Chapter 4: I'm Not Jealous

I hate school.

It's just as bad as I remember from last year. And the year before that. .And every year of school since seventh grade, maybe sixth.

Brittany wasn't in any of my classes, thank God-I guess she's not smart enough for that-but guess who was.

Aaron fucking Brewer.

Normally, that wouldn't be weird, but I'm in advanced placement classes, meaning that Aaron is either really fucking smart, or... I don't know.

But I refuse to believe that an egotistical jerk like him is capable of having a brain.

I refuse.

So, I walk into my English class and his is the first fucking face I see.

Same goes for History, and Math, and Health.

Oh, and apparently he was in my Chemistry class too.

How fucking weird is that? I didn't even notice him.

Granted, that was probably because I was too busy receiving two hours of detention to notice him, courtesy of Mr. Griffith.

"Cass."

I blink and turn to meet Gabs' eyes. "You okay?"

I smile. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She stares at me a little while longer before returning her attention to Gracie, who is talking about puppies.

"Cassie!" yells a familiar voice from the back of the classroom.

I sigh and turn around in my seat to meet Aaron's eyes. "Brewer."

He smirks at me. "Guess what?"

We now have the attention of the entire classroom, excluding the teacher, who is in the bathroom.

That reminds me, I need to make sure I congratulate her on having the bright idea of leaving thirty teenagers in a room together. That's fucking genius, I mean, what could go wro-

Some kid just jumped out the window.

We're only on the first floor of the building but...

Dumbass.

"Cassie," Aaron says, redirecting my attention back to him.

I blink and look at Aaron. "Oh, um... are you being taken away by the government to a secret holding facility because they want to discover how you're able to live without a brain?" I smile sweetly at him as the rest of the class laughs.

Surprisingly, no one's concerned about the boy that jumped out the window.

Wow, never thought I'd say that; this school is fucking nuts.

"That's funny, Cassie," he says in between his laughter. "But no."

"Aw," I groan, pretending to be disappointed. "Then what?"

"I have detention. For two hours."

My mouth drops open.

Two hours in a room, basically unsupervised-everybody knows that the detention monitors leave for most of the detention block and come back when there's five minutes left-with him.

"Fuck me," I groan.

"Sorry," he smirks. "But you're not my type."

Laughter from the class.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess your type is desperate bimbo then, huh?"

More laughter.

"Please, like you don't want me?"

He flexes his arm, causing his bicep to bulge out.

He's hot as fuck...

I mentally slap myself. Must. Stay. Strong. "Sorry, but you're not my type." I say, quoting him.

He smiles broadly, and the rest of the classroom disappears.

He looks so adorable, like a little kid, and I can't look away. His eyes are the slightest bit crinkled at the edges and his dimples are showing.

The truth is, besides the whole cocky jerk thing, he's exactly my type.

And I hate that, because I don't want him to be.

It's better if Aaron and I stay friends, or don't even become friends at all.

The bell rings, the teacher rushes in, and people immediately start getting out of their seats and move towards the door.

I remain seated, not wanting to get caught in the traffic jam; I have a mild case of claustrophobia. It's nothing big, but really small, enclosed spaces get to me, and being surrounded by too many people, while it doesn't really bother me, makes me feel unsafe and uncomfortable.

"Let's walk to detention together, Cassie."

I turn around to look at Aaron again, who is still seated three rows behind me, in surprise. I thought he would be one of the first people out of the classroom.

As soon as we step out of the classroom, Gabs and Gracie run up to me.

"McDonald's or Starbucks?" Gabs says right off the bat.

After school, we have this tradition of always stopping at McDonald's or Starbucks for nourishment, whether it be in the form of food or coffee.

I open my mouth to reply before I remember that I'm stuck in this school for another two hours. "I can't today. Detention, remember? Just stay away from my house and come back in two hours."

"Oh, shit, that's right, you have detention," Gabs says, rolling her eyes. "Which I still don't know how you managed to get, by the way."

"No," Gracie wails dramatically and I roll my eyes, gearing up for what she's about to say. "You completely ruined our system. What are we supposed to do for the next two hours while you're in detention? You need to learn how to be more respectful, because if this year is going to be how it was in freshman year and you always have detention I will hit you in the face with a shovel and then use said shovel to bury you alive in my backyard because we barely got to see you freshman year because you always had detention, and it sucked and I don't want this year to suck because you're the leader of our group and without you, me and Gabs are nothing and-"

"Breathe, Grace, breathe," interrupts Gabs. "Don't want you passing out like you did that one time in sophomore year."

Gracie's voice had been going higher and higher and her face and been slowly turning red from the lack of oxygen.

"Gracie," I say soothingly. "It's not going to be like freshman year. Remember the plan?"

She instantly brightens up, but before she can start talking, Aaron speaks. I totally forgot he was here.

"What's the plan?"

Gabs and Gracie stare at Aaron before they both look him up and down and start blushing.

"And who are these pretty ladies?" he asks, winking at them.

Gabs and Gracie both blush harder and I roll my eyes before hitting Aaron on the back of his head.

His hand reaches up to hold his head as he winces. "What the fuck was that for?"

I glare at him. "Don't flirt with my friends, Brewer."

"I wasn't," he denies. "I was asking who they were."

"That's Grace and that's Gabby," I say pointing at each of them. "Now, let's go."

His hand drops from his head. "Nice to meet you, Grace. You too, Gabby. I'll see you girls around." And then he discreetly tries to send a wink in their direction.

I hit the back of his head again and he turns to me. "Okay, what the fuck is your problem?"

I glare at him. "Stop hitting on my friends."

"I wasn't," he scowls. "It's called being polite."

I scoff. "Does 'being polite' involve winking at them?"

"I can't help it," he insists. "They're pretty and I notice pretty girls." Gabs looks shocked to no end, and Gracie's face is burning a nice shade of red.

So I'm not pretty?

Hurt flashes through me before I shove it away. "Stay away from my friends," I growl. "Or I will murder you and I won't regret it."

I've been told that I'm a very scary person at times, but it doesn't seem to affect him at all because he smirks at me.

"Want some peanut butter for that jelly you got there?"

"I'm not jealous,"-I think-"I just don't appreciate you hitting on my friends."

His smirk grows. "We're just talking."

"And it better stay that way. Because if I find out you even looked at either of them the wrong way, I will personally make sure you won't be able to look at anything ever again."

His eyes are wide when I finish speaking before he clears his throat and smiles nervously. "Fine."

I glare at him one last time before turning towards my best friends, whose eyes are also wide.

Gabs swoops in for a hug.

Gracie hugs me after Gabs steps back.

She pulls away and smiles at me before she jogs to catch up with Gabs, who is already close to the front doors of the school.

I sigh and turn to Aaron, who is looking down at the ground.

"Brewer?" I say it carefully and he looks up at me.

"Yeah, Cassie?"

"I-I'm-" I cut myself off.

I haven't said 'I'm sorry' in years. I usually say 'I apologize' because, let's face it, I can do no wrong, and I only say 'I apologize' because it's the polite thing to do and I'm usually talking to my parents when I'm in a situation that requires me to apologize.

But I think I actually kind of hurt his feelings and freaked him out, and I'm starting to get the tiniest bit attached, even though I know I shouldn't be, even though I know that I'm giving him the power to rip away a piece of my soul if he ever leaves.

"I'm sorry, Aaron."

He looks up at me through his lashes, and fuck me, if it isn't the cutest thing I've seen in a long time.

He doesn't say anything and I start on my way to the seniors' detention room. Our school separates the detention rooms by grade level because they don't want to high grade levels (ie. Seniors and juniors) to negatively influence the lower grade levels (ie. Sophomores and freshmen).

"It's okay, Ca-"

"No, it's not." I interrupt him before he can forgive me. "I never should've... threatened you like that." My eyes are trained on the ground in front of me. "It's just that, Gabs and Gracie have been hurt by boys before. They each had a slight crush on two boys and then the boys took an interest in them. The girls were really happy, and I was happy that they were happy." My voice is soft as I remember all the times they would grin when they talked about the boys before my voice turns hard. "But then they found out that the boys were only using them for their own personal gain, like for homework and cheating on tests and stuff. Gabs and Gracie were crushed and I wanted to... talk with the boys because they used my best friends, but Gabs and Gracie wouldn't let me because they thought that I would only make it worse. So I never did anything and I haven't seen them since sophomore year. I think they moved away. But that's why I was so rude to you back there. I just don't want them to get hurt again, and you seem like the type of guy that does that."

"That does what?"

"That uses girls for sex or homework or something and then throws them away like they're nothing."

Aaron stares down at the ground, silent before he speaks. "Who were the guys?"

I shrug. "Can't remember their names."

We come to a stop in front of the detention room.

"Listen," he begins. "My friends have detention too, and they can be big dicks sometimes, and if they ever meet your friends I can't guarantee that they'll be able to control themselves and not hit on them, so if they do, I need you to promise me that if, in the future, they hit on you or your friends, you won't kill them or threaten or do them any emotional or bodily harm. Okay?"

"Way to suck the fun out of meeting new people," I groan.

"Promise me, Cassie."

I stare at him and he stares back, completely serious for the first time since I've met him. I know that I've only known him for, like, not even a day, but he doesn't strike me as a serious person.

So, if he's being serious now, that means he actually cares about his friends, and actually wants me to promise.

I finally give a little nod. "I promise I'll do my best to not hurt them physically or emotionally.

Aaron's face breaks out in a smile. "Great."

He opens the door, and two pairs of eyes immediately snap to mine and widen. I stare blankly at each of them in turn.

They both stand up and swallow nervously. "Cass," they say together.

"Assholes," I growl back.

They simultaneously take a small step back.

"How do you know each other?" Aaron asks, confusion evident in his voice.

"I dated them a while back," I tell him, shame running through my body.

"The both of them?"

"Not at the same time," I say, glaring at the two boys. "But, yeah."

"What happened?"

At this my glare hardens. "Why don't you ask them?"

Their eyes flicker back and forth from me to Aaron.

"We kind of cheated on her."

Just hearing it causes the pain to return, and even though it isn't that bad, it's still enough to remind me I hate them.

They are both complete and total assholes.

"This is the girl?" Aaron asks, his voice low.

Great, I think. They talked about me and what they did, what I did, with Aaron.

The two boys nod sheepishly.

"You guys are actual dicks," Aaron says.

"They're assholes," I say.

Cole and Adrian are my exes. I haven't dated a lot of guys; Cole and Adrian are two out of the total three, and I regret ever dating them more than the other guy, even though they all did the same thing.

"Aren't those two things technically the same thing?" Adrian asks.

Cole deliberates this. "Maybe, I mean..."

As they debate, I become horrified. "I don't know what I ever saw in either of you," I mutter so no one else can hear me. "You're both fucking idiots."

Aaron snorts, because he apparently heard me, and I make my way to a seat in the back of the classroom by the window, the three boys settling in around me.

We're silent for a few seconds, because there's no talking if you're in detention, and the detention monitor enters the room. He makes sure everybody's here-it's only me, Aaron, Cole, and Adrian because no one else got detention on the first day of school-before he walks out again. All monitors do this because no one wants to sit around watching a bunch of kids do homework or stare silently off into space wondering about the purpose of life.

"How are you?" Adrian asks as soon as the door closes behind the monitor.

"How am I? I'm great. You guys won't be after I rip your throats out and tear you both limb from limb. I should-"

"Cassie," Aaron says as he places a hand on my arm from where he sits on my left. "You promised."

"I said I'd do my best." I'm still glaring at the assholes.

"Cassie."

I turn to look at Aaron because of his serious tone of voice.

"They're my best friends. I need you to try a little harder."

I glare at Aaron before I close my eyes and take a deep breath. "Fine," I say curtly. "Whatever."

I turn back to Adrian and Cole, with my right eye twitching from resisting the urge to glare at their sorry asses, and they smile slowly, obviously still nervous.

I sigh.

This is going to be a long two hours.

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What do you think of Adrian and Cole? The mystery ex?

--Rose