The Price of Popularity (BoyxBoy)

{23}

The beautiful day that Asher had been resenting for most of the morning was actually quite a blessing for a few moments. The sun was warm on his skin and the breeze around him was cool enough to be comfortable but not too much as to need a jacket. The trees high above him were tall and strong, too old to count, and they surrounded him protectively as he walked between their trunks.

She was waiting on the park bench. Asher could see her in the distance, typing on her phone so hard and fast that it seemed as though she had a vendetta against it. Her blonde hair was pulled into a high ponytail and for once her make-up was almost acceptable. She looked frustrated as she pressed the buttons on the little screen.

The leaves crunched under Asher's shoes as he walked up to her, a leather bound book clasped tightly in his hand. She was too preoccupied to even see him and so she gasped with surprise when he sat down swiftly next to her.

'Hello Maisy.'

She placed the phone down on the bench next to her legs, 'Can this be quick?' she asked. 'I'm on damage control. Just like you should be.' Asher opened his mouth to say something but Maisy continued. 'You know, it all makes sense now. I finally get why you didn't want to date me.'

'And here I was thinking it was your awful personality,' Asher joked.

Maisy didn't seem to find the humour in his words, 'You ask me here to insult me or is there something real we need to discuss because I wasn't kidding about the damage control. You're lucky I even came here when you called.'

He titled his head, 'You're on my damage control?' He couldn't think of one reason why Maisy would want to protect him.

She shook her head, her ponytail shaking behind her, 'I'm on my own. Ivy is slowly but surely turning every single one of my friends against me.'

Asher's eyes flickered down to the diary in his hands, 'Maybe I can help you with that.'

The idea of helping Maisy wasn't exactly at the top of the list of things Asher liked doing. In fact, it was towards the bottom, and yet he was doing it. She was the only person that he knew would have the balls to use the journal against Ivy in a way that would actually work. The journal in her hands would take the ball straight out of Ivy's court and right into Maisy's. It wasn't an ideal situation but Maisy was simple, easy and predictable in the best way. He had a control over Maisy in a way that he could never have had with Ivy.

'Is that what this is about?' she asked. Her gaze dropped to the journal. He knew that she recognised it the second her gaze connected with its leather bound covering. Ivy had carried it around at school almost every day and someone like Maisy would have noticed that but wouldn't have the smarts to actually look inside of it.

'I have everything you need to take Ivy down and keep her there,' he told her, extending the book out to her. She reached out to take it but Asher pulled it away at the last second, 'It comes at a price.'

Maisy tried to look defiant with a roll of the eyes but Asher saw straight past it. He had her only hope in the palm of his hand and she would do anything to get it.

'What's the price?' she asked. 'You finally want to date me to fix your reputation? Oh how the tables have turned,' she muttered, quite proud of herself.

'Not exactly.'

'Then what?' she asked, her eyes not leaving the journal.

He pulled the book closer to him and sat back against the frame of the chair, 'You promise not to persecute people at school anymore. That includes Danny, myself and any other person at school who you would otherwise exclude.'