Avoiding Cliches

Chapter 8: Gossip Folks

"I love your family. I wonder what went wrong with you," Pandora sweetly stated as she plopped herself down next to Kane. Kane's friends laughed as he sulked beside me.

"Is this going to be a routine thing?" he sighed as he prematurely moved his plate of food.

"Bragging about how much I recently annoyed you?" He nodded. "Yes," Pandora happily answered.

Aaliyah groaned behind her not even trying to lower her voice, "This bitch again," she said and Pandora rolled her eyes.

"Well, that was fun. I'll probably be here in like three days max," Pandora promised. She tried to stand but Kane unexpectedly grabbed her wrist.

"Might as well stay, Sweetheart," he knowingly suggested with an evil smirk and Pandora gave him a tight smile.

"Nice try, but I have a policy where I only sit with a maximum of three people I hate and there's four. You figure out who you are," Pandora allowed as she pried his hand off her wrist. "Try again never." she got up and Adriana purposely bumped her shoulder into Pandora's but she barely moved. Pandora slowly turned her head to peer down at the red head. "Did you hurt yourself, Sweetie?" Pandora cooed as she bumped her back.

"Can you hurry up and get out of our faces?" Alyssa snapped and Pandora laughed.

"As if it's not the most perfect thing you guys have seen all day," she confidently boasted with a lazy wave of dismissal. Aaliyah dryly chuckled with a sharp smirk. "Catch you lovelies later," Pandora gushed with a wink and blew a kiss before walking back to her lunch table.

Alex was rushing back to the table too, with his lunch tray and his head down. He sat down in Pandora's seat before she could reach. Pandora groaned as she witnessed her seat get taken.

"Alex-"

"The new girl was a mistake," Alex said as he held his head and hung it low.

"What happened this time?" Eve asked, more interested in the monologue she had to memorize by the end of the week.

"She's batshit," Alex simply answered with wide eyes.

"How?" Phoenix questioned as the group all got interested. Even Eve looked up. Pandora found room to squeeze in right in between him and Phoenix.

"S-she's talking about promise rings, and marriage. She's totally obsessed with me, expecting me to text her 24/7 and if I don't- which was the mistake I made today- she and her friends verbally assault me," Alex listed and the girls collectively got defensive.

"Do you need us to say anything?" Pandora asked and Phoenix and Eve even made small movements to get out their seats.

"You know I'm a lover not a fighter," Alex coolly brushed off as he glanced to another table behind him. He quickly spun back around, "But I might have to call the police because she might actually kill me in my sleep," he mumbled.

"So what's the next move?" Laurel asked and Alex shrugged.

"I think I'm gonna take a break with girls for a while" he admitted and Pandora condescendingly gasped with matching wide eyes.

"How long?"

"Until I get tired of guys," he told and the girls laughed.

"I knew that wouldn't last long," Phoenix chuckled and he winked.

"Well, I didn't just come down to escape domestic abuse, I also have tea," Alex offered, knowing exactly how to keep the girls interested. Laurel and Phoenix quickly perked up.

"Do tell," Phoenix allowed as she held her head up with her clasped fingers.

"Apparently Alyssa and Kane," Pandora couldn't stop her groan, "hooked up at the St Pat's trail keg," Alex lowly gossiped with a smirk.

"Okay an-"

"But Alyssa is supposedly talking to Ryan Hord on the baseball team," he added, knowingly cutting Pandora off, "but he and Kane are also buddy, buddy so Kane definitely knew about them talking. And the crazy thing is Ryan doesn't even seem to know because look at him happily talking and hanging out with Kane and his friends," he observed and they all glanced back. Coincidentally, Kane's table had looked back at theirs and the group spun around urgently.

"Shit," Eve hissed under her breath. Pandora couldn't help but laugh at the odds that the two tables were talking each other.

"What do you think they were talking about?" Laurel asked and Pandora shrugged.

"Don't know, don't care," she dismissed carelessly. "Any more tea? I'm pretty thirsty," she joked as she sipped her Dr Pepper.

"I'm 75 percent sure Saint, one of Kane's friends, is gay or bi," Alex added with a simple shrug and Pandora's eyes widened.

"Why's that?" she tested.

"He was definitely checking me out," Alex bragged. "And I'm definitely not mad about it."

"Alex, you think everyone is checking you out," Eve reminded with an eye roll.

"Okay, shut up," Alex started, "I also saw him flirting with Andrew Flay in theater," he added with a proud smirk.

"No gender's safe," Phoenix joked and the group laughed.

"You're not lying because that boy is sexy," Laurel gushed and Pandora nodded in agreement.

"That whole damn group is fine," Phoenix corrected and Pandora's lip curled in disgust. "Including Kane," Phoenix added as she looked directly in Pandora's eyes.

"Excluding Kane," Pandora corrected keeping eye contact.

"What happened to you being honest to yourself?" Eve questioned with a knowing smirk. Pandora flipped her off with a tight smile.

"All of y'all can shut up," Pandora jokingly ordered. "I'm the most honest person here, y'all can suck my dick," she bragged with a flip of her braids.

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Sometimes I have to remind myself that my characters go to high school so here's a filler chapter about the latest gossip of George Wilkins. The guy in the picture is my inspired idea of Alex.
Hope you enjoyed.
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