BitterSweet (Editing){Complete}

Chapter Two- I Hate Humans

I walk into the gym as the pep rally begun to start. The interaction I just had with Stephen still replayed freshly in my mind. Why was I so blunt? I should have known better than to ask about his family members without knowing him, I scowled myself. "I need to apologize," I thought as I made my way towards the bleachers. I plop down next to one of my best friends, Autumn, with a grunt. "You know how much I hate humans, right?" I ask in a non-joking tone.

"Ariel! I knew I should have never taken you to watch Avenger Age of Ultron. You're beginning to sound like Ultron more and more each passing day," Autumn says in an exasperated tone while throwing her hands in the air to add to her dramatic flair.

"Good, maybe Ultron was right about something."

"You talk about "humans" as if you're not one."

"Because I'm not."

"Then what are you?" she asked while raising her eyebrow in a quizzical expression.

"An alien...No, a werewolf! Wait... a mermaid!" I tried to say with a straight face but ended up smiling instead. "No, but in all seriousness, some people really be trying it sometimes. They honestly make me spazz!"

"Tell me about it. I felt the exact same way when I was in class the other day. This person wouldn't shut up asking the teacher the most basic questions!"

"Yeahh! You always got that one person in class, who swears up and down that they're funny when in actuality they're not. And I just be sitting there like...really?"

"Exactly..."

"Ladies and gentlemen...," a booming voice suddenly interrupted our conversation, "It is now time to welcome our state championships winners ...THE EAGLES onto the stage. Our football team has won two state championships in a row and was led by their all mighty quarterback, STEPHEN THOMPSON!!!"

The crowd cheered loudly once his name was announced. I never understood the hype over him, like I do, but then I don't. I guess it's because I sympathize with the rest of the team too much to not care for him. After all, I was a benchwarmer at one point in life, so I mean it sucks not to get the acknowledgment you rightly deserved because everybody seems to forget the other players, as soon as a star player is a mention. But however, that's how life works. There is always that one guy who exceeds the expectation of perfection where they seem almost unreal, and Stephen Thompson was the definition of unreal, and his unreal qualities were the things that drew me into him in the first place.

I could swear as soon as Stephen walked out from behind the stage, the crowd took its last breath waiting for his next move. The way Stephan walked was a magical thing to see as he stood his ground with the right amount of confidence. It was as if no one had ever rained on his parade.

"I would like to thank the team and the coach for an exceptional season this year. You guys are the best team a guy could ever ask for," he says in deep, velvety voice which echoes across the gymnasium. You could hear a few girls' moans of pleasure as they obviously did not care how "thirsty" they seem. I could laugh at the ridiculousness. Maybe he was right when he said girls don't know how to act when he's around. These girls were proving his exact point.

"And for the fans, I wouldn't want any other," he finishes off his statement with a wink. The crowd then busted into a chant as the cheerleaders came out leading the whole thing.

" EAGLES SOAR HIGH

INTO THE SKY.

WE'RE HERE TILL THE END

TO PUT UP A FIGHT..."

After the pep rally, I was so ready to go home and separate myself from reality, that I rushed down the hallways. I didn't care if the students were looking at me as if I had problems. Sometimes, school suffocates me at times with its stereotypes, cliques, and social degrading, that I was unable to cope with it. In general, I really didn't care what people thought of me because in all honesty high school isn't something that's going to last forever, so might as well not care too much in the end. The thing I just hated the most was the judgment, and how things could spread around so easily, but that crap happens in the world outside of high school too. So, learning to adapt was the main priority in my life. "Don't stick out too much where I could be used, but don't blend in where my colors aren't true," was one of my mottos to get through life.

The minute I took a step out into the school parking a lot I could already taste freedom on my tongue. Well, that was until I saw Stephen on the other end talking to one of his friends. My guilty conscience was pressuring me into walking in his direction to apologize for my actions. I could feel the butterflies increasing in my stomach as he shot me a blank look when he realized I was walking towards him. I might as well clear myself of this guilt-ridden conscience then add it to my list of regrets, I thought to myself, as I tried to keep motivated.

"Hey man, I've got to go. There's a pest coming my way, and I rather not be bothered by it," he says to his friend as I walk into hearing distance. I felt a twitch coming along as his friend turned towards me. He gave me a glance over, before turning back to Stephen.

"Aye man, I didn't realize she was your type to hook up with," he said distastefully, "You usually go for the girls who are VERY appealing to the eye," he said as he gave me a sideways glance once again.

"Are you serious? I'm literally right here, and you have the nerves to talk about me as if you're so impressive yourself. Try again. And to remind you both, I'm not toned death either," I say in irritation.

"Oh, I didn't mean to insult you, but who wears a shirt that says: "Caution: I'm Allergic to Normal People?" he replies in a falsely innocent tone.

I fake a cough. "A person who doesn't like humans," I say with a deadpan voice.

"Umm...okay. Well Steph, I'll leave you two to converse in private. Good luck man." He said patting his back while he gave me a weird look.

"Bye human," I added to creep him out even more than before as he walked away. I then turn towards Stephen and looked him straight in the eyes.

"I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for the things I said to you in the hallway. I don't know what came over me," I mumbled. However, I did. I just wanted to insult him since not enough people were filling in that job.

"Apology not accepted," he said as he leans against his car.

"Excuse me," I ask in astonishment.

"I said apology is not accepted. Are you sure you're not tone deaf?" he replied back in a snarky tone.

"No, I heard what you said smart ass. I just don't see how you can't accept my apology.

"It's not sincere enough."

"Sincere enough. What are you insisting? I'm a very sincere person and that was a very sincere apology."

"Yeah, and I don't have a dead mother," he said in a closed off voice while entering his car. I felt my heart squeeze painfully. The way his mood changed as if something tragic happened to him made me feel like complete shit. I wanted to comfort him. However, that was out of my character to do so, so I tried my best to hide my discomfort on his touchy statement.

"Um. Way to be a mood kill," I coughed out awkwardly. "But I'm sorry, okay. I didn't know. It was wrong of me to even mention anything about a persons' family who I don't know," I say in the most apologetic voice I could muster. The way he just threw that up in my face made my stomach twist up in knots. I honestly felt horrible, but he didn't seem to care. I was met with an awkward silence for two minutes before he finally snapped out of his haze.

"Like OneRepublic said... It's tooo late to apologize. Too late," He sang in a smooth voice and continued to start up his car. My mouth hung open as I tried to come up with some response. I didn't know how to reply to that.

"Keep your mouth open, I hope you choked on a fly," was his final words to me as he drove off, leaving me in the parking lot in shocked.

Did he quote OneRepublic to me...?