A Tale of Two Cliques

|| Chapter One ||

As I strolled into school that first day of the school year, with my brother right behind me, I could discern something in the air that wintry morning.

Maybe it was the way everyone kept their heads low and shuffled around slowly, or how the underlying tension so thick you could cut through it with a knife. Maybe it was just some sixth sense.

Or maybe it was sensing Jasper tense up behind me as we parted ways to reach our respective lockers. He was always very sensitive, to both human emotion and his surroundings.

If he could feel something wrong, then it was a sure sign it was.

I walked into class a few minutes late, as usual. It was no secret I wasn't exactly punctual, a habit probably picked up from my parents.

"Ms Woods, do you have an excuse for being late?" My teacher asked sharply.

"Uh... Yes, I do. My brother left his homework when we were halfway to school so we had to turn back for it." The lie slipped smoothly off my tongue.

"Hurry up and take a seat." I knew Mr Smith would let me off. My brother did use to be his favorite student after all.

I sat down next to Cora, still high on pulling off the lie. It wasn't often I could get past Mr Smith, since he had a knack for spotting untruths, especially with me.

"Cora! What have we done so far?" I asked in an exaggerated whisper.

"Apart from discussing algebra, not much." She whispered back dramatically, playing along so the whole class could hear.

Mr White's head snapped back around and I sighed.

Typical Coraline Mathers, always at the center of attention. But then again, we all loved her for it. Especially my brother, if you get what I mean.

It was so sweet, the way he'd turn all red and stammer when she came near, but at the same time almost puke-inducing. Most of the time, Cora wouldn't even notice. But when she did, I felt like face-palming when she asked him what was wrong.

It was so freaking obvious, and I kept waiting for Jasper to make a move, but alas, It hadn't happened yet. Soon, though, I'm sure he would. Cora was well-liked so it wouldn't be long before someone else asked her out.

"Stay back after class, Ms Woods. You too, Ms Mathers."

Why teachers insist on calling us by our last names I will never know. But strangely enough, I liked it. I liked how it made me feel grown up.

"Yes, Mr White." I replied back, faintly sarcastic.

He stared back down at me for a few seconds and I was afraid he'd call me out again, but then turned around to continue his algebra PowerPoint.

"Where's Mr Popular?" I whispered, for real this time. I didn't want to get in serious trouble or that was the end of my Fridays, lost to a series of detentions.

"You mean Jake? He's not here today." Cora replied. I frowned thoughtfully.

Mr Popular, not show up for a day? It was so weird, especially after his weird behavior yesterday. It wasn't like him to miss any lessons; I knew how much he valued his grades, even if it was just for one day.

And the stupid nickname? Well, when he turned hot- I mean, decent-looking after the summer holidays and his popularity shot through the roof, I took to calling him Mr Popular - and it stuck.

"Oh. Well that's weird." I said, repeating my internal thoughts.

"Yeah, I know but-" My phone buzzed in my pocket and I thanked my wonderful brain that remember to set it on vibrate before coming in.

"What is it?" Cora asked.

Pulling out my phone, I informed her that it was a text from Mr Popular himself. "It's from Jake. Apparently he'll be there at break, and he was just sick."

My tone was disbelieving, and I couldn't help wondering if his unusual behavior had something to do with the atmosphere in the corridor in the morning.

Speaking of which... "Hey Cora," I started, the same time Cora did.

"You go first," she offered.

"Is there something going on in school?" I questioned.

Her eyes darted from side to side. "Uh n-not that I know of." She muttered.

Cora was a horrible liar, unlike Jasper and I. We were pathological liars, spinning elaborate, and most often false, tales. Yet another habit I blame my parents for.

"You're lying. What is it?" I asked bluntly. The only way to get anywhere with her was to pressurize Cora into telling me.

"Jake didn't want me to tell you." She covered her mouth and shrank back in her seat. "I am so dead, oh my gosh, Jake is so going to kill me. I hope you're happy, Hazel."

I ignored her pointed glares and quickly texted back.

Monday

0937 Me: What's going on?

0937 Mr Popular: What do you mean?

I didn't want to get Cora into any trouble, so I deliberately left out her name.

0937 Me: The people in school were behaving weirdly this morning.

0938 Mr Popular: And....?

So he's denying it, is he?

0938 Me: Does it have anything to do with you?

0945 Mr Popular is offline.

I grunted in frustration. Stuffing my phone back into my pocket, I half-heartedly tried to concentrate on my algebra.

I knew he had read it, though my phone didn't tell me whether or not he'd read my text. If x=-18, What on Earth was up with him today?, then what does 6(12x÷4)+54 equal?

It was a simple sum, but I just couldn't work it out. Jake was one who explained all the questions to us, easy as they were, as Mr White never did a more than average job. Now he was angry at me and I had no idea why.

In our group, I guess you could call it, Jake was that one guy I'd been friends with for ages and couldn't quite figure out. For example, whenever we were alone, it was always awkward. There would almost always be a fidgety silence that wasn't present with my normal guy friends, though we could hold a perfectly normal conversation texting.

"He went offline?" Cora guessed.

"Too right," I mumbled back. "Typical Mr Popular."