A Tale of Two Cliques

|| Chapter Three||

I ran to our table and nearly knocked Jade over while I was at it. "Jake! Ellis, Jade and Cora are here. Tell me what's going on!" I all but whined.

He'd refused to tell what had happened at all through PE, and despite my constant texting, remained closed-lipped. I usually loved PE, but this time, today, was an exception.

"Ok, ok. I know. You wanted to know what happened last night that made everyone behave weirdly?" His expression was cold, without a trace of the Mr Popular I knew, and I couldn't help but feel apprehensive.

"Yes!" I said, exasperated. "I do want to know what the heck happened last night."

"Well, ok," Jake started. He had only just started, but I could tell he was already prepared to lie. Call me crazy, but I knew whatever came out of his mouth was not going to be the truth. "Last night, we had a par-" He continued, but was cut off by a tap to his shoulder. "Yes?" He spun around in irritation.

Standing behind him was none the than, the Aaron Sutherland, King of the Misfits (e.g. Nerds, Loners etc.) and all-round douchebag. It was his first day here, yet he'd already been established as one of the most influential people in school.

Can it just be said that I really disliked him? It was the understatement of the year to say that Aaron was the epitome of a smarmy frog, purely blonde, almost white, even, with nothing but a pea to contain his brain cells.

If he had any, that is. Today was the first time I'd ever seen him, but my sudden, indescribable hate for him was instant. And I was pretty sure the feeling was mutual.

Jake's already serious face turned expressionless. He'd been acting so unlike himself recently, and I only caught glimpses of the Mr Popular I knew. I didn't even know how he knew Aaron since he hadn't met him yet; it was only lunch and Jake had only been here two periods.

Aaron smirked knowingly at him. I had the thought that he could be handsome if he lost the know-it-all attitude and crappy behavior, but that was impossible.

"You know what I want." He said simply, with a cocky grin. He turned to me, "This the girl?" I glared icily at him and he held my gaze before turning back to Jake.

Jake nodded curtly, such a small action that could've been mistaken for a twitch of his head. I wondered why he was even responding to Aaron when it was obvious he wanted nothing but trouble.

Jake straightened his back menacingly, gaining a few inches on Aaron, who was considered tall already. "Listen here," The words were spat out viciously. "You are in no position to demand anything from me."

"Oh, but have you forgotten, Jakey boy, that I am in a perfect position to do so?" He said, voice as smooth as whipped cream.

For a fraction of a millisecond, I caught Mr Popular falter and saw hesitation in his eyes, then raise himself up again and hiss out, "Go to hell."

I winced and gave a small but uncertain smile as I watched Aaron stalk off. He was a year older than the rest of us, I'd learnt from Jake, but was held down a couple of years ago.

I wondered how Jake knew this, but then I remembered that he was Mr Popular and that he had his contacts. What surprised me was how easily Jake had displayed his emotions.

The iinformation Aaron had against Jake that would make his facade, just for a split second, crack, though nearly imperceptibly, must've been extremely important. Mr Popular didn't show anyone his vulnerabilities or anger. It just didn't happen.

"So," I asked cautiously, "You were saying-?"

Jake spun around abruptly again, this time only pausing the grab his tray, return and walk angrily away. His footsteps echoed loudly on the beige tiles of the canteen even though the surrounding chatter was overwhelming.

I turned to Cora, Jade and Ellis, all who gave me identical guilty shrugs and looked away shiftily. I was sure they all knew what had happened - it took a liar to know one - but I just had no idea what.

So far, all I knew was that it must've happened the night before, as everyone was still acting normal then. Jake somehow was involved in all of this and so was Aaron, but I didn't know that for sure. The others knew something, but weren't telling me.

What a recipe for disaster. And boy, was I right.