Out of the Extraordinary

Ch 5-Believe Me

My earphones in my ears, I stared attentively at the two figures in front of me.

It was Bryce Jayden and Ashley Thomas. Ashley was wearing her hiked up green skirt. I could just see the hem of a grey cardigan underneath her chic, slim, leather jacket which was tightly around her. A white scarf was draped loosely around her neck. Bryce wore his Silver Shore dress pants with a Calvin Klein sweatshirt over his blazer.

They were both laughing and talking and I felt a surge of jealousy, looking at Ashley's brown Ugg boots and the perfect way that her long dirty blond braid swished under her red beret, how loose strands of her hair fell out just at the right places, and how her legs were so long and slim.

It was obvious that no guy would be able to resist her.

My hair was blonde, but not the pretty dirty blonde that hung in waves like Ashley's. My hair was a normal dull blonde and straight. My legs looked stocky and short if I wore Ugg's. 

Guys never liked me.

Ashley now lightly shoved Bryce and he feigned surprise. He grabbed her long braid and threw it over her shoulder as she laughed.

A girl in her sophomore year behind me whispered to her friend, "Isn't he hot?"

"Uh huh," her friend gushed. "But look at that blonde, she's pretty but looks dangerous. It's obvious the guy likes her, and we wouldn't want to anger her."

"Which blonde? The one behind him, with the earphones?"

I looked down. Gotcha.

"No!" The second girl looked shocked at the mere idea. "That one doesn't look like a threat. I meant the beautiful one, next to him."

I blinked back a tear. I looked down a second, composed myself and looked staright up, marching into the locker-room.

"Hey," someone said.

I looked up, blinking. "Nick?"

"You recognized me!" He feigned shock.

I allowed myself to smile shyly. "Yeah."

"Well, anyway, I wanted to tell you that I finished the project yesterday," He said hurriedly.

"Oh, great!" I said, relieved.

"I sent it to you in an e-mail. Maybe you could go over it or...?"

"Yeah, sure," I answered quickly.

"Okay. Bye," He said and darted away.

I took off my hoodie and stuffed it in my locker. I unplugged the earphones from my ears and stuffed them in my bag. I slammed the locker door shut and walked into class.

***

The lunch hour finally came, as I sat down on the table Marielle, Elena, Kimberly and I had sat at since freshman year.

"Hi, Ari." Marielle sat opposite me, giggling and shooting me a wicked grin. "What's up?"

"Nothing new. What's up with you, girl?" I poked her, trying to bat my eyelashes in the same way Ashley did except some of the heavy mascara got swept into my eye and I yelped.

"You okay?"

"Fine." I blinked, my eyes watering.

"Oh, okay. Ari- someone asked me out."

I wouldn't have been more surprised if Marielle had said she was a crazy schitzo. "What??"

"It's true!" Marielle's face was flushed and her chocolate colored hair mussed. "He asked me on a date!"

"Hey girls." Elena and Kimberly quickly sat down. 

"Mar got asked out!" I said excitedly, trying not to sound too jealous. 

"Oh my God!" Kimberly rushed around to the other side of the table to hug Mar while Elena squealed. "Who was it?"

"His name is Mike Fellner, and he is unbelievably hot! He's coming to eat with us tomorrow!"

I frowned. "Never saw him."

"Well, you will soon!" Marielle squealed. I grabbed her hands and squealed with her but something was awfully fishy. 

"Hey, girls." 

Mike was hot - unbelievably hot -. He had blonde shaggy hair and adorable brown eyes. He smiled shyly but there was definitely something wrong.

Something felt INCREDIBLY wrong.

"Hi, babe," Marielle cooed. The first hour of their relationship, and she was calling him babe. Wonderful.

"Can I sit?" Mike asked bashfully.

"Sure!" Marielle moved her bag off the seat next to her and Mike sat down, placing his tray of food in front of him.

Then I realized what was wrong. Behind me, I heard a snicker. All the popular people were sitting right behind us - they never sat there - . Then, I realized Farrah Tellson had a phone. Turned to a recording app.

They were RECORDING us.

The whole thing was fake - Mike had asked Mar out for a dare - and they were recording her being all lovey-dovey with him.

"Hi, Farrah," I said sweetly and Farrah smiled. "Could you tell me the time?"

She looked down at her phone and I grabbed at it, snatching it out of her hands. Farrah let out an outraged cry as I showed Marielle the phone triumphantly

"Ari, what the hell?" Mar said incredulously. 

"They were recording us, Mar. Freaking recording us."

Mike looked bemused, then caught himself. 

"Valance, give me the phone, you bitch!" Farrah yelled. "Someone fucking grab it!"

I held it out of reach. "No way."

Farrah placed her hands on her enviably shapely hips. "Fine, Ariana." she giggled slightly. "What do I have to do?"

"Promise never to record us again." I knew she would lie, but I had a plan.

"I promise," she said. Her friends all snickered at how lame I was being, letting her off as easy as that.

"Here." Feeling slightly reckless, I tossed the iPhone to her.

Her eyes widened slightly, as she realized what I was doing. But then, she stretched out a hand and deftly caught it, flipping it over in  her slender hand, and giggled.

"Nice try, Valance."

I just smiled blandly, and sat down. Whatever Farrah was planning, it wouldn't work.

Hello... Sorry for the super-long wait, I am sincerely sorry for this, but does anyone actually read this book? Cause if not, I might as well give it up and focus on Now Or Never. 

Anyway, bye, and hope someone out there is reading this.

Love you cupcakes, forever and always!

Xx,

V a l