All Alone

Chapter 17

Why did they have to come together? I would have thought that Blondie had some vehicle of his own, but here Cactus was, acting as Blondie's personal driver. I ignored their greetings as I slid into the back of the cab, though I am pretty sure that Blondie said: "Get in loser".

"Hey, Finch! How was your morning?" I don't know why Cactus was talking to me while driving because it is unsafe to look at a whiteboard while driving. I tap on Logan's shoulder so he can read the words I wrote, as illegible as they were.

'Tell him to use his head and not ask me questions. I am not a fan of crashing into lamp posts because the driver is incompetent,' in retrospect, my response was kind of rude, but Logan just shrugged and proceeded to deliver my message to Kaden who grumbled at my "blatant disrespect". What the crap am I supposed to respect him for? 

I shake my head as he begins to pout; who knew that a high school kid could be so childish? Wait for a second, I knew that. I tried to blend into the cushions as we approached the school, wishing that I were anywhere but in Cactus' pickup truck. They were bickering about where to hang out after school and their dialogue was starting to hurt my head.

"No, we can't go there, Jacob had to buy the kid a new hat last time!"(If you know that reference I love you)

"Well, we also can not hang at the cafe because of the fangirls!"

"I didn't even know that having a fan club over high school guys could be a real thing," the dejected undertones in Logan's spiel were amusing to me, and the corner of my mouth twitched ever so slightly before falling back into a frown.

We rolled into the school parking lot all too soon, and the guys were out of the cars faster than I could blink. Maybe I could hide in the car, or maybe if I was quiet enough the student population would not be able to see me. Maybe I am irrational, but they have a legit fan club, so I think that my fears are perfectly justifiable. Just as I was deciding to hide in the car, my door creaked open.

"You coming to Finch?" Of course Cactus was standing there holding my door open. I could feel the glares of peeved fangirls and even some scorned guys as he walked next to me, escorting me to the lions' den.

All of the sudden my clothes felt wrong, then I touched my hair, wondering if it was my appearance that was causing the stares. I continued searching for my problem before remembering that people's opinions only impact you if you let them. Lifting my chin up I continue to walk with Kaden and we approach his gang at the far end of the hallway.

I wonder if they ever play poker back here; the hallway was very dim and looked more run down than the rest of the school, and you always play poker in a dimmer lighting.

"Hey, Mutie!" Aiden greeted me happily, and I was trying to convince myself that his nickname was a term of endearment, and not him berating me. I mustered up a wave before looking into the sea of students who seemed to be staring, but the only eyes that met mine were familiar pools of blue.

"There you are, Avi! I thought that you were going to be absent again since I could not find you!" Kaylee bounded over, her pink hair bobbing behind her until she reached me. When she was finally by my side, she glared at the guys, though mainly at Logan.

"Have they been messing with you?" 

I shook my head.

"Hey now, we are friends with Avianna, okay? I am gonna have to ask you to calm yourself and be objective here. You should not deprive a new student of having more friends just because of a bad history with one of those said friends," Blondie seemed to be very into his speech, and I think that he was unaware that he had gone off on a tangent.