Bad Influence - popular girl x nerd boy

13- Rome

The car door slams shut behind me, drawing an annoyed look from Autumn and an entertained one from Chloe. I crawl over the many jackets Autumn has laying in the backseat of her car so that I can dramatically fall on top of Chloe's body as if I was dying.

"Is someone on your mind, drama queen?" To stop my obnoxious whines, Chloe places a hand over my mouth. I have been avoiding the topic since yesterday's class, and her nosy questions are becoming overbearing.

Resisting the urge to throw my brand new Louis Vuitton bag at her, I huff out a groan and try to ignore it once more.

"Why are you so obsessed with this!" Autumn nearly shouts, using a volume too loud for the inside of her expensive car. She is the type of person to pick up on others' energies and radiate it right back.

Normally, this means that if I am excited or in a playful mood, she will mirror my enthusiasm and make anything funny. It has its other side, like when she sees me crying and starts tearing up as well, before I can even tell her what has happened. Chloe explained to her that Lucas yelled at me yesterday in front of the whole class, and the public scorn has left me in a bad mood. Similiarly, Autumn reflects my emotions by having a short temper with anyone who approached us this morning.

"I am not obsessed with him," I clarify, "I want to cause this boy physical pain. You weren't there, Autumn, he looked me in the face and called me an idiot. I mean, who does that?"

"It was really rude," Chloe agrees, braiding my hair now that I am sprawled across her lap in the back seat.

"It's not even like I was making him do all of the work for the project. I was asking questions because I wanted to help!"

Autumn laughs at the way I yell the questions to myself but stops when I send her a death glare. "How are you guys going to present together if he hates you?"

"That's the thing!" I shake my head with passion and mess up Chloe's neat handiwork in my hair, forcing her to yelp and restart her braid. "He has no reason to be mad at me! I've been nothing but kind and nice to that social reject since I met him."

Quick shame rushes my senses as I consider that the way I am talking about him isn't very kind either. But I stomp the guilt down quickly, feeling righteous in my frustration.

No matter how many times I run the memory through my head, I can't understand why Lucas acted like that. A lot of people are rude to me, either from my past offenses or simply because they don't like the rumors they have heard of me. But I didn't expect it to come from Lucas. I spent the night turning over our tedious relationship, considering if maybe I had accidentally wronged him in the past few weeks. I am self-aware enough to realize that I haven't been the sweetest to Lucas, but I have never intentionally tried to humiliate him or hurt him in any way. I never pretended to treat him like a friend while I secretly hated him, either.

Something about that implication reeks of betrayal, and it cuts my heart in a way I never expected it to.

Lucas, the quiet boy I never paid attention to, has found a way to hurt me. His mocking wounded me, which confuses me even more than the motives behind his actions do.

Why do I care what he thinks of me? Why do I care how he treats me?

"He's just jealous of you, Rome," Chloe assures me but all I can manage is a mumble of acknowledgment at her reasoning. "As soon as this project is over, you never have to see him again and he can go back to whatever miserable hole he came from. Honestly, you're lucky you have someone to do the rest of your project now."

—----

My black-heeled boots carry me through the crowded halls of the school's main building. I'm wearing a dark blue SKIMS dress with a cropped black sweater sitting on top, complimenting the sunny but windy weather of San Diego. Despite the bell that signals the end of lunch ringing minutes prior, filling the walls with students aching to reach their classes before the attendance bell rings, I am still able to clear a path between them.