"See that girl over there?" My friend and crony (that's what people think), Ethan pointed at a rather small, quiet-looking girl who was standing alone in a corner.
"Yeah, what about her?" I asked him with an obvious unamused look on my face.
He turned to face me with a grin. Then, he proceeded to scrunch up his now-empty lunch bag into a ball. I stared at him as if he had just grown an extra head.
To my surprise, he flung the scrunched-up lunch bag towards the girl and it hit her in the back of her head. She spun around to look at us, looking confused.
A few people who had seen it laughed, as well as Ethan himself. The girl turned red in embarrassment and dashed out of the cafeteria.
"Dude," I furrowed my eyebrows at my friend, "Do you have a problem with her or something?"
"N-No!" The blond boy managed to blurt out between chuckles as he clutched his stomach, "Don't you know her? Everyone picks on her because she has abusive parents and a brain tumor. I don't know why, but I'm just joining in the fun!"
I shot him a disgusted look. My friends were called bullies for a reason. Then again, I joined them...and I had no idea why.
The school bell rang and I slipped on my blazer. Ethan and I walked out of the cafeteria with him still droning on about what he had did earlier.
I stuffed my hands into my pockets and walked silently, sighing.
"Dude, are you even listening to me?" Ethan cried out and shot me an incredulous look. I furrowed my eyebrows again in annoyance and nodded my head vigorously.
He then let go of the matter and continued talking to no one in particular. "Len! Ethan!" Someone called out from a distance. Ethan shut up and we both looked up.
It was my slutty popular-girl friend, Poppy. She ran up to us in a short uniform skirt that barely covered her bum and pounced us. Ethan laughed and grabbed onto her to steady himself.
I stumbled back a bit and regained my composure a few seconds later.
"Hey, Ethan," Poppy said, giggling, "Have you seen that Kaydelyn?"
Ethan's face lit up with amusement the moment she mentioned it, "Yeah, I just flung a paper bag at her. Why?"
"I saw her trying to talk to Jawn at the staircase just now." Jawn, my other friend, another one of us.
"Ohoho," Ethan chuckled and reached up to smoothen his blond hair, "And then what happened?"
"He gave her," Poppy paused dramatically, "A tight slap."
My two friend started howling and laughing as if it were the funniest thing in the world. I sighed again and stared at the psychopaths. I scratched my brown hair and turned around to walk away.
"Wait for us, Len!" Poppy squealed as she ran to keep up with my pace and clutched onto my arm like a sloth. I could feel her sharp nails digging into my skin through my blazer. Ethan jogged up to us and the three of us walked to our classes together.
As we were walking up the staircase, I noticed the brown-haired girl whom Ethan had targeted earlier. She had a red mark on her cheek and was walking up the stairs right in front of us.
"Watch this," Ethan whispered as he reached a hand out and tugged roughly on the back of her skirt. Poppy's hand flew to her mouth to prevent her from giggling too loud.
The girl quickly spun around, making her brown hair fly all over the place embarrassingly. Her bangs stuck to her sweaty forehead and she dropped the books that were cradled in her hands.
Ethan burst out in laughter, and Poppy soon after. The girl slightly glared at them and knelt down to pick up her books.
"Pink." Ethan roared and began to laugh again. Poppy followed. Geez, those people.
The girl got redder and quickly pulled her skirt down as low as possible when he realized the blond boy was referring to her underwear. Then, she continued picking up her books one by one.
"Oh, shit, I'm late for class...AGAIN!" Ethan slapped his forehead and started to run, "See you guys after school!"
"I'll be going too." Poppy snorted with a dramatic curtsy, "Sayonara." She ran after Ethan and I could see them talking to each other as they disappeared around a corner.
I was about to walk off too when I noticed the girl was still there. "U-Uh...you need any help?" I asked, being the nice guy that I was.
She glared up at me with big brown eyes and shook her head, "No."
I picked up her books anyway and handed them to her. She roughly grabbed them from my hands and stood up, dusting her skirt a little bit. Then, she walked away.
"Hey, not even a 'thank you'??" I yelled at her. She turned her head slightly to face me.
"People like you don't deserve a 'thank you' from me." Was all she said as she ran across the hallway. I shook my head in disapproval and took my leave the opposite direction.
_________________________________________________________________________________
"Not even a 'thank you'?" Ethan huffed in annoyance as he shook his head, "That girl is one stubborn bitch."
"Yup. I picked up almost ALL of her books. I almost broke my back." I explained. I had told my friends everything.
All three of them chuckled and Jawn slapped my back, "Why did you help her in the first place? You should've just ignored her like I did."
"You didn't ignore her. You slapped her." Poppy reminded in a snort.
"Oh yeah," Jawn laughed, "Same thing."
There was a long pause and silence. Finally, Ethan spoke up, being the loud person that he was, "Let's do something that would make her pay."
"Len!" This caught my attention and dragged me away from my daydream.
"W-What?" I muttered, crossing my arms against my chest.
"I got just the plan," Ethan exclaimed, "Nothing hurts more than a broken heart."
"So?" Everyone burst out in unison. Poppy began giggling again.
"How about you pretend to be really nice to her and everything, since nobody is, and eventually ask her out?" My lunatic blond friend grinned.
"Are you crazy?! We're not even on talking terms." I raised my voice, annoyed, "That's so stupid."
"Nonono, listen to me!" Ethan grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me, "Then, she'll grow so attached to you and then, boom, you dump her. How's that?"
"Len can't do that!" Poppy objected as she stood up from her seat, slamming her manicured hands against the table we were sitting at.
"And why is that so?" Ethan sniffed.
"Because he's MINE." She demanded as she latched onto my arm like velcro again. Oh, the agony.
"Oh, shut up, Poppy." Jawn yawned and Ethan nodded in support.
"If you don't do it, you'll be kicked out of our group." Ethan glared at me.
"What!? This is ridiculous, man!" I cried out, widening my eyes.
"And you'll be like one of those normal losers. And you'll have to bow down to us like a slave." He continued.
I looked down at my feet and gritted my teeth. My friends could be so mean sometimes. I was lost in thought when Ethan piped up again, "So? Is it a deal?" I could hear the amusement and malice in his voice.
"F-Fine." I said against my own will. I chose my pride over my everything.
"Good job, bro." Jawn nodded, patting my back.
"Yeah, good job." Ethan grinned manically. Poppy pouted but went along with it as well.
"You'll start tomorrow." The blond boy chuckled, "Go help her polish her shoes or buy her a diamond ring or something."
"Why the hell would I do that?" I groaned, completely ridiculed and stomped over.
Ethan grinned again, "Gain favor."
