dogfight-e.d

eight

the atmosphere at school feels different after her humiliating weekend, rey's tired eyes avoid looking anywhere else but her feet taking slow steady steps one after the other on the cold hallway floor. she feels like shes being watched by everyone, almost as if all the other kids know about what happened and are mocking her with their cold stares and harsh smirks. she hasn't seen him yet and she doesn't plan to. she hopes she never lays eyes on that lying jerk again even though its inevitable that they'll have to walk by each other at school. rey eventually makes it to her locker, shoving her books inside and taking deep breaths to calm her pounding heart. the voices of all the other kids slowly morph into sirens, piercing alarms breaking into her head and making it spin, she doesn't know why but tears prick her eyes and nearly drop onto her cheek when she feels a hand on her shoulder.

"hey there rey" jacob's voice is gentle and a source of comfort. rey wipes her eyes with the back of her sleeve before turning to face her best friend, "hi jacob" she whispers, her voice hoarse and weak. "oh my god....rey....rey are you okay?" jacob asks wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her close to him. rey swallows a lump in her throat and looks around to see if anyone is listening, right on que mikayla jordan and kelsey calemine; the two girls who make her life a living hell every school day strut towards them, looking perfect and flawless as per usual. mikayla's cold eyes shoot a vicious stare rey's way and her plumb lips turn up in a snarl, "woof woof doggie" she hisses as they walk past rey. kelsey and the rest of their clique laugh and flick their hair, rey feels the tears coming back so fiercely turns away and rests her head against her locker, so the guys have been talking about their little game. rey feels that tight claustrophobic feeling grow in her chest. "what was that all about?" jacob asks staring after mikayla and kelsey. rey doesn't answer but instead storms away down the hall, "rey! hey rey wait up" jacob chases after her and tugs on her arm, "tell me whats wrong" he begs. rey takes a deep breath to prepare herself for what she's about to say, "ethan only asked me out as a bet....him and his friends have this thing called the....the 'dogfight' where they each ask out the.....the ugliest or weirdest girl they can find and bring them all to a party and whichever guy has the ugliest wins..." her voice breaks off towards the end, the hurt and humiliation flooding her body again. jacob stands there staring at rey, shocked and disgusted by what he's heard. "oh my god...what a bunch of disgusting assholes" he says through gritted teeth "rey I'm so sorry".

"Its okay jacob...." rey whispers "I mean it makes sense right? guys like him and girls like me....its just not how its supposed to go". "but...but who gave them the right to treat people like that?" jacob asks growing angrier by the second "why do they get to crap all over us and get away with it?". rey just shrugs her shoulders; the answer is obvious to her now. "they're the popular kids jacob" she says, rey then feels a chill run down her spine so she looks over across the hallway and there he is. ethan dolan.

he's dressed in his usual douchebag attire; his plaid hoodie without the sleeves and backwards snapback. he's standing with his brother and their friends, they all seem unbothered by the events of the past weekend, laughing and joking without a care in the world. It angers rey that nothing can touch them.

ethan's hazel eyes turn away from his friends and land softly on rey, his tongue sweeps his lower lip as he holds her gaze. rey just shakes her head slowly at him, her nose scrunching as if she's just tasted something sour. "come on jacob, lets get to class" she says and ethan watches as the two walk away.

"so when you gonna talk to her bro?" grayson asks after rey and jacob are clear out of sight, "I...I don't know man" ethan says looking back to his friends "I've never said sorry to a girl before".

"just sweet talk her dude" jake tells him rolling his sleeves up, "yeah tell her the usual bullshit...tell her that you made a huge mistake and you need her to forgive you because you can't live without her and you'll never do it again blah blah bullshit" nate says rolling his eyes. "that's all?" ethan asks, unfamiliar with the process of making the effort to get a girl back. "of course man, girls are to easy to lie to so you can make them believe anything you say" kian replies smirking and their friends all nod in agreement."yeah eth, you better get started soon as possible if you wanna win our little bet...not that that will happen" gray taunts raising his eyebrow. ethan's jaw clenches, "it will happen assclown" he insists firmly.