Standing for Weirdo

Chapter 20

By Monday morning, gossip of the previous day had spread like wildfire. The blow to the social structure of the school was of epic proportions. I'd have to be careful or I would end up as collateral damage to the debris while the St. Francis Golden Crowd crumbled to pieces.

Ashley and Jacob, of course, took Josh's side. It was hard to understand how anyone could still look at him, but apparently, for them, what he had done was better than my great sin.

Mingling with the weirdo caste is unforgivable, but shoving your girlfriend isn't. Go figure.

The debacle was pretty much what I had predicted when I decided to invite Trevor for coffee so I should have been ready to accept it, but I refused to go down without a fight. It wasn't just about me anymore, either. It was about Stella.

In any other place, Trevor would be congratulated for what he did. Stella would be supported. Josh would be frowned upon. I would not be cowed or embarrassed.

So I set out to remind everyone of that fact. Holding my head high, I strutted through the school building and added an extra sashay to my step. I made sure that my light smile was self-assured and conceited. I behaved as if I owned the place and the joke was on them.

Worrying about this absurd popularity war gave me a measure of control and kept me from overanalyzing what was in my mind.

The way to class was purgatory, in spite of my master plan. Class looked pretty much like Hell, with twenty heads that snapped around to watch me like carrion birds hoping to find a social corpse. Still my tactic worked, at least marginally, and I saw some other students shaking their heads while doubt crept into the faces of a few lead gossipers.

Ashley might be the Bitch Queen, but she'd have to work hard if she wanted to defeat me this time.

The only drawback was the amount of whispers that spread around, discussing the new developments. I'd given the rumor mill enough fuel to keep going for weeks.

Tuning the voices out for perhaps the first time in my high school history, I focused wholly on the lecture and took notes. It kept me relaxed, away from the incoming disaster that'd be lunch hour.

When the last bell rang, I headed to my locker and met up with Stella. She played her part, smiling like everything was right in the world, her hair and make-up perfect and her choice of clothes stunning. Her eyes were skittish, though, and I could understand why.

Together, we headed toward the cafeteria and Alex joined us on the way.

"So, where are we eating today?" he asked, casually.

Bless the guy; he had decided to fall in with our side in the schism.

"First free table we can find?" Stella replied, fussing unnecessarily with the hem of her sweater.

I nodded. "Yeah, and if we can find it toward the center of the lobby, then that's even better."

"Isn't center a bit too close to Josh?" Alex was dubious.

"Precisely. He's the one who should be cowering into a corner, not us."

Alex shrugged and Stella nodded, steeling herself. The unnatural moment of silence that greeted us was proof enough that whatever normalcy we had was prefabricated, but still the three of us stuck to our plan and headed for a center table with fake smiles plastered on.