Page 5 of Transition

“I think he did.”

The two burst out laughing while Aaron blushed.

A smile involuntarily formed on my lips as I watched the dynamics between these three boys. I was vaguely aware of glares coming from girls in the class before my eyes traveled to the far corner of the room and met with familiar dark ones.

Jake Grayson was in my class too.

CHAPTER FIVE

Iwas two weeks into life at my new school. So far, I had been spat on, gotten drinks thrown at me, had my personal belongings destroyed or hidden, and been outright insulted by most of the girls in my class. I was essentially bullied every day.

Why do you ask? Oh, simply because I had made friends with the most popular boys at Redwood High.

Liam, Mason, and Aaron had taken me under their collective wing, helping me get out of my shell and become comfortable with them. We had instantly connected and became a group. We did everything together; from going to classes, getting lunch, and heading back home. It was more friends than I had ever had before.

So far, I had learned that my newly made friends were the most coveted boys in the school, including Liam, who had a girlfriend.

Aaron Levine was the intelligent one, always so serious and deep. He wasn’t much of a talker, but when he did speak, everyone listened. He also made efforts to be playful and “fun,” and who wouldn’t with Mason as a friend?

Just as I had guessed, Mason Welsh was the school quarterback and also the player of the group. He oozed so much confidence that sometimes he didn’t even need to speak before he got a girl to go out with him.

I had seen him do it a couple of times, all of which left me dumbstruck. He was also the fun one - the one who loved to party and be on top of everything - but that didn’t deter his education. The boy was extremely smart.

Liam, however, was a classic nerd: real and faithful. Intelligent, quirky, quiet, corny, nervous all the time. But his looks and friendship with the other two boys had pushed him up to the top of Redwood High’s food chain.

One would think the same would go for me, but while I’d become quite popular thanks to my friendship with all three of them, I was hated by the girls, even down to the goth ones who usually didn’t care about such things. I had appeared from nowhere and stolen their boys from right under their noses. I was ‘that bitch.’

I usually wouldn’t care; after all, I had excelled in being invisible at my old school. But it didn’t involve me being harassed every single day. I couldn’t talk to my mom about it because I didn’t want her to worry, and I couldn’t speak to any of the teachers or principal because they would just call my mom. Hell, I was a big girl, and I could handle it; besides, I had my boys.

“Incoming,” said Mason while we were seated at our usual table in the school cafeteria.

I knew it couldn’t be one of the three menaces that had taken a particular interest in harassing me - they called themselves ‘divas.’ And they were here to make my life miserable. They never did anything to me when the boys were around.

However, when I raised my head to see who Mason was referring to, I groaned. It was Tiffany, another popular girl in school, also known as Liam’s girlfriend.

I didn’t hate her - she was by far the nicest girl I had met in the school - but she and Liam were going through a spat of constant small arguments, and I felt another fight coming. I didn’t mind their arguments; couples were supposed to disagree with each other. I just didn’t like how irritable Liam became after those fights, which always led to him projecting his misery on us.

“Hey, baby.” Tiffany sat on Liam’s lap, planting a deep kiss on him that made him grin before she turned to wave at us. “Love your top, Kat.”

And that was said with the utmost sincerity.

I returned her smile.

“Thanks, Tiff.”

She, like me, preferred her name shortened, and I diligently upheld that.

She turned back to Liam. “Look, babe. I signed us up for Homecoming King and Queen.”

Her smile got even bigger, and she looked like she might start jumping up and down in her exquisite heels.

I exchanged knowing glances with Aaron and Mason.

“Tiff, baby. I told you I don’t want to do this. I’m just not interested,” Liam groaned.

She merely rolled her eyes. “It’s not a big deal, Liam. I don’t know why you have such a problem with it. All you have to do is show up.”

“You know I’m not good with crowds, and I’ve told you several times that I don’t want to be involved in yourpopular girlactivities, okay?”

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