Formulas (CURRENTLY UNDER EXTREME EDITING) (WILL BECOME A DIFFERENT STORY)

Chapter 2: French Fries and French Guys

She pointed toward a group of girls standing in a circle giggling.

"So? It's just some girls from our school."

"Look closer."

I did. It was just Savannah, Tracy, and Morgan, some of my friends on the cheer team.

Then Savannah threw back her head with a flirtatious laugh and I saw what Gia was looking at.

There, in the center of the circle, was Jason Gray.

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Wait, Jason Gray? What?
I turned to Gia. She looked just as surprised as I was. There's no way he could be back. He was supposed to be in France as a foreign exchange student, flirting with beautiful Parisian girls and trying French pastries. And he wasn't supposed to be back until the last semester of senior year. Yet here he is, in all his heartthrob glory, a semester early. I was so surprised at the mere sight of him back so early that I failed to notice the guy standing next to him. It was...Zach? What? Since when did they get along?

Gia nudged me closer to the group. I sent her a glare that could kill. There's no way I'm going out of my way to talk to him. Why would I do that? He's the definition of asshole.

"Brielle, as our high school's official ambassador and welcomer of newcomers-", Gia started. I cut her off.

"He's not a newcomer, he's...an old returner."

I internally cringed at my feeble reply.

Gia ignored me with a wave of her hand and continued, "Semantics. I'm going to go say hello, and you can either stand there like a loner with no friends and 30 blind ferrets or you can go talk to them with me. Besides, it might earn you a few more votes."

Gia smirked, knowing she won. Is she bribing me into talking to my mortal enemy with homecoming queen votes? She is all kinds of sneaky. But she makes a good point. I throw on my best fake I'm-so-glad-to see-you-again-my-former-rival smile and confidently (if you don't count the fact that I stepped on my heel and stumbled a little) sauntered over to the circle. Gia followed directly behind, flashing a smile of her own. She was seemingly directing her smile toward Zach, and it didn't look fake like mine. It was more flirty. Then I realized this was her cunning way of getting to talk to Zach and taking me along with her. Like I said, sneaky.

"Jay! You're back! I bet everyone missed you, how was Paris?"

Gia was practically up his butt from sucking up so much.

But I did notice Zach watching Gia hug Jay with a hint of annoyance in his face. Was she making him jealous? Point 1, Gia.

Jay smirked as if he was on the inside of an inside joke. Which, I guess he technically was.
"French girls know how to party," was his response.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. Typical. At the sound of my voice, Jay looked over at me. His gaze flitted down my body and back up to my face. He was shamelessly checking me out.

The nerve of that...that...buttwipe.

Is it just me or are my insults getting more "creative"?

I took it as an opportunity to finally study him more. I hadn't seen him since 8th grade when he was constantly teasing me and pranking me. He had grown up quite a bit. His tight v-neck t-shirt showed off a fit torso (fit was a bit of an understatement judging by the 6-pack) and his hair was smooth but small sections rebelled, framing his chiseled face.

More like chiseled jaw. *Drool*.

Shut up brain.

His blue eyes seemed to smile amusedly when he saw me and he ran a hand through his sandy colored brown hair.
"Ellie? Is that you? What happened to all your leftover baby fat? Did someone body snatch you? If Ellie's been kidnapped by aliens and you're her stand in, blink twice."

I resisted the urge to slap that motherfluffer. But to be fair, I guess I had changed a bit since he had last seen me. I grew my dirty blonde hair out to my waist and I typically styled it in loose waves. My sea blue eyes were no longer covered by glasses. I was pretty tall now too, my past boyfriends have said that I'm the perfect height. Not too tall, not too short. I also started going to the gym more, so I lost my lingering baby fat pounds and gained abs. Part of that was because of cheer practice. Coach works us pretty hard.

I shifted on my 3 inch heels, looking everywhere but at him. Savannah, Tracy, and Morgan had left just as we walked up. Gia spoke up to clear the awkward silence.

"So, Jay, back in time for homecoming, huh?"
Jay nodded, still looking at me with a weird look on his face. Awkward silence continued. Zach crossed over to Gia.

"We're throwing a welcome back party for Jay at my house tonight. You guys down?'

Gia responded before I could decline.

"We'll be there for sure. But for now we're gonna go grab some food. See ya tonight!"
Gia looked in my direction for a brief moment, grabbed my arm, and started pulling me toward a cheeseburger place in the food court. She turned over her shoulder and threw a flirtatious wink towards Zach and then seated me at a table. I was still kind of shocked at how much he had changed. I turned to stare at Gia.

"What did you just do?" Gia laughed at my question.

"Obviously, you're into Jay. Which makes sense. He's super hot and even more popular than ever. I just got us invited to his welcome back party. No need to thank me." She flashed me a winning smile and walked up to the counter, ordering our meal. When she came back, I glared at her.

"Exactly, no need to thank you. I'm not into Jay, Gia."

"Then why were you checking him out like the entire time we were talking to them?"

"I wasn't checking him out!"

Lie.

"Yes, you were."

I groaned in frustration. So maybe I was checking him out a little...but was I that obvious?

Gia nibbled on a french fry, deep in thought. Then she brightened and smiled.

"The more important question is, what are you going to wear?"

2 uploads in 1 day!! Yay me!!

Anywhooo, sorry if that chapter was a bit short! It was mostly just a setup for the next chapter and a way to introduce Jay.

That's all I have to say, keep reading, voting, and commenting because clearly I need validation from strangers. Kidding.

SMOOCHES!!

-Crystal <3