Page 18 of New Year

Now Playing:

“Creep”–TLC

After lunch, I’m swept along with our group, not noticing we’re leaving by the aisle that runs along the wall where Oliver’s sitting scribbling in a notebook, next to a guy with glasses who’s hunched over a laptop. I shouldn’t be surprised. He may be an athlete, but he’s also a virgin who likes to read. He probably fits in with the nerds better than the popular crowd.

When we’ve nearly reached him, his gaze flickers to mine and then away. He closes his notebook and subtly nudges the nerd next to him with his elbow.

The nerd slants his laptop screen halfway closed and scoots back from the table like he’s about to stand.

“Hey, boys,” Elaine purrs, giving them a flirty wave.

“Hello, Elaine,” Oliver says in that adorable accent that I will never get used to.

“You’re not sitting with us this year?” she asks with a little pout. “What could Nate be doing that’s more interesting than us?”

She sashays around Oliver and plops her ass down on the lap of the nerd she called Nate. His whole body goes stiff as a cadaver. He’s probably having a stroke that a popular cheerleader spoke to him, let alone sat in his lap. She grins smugly, like she’s well aware of the affect she has on guys who don’t know how to talk to regular girls, let alone ones who look like supermodels.

“What you working on there, Nate?” she asks, flicking her hair over her shoulder before leaning forward, reaching for his laptop.

He lunges forward to slam it shut so fast that Elaine is propelled from his lap and onto the floor, landing on her ass. Her eyes fly wide, her mouth dropping open in shock.

It’s all I can do not to laugh. I wish I had my phone out so I could take a picture and make the moment of her humiliation last forever. It’s about time karma caught up with her after all the vile things she’s said and done.

A few others at the nerd table aren’t so quick to stifle their laughter. Even Chase and Colin are chuckling behind me as Elaine scrambles to her feet and wheels on the unfortunate soul who knocked her to the ground. I wince, knowing she’s about to obliterate him so thoroughly he’ll wish he was never born.

“You’re such a freak, Nathaniel,” she snarls, grabbing up his milk carton and tossing the contents in his face. “Were you looking at porn in the middle of the cafeteria?”

“Elaine,” Oliver warns, shoving away from the table to stand beside Nate like he’s expecting a fist fight to break out and he’s having the guy’s back against a smaller girl.

“You’re lucky I even spoke to you,” Elaine says to the nerd, flipping her hair back again, completely composed again now that she’s made someone else look worse than she did, and they’re all laughing at him now. “You’re a loser, just like your dad. I’d kill myself if I was related to you.”

With that, she spins on her heel and marches away.

Nate stands slowly, milk dripping down his glasses and off his chin, soaking the front of his shirt. His hands ball into fists at his sides, and he turns to Lindsey, a burning fierceness in his eyes that makes me draw closer to my friend, instinctively wanting to shield her from his wrath.

“Keep your scorpions contained in their terrarium,” he says, his voice dark with a threat. “Or else.”

“Hey now,” Chase says, sliding a protective arm around Lindsey. “Lindsey’s got enough on her plate right now without you blaming her for Elaine.”

“Stay the hell away from me,” Nate warns, giving our whole group such a disdainful look that I want to disappear. Then he turns, swipes his laptop from the table, and storms away. Oliver’s eyes meet mine, and he gives the slightest shake of his head, his lips tightening in a disappointed scowl, and then he takes his notebook and lopes off after his nerdy friend.

“We should go after them,” Lindsey says. “I’ll talk to Elaine, you go—”

Suddenly, her composure slips, and her voice goes high, her lip starting to tremble.

Chase immediately pulls her into his arms, and she hides her face in his chest. “Nate’s fine, he has Oliver,” he says. “Daria, want to go check on Elaine for Linds?”

“On it,” she says, grabbing my hand and dragging me with her. I glance back over my shoulder, wanting to be there for Lindsey if she needs a friend. I don’t give a single fuck what happens to Elaine.

“Is this really necessary?” I ask Daria as she pulls me down the hall toward the gym. “Lindsey’s barely holding it together. Elaine seemed fine once she humiliated that dumb kid.”

“Dumb kid?” Daria asks, gaping at me.

“What, did he get a perfect score on his ACT or something?” I ask. “He clearly didn’t know not to mess with the populars, so he can’t be all that smart.”

“Wait, you really don’t know who that was?”

“No,” I admit, feeling stupid now. “Who is it? I thought he was just some nerd.”

---