3 Chapter Three

Chloe's P.O.V

"Come on, lazybones, get out of the car and go inside. I'll get you a raspberry mocha, on the house," she said persuasively.

My motivations in life: sleep and food. "Okay," I said and slowly got out of the car and felt my tank top slowly ride up, exposing some of my pale skin. I had to yank it back down, probably looking insane, but I did not care‒ well, maybe a little.

"Come on, Chloe," Hailee said in a rushed voice, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets, which made me want to laugh.

"I'm coming," I said and followed closely behind her.

As soon as we went inside, I immediately wanted to go throw up in the bathroom. Chloe Marshall and Heather Bates waved at us to come sit with them at a booth, but who was with them made it all worse.

"Hey Chloe and Heather," Hailee said as we walked over to them.

Was it too late to run? I could totally run back to my dorm. It would be great exercise, perhaps I could even lose twenty pounds and voila: I'm perfect.

"Hey girl," Chloe Marshall said and grinned at Hailee, showing her large, white teeth. Good gracious her mouth was huge. You could probably fit a whole apple in there and she would still be nothing but teeth.

It was disgusting how pretty some girls were and how they weren't pretty at the same time. That's how I felt about Chloe Marshall. It made sense that she was a volleyball player considering her height, which was 5'10" and I knew that because she used to bring up her height all the time in English. Her hair was naturally brown, but she dyed it the color of mozzarella cheese, obviously so fake but at the same time kinda pretty. Her skin was tan from going to a tanning bed like a southerner goes to church, and her eyes were of course blue, rimmed with thin black eyeliner. Don't even get me started on her horse mouth, obviously her best feature.

Chloe and Heather got up and hugged Hailee.

"I am so happy to see you," Heather Bates said in her high-pitched, fake cheerleader voice.

Heather Bates, in my opinion, was prettier than Chloe Marshall, but the words would never escape my lips. Heather naturally had long dark hair, but she got blonde highlights, no doubt suggested by Chloe Marshall herself, but one of her prettiest features were her hazel eyes. Her eyes were large, rimmed with long dark lashes, and she had a small but cute nose. Heather was the cheerleading captain at Willowbrook, now part of the Crimson Tide cheerleading squad. She was exceptional at tumbling and gymnastics, so it wasn't hard to imagine that she made the team. I always viewed her as the nicer one, but she was too caught up in having a different boyfriend every couple of months to boost her self-esteem.

Chloe Marshall turned and inspected me. Heather noticed and followed suit, looking over me like Miss Kitty did to her cat food. "Nice to see you, Chloe. I like your top. Didn't I see that at Dillard's or Belk?"

"Probably, I don't remember where it's from," I managed to muster out, trying not to look at the person behind her.

"Oh my goodness Luke," Hailee put her hand to her chest and looked him up and down. "Is it just me or do you look more muscular? What did they do to you in practice?"

I couldn't help myself but glance at Luke, who smiled brilliantly as he always did. "I honestly don't know, but for the past couple days I have been worn out."

Hailee moved closer to him and grabbed his arm, feeling his muscles and acting astounded. "Did they give you steroids or something?" Typical Hailee to try and get closer to him somehow.

I noticed that he laughed nervously as he gently pulled away. "Should we sit down?" he asked as if he wanted to change the subject.

"Of course," Chloe Marshall agreed and looked at Hailee. "Hailee, sit with Heather and me. Chloe, I'm sure you won't mind sitting next to Luke near the window."

Of course I minded. I didn't want to feel trapped, but for some reason I couldn't say anything.

"I'll sit near the window too, so I can be in front of Chloe," Hailee said as she scooted in the booth.

"This whole two Chloe thing is really messing me up," Chloe Marshall said and scooted after Hailee, followed by Heather.

I sat and scooted as close to the window as possible, looking right into Hailee's eyes, hoping she would notice how uncomfortable I was, but of course she was in la la land and wouldn't notice anything around her but herself‒ and Luke.

Luke scooted in after me, leaving plenty of room for another person to sit beside him, which made me even more uncomfortable. I couldn't help but notice how good he smelled. What cologne did he use? It reminded me of a candle my mom used to buy at Yankee Candle. I think it was mahogany teakwood, or something that closely resembled it.

"I know right, the whole two Chloe thing messes with me, too. It's easier when there is only one Chloe," Heather nodded eagerly.

"Maybe we can make nicknames?" Hailee suggested. I caught her looking at me and she wrinkled her nose‒her way of expressing how happy she was. Oh dear goodness, she was on Cloud Nine.

"Good idea Hailee!" Chloe Marshall said as if it were one of the most brilliant ideas ever. "How about we call you CiCi."

I couldn't help but burst into laughter. CiCi was a ridiculous nickname‒ for me at least. "So, you want to call me CiCi because of my initials?" I giggled. What an original nickname for me.

Luke laughed with me. "What an original nickname for her."

Did he just say out loud what I was thinking?

"Well, what else am I supposed to say? I don't have a lot of ideas," Chloe folded her arms, exasperated.

That made sense.

"I mean, we could call you Marshall," Luke grinned.

"Not funny, Luke," she pouted. "Hold on a sec, Luke, you're practically smothering Chloe. Why did you leave so much room?"

I could feel my heart pound harder.

"Jacob's coming, remember? I didn't know when he was showing up so I thought to leave room for him. Sorry if you felt like I was smothering you," he said quickly while slightly scooting away.

"It's fine," I said softly.

Jacob Sykes was one of the last people on earth I would want to see. He was a disgusting excuse for a person. He was arrogant, thought highly of himself, and believed that he could get into any girl's pants. What made matters worse was that it actually worked for him every‒ single‒ time.

"Hey ladies," I heard that irritating voice say smoothly. I looked up and there was the infamous idiot himself, standing there all smug with the stupidest smirk on his face. He thought gelling his blonde hair was cool, but it actually made him look more like a prick, which he was. His pale eyes glazed over everyone and then fell to me and he cocked his head.

"Why hello Claire," he said, studying me.

"It's Chloe," I rolled my eyes and looked outside.

"Guess we found you a nickname," Chloe Marshall smiled.

"Whatever you say, Marshall," I mumbled.

I heard Luke chuckle and it made me smile slightly to think that he could've thought that was funny.

"Have you guys ordered yet?" Prick asked as he slid in the booth with us.

"We were waiting for you, silly," Heather said, leaning towards Prick.

"Oh good," he said and then waved over to a waitress.

If it were possible to throw up simultaneously while peeing that was exactly how I felt right then.

We ordered our iced coffee, and I couldn't help but notice how the waitress seemed to be eyeing Luke. It wasn't like I liked him or anything, but it was super annoying to know that no matter where Luke went, he was always eye candy. What made it even more annoying was how he always acted super innocent about it, like he had no idea that she was trying to flirt with him.

I guessed my nostrils were flaring because Hailee was staring me down, mouthing, "Stop it!" at me.

It's not like I could help it. I can't control all of the faces that form on my face. I didn't have a mirror to see what I was doing. I shifted in my seat uncomfortably.

Luke cleared his throat. "Are you okay, Chloe? I can move farther away if I'm not giving you enough room."

I could hear Jacob snort with laughter and I wanted to kill him. It was almost like making a fat joke to me. Oh look, Chloe seems to be shifting, obviously it's because she's fat and she does not have enough room to sit, even though there was at least an inch between our thighs! I guess being alone was better than being with them.

"Oh dear god what happened to your arm?" Marshall asked, her eyes full of horror as she looked at Luke.

I turned to see a huge, fresh bruise on his bicep. I winced at the sight of it. That must have hurt a lot.

Luke opened his mouth to respond but Prick interrupted, "We were scrimmaging and one of the defenders tackled him too hard. I believe it was D'Marcus who tackled him. I mean, if you have ever seen D'Marcus he is a big guy. He is 340 pounds and is like 6'5. That dude is a freakin' giant, but damn he's awesome."

"Wow, I am only like 110 pounds. He would literally snap me in half!" Marshall shrieked.

Great, we are talking about weight. One of the worst subjects in the world. I weighed more than Marshall, but anyone with a pair of eyes could see that. I'll just say that I'm perfectly plump. Yeah, that has a nice ring to it. Wait, no it doesn't.

"Same girl," Heather stuck out her lips and nodded slowly, propping her elbow on the table.

Our waitress came back with our orders. I noticed that this time, the waitress managed to unbutton as many buttons her shirt would allow. How typical.

"Here is your medium raspberry mocha," she handed it to me while still managing to look at Luke.

"Thank you," I said, knowing that she probably didn't hear.

"Here are three small, iced, skinny, hazelnut macchiatos, sugar-free syrup, extra shot, light ice, no whips," she handed Heather, Marshall, and Hailee their drinks. "Here is your large, iced, sugar-free, vanilla latte with soy milk," she said and handed it to Prick. "And lastly, here is your espresso, sir," she said and slowly sat it down in front of him, bending over to show as much cleavage as possible.

What the heck are those and how did the waitress even manage to remember all of that? "I feel like those were made up for a second," I managed to laugh as Hailee happily sipped from her drink. I knew Hailee usually liked to order french vanilla iced coffee with cream and sugar, but since Marshall and Heather were here, she just followed them.

"I didn't even know a person could even order that," Luke agreed, chuckling.

"Such party shitters," Jacob said as he opened his straw packet.

"Oh hush and continue drinking your iced, gluten-free, sugar-free, nut latte," I said, not even knowing what I was saying but it caused Luke and me to laugh even harder.

"Jacob actually has a large, iced, sugar-free, vanilla latte with soy milk," Heather looked at me seriously, her eyes wide and mouth squeezed together so tight I thought she ate something sour.

I started laughing so hard I could feel myself crying. Dang it, why did I have to cry when I laughed so hard?

Luke started coughing into his arm from laughter, almost spilling his espresso.

"Luke!" Marshall whined. "You almost knocked over my small, iced, skinny, hazelnut macchiato, sugar-free syrup, extra shot, light ice, no whip!"

"Can you guys stop making it so easy for me to laugh!" I cried as I buried my face in my hands, feeling my shoulders shake.

Hailee joined in our laughter, seeing our amusement.

"Is Claire okay?" Prick asked Heather and Marshall. "I'm pretty sure people don't cry when they laugh. Besides, I don't even see what's so funny."

"Okay I need to get out before I pee my pants," I giggled. Are these people even real?

"Please don't do that, thank you," Heather pleaded. "Guys, get out of her way before she pees on you."

Prick jumped out of the booth immediately, but Luke, who was shaking with laughter, had a harder time trying to get himself out of the booth. I was soon able to get out of the booth and quickly went to the women's bathroom and stood at the sink and stared at myself in the mirror. Good thing I used waterproof mascara and eyeliner. There were tears rolling down from my cheeks from laughter and my eyes were red. I took a paper towel and lightly dabbed at my eyes, quietly choking with laughter.

Get it together, Chloe! They all probably think you're a psycho.

I sniffed and took another paper towel and blew my nose into it, giggling at myself. It was nice to laugh since good laughs were hard to come by. Y'know what they say: laughter was the best medicine, and I think I just received a laugh that'll last me several days. I still couldn't believe at how serious they were about their coffee. How did you even come about to ordering something like that? At least Luke thought it was funny. It felt amazing to laugh with him, since it had been many years since we actually laughed together. It made me miss the old times when we would sit together, crack silly jokes, and get in trouble with Mrs. Mayfield about every day‒ who threatened to separate us, but she never did. Things like this made me remember moments where I liked Luke, but I couldn't. What happened in sixth grade haunted me, bringing me back to a reality where I knew I could never live in world where a guy like Luke Armstrong could ever like a girl like me.