popular lovers

CHAPTER ONE

Stella was everything I thought she'd be. She was super nice and even offered to show me around school on Monday. She was a senior in high school while, I was starting as a junior but I had some advanced classes with the seniors.

She also introduced me to her friend. "This is Ashton, my best friend."

"Nice to meet you,"  I said politely and he just nodded coldly in response. His eyes were glued to his phone and I couldn't help but stare at his face.  He had the perfect jawline and super clear skin. He looked up and caught me staring.

Awkward.

I swiftly dragged my eyes from him and took another look at Mrs. Mendez and her cats. Jasmin wasn't kidding when she said the woman takes her cats seriously. The cats were purring and eating their expensive cat food in style.

"You know she didn't always have them around," Stella whispered to me when she noticed my staring. "She gets a cat each time a close relative of her dies," she added.

I turned to look at Stella, the shock evident in my face. I couldn't believe Mrs. Mendez had lived to witness the death of 14 relatives. I just had two die and I felt like my world was crumbling.

"That is so sad," I said

"And weird," Gray added, chewing loudly on a shrimp.

"I don't even feel the slightest bit of pity for her. She is a terrible human being," Stella scoffed.

I turned to look at her again this time, the disgust evident in my face. "You are a terrible human being for saying that. By the way, if she is such a terrible person, why isn't she the one dying," I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Stella is not a terrible person," Ashton, who stayed out of our conversations until now, voiced out. "She just said the truth, besides the one who is left behind suffers the most," he added.

"It doesn't really matter. No one deserves to witness people die regardl-,"

"Oh please, spared me the bullshit and go preach to someone else," He replied in a stern voice.

I scoffed. I couldn't believe my ears.

"Four peas in a pod uh, more like the four stooges," I heard Gray muttered under his breath, shaking his head as he walked away.

"I don't wanna preach to you guys now, so I'll just let it be," I fake smiled. It was helpless talking to them. It was obvious they had made up their mind about the woman.

"You don't know her like we do, so if we say she deserves it, take our word for it," Ashton added coldly. "She is the cause of most of their deaths but she just goes on to replace them with cats," he scoffed, disgust dripping from his voice.

I realized that the story might be deeper that it seems, so I decided not to pry further. I stood up and went inside to help Jasmin and Gray with the servings.

"I couldn't believe you two left me alone with them," I pouted when I spotted Jasmin and Gray by the kitchen table.

"I thought you liked them," Jasmin pointed out, pursing her lips mockingly.

"I like Stella, but that Ashton guy is something else."

"Oh, give him a break. He has been through so much. A lot of people think rich people have no problems, but they suffer the most," Jasmin replies. I knew that was true from my own experience with my father.