Worth the Effort

Chapter 9 - ORIGINAL

Stella

"Hey, sweetcheeks. Mind if I join you?"

Chris looked down at me expectantly as I gaped at him in shock.

What the hell was he doing here? I'd only tutored him for one day — one day — and he was already breaking the number one lunchroom rule: don't fraternize with the enemy.

In other words, popular people (such as Chris) and people off the radar (such as myself) don't communicate. Ever.

Well, aside from Jamie. She was popular and still managed to be my best friend. I don't know how she could break the social rules and still be one of the most well-know girls at our school.

Still, there were rules that everyone else followed. Despite those rules, Chris was here, standing in front of me and my friends, asking to join us for lunch.

Was this the apocalypse?

I heard Jamie clear her throat again and I snapped my mouth shut. I looked around at my friends and they were all staring at Chris like he'd grown a pair of antlers.

"Um... Stella?"

I looked back up at Chris and saw something akin to understanding and possibly confusion in his eyes. He knew I was taken by surprise and he looked just as confused as me. It was like he couldn't understand what made him walk to my table in the first place, but now that he was here, he had no intentions of leaving.

Turning away from him, I put my fingers to my temple so he couldn't see my face. "Sure, I guess."

No one at the table moved and Chris remained standing next to me.

"Um... could you scoot over then?"

I quickly did as he asked and bumped Crystal with my hip to make her scoot farther into the seat. As we were readjusting I glanced around the lunchroom and noticed some nearby students staring, no doubt wondering why the hell Chris decided to sit next to the most socially awkward girl in school.

I couldn't give them an answer if I tried.

When there was enough room, Chris sat at the edge of the booth, his hip smashed against mine, and smiled at the table.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

Everyone stared at him quietly and Chris looked to me for help.

Why are you looking to me? I thought, attempting to disguise my frustration. I'm just as confused as everyone else.

Chris continued to stare at all of us and I finally cleared my throat, breaking the awkward tension.

Trying my hardest to shake off my confusion, I turned back to my friends. "Well, um... Chris, this is Jamie, Pru, and Crystal. Guys, as you probably already know, this is Chris Dalton. I, um..." I placed my elbow on the table and rubbed my temple again. "I'll be tutoring him for the rest of the school year."

"So I'm guessing you're all best friends of Stella's?" Chris asked, smirking at all of us. They simply nodded.

"Well, it's, ah... it's nice to meet you." He then reached out a hand and shook all of theirs.

After their awkward exchanges, Chris crossed his arms on the table and leaned forward. I couldn't help but notice his discomfort. I never thought I'd see a day when Chris was awkward, but after only a day of knowing him, I've learned more about him than I ever thought I would.

The rumors were proven correct; he was a total horn-dog. But he wasn't exactly hard to talk to. I mean, sure, he wouldn't listen to my lecture during our session on Saturday and he ate my favorite food in the world, but he didn't destroy my house or burn my clothes or anything.