Bound Together (editing)

Chapter 4

As we walked towards our homeroom class, Colton and Lillian stopped me before entering the classroom. "What happened back there before we came?" Lil asked with concern. I leaned against the row of lockers, sighing in frustration.

"It was nothing." I muttered.

Colton scoffed, "Don't give us that crap. If it was nothing than that little outburst wouldn't have happened, so tell us the real story."

I ran my hand through my hair, pushing it away from my face, and began to tell them how this whole thing with Jayce started. As I unfolded the very short story towards them, I realized something. I realized that Jayce Reynolds was one of those guys. The type of jock who was so caught up into themselves, their friends, and popularity that they never wanted to do anything to ruin it. He cared so much about what his friends and everyone else thought of him. When someone, like myself, came up to him and tried to have a normal conversation, he'd act a completely different way. He'd try to please his friends, and trick them into thinking that he was some self-involved person just like them. And that's what I hate, people who act like someone they're not.

That's the thing about high school. Teenagers roam the hallways of high school acting like people they think they want to be, but really they're just doing what everyone else is doing. Everyone wants to be thought of as someone cool, as someone who is better than everyone else. And that's the problem; no one actually has the balls to actually break through the walls that contain their true selves. Jayce obviously had this problem; he was so caught up in being Mr. Popularity that he didn't care about other people. He wanted everyone to think that he was "cool" or some sort.

To be honest, I bet everyone thinks this.

"Cool kids" aren't cool, at all. No matter how much they think they're cool or what not, they're really not. The secret to cool or popular kids is that they do or say things that they think are "cool". They make everyone believe that they are all high and mighty, when really they're just like everyone else. We're all about the same age, we're all in the same grade, believe it or not, it doesn't matter if you're an outcast or a jock, and we all have something in common.

And that thing is insecurities.

I think that insecurities ruin everything, because in reality, it's what causes the popular kids to act the way that they are. They try to cover up all those flaws by acting someone they're not. And that's Jayce's problem.

"Alex, as hard as it is to believe, I think you're starting to develop some feelings for him." Colton said bitterly.

I looked at him with a huge question mark on his face, "Are you kidding me? How can I develop feelings for someone like that? I barely even talk to the guy."

"I'm with her on this one Colton," Lillian chimed in, "I mean nothing special really happened, besides the fact that he texted her and she found him in her room, but that doesn't defeat the fact that he just acted like a completely different person to her in front of his friends."

The sound of a bell pierced through our ears, echoing throughout the school, signaling that class was about to start. Colton had a different homeroom than Lillian and I, so he ran off to class, while we entered the classroom not too far from us. I took my usual seat, not in the front with Lillian, but somewhere towards the middle.

Just as our homeroom teacher, Ms. Rhodes, was about to close the door, two boys ran through the doorway.

Jayce and Parker.

"Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Adams, quickly take your seats." Ms. Rhodes said while narrowing her eyes towards them.

They nodded, and made their way towards their desks, which so happened to be near mine. I hadn't really noticed them in this homeroom until now because I had no reason to actually acknowledge them. Jayce sat at the desk diagonally behind me towards my left, whilst Parker sat right in front of me.