Wonderful cover done by: MJ_reads123
Chapter Eight
Aside from art, today has been a pretty decent day. The coffee Mr. Duncan got me has kept me on a caffeine rush. It's been just enough to keep me going, and when it started to wear off, I got a soda and it's been doing its job.
"I think that light at the dock across the lake represents Gatsby's hopes and dreams for his future." Noah suggests, flipping through his book.
Mrs. Hughes decided not to really do any lectures in front of the class and gave us the whole time to work on our projects.
I purse my lips and move them to the side as I ponder his suggestion. "But doesn't he already have like all he needs? He's rich and popular."
Noah chuckles and glances at me. His eyes peek over his book and crinkle the sides. "The whole book is partly based on him wanting Daisy and how he doesn't have everything he needs."
My cheeks heat up and I look away. "Right."
"Not to mention the fact no one even showed up to his funeral. That right there means he wasn't as popular as once thought." He shrugs, giving up his futile search to find the 'golden line.'
"The parties prove he was popular though. The funeral just means he wasn't as well liked as once thought." I retaliate. "You don't have to be liked to be popular."
He thinks over what I said with a look of concentration and nods, weighing the options. "That makes sense. We should write that."
I smile and quickly scribble it down onto our half empty paper. The extra words make it look more filled out, which will definitely look good when Mrs. Hughes walks around. As I finish writing it, some girls come over to our table and start talking to Noah. They smile at me, but I politely stay out of the conversation.
That's just how Noah is. He's not really popular persay, but he is definitely well liked. Every time I talk to him someone else steals his attention for a few minutes.
It doesn't bother me, because I've always known that Noah is widely liked. But the fact he's so close with so many people makes you doubt your relationship with him; it makes you question if you're really as close or as valuable to him as you think. He has so many close friends, sometimes you just don't know if you're actually one of them.
The bell rings and startles me from my thoughts on the boy sitting next to me. I blink a few times to come to, and I pack my things up as the two girls walk away.
Noah instantly smiles apologetically at me. "I'm sorry Reagan, I didn't mean to ignore you like that."
I wave it off, "Don't worry about it, Noah. We were pretty much done for today anyways."
He nods and starts to pack his own things up. He places the Great Gatsby book into his backpack with gentle ease, and I notice his folders are placed in with the same care. Everything in his bag has its rightful place, and he's sure to keep it that way.
"You know, I always knew you were really smart. I'm glad we're partners." He smiles at me as he zips shut his overly-organized bag.
I send him a smile as I put my backpack on. "Thank you, I'm glad we're partners too."
He follows me out of the classroom and walks with me down the hallway as we talk a little bit more about the project. A few lockers down I see Logan and Chloe walking together and I raise my hand to get their attention. They catch the action, as do some random people who give me odd looks.
Noah notices me smiling over at my friends and gestures towards Logan with a nod of his head. "I've heard a few rumors that he has a girlfriend. That wouldn't happen to be you, would it?" He frowns, his eyes flickering down to me.
I can't help but laugh and I shake my head. "Oh god no. Logan is just my best friend, he has a serious girlfriend back in Nevada. I'm about as single as one can be." I say through a chuckle.
Noah's eyes light up and his dazzling smile is back. "That's good to know."
"Noah!" I look next to me as Jasmine suddenly comes over, grinning at him. "You missed what happened at lunch..."
I tune out of their conversation and wave a quick bye to Noah as I go to Logan and Chloe.
"What's going on there?" Chloe asks, her curious eyes trained on Noah just a few yards down the hallway.
I glance behind me and shrug, "Nothing really. We are working on that English project together."
Chloe's eyes light up and she grins excitedly. "How come I didn't know about this sooner? Noah is such a cutie!" She exclaims, doing an awkward, excited little dance that has her camera bag flailing around.
"Okay you two, I have a very important question." Logan cuts off our conversation. He's walking backwards in front of us so that he can keep eye contact during this apparently very urgent matter.
Chloe and I curiously look at one another, wondering if the other knows what he's going to ask. We each shrug and look back at him.
Logan doesn't get serious very often, and when he does it usually means that he's going to ask something that's actually a serious matter. So Chloe and I give him our full attention.
He looks between us, his eyes void of any joke, and we all stop walking.
"Why am I not on the cover of the yearbook?"
I facepalm. I should have known that anything Logan asks isn't going to actually be serious or urgent.
"I mean seriously! If I was on the cover I think purchases would go way up!" He reasons animatedly. "There wouldn't be a kid at school without a yearbook!"
Chloe and I roll our eyes and walk past him, leaving him trailing behind us. He continues to list off ridiculous reasons to have his picture on the cover, but we continue to ignore him.
"I'm hot."
Ignored.
"I'm extremely photogenic."
Ignored.
"I look amazing in gray."
Ignored.
"My eyes are literally eye goals."
We turn around to face him. "What does that even mean?" Chloe asks.
"It means my eyes are amazing and everyone strives to have them." He says, grinning at us. "So is that a yes?"
Ignored.
The three of us get closer to my locker, and as Chloe and I turn around to look where we're going instead of arguing with Logan on why he will never be on the cover, I see Hayden loitering at my locker. In my look of distaste, I scan over his outfit and can't help the internal purr of approval.
He's wearing a light brown button down and dark-wash jeans. The button down perfectly frames his body and leaves just enough to the imagination, and the jeans make his squat routine evident.
Logan shuts himself up when he sees Hayden and his eyes narrow, his shoulders tightening as we approach my locker. I admit I tense up a little when I see him.
"Not to be rude, but why the hell are you at my locker?" I ask, crossing my arms as I look up at Hayden. "Again..." I add after the fact.
He smirks down at me, "It's good to see you too, Cupcake."
Rolling my eyes I ask him again.
"I'm here so that we can go somewhere to work on our project." He says, leaning his shoulder against my locker.
He wasn't here during art class today and thinks that I'm going to give up my afternoon to go with him?
"No thanks."
His chuckles, "I wasn't really asking."
"Okay, the answer is still no." I repeat. "Do you minding taking a few hundred steps to the left so that I can open my locker?"
He doesn't budge and I get extremely agitated with him and his cocky smirk.
"Look man, she asked you to move." Logan states from behind me. I turn my head and see him standing tall, easily matching Hayden's height. His arms are crossed over his chest and his usually cheerful eyes are instead narrowed in Hayden's direction.
Hayden glances at him and snorts, "Reagan can you call off your protection squad?"
"Leave." Logan snaps.
Hayden places his hands up in surrender, but he's still smirking. "Down boy. I'm a lover, not a fighter."
"Then get the hell out of here." Logan reiterates.
Hayden rolls his eyes, "I just assumed Reagan would want to work on the project so we don't get too far behind."
I huff in pure annoyance at Hayden and turn around to face Logan. He's still stiff as he stares at Hayden, but I give him a small smile and place my hands on his arms to uncross them. Not going to lie, it's pretty great to have such a protective guy friend.
"Thanks for looking out for me Logy-bear, but you and Chloe go on ahead. I need to work on the project anyways." I reassure him.
Working with Hayden is the last thing I want to do, but he has a point. I would rather not get behind on this project, and I don't feel like doing it all by myself if he doesn't show up to class again.
Logan grimaces at my use of his nickname and continues to look warily at Hayden. I sigh and glance at Chloe, "Want to pull big macho man out of here before he causes a scene?" I ask.
She laughs and grabs Logan's arm and starts to pull him away. "Have fun, Reagan!" She yells.
Hayden watches them and chuckles, "They seem fun." He thinks aloud, and then his eyes drift over to me. "Let's go Cupcake."
I reluctantly follow him out of school and into the parking lot, and he's silent as I trail slightly behind him. "So how do you know I'm not just going to get into my car and drive home instead of following you?" I ask to break the silence.
He glances over his shoulder at me and smirks, lifting up his hand. "Because I have this."
My heart drops.
He's holding one of my love letters.
"How the hell did you get that?!" I exclaim angrily, trying to snatch it out of his hand. "How did you even know I got them?"
He chuckles and puts it back in his pocket, out of my reach. "A true magician never reveals his secrets, but I will say your lock isn't up to par. It's about a ten minute drive, so make sure you keep up."
My hatred for him continues to boil as I reluctantly walk to my car.
I get into Kermit-my car-and sit there for a few seconds, wondering how the hell Hayden got into my locker. A sudden image of him breaking into Mr. Duncan's room last week comes to mind and I bury my face in my hands. He knows how to pick locks, and the locks on our lockers aren't that advanced.
All of the sudden a sleek dark blue, beautiful Camaro pulls up next to me. The windows are tinted, but I would have to live under a rock to not know that this is Hayden's car. That's another thing about him that bothers the shit out of me. Why should a seventeen year old get a twenty five thousand dollar car?
He rolls the window down and I'm met with his smirking eyes.
"You ready?"
I startup my little Kermit and send him a sarcastic smile. "As I'll ever be."
He grins, "That's the spirit." Rolling up his window, he revs his engine and blasts out of the parking lot.
I groan and lay my head on my steering wheel, accidentally honking the horn in the process. Some old teacher whips his head around and glares at me from down the parking lot and I sheepishly wave, throwing my head back down with another groan as he looks away.
Somehow I'm able to keep up with Hayden and his reckless speeds, and we arrive at a cute diner about ten minutes from school. I park next to him and force myself to actually get out of the car instead of turning around and driving home. He has my love letter after all- I don't want him reading it. Hell, I don't even want him touching it, but it seems that's unavoidable.
Hayden leads us to a small booth in the back of the under crowded place and I dump my backpack in the booth, but I remain standing.
"Alright. I'm here. Now can I have the letter?" I snap, crossing my arms to further my refusal of sitting down.
He chuckles and makes himself comfortable, "How do I know you won't run out of here as soon as I hand it to you?"
"Because that's exactly what I'm going to do."
"I'll keep it in a safe place until we finish our work." He winks as he opens up his menu.
I take in a deep breath, using my hands to assist me in calming down. I take my spot in the booth and sit back, sulking miserably.
"You ever been here before?" He asks, his eyes finding mine over his menu.
"No."
He shrugs from my obvious anger and continues glancing through his menu.
"How come you weren't in class today?" I mutter, sending him a pointed glare. "I had to work on the project by myself."
He moves the menu to the side and smirks at me. "Do you really want to know what I was doing?"
I get the message and roll my eyes, "Never mind then."
"Hey you're always invited to 'skip' with me." He offers, giving an utterly sexy wink.
But it does nothing for me since his personality is completely vulgar.
My eyes harden at his suggestion. "No thanks."
Hayden places his hands up as a surrender and backs down. He doesn't attempt to start up any other conversation, and I sure as hell don't want to start one, so I get out my laptop and finish my research on our impressionist artist.
"Edgar Degas...where can I find your autobiogra- there it is." I mumble to myself as I search the web. "So you wanted to be called a realist, eh?" I ask as I read over his life and his works.
Hayden doesn't attempt to help me. He sits there and watches me work, drinking the root beer he ordered. I'm well aware of his eyes on me, but I try my hardest to tune that out as well as my annoyance. Why did he drag me here to work with him if he isn't even going to help me?
"Why do you hate me so much?" He randomly asks.
He doesn't ask it out of vulnerability, he asks it out of genuine, cocky curiosity; as if my answer will amuse him to no end, no matter what it is.
I glance up at him and ignore the question, going back to my research, but he keeps pressing.
As if the signs aren't obvious.
"Oh come on, Cupcake. Tell me." He continues, trying to catch my eyes that are glued to my laptop. "Is it because of my eyes? How my dark black hair contrasts the blue so well? Or maybe the jawline that girls have said they would kill just to touch?" He suggests. "How about my-"
I cut him off before he can continue listing the exact reasons. "That's just the reason, Hayden!" I snap, and his eyebrows shoot up in amused shock. "You're an egotistical asshole, and it bothers me that you lead girls on so easily. Not every girl wants to sleep with you, ya know! I could say some nice things about you, yeah, but I would much rather tell the truth." I huff, glaring at him. "And stop with that stupid 'Cupcake' shit! It's not cute if that's what you were going for. It's just annoying!"
He sits back in his seat, offering no rebuttal. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"
The waitress comes back to end that conversation and takes our orders, but I only ask for some coffee since my previous caffeine boost is wearing off. When she walks off, Hayden brings up the topic of my love letters.
He takes the one from his pocket that he stole and goes to open it, just to get a rise out of me. But I take the bait and reach forward to snatch it from his grimy hands. He simply pulls it away with that stupid smirk of his.
"Ah, ah, ah." He scolds. "How long have you been getting these things?" He asks, still holding it between two fingers.
I narrow my eyes at him, "How did you even know I got them in the first place?"
He chuckles, "I'm observant."
"Bullshit."
He sighs and glances down at it, setting it on the table as he responds. "Alright, fine. I broke into your locker to see where you were at on our art project and I saw it resting there. I was curious." He looks the slightest bit apologetic, but then his eyes turn mischievous yet again.
"You broke into my locker?" I exclaim, staring at him in angry disbelief.
He doesn't answer my question in his response, at all. "Tell me about them."
"There's nothing to tell." I snip, going back to my laptop so I don't have to look at him.
He squints and tilts his head with a small smirk. "Oh come on. At least tell me who it is."
I give him a look. "They're anonymous."
"Oh, so you don't know?" He asks, perking up.
"That's what anonymous means, yeah."
"You must have an idea of who it is, then. Noah? Logan? No, you said he has a girlfriend... What about Frankie, you know, that drug dealing psychopath? I think you two would be cute." He muses, tapping his chin with the letter as he thinks it through.
"I bet you're even waiting for him. Saving yourself? You've got this preconceived notion of how he's going to treat you." He continues, scanning my every move.
I bite my tongue so that I don't yell at him and reach forward, finally snatching my letter out of his hand. I quickly place it in my backpack and glare at him through dark eyes. I thought maybe I was quick to judge him, but I was spot on. He's an absolute jerk.
He must finally notice how annoyed I am and how close I am to pouring my hot coffee on him, because he scratches the back of his head with an awkward grimace.
"You're pissed."
"No shit." I snap, angrily typing on my laptop.
He takes a step back from his cocky assertions. "Look, I'm sorry, I was just messing around. I didn't mean to cross any lines or anything..."
How thoughtful.
I roll my eyes, "Thanks."
"Seriously, I'm sorry." He repeats, his smirk vanished and replaced with a guilty frown. "I mean, I was only joking..."
I narrow my eyes at him. "Whatever, let's just get this research over with."
He doesn't say anything else and instead gets out his own laptop and starts on his research, and I suddenly feel accomplished.
I got him to be quiet, and that in itself seems to be a major victory.
Vote and comment! Don't hold back ;)