Opposites Always Attract.

As Maggie and I walked down the corridor, I spotted Aaron. It was the first time I had seen him since Saturday. My heart unintentionally began beating faster as I neared him, he hadn’t noticed me yet, luckily he had his back turned as he chatted to Zayn and Rich (Maggie’s boyfriend)

I went to walk past him speeding up as I did so, but Maggie grabbed my arm, stopping my escape.

“Hey, c’mon, where’re you going? Let’s talk to Rich” she pulled me over to the three boys despite my protest. She slithered her arms around her strong boyfriend, and kissed him, which he instantly deepened. I stood beside them awkwardly, with my arms wrapped around my torso, fully aware that Aaron was next to me.

“Oh, Elliott. Hey, how are you?” Zayn asked. Zayn may have been a dick, but he was friendly, even if he did get too friendly at times.

“Oh – Um, yes I’m fine, thank you” out of the corner of my eye I saw Aaron admire me. He didn’t seem angry at me, actually the smirk on his face told me that he almost enjoyed the fact I got away.

“It’s just that I saw you on Saturday, you looked a mess, if you don’t mind me saying. Why’d you run off like that?”

“I didn’t feel well. I went home” I laughed and shrugged my shoulders and swatted Aaron’s arms away, which was attempting to snake its way across my hips.

“Oh, Elliott. That’s lame, I thought something was seriously wrong” he laughed at me, almost cruelly, but to be fair he was a boy, of course he was going to laugh at someone who runs off from a party for feeling ‘unwell’.

“Yeah, yeah I know” I smiled “I’ve got to go, okay? I’ll talk to you soon” Zayn’s attention turned towards Rich and Maggie, who had finally stopped kissing. Aaron lent in close to me, his mouth near my ear.

“You may have got away, Ellie. But trust me, you’ll love me one day” his deep voice sent chills down my spine, but I didn’t let it get to me. Instead my eyes narrowed and my jaw locked.

“I’ll never fucking love you, Aaron. Now leave me alone or else I will seriously fucking hurt you” I pushed him away with such aggression that he slammed into a poor student whose papers went flying. My eyes were still locked on Aaron’s; his face was a mixture between shock and amazement.

Staying away from him was proving to be harder than I though.

As I began walking away from him, my hands curled into fists, I spotted Gerard and Bob staring at me. In fact, most students in the hallway were staring at me; I’d obviously caused a scene.

“What?!” I yelled in fury at the people around me.

The students immediately returned to what they were doing, although much quieter than they had been originally. Some of them were still glancing at me in shock. I noticed Aaron had recovered from my shove and was now mimicking the situation to Zayn, Rich and Maggie, who all looked at me and laughed. I scoffed at their behaviour and stormed away.

I secretly looked at Gerard as I passed him, who looked worried, yet amused. He raised an eyebrow at me as I stormed past him. Bob was also still staring at me; he’d never seen me act that way. No students saw me act that way, I was not a violent person (so they thought) I was usually polite and kind to everyone. But Aaron needed to be told where to go, and if he couldn’t learn where place his was with me then I would have to get my claws out.

“What the fuck was that?” I heard Bob mutter to Gerard after I had passed them. I never heard Gerard’s reply, but I prayed that he didn’t tell him the real reason I was being hostile towards Aaron.

-

Later in the day Maggie caught up with me, Angelica by her side.

“What the fuck was that earlier, Elliott?” she prodded me in the chest; we were in the changing rooms, getting ready for cheer leading practice.

“Aaron and I were just messing around” I said without any expression as I pulled my T-Shirt over my head. As my body stretched, so did the scab on my hip. I tried not to show any pain on my face, although it didn’t hurt as much anymore, or as much as the one on my leg, it was still pretty painful.

“What’s that on your hip?” Angelica said. She was standing in just her underwear, and had been for the last 10 minutes, that girl loved flashing her flesh. She began running her slim fingers up and down the cut, but I slapped her hand away.

“It’s nothing, okay?”
“Did you get beat up or something? I mean you have that massive thing on your leg too”
“Oh, you noticed that did you?”
“Yeah, well, Tara told us about it this morning” I stopped changing, and looked at her, trying not to show fear in my eyes.
“W-What did she say it was from?”
“Oh, she said it was something like you feel over when you were walking home on Saturday. I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised, you were so fucking wasted! I mean like, you were staggering everywhere!” Angelica laughed, flicking her black hair over her shoulder. I sighed in relief, thank fuck Tara hadn’t told them the truth.

“Yeah, yeah I was pretty drunk” I gave a fake laugh as I slide the pleated skirt up my thighs, luckily the bruises were nearly gone “Now come on, Chloe’s probably waiting”

We finished getting changed and ran onto the sports field. I hated practicing during school time, students would watch as they walked past, and it made me nervous to think they were watching me. Every other cheerleader would flick their hair and stretch their lean body’s as boys (and girls in Angelica’s case) walked past, causing them to stare in awe.

I’d mainly stretched in the changing room, to save the embarrassment of having to do it on front of hundreds of teenagers, so I just decided to make sure I was flexible enough.

I took my foot and stretched it above my head, feeling the strain in my muscles. I held it for a few seconds, taking the opportunity to look around. And sure enough boys were looking as they strutted past, admiring my tight legs. I blushed, and relaxed my leg, dropped it to the floor, and bended backwards so my hands feel onto the floor behind me. It was difficult to see upside down, but I defiantly saw recognisable skinny jeans walk past a little distance away.

Please don’t tell me that him, of all people, is watching me

I kicked my feet up, and flipped my body around so I was now standing up straight again, but as I looked, I couldn’t see Gerard again. Maybe he’d gone somewhere else, not wanting to watch the pretty girls like the other boys did. But why did I care?

I frowned as I slide my legs apart as I feel to the floor in the splits. I grabbed hold of the foot in front of me and lent forward, still wondering why I was caring about where Gerard was.

“Okay, come on guys” Chloe shrilled, clapping her hands in excitement. We rushed towards her, flattering our clothing as we did so. Did I mention Chloe accepted nothing but perfection?

-

Farrah and an equally skinny girl lifted me up into the air. I was being held by only one of my feet, the other raised above the other, while my hands were stretched into the air as the routine continued in front of me.

My heart was pounding. Not because I was afraid of heights, but because I didn’t trust someone as thin as Farrah and Connie to hold my body weight.

I kept my position while I looked below me. In the distance I could spot a familiar mop of black hair that was staring up at me as he stood with his four friends. I couldn’t see his expression from this distance, but there was no doubt that he was looking at me. Not at the cheerleaders, or the routine itself, but at me specifically. I was so distracted that I missed my cue. Farrah and Connie dropped me so that I landed in a human made cradle. I immediately continued the routine, completing a perfect tumble, synchronized faultlessly with Maggie. But I knew that I’d annoyed Chloe as I messed up the lift.

And sure enough, in the changing rooms Chloe found the perfect time to raise her voice and humiliate me.

-

“Look, Elliott. I don’t want to embarrass you, but maybe if you weren’t so heavy Farrah and Connie wouldn’t have dropped you. Practice the lift in your own time, okay? Or maybe I’ll have to give Emma your part!” I rolled my eyes as she walked past; a couple of cheerleaders who I didn’t really talk to were snickering quietly at me.

I made sure that I thumped into one of the girls backs as I passed her. I knew I wasn’t fat, I knew I wasn’t too heavy, Chloe just liked to make sure everyone felt lower than she did. The truth was that Chloe wasn’t even that pretty, her fake tan and layers of foundation made her seem that way, but really most of the girls at school could easily be more beautiful than her if she ever gave them the opportunity. But Chloe had to have things her way, if someone looked better than her, she would insult them about something she knew would affect them.

This is why she bullied Tara as much as she did. While Tara’s personality was perfect for Chloe, i.e she was so stupid she would do anything Chloe wanted, she was far more attractive than Chloe was, and to make sure that Tara knew this, she would make remarks about how Tara is short, or how Tara has smaller boobs than her, or how Tara had goofy teeth.

-

As I rushed out of the back door of the gym, I ran into someone. Literally, ran into them. I bumped into a leather jacket and staggered backwards, blinking in confusion as I did so. I heard someone laughing.

“Whoa, Elliott. You in a hurry or something?” Gerard said, chuckling as he looked at my baffled face.
“Uh – Yeah, just wanted to get away from them, you know” I motioned my head towards the Gym, referring to the cheerleaders inside. He raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement.
“So, I saw you today” he said, pulling a cigarette and lighter from his jacket pocket, placing the cigarette between his lips.

“Uhhh – You did?” I said, watching as he lit the cigarette, and gazed transfixed at his lips as he blew smoke from them. We were behind the gym, so no one was to catch us, both teachers and students alike, as of course smoking wasn’t allowed (not that anyone listened)
“Yeah, when you were doing your...Cheerleading thing” he took a drag from his cigarette as he looked at my blushing face.

“Oh – Oh yeah, and what did you think?”
“You’re pretty flexible” his eyes almost smirked as he flicked ash onto the floor.
“Uh – Y-Yeah I am” I said, still blushing as I thought of Gerard staring at me while I was springing and flipping around. Most guys thought it was hot, did Gerard think the same? Why do I care?!

“Well, I’ll see you around, Elliott” he took an extra long drag on his cigarette, before blowing the smoke directly in my face. I coughed and slapped him on the arm as he walked away (well, strutted)

"Gerard!" I called after him. He spun around, his cigarette dangling from his lips.
"I still hate you!" he raised his eyebrows at me while smirking, before turning around again. I heard him call:

"I still hate you too" before I walked in the opposite direction.

I remembered once Angelica told me that if someone blows cigarette smoke into your face, it means they want to have sex with you...What a load of bullshit (right?)