The Worth Of Your Love

Chapter One: You're just blinded by his looks

Maybe it was my mother's failed romance, my best friend's past relationships, the movies I've watched, the stories I've heard, or the books I've read. Whatever it was, it changed my view on love. Love used to be such a powerful and amazing thing that brought princes to their princesses.

But love doesn't fool me anymore. I've lost hope and faith in it. To some people that might seem sad or depressing, but to me, it's the truth. People have their own perspectives and opinions and I respect that. I won't try to change what they believe.

To me, love is ludicrous. Love can't get you a scholarship or a good future. Life without heartbreak and sadness seems so much better. We could achieve more things. Why waste your time on love when you could be the next president instead?

I focus more on the aspects of my life that will benefit my future. I focus on studies and rarely go to parties. It's what makes my best friend and I am odd pair. She's a party girl and she's had multiple relationships in the span of a year. Let's just say she's the try hard social climber while I'm the studies first type.

I snap out of my thoughts with a jolt as someone slams their fist in on my desk. "Miss Johnson! Stop your day dreaming now and actually focus on the class. You may be ahead of the class, but that doesn't give you an excuse to be absent-minded," Miss Harrison snaps.

I sigh. I feel everyone's attention on me. Great. Just another thing for the Gossip Insider to write about. But then again, I might not be interesting enough.

The Gossip Insider is an anonymous blogger that knows almost every secret in this school. From who's with who now, to the most shocking drama, to the populars' every move. Multiple people have tried to find out who this person is and none have succeeded. The Gossip Insider seems to know everything. It sometimes makes me wonder if they're only one person or a group.

Since the blogger remains anonymous, the school can't stop the account without any proof that the student studies here or the student's identity. The Gossip Insider is what fuels people to want to be more popular. It makes people feel worthless or superior. It's what feeds these thirsty gossip girls.

The Gossip Insider has a page where it rates every person in the student body. The page is called Faraday Ratez. You might think "Oh, but isn't Faraday a big giveaway on who it is?" Well, my answer is no. Not even close. Faraday High is the name of our school.

Anyways, the page basically rates the people according to looks, grades, and popularity. For looks, it's the standard one to ten. Although some exceed that and receive an eleven. For grades, it's A+ to D-. And finally, popularity. Popularity is what everyone's focused on. No one cares if you got an A+ on the smartness rating.

Popularity is rated by three tiers; the Elite, Modest, and Unfortunate. The Elite are the leaders in every school; they're the popular ones that people worship or look up to. They're the jocks, cheerleaders, and the trend setters.

The Modest are the average; the normal; the followers. The Unfortunate are the bullied; the victims; the nerds. I find myself in the middle of it all. Despite keeping quiet, I still have a higher status than my social butterfly of a best friend, Wren Collins. I don't get it.

Wren is the epitome of a popular. With her gorgeous brown hair, blonde highlights, fair skin, and blue eyes, a lot of people swoon at even her smile and boys fall at her feet every once in a while. She's always out socializing and gaining friends, but that never seems to be enough. Funny, I'm the one wanting nothing to do with being popular yet I seem to get the spotlight every time.

The bell rings, snapping me out of my daze. I grab my backpack and pull it over my shoulder. I plug my earphones into my phone and distract myself with music. Math with Ms. Harris was my last class before lunch. All my friends say that I'm such a teacher's pet- with my straight A's and perfect record. I studied Math in advance precisely so that I could just use that time to think or read. Ms. Harrison was always such a boring teacher so I never bothered to listen.

As I walk down the hall to my locker, I receive smiles and greetings from people. I just smile and greet them back. I stop at my locker and shove in the books I didn't need. I make my way to the cafeteria and hum a soft tune.

As I wait in line for food, a bunch of girls in front of me keep gossiping about some new article on the Gossip Insider. I roll my eyes. Typical. I quickly grab some food, my usual burger and fries plus some cookies and cream milkshake.

As I scan the cafeteria for Wren, someone grabs my shoulders and I scream, nearly dropping my tray. I turn around and it is none other than Carson Andrews, my childhood best friend. I giggle and smack his shoulder with my free hand and hold my tray with the other. "I hate you," I say with a smile on my face.

"No no, I'm pretty sure you love me. Since you can't seem to stop stalking me on social media," he says with a wink.

"Oh my gosh, you're still not over that? I told you, I was bored for the whole summer, so I was active a lot. Not my fault you posted so much, and if I didn't like your pictures immediately, you'd annoy me constantly until I did. Figured I'd spare myself some suffering," I say with a playful roll of my eyes.

"Whatever you say, Addy," he gives me a genuine smile.

"Hey, you two love birds, come here!" We hear Wren yell from our table.

We both head to the table and say in unison, "We aren't love birds." Wren gives us a "whatever you say" look and shrugs. I place my tray on the table and slide into the seat in front of Wren, and Carson sits beside me.

"So, have you guys seen the new article from the Gossip Insider," Wren asks while taking a bite from her salad.

"The one about Adrien? Who cares 'bout him?" Carson asks while he swipes some of my fries. I smack his shoulder. He just sticks his tongue out.

"Well, I do. It's like key information to his heart," she says with this lovesick look her face.

"Ew. Why would you want that? He's a playboy. Hooks up with one, breaks their heart, finds another one. That's his cycle," I wrinkle my nose in disgust. Carson nods in agreement.

"Exactly. Whoever becomes his next target becomes popular. This article might have figured out how he finds his new target- A point system. He gives girls some points for doing something and whoever reaches the top of the leaderboard next, is his next hook up," she explains excitedly.

"That just makes him sound even more of a playboy. He's just gonna break your heart Wren," Carson argues.

"Preach," I say as Carson and I high five.

"That's the point. If I become the next target, I'll be the talk of the town. Who cares if my heart gets broken. I'll just play along. Earn their sympathies and gain more supporters. Easy. All I have to do is earn some points," she explains as if that's supposed to make us understand.

Carson and I just look at each other and shrug. Wren has always wanted to be an Elite, and Carson and I never really cared about status so we never tried. We just supported Wren at times, but at the same time stop her when things got out of hand.

"Wren, why do you even pursue the guy when all you want is popularity? Why go for the hardest one to get instead of the others," I ask with a sigh. I knew how this was going to end. He was gonna be a total asshole and break her heart no matter what she says.

"Because my dear Addison, he has the highest social status. Meaning, I get him, I become the most popular girl," Wren says.

"There's no great attribute to that guy. I say drop him. Who cares if he's most popular? Just go for another guy. Going after him is like a death wish. You'll be bound to get struck down by others who are just as power hungry," Carson says.

"What would you know about guys and good attributes? He has plenty," Wren defends stubbornly.

"What? Like his good looks? That's all he has, Wren. Good looks. Not good attitude. If you ask me, everyone's just blinded by his looks. You're just blinded by his looks," I say.

~•~
So that's the first chapter!
Hope you guys enjoyed it.