#popwells

arms cross, lips pursed together in the smallest of pouts. “i’m not lying to either of us, i’m fine.” after all, they were only fake dating to screw up her father’s embarrassing attempts to arrange her with one of his colleagues son. their relationship was purely platonic, glued together with the goal to deceive. fake. not real. no feelings, whatsoever. and yet, jeanette’s stomach had dropped, twisted, and churned when she found out ( through the grapevine ) that zac had a date tonight. “seriously. i’m good. have fun on your date.”

shit. he knows. zac knows he fucked his younger sister––but how? thanks to sunny ( and eric’s cowardly decision not to own up to his feelings––it was easier to put the blame on sunny. anything else would mean he’d have to process how he felt about the blonde  ), the two haven’t done anything in weeks. hell, eric’s practically going through withdrawals. eric sets down the game set and turns to zac. be normal. casual. “what’s up?” eric asks, brows raising. “jeanette fake-dump you yet?” 

"hey, me too!" jt exclaims. eyes narrow as he quickly realizes who he’s talking to––one of manny’s spirit squad friends. he backtracks a little. “i mean, probably not in the same way. i’m weird in an annoying ‘no-i-won’t-go-out-with-you’ and a ‘please-stop-breathing-my-air’ way. not in a... wait, why do people think you’re weird?”

"jesus christ," jeanette mutters, lips curling in disgust. the more they spoke about this, the more she began to regret asking zac for this favour. it turns out, her mostly-absent yet irritable father had started auctioning her off at his work. pushing all the sexist and backwards ideologies aside, jeanette would rather be dead than date someone her father approved of. “let’s just stick with ‘babe’––please. you’re supposed to be helping me, not making my life intolerable.” jeanette says, shuddering at the mere thought of having zac refer to her as ‘babywaby dearie poo’. “on that note, i feel like we need to lay out some more ground rules, because, god, if you ruin this for me, i will shove your dick into a pencil sharpener.”

eric was never the type to beg, especially when it came to girls. on the rare occasion he wanted a girl back, he’d get her. easy. but he was always on the receiving side of things, the one who decided if they would get back together, and never the other way around. and yet, here he was, taking an unexpected detour from the popwell’s bathroom to slip into sunny’s room. “sunny, come on,” eric says, hushed tone to avoid being heard by zac. "we’re good together. we can’t be done. i made a mistake—i should have just walked you home regardless.” regardless of not wanting to tell zac. eric still doesn’t, because who knows what that’d do to their years of friendship. why couldn’t sunny understand that? 

globes stop in place, hovers over the the second volume of her current read of the month. he’s berating her, trying to push and push like he’s been doing the moment she transferred. it’s understandable, it’s sensible, even. but doesn’t mean the heat on her skin doesn’t continue to leave a fever feeling. calliopes jaw clenches, fingers pressing down tighter against the parchment, almost makes her wonder if her fingerprint would become a permanent mark against it.    “    what is it that you want, popwell?    “    blond questions through gritted teeth, thin brows meeting as her head lifts towards him.    “    you don’t know me. and i don’t like you any more than you like me, so why bother me? just .. go away.    “

paige pauses for a moment, lowering her arms. then, she squints in suspicion, a teasing smile playing on her lips. ‘ though he’s actually GONE, so you can . . . let go of my waist now, ’ paige instructs as zac’s arm lingers at her side, keeping her pulled close to his frame. she has too much pride to allow the charade to carry on. ‘ did you know that loser ? ’ 

and just like that, just when jeanette needed him, zac appeared. though, she’d never admit this to anyone, let alone him. she’s sure his ego would burst and she’d never hear the end of it. “yeah,” jeanette huffs and shoots a glare to the annoyance in front of her. some people couldn’t accept no as an answer—their parent’s probably spoiled this fuck rotten and now he thinks he can force anyone to go to the dance with them. “well, actually, i’d say he’s more of a pest. like a cockroach that won’t die.” she pauses for a moment, and then says to the pest, “cockroaches look terrible in suits.”