Chapter Ten

      “Julia, we, like, need to talk,” said a slutty blonde girl who I used to call my best friend, blocking my path to the longed for gym.

      “It’s Jules, and I really have to get to volleyball practice,” I said impatiently.

      “No, this, like, isn’t okay! We haven’t, like, talked in, like, forever! And I totally, like, missed you! I heard you, like, have a boyfriend, I want the dish!” she squealed, not moving.

      “Well, I want to go to volleyball practice,” I sighed, not having the tolerance to converse with her.

      “Not until we catch up,” she said, firmly stomping a heel on the floor, so that it echoed against the cold metal of the lockers. Why anyone would wear heels to school was besides the point.

      “No,” I shook my head, denying her unappealing offer.

      “Julia!” she whined.

      “Jules! It’s Jules!”

      “Fine—‘Jules’, please, I just want to, like, talk!” 

      “There’s nothing to talk about!” I laughed dryly.

      “Oh, yeah? What about what, like, Chase told me? Huh?” she demanded, bringing up a name that did spark some amount of interest in my mind.

      “And what exactly did Chase tell you?” I questioned, getting irritated.

      “Ha! Now you’re interested! Come on, we’ll, like, go sit!” she said, happy that my attention had been caught.

      “I have to go to practice,” I rolled my eyes, wondering how I had been able to handle myself so calmly thus far in our conversation.

      “Can I tell you while, like, you change for practice?” she asked.

      “No.”

      “Pah-lease!” she droned.

      “Whatever! Just let me go, and you can talk your freaking heart out!” I exclaimed.

      “Yay!” she said, stepping aside, and locking her arm with mine. I took it out, and slung my drawstring backpack over one of my shoulders.

      “So, I was, like, at Freddy Kimmel’s party, right, oh, by the way, I was totally, like, surprised that you weren’t there! You would’ve loved it! Well, anyways, I was, like, talking to Chase, and then when I tried to, like, kiss him, he turned me done! It was unbelievable! So then I asked him, like, why, and he said he was, like, waiting for you! And I thought that was, like, the sweetest thing, like, ever! So are you two, like, a thing or what?” she babbled, as I sped walked to the locker room.

      “No,” I said, entering the room, the pungent aroma hitting my nostrils right away.

      “Ew! This is so, like, gross!” She scrunched her nose up, shuddering in disgust at the locker room. “So, why aren’t you two, like, a couple? I think you would, like, look totally, like, adorable together!”

      “Tell that to my boyfriend,” I muttered, hoping that she hadn’t heard me. Evidently, she did.

      “OMG! You have a boyfriend! Name, age, hair color, eye color, social security number! I want to know!” she chattered away.

      “He lives in California,” I stated, unsure of why I was telling her so much information.

      “Oh! So, he must be, like, really tan, right?”

      “Sure,” I shrugged.

      “That’s, like, so hot! What’s his name?”

      “I don’t know,” I said, entering one of the changing stalls, which unfortunately had only a thin curtain separating me from that terrible voice I would have to endure.

      “J.! Come on! Are you two, like, serious?” she called from the other side of the divider.

      “Maybe.”

      “Well, like, if you break up, then I think that, like, Chase and you would, like, make the cutest couple, like, ever!” she expressed.

      “Mhmm. That’s an interesting thought, but I’m not breaking up with my boyfriend any time soon.” It was the truth. Josh and I were in love. Nothing could separate us from each other. It was love.

      “OMG! Juli—Jules! You’re always so, like, funny! I mean, like, how long have the two of you, like, been together? Two months tops, right?” she giggled.

      “A little longer,” I mumbled, trying to only focus on the clothes with which I was handling.

      “Do you, like, like him?”

      “No,” I said, mentally correcting her, for I didn’t like him—no, I loved him.

      “Okay, so then when will you, like, dump him?” she questioned.

      “I won’t.”

      “Why?”

      “Because,” I said, coming out, and walking right past her, and out the other exit that led into the gym.

      “Okay! Well, I, like, have to go—wait! Is that, like, Aiden Heath on the bleachers?” she said, following me out.

      “I don’t really care.” I looked up to see none other than Aiden, indeed, sitting on the bleachers. Great.

      “I’m going to go, like, talk to him—have fun playing your tennis game or whatever!” she waved, her mind already set on her next victim.

      “It’s volleyball,” I corrected.

      “I was close! I saw the net, like, there,” she laughed, walking off over to Aiden.

      “Hey, Jules!” Talia greeted, randomly kicking the joint in my knee from behind, so I that dropped down to the floor.

      “Hi,” I said, standing back up.

      “Ready to play some hardcore volleyball? Oh, by the way, congrats on making the team!” she said, as bubbly as ever.

      “Thanks, and yeah,” I said slowly.

      “Cool! Was that Taylor Kennings that you were talking to?”

      “No. She was talking to me,” I said, then quickly adding, “I’m not friends with her anymore.”

      “Okay, good. Your brother told me to keep an eye on you about that stuff,” she told me.

      “Oh, you two are still together?” I asked, genuinely surprised. It had been close to four weeks—that was like a year for Adam.

      “Yup!” she smiled happily.

      “Good. I like you,” I articulated honestly.

      “Good to know. I like you too, Jules.”

      “Thanks.”

      “Now, let’s go play some volleyball!” she shouted.

 Aiden’s POV

Shit. Taylor Kennings was coming near me. Sure, she was hot and all, but I didn’t like her. I thought that I would be alone, able to watch the practice, and then maybe I’d be able to talk to Jules (mostly the last part). I loved volleyball. If anyone knew, they’d look at me like I was crazy. I liked playing it, and I kind of liked watching it, too.

      A couple years ago, when I was in camp, every single day after lunch they would make us all play volleyball. Being an all boys’ camp, we weren’t into at first. Then, as the summer progressed, you would’ve thought we were training for the Olympics with the aggression and passion we played. Now, every summer after lunch my camp friends and I like playing some pretty dedicated volleyball.

      “Hey, baby,” Taylor said, batting her thickly mascara-coated eyelashes at me.

      “Hey,” I said, not looking directly at her.

      “Why are you, like, here?” she purred softly.

      “Jules,” I answered automatically.

      “Awww! So, I don’t, like, have any shot with you in, like, the next hour and a half, do I?” She didn’t have a shot with me in the next lifetime, not that I was planning on telling her that, though. Taylor wasn’t my type.

      “Uh, did I ever say that?” 

      “Haha! Oh, Aiden!” she giggled, as I mentally rolled my eyes.

      I didn’t date girls like Taylor and Emily. They were sluts, they were easy, and they were fake. I dated pretty, popular girls. There was a actually a huge difference between the sluts and the popular girls. The popular girls are were pretty girls who happened to be total bitches, and ruled the school, while the sluts were just, well, sluts. Don’t get me wrong, Taylor and Emily were both bitches too, but they were just easy bitches. The weird thing was, though, that these two breeds of girls can coexist peacefully in the world known as high school. It was interesting.

      “You know what would be really sweet?” I asked.

      “What?” she jumped at my inquiry.

      “If you would go away right now. I need some time to think,” I said.

      “What about?”

      “You of course!” I almost gagged at even thought of thinking about Taylor.

      “Oh! Well, I have to, like, go, anyways, but it was awesome to see you. By the way…” she trailed off, placing herself on one of my legs.

      “What?”

      “You look like really hot today. Roar!” she growled. She cupped my head in her infamous hands, and pressed her over used lips on mine. Gross. This was seriously sick—and not in the cool way. She tried to gain entrance into my mouth, and eventually I complied. Her slimy tongue made its way into my mouth, and I wanted to throw up. I didn’t even know why I forced myself to make out with her. After five unbearable minutes, I finally pulled away.

      “I was, like, having so much fun!” she pouted.

      “Don’t you have somewhere to go?” I sighed.

      “Someone actually,” she smirked.

      “Oh. Well, you better do that.”

      “Him—not that. And you’re right. Bye, Aiden!” she said, getting off of me, and finally leaving.

      I heard the coach’s whistle blare, and saw the girls split up on either side of the net. Someone served the ball, it went over the net, and then a girl on the other side jumped up and hit it. This sequence went on for ten minutes, and then I got bored. I loved playing volleyball, but watching wasn’t even remotely as fun.

      I got up from my spot on the bleachers, as the coach called a break, and walked over to Jules. She saw me coming, and we made eye contact with each other for a brief moment, before she broke out of it by rolling her eyes and smiling. That smile. Normally, I wasn’t the type to notice things on girls like their smile or eyes, but, with Jules, it was undeniably her best feature.

      “Hey,” I said.

      “Why are you here?” she asked, not even bothering to return my greeting. It was funny that Taylor had had the same question, but it sounded better coming from Jules.

      “Because I like volleyball.” She snorted, as expected.

      “No, really, why?”

      “I gave you a reason,” I said honestly.

      “But that wasn’t the real reason.”

      “Fine, I wanted to talk to you,” I said, giving her something different to think.

      “About what?” Shit. That was a great question, and I really wish I had a thought through answer for it.

      “Umm… I don’t know. I just, uh, wanted to talk to you,” I shrugged nervously.

      “Oh…kay…”

      “Yeah, so I’m going to go see who else is here, then after practice can I ask you something?”

      “Why not right now?”

      “Because—” The coach’s whistle cut me off. Saved by the whistle. “Because of that,” I continued, smiling.

      “Mhmm... Whatever,” she said, running back over to the crowd of girls gathered around the net. I took that as my opportunity to desert the gym. As I entered the normally busy hallway, all I saw were two nerds reading books, and blonde girl who was sleeping. Wait—I knew her. Katy? No. Katherine? Nope. It definitely started with a K. Kat… Rina! Katrina Selby! That was it! What the hell was Katrina Selby doing sleeping on a bench in the hallway?

      I liked taking advantage of perfect opportunities when they presented themselves, so I slowly made my way over to her. I was standing over her peaceful body, when I took out my water bottle, twisted open the cap, gently tipping it in the direction of her head. I was such a badass. The second the cool water made contact with her neck, she shot up, clearly confused.

      “What the—oh, hey, Aiden. Did you just pour water on me?” Katrina asked calmly, her posture now upright.

      “Yeah,” I nodded.

      “Okay. Cool. Thanks for waking me up, by the way,” she smiled. And that was one of the reasons I hated Katrina: she was impossible to annoy. If I had done the same action to Jules, I would pretty much be digging my own grave. Katrina was calm—too calm.

      “No problem. So, where’s your scary boyfriend?” I questioned, dropping down to the bench with her.

      “We broke up,” she replied casually, a yawn exiting her mouth.

      “Oh.”

      “But now I have a new one,” she went on to say.

      “Oh.”

      “I think we should go out,” she said plainly.

      “Excuse me?” I slowly stood from the bench, unsure if I had heard her correctly. I had already learned my lesson with Katrina. That lesson being that staying as far away as possible from her was the best way to deal with her.

      “After I break up with my current boyfriend,” just the start of that sentence was screwed up, “I think we would make a hot couple.”

      “No,” I instantly turned down her less than appealing offer.

      “Aid! Come on!”

      “You lied to me. I felt like crap afterwards. No,” I said firmly, not wanting a repeat of the past.

      “It’s not like Logan knew it was you!” she insisted.

      “That’s not the point! It was wrong—I should never have kissed you,” I shook my head in regret.

      “You’re lying.” And there was another thing I hated about Katrina Selby: she read people too well.

      “No. You and Logan were good together, he loved you, and you were a heartless bitch!” I spat.

      “Love is nonexistent—you know that. Anyways, I haven’t heard that one in a while—‘heartless bitch’, I like it!” she mocked.

      “It suits you.”

      “I know, right? But I heard Logan’s into that new girl; her name’s, like, Jules, right?” she inquired.

      “That new girl is Julia Tylers, actually,” I informed her.

      “No freaking way! I don’t believe you!”

      “Believe what you want, it’s the truth.”

      “Huh, so Logan’s into Julia Tylers. Does she like him?”

      “I don’t know.” I didn’t go on. Katrina didn’t need to know about Jules’ boyfriend.

      “Well, I think it may just be time to pay Logan a little visit. Thanks for the advice, Aid!” she said, getting up from the bench.

      “What? No, Katrina, I don’t even know what’s going on in your mind, but I’m advising you to not to do it!” I said.

      “Like I would listen you! You’re so silly, Aiden!” she laughed darkly.

      “Don’t mess with him,” I warned.

      “I’ll have to think about it.”

      “Katrina, please, don’t!” I begged.

      She tapped the heel of her shoe on the tiled floor, biting her lip slightly. “Why not?”

      “Just don’t!” I said through clenched teeth. “Don’t screw with Logan, again.”

      “Or what?” she tested.

      “I. Will. Make. Your. Life. Hell,” I stressed every word.

      “I’d love to see you try!” she challenged, walking away.

      I couldn’t talk to Jules now, not after what had just happened. I got out my phone, and quickly sent a text to Jules saying that I left. Katrina had the ability to get me into this mood, where I felt like crap. I didn’t like talking or dealing with her, but if she did mess with Logan, I’d find some way to wreck her. She was such a terrible person. I hated Katrina Selby.