Benefits

Chapter Nine: Lunch

"Well, don't you look nice?" Justin smirked at me that Monday, and I rolled my eyes. I had dressed up a bit nicer than I normally would because I knew people would be looking at me after that party.

"Don't I always?" I joked.

"That's true."

We drove to school, and as I expected, we were stared at as soon as we stepped out of the car. Justin managed to ignore them as he always did, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and leading me into the school.

As he followed me to my locker, I jumped when I felt a hand on my other arm. "Noah!" I exclaimed, glancing at Justin, who seemed happy to see his friend, however I noticed he pulled me slightly closer to him.

"How's my favorite couple?" he asked with a smile.

"We're doing alright," Justin said, a slight suspicion in his voice.

"Awesome! You guys should join us for lunch today! I'd love to get to know your girlfriend sober."

"Oh! Uh... Yeah, maybe," Justin said, looking away awkwardly.

Noah scoffed, looking down at me. "Come on, Annie, tell him you wanna come have lunch with us!"

I laughed, looking up at Justin. "We can go have lunch with them." As much as I didn't want to spend all my time with Justin's friends, it was what a girlfriend would do, so I figured that was the best thing to do.

"Really?" Justin asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah! Why not?"

"Alright, I'll see you then!" Noah patted Justin on the shoulder, gave me a grin, and walked away.

"Well, that was surprising," Justin said as Noah left.

"I try to be a good girlfriend." I smirked, grabbing his hand and wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"Oh, you're the best girlfriend!"

That day, after Jaida and Gabriela whining about it for only about an entire study hall, I was okay to sit with Justin and his friends for lunch. Once I got to the cafeteria and got my food, Justin was already sitting at an almost full table with his friends. There was one open spot next to him, and I went over and sat down. "Hey, baby," he said when I sat, leaning over and giving me a peck on the lips.

"Hey!" I looked around at the people sitting at the table. I recognized a few of them from the game of spin the bottle, including Parker, the one that invited us to the game, Liz, the girl who held the party, and the two people I kissed. When I made eye contact with the guy who I kissed during the game, he smirked.

Justin introduced the people at the table, and I knew I wouldn't retain any of the names, besides the girl that kissed me was named Marci, and the guy was Evan.

"So, how'd you guys get together?" Marci asked. There was no tone of jealousy in her voice, no edge like there was whenever Liz spoke to me.

"Well," I laughed, "I used to think he was a complete jerk. Cute, but a jerk that was completely impossible to ever even think of dating!"

"Ouch!" he exclaimed, grabbing my hand and holding it under the table.

"It's true! Well, apparently, Justin has had a crush on me for years," I said teasingly. "And, well, he just told me he liked me a while ago... And we figured, why not give it a shot? And I'm really happy we did."

"Well, I think you guys are adorable!" Marci exclaimed.

Justin chuckled. "Thanks, Marce. I think so, too."

I smiled, kissing him lightly on the lips. I spent most of that lunch listening, only being asked to join in on the conversation occasionally. For the most part, I liked Justin's friends. They said some things that made me cringe a bit, but most of them were nice. The only one that gave me dirty looks and said any snide comments was Liz, who I knew from the start wouldn't like me.

"So, I think that went pretty well!" Justin said as he walked me to my art class.

"I think so too! I liked them!"

"I'm really glad!"

He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, leading me to my class with a smile on his face. When we got there, he leaned down, kissing me lightly on the lips. "I'll see you after school."

"Alright, sounds good!"

He smiled, backing away and not letting go of my hand until he had to. I went and sat next to KC, smiling at him. "Hey! How're you?" I asked, watching him carefully as he pushed the black hair out of his eyes.

"Oh, I'm doing pretty well. At school, so I could be better," he chuckled, and I smiled back. "What about you? I saw you eating lunch with the boyfriend today."

At this, my heart skipped a beat. He had noticed that! He was starting to pay attention to me, which meant our plan was working. "Oh, yeah, that was surprisingly fun!"

KC raised an eyebrow at me disbelievingly. "Really? Hanging out with those shallow people was fun?"

My smile dropped. "I mean, they're not all..." Before I could finish my sentence, the bell rang, and the teacher began talking.

"Alright, class, after this project, we're going to start our partner projects! I'll have you pick your partners today, and you will have to paint a scene for me starting next week. The scene will be split into two halves, which each of you will paint. These two halves will convey two different emotions, one good, and one bad. You'll have a week to work on these, and I'll provide you with canvases."

I almost jumped out of my skin when KC grabbed my wrist. "Partners?" he said, giving me a smile that made my heart jump.

"Yeah, partners!" I returned his smile, trying to keep my voice steady and hoping he couldn't feel my pulse racing.

After class, I pretty much sprinted out to my car, which Justin was standing in front of. I shocked him by running into his arms, but when he recovered, he surprised me by lifting me up and spinning me around. I screamed and giggled, hitting his shoulder playfully.

"What's up, smiley?" he asked, grinning as he pulled away.

I stood on my tip toes and kissed him, before saying, "I'll tell you in the car!"

"Alright," Justin chuckled, following me into the car.

"So," I said when we got in, "KC and I are working together on our art project! Isn't that awesome? It's like some cheesy romance movie where we'll fall for each other over a school project!"

I was too focused on the road to notice the way his smile fell from his face, and the way he looked away from me before saying, "Yeah, that's great!"

***

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Question of the day: Do you think their plan is making KC like Annie?