Life As A High School Wallflower

Meeting the Boys

( So here it is! For those of you still loyally reading this, who've been waiting for an update for - what, four months now? - i love you and thank you so much! I apologize for disappearing but I had some rl troubles to deal with. Now that it's all settled down, I'm hoping that I'll be able to start up my three books again! I'm happy to see my story has gained some interest while I was gone! )

( Two: The Best Friend Cliche )

 New kids have a hard time fitting in, that's the truth.

It's not because that person is particularly unlikable or anything like that. It's just that everyone has already formed their groups and chosen who they went to spend their four years in highschool with. Letting someone else in would indicate change, which no one, especially not teenagers, really seems to like.

What I'm really trying to say here is I sat alone for lunch. Every lunch table had been taken already - they did that at the beginning of the year, I knew from experience, because at my old school, I had done the same - so I was forced to sit alone in the hallway. The floor was uncomfortable and there was nothing but a brick wall behind my back, but it would do until I found a more suitable place. I was content with sitting alone. 

Picking away at the crust of my uncrustable (which did have crust, contrary to popular belief thanks to the name), I didn't notice someone was plopping down next to me until I was nudged harshly over. Two large males fit themselves in the small place between me and the next group of people, looking as if they belonged there, like we had been friends since forever.

A glared a little at Jace. Xavier merely looked like he didn't want to be there. "What are you doing?" I blurted out, holding the peanut butter jelly sandwhich posed halfway in the path to my mouth. 

"Well, I thought it was rather obvious. Don't even act like you're not pleased that I'm here, my company is a pleasure." Absently, he poked at a gross mass of food the looked like puke. Main lunch. Irritated by his arrogance, I moved to grab my backpack and leaving. He stopped me, however, grabbing my wrist and yanking me back down.

I stumbled a little, even though it wasn't as if he slammed me into the floor. I wasn't very graceful. "Listen, Rian." He began, much more seriously. Xavier merely watched. I exchanged a look with him before turning my attention back to Jace. "I know what it's like to switch schools middle of the year, alright? That's all. I'm offering... friendship." He stated, frowning and scrunching his nose up a bit as the food on his plate made an unsatisfactory slushing noise and setting his fork down. Finally, he looked at me. "That's all."

Distrustfully, I peered at him. "That's all? Not some scheme to get back at me, no bet, no typical boy antics?"

"None. I'll even pinky promise you." And true to his word, he held out his pinky extended towards me, looking dead serious as if it was the most honest thing he could think to give me. Scoffing a little at the childishness at it and trying to hold back a smile, I wrapped my pinky around his. A truce of sorts, I supposed. That was the closest we were going to get to it, anyway.

"Fine." I finally stated, moving back to eating. There fell a moment of awkward silence, in which everyone casually went back to their food. Halfway through the conversation, Xavier had lost interest and was now talking to some pretty blonde to his right, and Jace was back to staring at the grotesque heap of food on his plate. In a moment of impulse, I blurted out, "Darian."

Jace lifted his head, arching a brow in question. I cleared my throat, trying not to look like the awkward girl that I felt. "Darian. My name is not Rian, it's Darian. But I went through a phase in middle school where I hated having a unisex name."

He chuckled a little. "Rian is unisex too."

"Yeah, but it sounds much cooler than Darian, and if I couldn't have it one way, I was going to have it both." I smiled a little. Finished with my small baggie lunch, I grabbed my backpack and moved to my feet. Two pairs of eyes - the two best friends - looked up at me expectantly. "You didn't have to do this, but thank you." I finally said after a moment of awkward silence before turning and walking away. I dropped the bag into the garbage can and headed for the library.

Now, the thing about the library that some just can't seem to understand is this: it's silent. It's peaceful. There is a certain atmosphere to the library that attracts those like me. It is devoid of the loud cursing and heavy slurs used in the hallways that are... honestly, irritating to hear. 

You could sleep there. You could do research there. You could do homework, talk to friends although in hushed and quiet tones. You could read there: which is what I did. I dropped my backpack into the seat next to me, leaned back, and opened a book on my lap. I was getting to the good part, chewing on my nail, when someone plopped into the chair across from me and pushed my book down, forcing me to acknowledge their presence.

It was Layla. I glanced around and spotted Hayley somewhere off in the corner, talking to a boy and holding his hand. Turning my attention back to my potential new friend, I frowned curiously. "Layla? I thought-" I faded off, unsure what to say. Finishing with 'that your best friend was more important than me' would sound needy and clingy, and I didn't know how else to word it.

"So I heard you ate lunch with Xavier and Jace." She blurted out, her cheeks a little red - from excitement or something else, I couldn't tell. I nodded.

"Word travels fast."

"It does. Now tell me, what did they say?" She quickly ushered my along, waving a hand in the air expressly.

"What did they say? Well Jace just said that he knew what it was like and... that was about it. We didn't really talk or anything. And Xavier didn't pay me any attention."

"They talked to you this morning too."

"Yes." I frowned, unsure.

"Rian! Those boys haven't included anyone into their circle ever. Sure, they talk to other people - but they eat alone at lunch, they spend the mornings alone, the ride home together. Some people say they live together but I think that's a little farfetched. Anyway. Jace moved here when he was twelve and he randomly disappeared for a year awhile back and he moved back again just this year."

I arched a brow, unsure how this was important to me at all. "Okay." I drawled, drawing out the 'a'. "So why is this important to me?"

"Oh, don't be so thick-headed! They're also notorious for making bets, alright? So just listen to me for a second. You're not really into the conversation." She snapped her fingers in front of my face, drawing my attention from the drumming of my nails on the table back to her. She was right, I wasn't really listening to her much. "Last year, there was a rumor going around that they've had a bet going that they could bed all the new girls within a month of them moving here. It was sort of a 'Jace's return' game. As far as I know, they never stopped it, but we also haven't had many foreign exchange students or new movees. You could've been in his sights since the first time you ran into him. Just be careful."

( So not much, but I hope enough to tide you over until I get the next one up? It'll be longer, I promise, and I should have it up in a week or two!

Until then! )