee on my way over. deal?"

i eye him up and down skeptically just for effect before replying with the answer we both know i would choose.

"deal. "

••••

"wait so you can't come?" lacy asks, taking her seat across the lunch table from me. i take a bite of my half sub that i brought for us three girls.

"because, ronan is coming over to work on a project. "

"mhmm, sure. and i have an A in math. " maleana shoots back with the roll of her eyes.

"i'm telling the truth. we have to-" i stop mid sentence when i spot amanda and jake making their way across the cafeteria, hand in hand. "did you guys even officially break up?"

"we just did. " lacy replies with venom lacing her words. she springs up from her seat and grabs her water bottle. maleana and i watch in shock as she stomps over to jake and right as he says hello, the contents of the bottle are now all over him and some on amanda. amanda screeches and runs out of the cafeteria, probably to change her now see-through top.

lacy calmly walks back over to us, her long blonde ponytail swinging gracefully behind her.

"there," she says. "all taken care of. "

nathan walks in just after everything happens and looks confused, but follows jake out of the lunch room. nathan has always been jakes side kick. if one of them abandons us, they both have to.

"anyways as you were saying-"

yet again another person is cut off, but this time it's from someone plopping down at the table with us. none other than ronan kole, holten gansey and condos fray are seated next to each one of us.

"what the-" lacy begins.

"ew you even smell like a grandma. " maleana makes a face and looks on the other side of her at holten who is making faces back at her.

"what are you doing?" i question ronan as he picks up my sandwich and takes a bite.

"dumbass over here forgot to bring us lunch and this looked pretty appetizing, so here we are!"

people around the cafeteria have their eyes trained on us. oh god. later skater. my eyes widen as i look at all of the attention turned to us. no thanks i'm out.

"oh and i can't come over on friday night because i have a fight. so i'll be over saturday. "

i scrunch up at my face as memories surface from his last fight.

"you shouldn't do that you know. it's so dangerous. " i comment and he turns to me with a confused expression. "fight. "

his eyes darken and his features harden immediately. power radiates off of him just like it had that night at the pit.

"you shouldn't do that you know. " he spats at me, more venom in his voice that in lacy's causing me to cower back a bit. "tell me what to do. "

the stands abruptly and storms out of the cafeteria. i sit there shocked before turning to condos and holten for an explanation. they shrug as if this is normal and condos goes back to telling whatever joke he was before the incident.

••••

ayeooo! not much to talk about so thank you for reading! vote, comment, etc.