Stereotyping Rock (Stereotyping Series) | ✔️

Chapter Seventeen

Gee

The young girl approached us. Her lips were set in a determined line, her blue eyes harsh. Her blonde hair was tied up in a tight ponytail. With her height and curves, she also could have been called a Barbie wannabe. However, square glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, she wore slightly baggy jeans and sneakers and had a white-collared shirt peeking out from beneath her sweater. 

Jules looked up at the girl my gaze was trained upon. 

Then it clicked. 

"Will's younger sister?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She nodded firmly, extending a hand, "Lena Hart. Aspiring chemist. Massive fan of your work."

I let out a laugh, shaking her hand, "Nice to meet you, Lena."

She squirmed into the spot on my other side, "I read about the experiment you did where you combined Potassium Hydroxide with something and created a completely safe body scrub. Do you think you could teach me how to do that?"

"Look, Lena," I said quietly, "I don't really do... science anymore."

Her mouth dropped open an inch, "B-b-but you're amazing!"

I shrugged slowly, "I don't really enjoy it anymore..."

"Then..." Lena wrinkled her forehead in confusion, "what are you doing now?"

I pressed my lips together before sighing, "Music, I think... I'm mainly looking after my grandma, at the moment."

She nodded slightly, seeming deflated. Lena sat back on the bench and looked out across the field. She sighed, "I love science. I just... don't have any opportunities for practical experiments."

Jules stood up, "I'm going to talk to Dad. I want to know who he was speaking to."

I nodded as she bounced down the steps to the field.

I frowned at Lena, "How come I've never seen you around?"

"I go to... boarding school," her nose scrunched up like it was equivalent to saying faeces, "I'm hardly ever home."

"What are you doing this weekend, then?"

She shrugged, "I'm spending the day with Will tomorrow. He's probably got some party or whatever tomorrow night so I'll hang out by myself. Sunday, Will's gonna have a hangover. Dad's gonna be working. Probably do nothing."

I glanced across at the blonde sixteen-year-old. Her eyes were still as cold as when she'd walked up the steps and her lips were curled into a tight line. Her posture was rigid on the bench, her eyes unfocused on the foreground in front of her.

I recognised the expression, for I'd seen it often enough in a mirror. 

She was trying her hardest to be fine with everything around her but she was breaking down inside. As far as I was aware, she had a mother who lived overseas with her boyfriend, a workaholic father and a popular guy for a brother. Couldn't be easy for any sixteen-year-old. 

"My boyfriend of three years broke up with me this morning," she said suddenly. 

I raised an eyebrow at her. 

Her expression finally crumpled to a wrecked one, her watery eyes trained on my own. 

She brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, "He told me... he told me he wanted to go date someone else. Didn't want to be, and I quote, 'stuck with the same amazing girl for the rest of high school'."

"Didn't he learn not to give up a great girl for something perfect in case-"

"He never finds it?" she finished and then shook her head, sighing, "Obviously not... I guess that's what I get for dating the same guy since I was thirteen years' old."