Dear Merlot {COMPLETED/REWRITING}

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER THREE

"Can you believe it?"

"Wow, finally someone other than Lacey Chan is causing a scene."

"Is she crazy? That's the real question."

"She may be crazy, but she's gorgeous."

"So unique."

As I left my first class, all I could hear were whispers from the people in the hallway. Whoever they were talking about seemed like a superstar. Hopefully they'd take all of the attention away from me and what happened earlier. All I wanted was to stay under the radar.

I tried to get to my next class unnoticed, but the hallways were filling up quickly and it was getting harder to shove my way through. The restroom sign caught my eye and I tried to detour that way but as soon as I made it through the door, someone was crashing into me and my books slipped out of my hands and across the floor. I was waiting for an apology but it never came. I turned around slowly with a questioning look on my face, but the girl that ran into me simply shrugged and started talking animatedly at me.

"You're Merlot Avamaria correct?" The guilt free bombshell asked. I couldn't help but tremble. Had I become the talk of the school already? Was I the person everyone was whispering about in the hallways? What was going on?!

I nodded, completely petrified, and awaited her next question, which, just like the apology, never came. After staring me down for nearly 30 seconds, she turned on her heels and walked away. I was done with school for the day. The last thing I needed was another awkward encounter.

Which is exactly what I got.

"You! Hey, you!" A high pitched voice squealed at me. This nightmare would never end. I stopped in my tracks and waited for the voice to catch up to me, no matter how much I wanted to bolt right out of this school. Oh, and just my luck, "Jax" just so happened to be leaving his locker and stopped three feet away as the girl reached me. Call one Avamaria, get one free.

"You, are Merlot Avamaria. And you, over there, come closer, are Jax Avamaria." The girl announced as if we didn't know our own names. And of course, Jax followed her orders and stood beside me. Déjà vu much?

"Are you guys related?" Expected. The brunette bobbed her head up and down waiting for our responses as if she didn't already know the answer. I'm sure the whole school was aware at this point. Neither of us decided to speak, we just shook our heads no and Jax started walking away, clearly uninterested.

Before Jax could get too far, a raven-haired girl appeared from around the hallway and dragged him back. When she moved to stand by the other girl's side, it was very clear what was happening. We'd been cornered in by the popular girls. Not wanting to be a part of whatever they were trying to start, I attempted to walk away.

As I was walking to lunch, since I'd missed my second period class, I felt a pointy fingernail stab my shoulder and the grasp my arm, forcing me to turn around. Suddenly, a tall blonde with perfect, golden skin, emerald eyes, and over-exaggerated curves, appeared before me. Her stone-cold expression quickly turned to one of excitement and she started bobbing on her heels.

"Hi! I'm Lacey!" She exclaimed, the fake tone of voice melting my eardrums. She then pointed to the brunette and the raven-haired girl.

"The brunette is Stacey and the other is Kacey but she prefers to be called Kace... Totally trendy, I know!" Did this girl have plastic surgery on her vocal cords? I mean she seriously just sounded so plastic! And I definitely didn't expect them to have similar names... not at all.

"Um, hi. I'm Merlot." I'm sure that came out awkwardly. Because I'm the one that said it... Why wasn't Jax introducing himself? Maybe they met earlier. Maybe he was even dating one of them... already!

"Oh girl, we know who you are. Who doesn't? The whole school is talking about you... and Jax and- "

Choking. Violent choking. All from me. How could I have let this happen? And on my first day. And did she say Jax? Wait what happened, where did Jax go?

They pretended to ignore my coughing, and they surprisingly let my interrupting queen Lacey go. It was Kace, the one that dragged Jax over the first time, that spoke next.

"So about Jax... wow he's definitely something. What do you think, Merlot? Perfect isn't he?" Kace tried very hard to pull a compliment out of me that I almost wanted to comply, but I couldn't risk it knowing that Jax could be somewhere within hearing distance. I tried to come up with a quick answer, praying that my poker face was good enough.

"Is anyone in this world really "perfect"? I mean sure, there are nice looking people in this world, some so beautiful that you wonder if your eyes will work properly after seeing them, but perfect, no, there can't be such a thing." End rant. I think that did the job.

"So what you're saying is, and let me quote you exactly on this one. Jax is, "so beautiful that you wonder if your eyes will work properly after seeing him"? Stacey asked smugly; I thought she was supposed to be the nice one. I was positive that I was redder than a radish on a summer day in the middle of a desert.

"...Uh. Sure." I surrendered. I could not risk saying anything else that could put me in an even worse position. Conveniently, that is exactly when Jax decided to come back around the corner. I prayed that he had not been standing there the whole time, and ignored his presence, for I had certainly seen enough of him for one day.

Why was I still talking to the popular girls? All they were doing was using me as a new source of entertainment and I was tired of it. When I looked over to Lacey, about to ask if the conversation was over, I saw something flash through her eyes. A mixture of hate, anger, and irritation flashed through her eyes all at once before she plastered her fake smile on again and made eye contact with me for the first time in a few minutes.

"Want to come with us? Everyone who's anyone is skipping right after lunch. There will be tons of... festivities happening at my house if you know what I mean. Jax might even be there." I knew there was something terrible going on in her mind as soon as she looked at me. It felt like Lacey was searching the deepest parts of my brain, looking for any sign of hesitation, an opening to force me into doing what she wanted. I was finally ready to stand my ground. I was not going to let them think they could control me just because I wanted to stay under the radar. I would try one last time to get away without making a scene, but if they tried anything, I'd have to shut them down once and for all.

"Sorry guys, but it's my first day and I really need to get to class. I already missed second period and now lunch." I tried walking away, but apparently Lacey wasn't satisfied with my answer.

"You do realize that if you don't come with us, you're giving up your chance at being popular, and even more, at being one of us. Trust me, you definitely would rather have us with you than against you!" Lacey started to raise her voice at me and I knew that she wasn't offering me a choice. This would be the beginning of something bad. And so, I stepped forward, wiped the nervous look off of my face, and said what I wanted to when Stacey approached me in the first place.

"Lacey, thanks, but I'll take my chances." And as I walked away, with false confidence in every stride, I looked over my shoulder and winked. "Ladies, let's just say that I've never liked Barbie's. Too typical for my taste... I mean, who likes perfectly sculpted... plastic?"

AUTHORS NOTE//

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