Changes

Chapter 4

I walked into the cafeteria feeling dead after sitting through PE. The teacher thought it would be fun to start with a game of dodgeball.

Fun my ass.

Some random kid, who had been a bit too competitive if you ask me, threw a ball in my face. Hard. People were giving me weird glances at the sight of the bruise on my cheek. I spotted an empty table at the far back and strolled towards it. I stopped on the way to buy a can of coke from the vending machine to put against my cheek. I sat down, put my earbuds in and attacked my food. I immediately felt better.

"Hungry?"

I looked up and saw Ruth standing with her tray, grinning at the sight of me.

"Very," I answered, while stuffing my face some more. "Can I sit?" she asked.

"Sure."

While she sat down I grabbed my can and put it against my cheek. Ruth shot me a questioning glance and I explained, "Got hit by a ball during PE."

My friend wanted to say something but was cut off by people clapping. I saw why, Eric was walking into the cafeteria while holding up two fingers. Almost everyone was looking at him in awe.

I barely suppressed an eye roll at how he was being treated. He almost seemed like a hero to them.

Have people always adored him like this?

I turned my head to Ruth who was also staring at Eric.

"Ruth?" She turned her head to me."Yeah?"

"Can you tell me more about Eric? Was he always this popular?" I asked.

"Interested?" she wiggled her eyebrows.

"Hardly," I laughed. "Just curious."

"He was just a normal guy, he still is," she told me. "He sometimes shows up at parties, he pays attention in class and he's actually a part of the football team, but his goal wasn't to fuck every girl in this school. Unlike his idiotic teammates. The only reason he's so popular is because of this stupid challenge."

Noticing her bitter tone I asked her: "Do you know him?"

"Yeah," she looked at Eric. "He's my cousin."