Project Popularity

Chapter Fifteen

Dedicated to the awesome NiaMartin for the awesome cover on the side! 




Chapter Fifteen

Jamie Vandeviere

“What do you call a bear with no teeth?”

Luke and I groaned when Bryce tried to start off our Monday morning with another one of his infamous lame jokes on our way out from History. I made a wry face when Bryce turned to me expectantly, his eyes wide and wild. His obsession with jokes was … unhealthy.

“I refuse to answer," I told him.

“A gummy bear!” he cracked up, slapping Luke hard on the shoulder like I hadn’t spoken. “Get it? Gummy?” 

I was tempted to ask him where he got all of his lame jokes from but I was worried that he would misunderstand and think I enjoyed his jokes more than I let on. Then I’d never hear the end of it for sure.

“He’s been like this since I met him in the fifth grade. The fact that he kept this up for so many years would be impressive if he weren’t so annoying,” Luke sighed, ignoring Bryce completely.

“Dude, I’m like right here,” Bryce drawled, looking offended. Every time he told us a joke, he acted like it was our privilege to be entertained by him. Then wiggling his eyebrow suggestively, he threw his arms over our shoulders and said, “Wanna hear another one?”

“No!” Luke and I cried out simultaneously. Bryce draped a hand over his heart, feigning hurt, and broke into a run when he saw Roger exiting from his class, chanting, “Hey, Rog! What do you call a sleeping cow?”

“You see what I have to put up with all these years?” Luke joked. “Maybe if I hook him up with someone, he won’t bug me as often.”

Knowing Bryce, I highly doubt that was possible.

Our lockers were assigned to us alphabetically according to our last names so Luke’s was all the way down the other end of the hall. Mine was relatively closer to our first period classroom. I unlocked my locker and put my history book away, reaching for my gym bag when I realized I was still holding on to the black pen that I had borrowed from Luke earlier for the pop quiz Mr. Lawrence sprung on us. I’d rushed to my first period so hastily this morning that I'd thrown my pencil case into my locker by mistake. Ironically, I did remember to bring my makeup bag with me to class.

Gosh, since when did I become one of those girls?

Looping the straps over my gym bag over my shoulders, I slammed my locker shut and fiddled with Luke’s pen, hoping to catch him in the hall somewhere before he left for his next class so I could return it to him. A smile came to my face when I spotted him by his locker.

And it faltered as I got closer and realized he wasn’t alone.

Beside him was a beautiful, slender strawberry blonde that I had never seen before with long, shapely legs that any girl would have died for. Then I recalled hearing some buzz in first period about a new girl starting at our school, though Luke and I weren’t paying much attention to it because we were too busy snapping pictures of Bryce dozing off and drooling.