The Circle

20 | Gossip & staring

"So... How was it?" Kaia wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and I threw a rag at her over the counter.

"For the millionth time, nothing happened between us," I huffed, fuming. Bronte and Kaia shared a look which said that they didn't believe me at all.

Throughout the day people had been asking if Kit and I were a thing and I denied the rumors every time. The truth was that he rejected me. It stung every time I told someone that nothing was going on.

I'd discovered by first period that the whole female teenage population of Carlisle hated me. They saw me getting in the car with Nicolas the day before, and then I showed up and Kit's car wearing crumpled clothes and tired eyes the next morning. 

They thought I was the girl meddling with the boys' friendship, the one who was hooking up with the two hottest guys in school. I managed to evade cruxification because Alec was my brother and that meant he was still available to the girls. 

It didn't help that Nicolas and Kit supposedly got a tad aggressive in soccer practice that day, and everyone said they were fighting over me. I raised my eyebrows when Bronte told me the gossip, laughing so hard that my belly hurt. Two boys fighting over me? Please.

The rumor mill in Carlisle was unbelievable. Soccer training hadn't even finished yet and everyone knew about the boys' alleged dispute.

There were way too many people from school at the bohemian cafè that day, and they seemed to be staring at me extra-long. Whenever I made eye contact with someone, they adverted their eyes or take a sip of coffee. Groups of friends literally stared through the windows at me and then hurried off to whisper among themselves.

"What the hell? Don't they have anything better to do? This isn't normal."

"You've got to understand that the whole town's obsessed with Kit and Nicolas, especially the girls. And the obsession runs deep with Kit," Kaia sighed. 

"This is bordering on psychotic. Haven't the girls seen them dating or kissing anyone before?"

"Yeah, my brother had a girlfriend last year. As for Kit... No, they've never seen him doing anything like that."

"What do you mean?"

"Kit doesn't date, he never has. And he definitely never appeared with a girl at school before."

"But we're friends!" I threw my hands up in frustration. "I'm friends with all of you! Can't they see that?"

"I guess they're acting this way because nobody really knows anything about you yet," Kaia threw me a sympathetic look. 

If I knew it would be this bad, I would have never accepted a ride from either one of the boys. Walking to school from Olympus would have to do the next time..

Selene called my attention after following my gaze towards a group of whispering girls, "Don't pay attention to those bitches. They're just jealous. When I came out as bi everyone stared at me like I'd changed skin colours. You're going to be fine."

Her blood red lips curved into a deviant smile as she flipped her hair behind her. I gave her a small smile in return and she went back to her texting. 

"Selene's right. You shouldn't worry about it," Bronte smiled as I nervously wiped the counter separating us one more time.

Iris emerged from the storage room and stopped beside me with a hand on her hip, "Is it me or are people gawking at you? It's good for business, don't get me wrong, but what's going on, Lux?"