the hating game ; lrh

twenty-eight

THE MOMENT SHE SPEAKS the words I am filled with regret at ever stepping foot inside Cara Waters' house.

Regardless, I remain seated and simply watch as she smirks evilly at me once again and regains her seat on the couch. Anna shuffles away from her slightly as she does so, making a disgusted face at me in regard to their close proximity, which I can't help but giggle at.

Cara either doesn't notice or doesn't care, simply turning to the group with her sickly-sweet smile. "Everybody knows the rules, I'm assuming," she looks pointedly at me, as if to suggest I'd never played before. "So, I'll start. Finn."

Finn grins beside me, sitting up a little higher in his seat, appearing proud that he'd been the one chosen by Queen Bee Cara. "Truth," he chooses, to which she rolls her eyes.

"Boring," Cara responds, though clicks her tongue as she thinks of a question regardless. "Okay. Is it true that you hooked up with Jessica in Principal Fields' office last year and he caught you?"

Laughter and gasps erupt around the group, though I can't bring myself to join the humour at Cara's comment. Everybody knew that her accusation was true — there had been a special announcement about 'canoodling' on school property later that same week, and while Principal Fields hadn't exactly named and shamed the pair, it was blatantly obvious who caused the drama.

"That's true," Finn boasts, earning a feigned gasp from Jessica who was obviously relishing in the attention despite the event having taken place almost an entire year ago. "Okay, my turn. Um... Jessica."

"Dare," says Jessica proudly, beaming brightly back at a grinning Finn.

"I dare you to give me a lap dance," Finn bursts out, erupting into laughter the moment the words tumble from his lips.

Jessica gasps, shaking her head in an attempt to feign disgust, though almost eagerly rushes over to him seconds later. I shuffle away from Finn and unintentionally closer to Jaden, staring disgustingly as Jessica climbs on Finn's lap and begins rubbing herself all over him.

"Oh my god," I feel like gagging, turning my head away from the pair and meeting Jaden's gaze. He grins back at me, laughing although I'm sure he is equally as appalled. "I can't look."

After a few moments I hear rustling behind me and Jaden nods. "You can look now," he advises me, and I return to my previous position. "Crisis averted."

When I look back up I catch Luke's eye, my heart racing at the angry gleam in it. I can almost feel his jealousy from across the room, though I'm not sure what I can do presently to fix it without alerting everyone in the room to the fact that we're together. I catch my thoughts — are we even together? Is it really worth going through all of this trouble — the lying, the sneaking around, the incurable jealousy — while we aren't even sure what this is ourselves?

"Jaden!" Jessica's high-pitched voice thankfully pulls my attention from Luke and to the boy sitting on my other side, who shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

"Um..." Jaden thinks for a moment, staring at his hands dumbly. "Truth."

I see Cara slump in her seat at the response and I know instantly that she's probably set Jessica up to force us to kiss again. After all, Cara is after Luke and she did see everything that happened the night of the party when I found her with Ashton — it certainly wouldn't be too out of the ordinary to connect the dots. I only hope that she doesn't say anything.

"How long have you liked Rory for?"

I look up at Jessica, bewildered by her question. What? She only smirks evilly back at me (an expression she undoubtedly learned from Cara) and refocuses her death glare on Jaden. I drag my eyes toward him myself and am surprised to see him shifting uncomfortably, almost guiltily, as he contemplates a response.