Everyone at Jackson High School has heard of Heartbreakers, a website dedicated to exposing students who purposely cheat or manipulate others. But despite the website ruining the reputations of more than half the student body no one knows who's behi...
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"Are you sure that you don't want to wear the black dress?" Ella calls out from the bathroom over the faint music playing through her room.
"No, I'm sticking with what I'm comfortable wearing to a party and that does not include showing off what little assets I have." I continue to read over the current profile on Heartbreakers, swapping between tabs to make notes of things that need to be edited.
The profile was posted in haste on Wednesday, the controversy of it being a day late was unbelievable. Most people were having fits and questioning why we hadn't posted like usual on every Tuesday lunch. It's like they were deprived of oxygen with the way they were being so melodramatic about it.
That showed me people wouldn't take so nicely to the website being cancelled at the end of this year.
But on Thursday the school was less chaotic with people gossiping about the new edition, DJ Andrews. A second string striker on the soccer team who had tricked three girls into dating him at the same time, while trying to get with a forth. If it weren't for me seeing the messages on Stephanie's phone about how Molly slapped him for the incredulous act I probably would've gone with Jasmine's ex boyfriend.
"Alright I'm ready," I press save on my notes, quickly closing all tabs before looking up. "What do you think?"
I raise an eyebrow at her outfit wondering what the hell she is thinking. Not in a bad way, more like does she know that we're going to a party. Her denim skirt stops mid thigh, a stripped crop top hanging loosely against her torso with heels that compliment her outfit and legs perfectly. Overall she looks hot, but usually she doesn't look so classy? Or doesn't put this much effort into getting ready.
"You look good and I feel like you're dressing up for Joshua," I tease, rolling off her bed and adjusting the straps that somehow got twisted on my feet.
"Oh shut up. Hopefully this time I'm not clinging to him because I think I might just die of embarrassment," Her cheeks flush at the memory of it and I chuckle. "Besides it isn't like you can talk. Showing off for Grayson huh?" I raise an eyebrow, about to tell her that I'm not until I remember that I am supposed to. Part of being a realistic girlfriend, great.
"I don't need to impress him. He's already mine and I'm his," I try not to gag as I smile slightly. "Its enough that I'm even coming for him in the first place." Rolling her eyes, she grabs her phone from the dock and throws me her car keys which I catch effortlessly.
"Ugh you couples make me nauseous. Let's go before I really do throw up."
After ignoring me all day Wednesday, she finally came around Thursday. With that came 101 questions and she interrogated me with every minor detail. Once that was over I had to send a text to Grayson giving him a list of things to memorise. He responded back with something not so nicely directed towards Ella, which resulted in me calling him a jerk.
That was the last time he talked to me, until tonight. He sent me a text about an hour ago saying not to turn up.
But I'm not going to listen to him, no, I had already made plans to sleep over at Ella's house so my mom wouldn't have to deal with me carrying her inside again. I was going and he wasn't going to stop me, fake boyfriend or not, no guy will ever control me.
Arriving at the Eli's house, I didn't really expect to see what I did. Sure, I had been to a few wild parties through Ella but seeing something so tamed was different. On the outside there were a few people hanging around a series of cars, my guess they're bragging about them. That's when I got inside and realised majority of the people here weren't from Jackson High School, they're from Kaiser High, our rival school.
Ella is oblivious to the people from the rival school, leading me towards the kitchen while stopping to say Hi to a few people. I just smile and repeat the cliche "nice to meet you." before awkwardly moving along to the next people and doing the same. I didn't really realise how many people she knew, then again when your lifestyle is like Ella's of course you're going to be popular.
I exhale, getting into the clean air of the kitchen never feeling more grateful that I can't smell sweat or bad body odour in here. The music isn't overly bassy, more on the side of alternative versions of pop songs without the screaming. It's definitely different form what I've experienced at parties that focus on EDM music.
"Are you okay?" Ella asks, handing me a drink of coke with ice. I nod, taking a sip before looking around.
"Yeah. I'm fine." She narrows her eyes at me and I fake a smile.
"Come on, let's go out into the backyard. See if we can find anyone else." Nodding again I follow her outside.
Now this – is what I expected. Most of the party is out here. I walk up the deck railing that over looks the whole yard. The pool is the hot spot with people half naked in their under wear, others opting to stick around the bon fire barrel in the back corner. Then there's a game of soccer going down between the two schools smack bang in the middle of the spacious yard.
"Hey isn't that Jacob?" I get nudged by Ella and my eyes widen seeing him in the midst of stealing a ball from Eli.
The way they've identified the schools was one with shirts, the other without and mine decided to go with the latter. I blink a few times spotting the goalie for our school, wait a second. Moving closer the stairs to make sure I'm not hallucinating I try to bite back the amused grin. He dives out to the right catching the ball Jacob kicks with force, I cringe at the impact but it seems to go unnoticed as guys from our school crowd around Grayson, cheering him on.
He plays soccer? I look over my shoulder noticing Ella gawking over a certain boy. Smirking I tap on her jaw to close it, her eyes don't look away though. She just takes a massive mouthful before finally tearing her eyes away from Joshua. Her cheeks flush for a moment and I roll my eyes, looking back at the sound of a holler.
"Aria!" However, it didn't come from Grayson or anyone from my school.
I look down at Jacob who grins up at me, swaying back and forth slightly. Okay, safe to say he has had more than a few drinks. I notice the game slowing down a bit as a few people glance between us. Yet my eyes look over to the goalie, noticing the clench of jaw from Grayson as he stares at the back of Jacob before looking up at me. He shakes his head, name being screamed by Eli to snap him back into the game.
My eyes can't help but watch Grayson, more out of curiosity. He definitely looks like he knows what he's doing- considering he seems to block the ball effortlessly- not even flinching at the impact the ball has on his bare chest. I get nudged by Ella, she wriggles her eyebrows at me and it's only then that I realise where my eyes were.
Not somewhere I would proudly admit – especially not to boost his already massive ego – but he definitely has the body type most girls would drool over. He's defined but not excessive to the point he looks like he takes steroids. To me, nothing is more appealing then that. I hate overly ripped guys because that's just gross. At least in my eyes.
"Hand over your money guys! Thanks for playing," Parker's voice is projected through a megaphone. His hand extended to the players who approach him with money. Obviously not quick enough for his standards.. "We haven't got all day."
"Come on. Let's go down." Ella tugs me down the staircase before I can make an excuse.
It creaks as we dodge the couple making out mid way and reach the slab of concrete where a drinks table is set up. Without a doubt the punch bowl is spiked, the stash of spirits around it running low. I take a drink of mine, noticing Parker collecting money from all the guys wearing shirts. My vision gets blocked by a chest, my wrist gripped before I'm being pulled by a very hot Grayson.
His hand is hot, not him, well, you know what I mean. I try to pull it away but he yanks me forward onto an unstable surface. I wipe my wrist on my shorts spinning around to face Grayson, realizing we're underneath the deck by the privacy. Through the limited lighting coming from the cracks above, I can see a look of irritation on his face as he stares me down with a glare.
"I told you not to come," I raise an eyebrow at him with a laugh. "I was serious. There's a reason why I didn't-"
"And why's that? Because you couldn't handle being called a-"
"No. Because there's always a game after with the guys girl-"
"Hey! You turned up. You ready?" I look over his shoulder to see Eli with a grin. But it quickly fades after wards. "You didn't tell her did you?"
"No. I don't want her involved in a game like that," Grayson grits out and my eyes narrow, hand placing on my hip.
"Can one of you tell me what's going on?" I ask, feeling nothing but confused. They share a look that doesn't nothing but push my patience further. "Hello?"
"Every month I have a party where the two schools have an out of school game. After the guys play two rounds, a third is played by their girlfriends to see who gets the money and who has to jump into the pool naked. We usually win, last month we didn't but that isn't the-"
"Which is why I told you not to come. "At this point, I'm sure my mouth is gaping like a fish. "It usually gets dirty between the girls game, the boyfriend's usually spend their spare time training them or just a girl friend." He shrugs, I run my tongue over my lips.
"The game starts in five minutes. I'll try and get our team to wear shirt-"
"Tell Parker and Todd they are wearing shirts or I'll deal with them myself, " I scull most of my drink, trying to process what the hell he just said. Eli walks off and he pulls his dark shirt over his head. "You need to act like you can barely stand that way they won't make you-"
"Since when have you played soccer?" I ask, he stops his rant and stares at me. "I think that's a valid question considering I'm being forced into a game of deadly soccer. Am I going to get heels thrown at me? Scratched? Hair pulled? What level of violent?"
The look on his face is one I think I should take a photo of. He looks stunned, shocked that I had agreed to do this. It isn't like I have much of a choice in it. He chuckles, running a hand through his hair before looking over his shoulder at Parker's voice announcing Jackson High will be wearing shirts. There's some protests from guys, others cheer and I take a deep breathe.
"How about I tell you after you win?" He smirks and takes a step back. "Come on. I'll show you who to watch out for."
He holds out his hand for me and I hesitantly take it. The temperature has cooled off, I down the rest of my drink almost groaning at the sight of a few girls topless, clinging to guys in the middle of the makeshift field. Grayson leads me over to his group of friends and I notice Ella standing there beside Joshua having a conversation.
"Alright. So there's only four that are really filthy, you'll be running around because Joshua's friend plays outside of school as a goalie. The one in pink, strapless, that one is in goals and black sports bra." He lists, I look over at them and feeling like my stomach has just dropped.
The brunette has her arms wrapped around Jacobs neck and I can't help but feel a pang in my chest. I stare at the scene, noticing the look of adoration in his eyes as he leans down and presses a kiss to her forehead. When his eyes tear away from hers I force myself to look away, noticing the sceptical look I'm getting from Grayson. I pull my hand away from his, walking over to Ella to avoid it.
"Here." Discarding the ice to the grass, she slips the empty cup underneath hers.
"Hey, are you okay? What's wrong?" She asks, trying to duck underneath as I lean over to remove my heels. The grass is cold underneath my feet and I dump them beside her feet.
"I'm peachy." I lie, faking a smile that she frowns at. I feel Grayson's hand on my shoulder which I brush off. "Don't touch me."
"Ladies to the field. May I remind you, hair pulling and cat fights will not be tolerated. It's an instant disqualification." I'm guessing Todd chuckles, nudging Parker who nods in agreement.
"Shirts will start considering Jackson one the last game. This will decide who wins. Good luck!"
A few of the girls look at me with smiles and others just look away. I don't care, I was dragged into this mess by association of the label. The soccer game starts and I spare one glance in Jacobs direction. His eyes are surprisingly on me as he keeps glancing back across to the other side probably wondering exactly who I'm playing for. He's in for a surprise once he finds out.
It doesn't last long as the ball nudges against my feet meaning that they passed it to me. A familiar colour bra catches my eyes sending an alarm off in my head. I'm quick to dodge the charge by spinning around and taking off. There's hollers and shouts in shock as I perform a simple trick, manoeuvring around a few of the oppositions. I guess playing against Aaron as a kid paid off and when I kick the ball straight through the girls legs in goals I slow down my pace.
However, something collides with me sending me slamming into the ground. I hiss through my teeth, rolling over and looking up to see Jasmine. There's a glint of mischief in her eyes and the fake concern expression on her face tells me it was on purpose. Holding out her hand for me, I take it being hauled up to my feet.
"You might want to watch yourself." She snarls in my ear while tightening her grip on my hand. "I'm not afraid to hurt you. Especially if it'll get you to stay the hell away from him." My jaw clenches at her words pulling my hand back with a glare.
"Go fuck yourself Jasmine." I smile politely, she just smirks.
"I have Jacob to do that." She backs up with a shrug. "Face it he'll never be yours and the sooner you accept that the better." She jogs away and slowly my fist clenches.
