Stephanie couldn't believe the AUDACITY, the NERVE, the-the darn near STUPIDITY. How dare Derek try to act as if last night didn't happen? To think that she felt guilty about liking Virgil made her blood boil. For all she knew, Derek could have had feelings for Jocelyn Lee way before Stephanie even thought about talking to Virgil! She shoved Derek away from her as hard as she could, careless about whether or not the students stared.
"I saw you, Derek!" she snarled. "I saw you kissing Jocelyn Lee at The Burger Hour and you're trying to get back together? Especially by telling me that I'm WRONG? That-That I somehow confus-?"
"Shh, Steph!" Derek glanced around and tried to lead her further up in between the cars.
"No! Don't touch me," she slapped his hands away. "I don't care what any of these people think, they don't even know the whole story!"
"Stephanie please. You're making it difficult for me to try to talk to you," Derek pleaded.
"About what? As far as I'm concerned, we've nothing to talk about."
"Yes we do! About what happened with Jocelyn Lee last night? Steph I didn't kiss her, SHE kissed ME."
The pretty blonde scoffed. She saw them with her own two eyes and it definitely seemed like he was going along with it.
"I don't care. You and I are DONE, you can do whatever you want, date whoever you want and kiss whoever you want," Stephanie laid out the hard truth. "But DON'T expect us to get back together, especially by telling me a lie."
"I care about you! She doesn't mean anything to me!" Derek protested.
She shook her head, closed her eyes and felt a single tear drop roll down her cheek. Steph wasn't really sure why she was crying, but she felt tired. "I've had enough, Derek."
"But Stepha-" he tried to grab her arm.
"No. No more," she blocked him. "Don't ever try to talk to me again or I'll talk to my parents. And my mom has already threatened to place lawsuits against you."
He froze.
The pretty blonde didn't wait another second. She walked away. "Goodbye, Derek."
...
Charlie and Jeanette had received an early ride to school from her mom. The short teen developed an idea roughly 10 hours ago and now he just HAD to run simulations through the computer in the audio/visual room.
Jeanette was sweet enough to bring along hot chocolate for them both and she sipped on hers as she watched her crush work. He muttered to himself, checked blueprints, calculations, sipped hot chocolate and scribbled things out in his notebook.
"Okay, my clever crow," she yawned and leaned next to him. "What are you trying to do?"
"Trying to make these pods sync up through the watch, through the generator." Charlie didn't really speak in full sentences when he was working. Everyone who's seen him work knew it was basically him spewing his thoughts out loud.
"Pods?"
"Makes it easier to teleport. No more resetting," Charlie muttered. "Just toss one."
Jeanette frowned. It was too early for this, but she wanted to understand. "How would the watch and the pods like...work together?"
"Run Mode."
"The what now?"
"Push the start button to run, stop when you're done."
"Hehe, that rhymed." Jeanette figured it couldn't hurt to try to lighten the mood up. Especially since Charlie was confusing her the more he talked. After an ETERNITY, Charlie gave a cheer.
"Just as I thought!"
"It worked?"
Charlie jumped up from his seat as Jeanette tried to decipher the computer screen.
"All I need to do is find some sort of tiny robots to be able to link up through the watch and then we'll be able to travel without having to input the addresses or make some sort of psychological link to read our minds or some nonsense!"
Jeanette only heard about half of what he said and even then, she didn't understand him. However, she showed support and jumped up, clapping her hands in excitement. "Easiness!"
The short teen lit up thinking she understood him and in a moment of pure joy, he hugged her and kissed her cheek. She was surprised at first, but she happily returned the embrace. A third person scared them by clearing their throat.
Chester stood at the room's entrance, squinting his eyes at the pair.
"Ch-Chester," the short genius tried shuffle through his papers but he made a bigger mess. It wasn't a big deal, a hug and a peck on the cheek, but Charlie knew that stuff was disrespectful in the AV Club's room. He was only grateful he didn't get the urge to kiss her on the mouth!
Oblivious to the situation, Jeannette waved at Chester with her usual cheerful smile. "Good morning there!"
He ignored her, keeping his suspicious glare on Charlie. "How are you today, Commander Supreme?"
The short teen still couldn't look at him and he shrugged a shoulder while snatching up his papers. "Oh you know, just working in the name of science. How are you? Good, I should hope so. Oh my, I haven't noticed the time! We've got to run along now don't we? I'll see you later."
He usually babbled on when he was nervous, however this time he purposefully kept talking so Chester wouldn't be able to. He grabbed Jeanette's hand and got the heck out of there.
...
If Virgil could rub his eyes he would, but he had to hold his lunch tray. He stood frozen, staring at his lunch table. Was Stephanie really sitting there? Maybe it was some other confused pupil. Maybe he was hallucinating and no one was there. He glanced over to the popular table and saw them whispering amongst themselves, taking quick looks at Virgil's table. So he wasn't crazy.
He approached. "Steph?"
"Hi Virgil!" Her smile was as bright as ever, as if nothing bad had happened these past few days.
"You do realize where you're sitting right?"
"Yeah. I'm sitting with you and the others." She said it so naturally, it sounded like she did it every day.
"Ha, okay," he grinned, taking a seat next to her. He forgot about Chester and Eugene and felt embarrassed at their reactions. They regarded Steph like a pop star and took a seat.
"Stephanie Jameson? What are you doing here?" Chester asked with a toothy smile.
"Y-Yeah, shouldn't you be over with the populars?" Eugene said.
Stephanie giggled. "I just wanted to sit with Virgil and Jay and-Oh. There's Zeke now."
Zeke plopped his lunch bag down and dragged the chair out next to Virgil.
"Steph," he greeted simply.
"Hi Zeke! How has your day gone?"
"Good. And yours?"
"Great, thanks." She looked around the cafeteria. "When are the others coming?"
"Oh, Charlie and Jeanette will probably be working on something. They've been working through lunch and staying after school for about a week now," Virgil said.
"Ugh. The Commander Supreme and his GIRLFRIEND," Chester muttered with a scowl.
"His what now?" Zeke was surprised, but his tone sounded harsh to Chester and he jolted.
"Wait, and Jay?" Steph asked, perking Zeke's attention.
He glanced up the far flight of stairs. "She should be coming down in a few minutes. I'll go get her if she doesn't come."
"Okay."
...
Zeke ate a little faster than usual. Stephanie was receiving everyone's attention and he felt out of place. Clutching his empty lunch bag, he excused himself and headed to the library. Remembering the previous day, he glanced at the hall before going inside. Sure enough Jay wandered slowly, deep in thought.
"Hey!" Zeke caught up with her. "Aren't you planning to go eat today?"
"I'm not very hungry," she said. "And I don't want to sit in the library today. I just...I can't force myself to go down there."
She furrowed her eyebrows and her eyes projected anxiousness.
"Steph is sitting with us today, if that helps at all."
Jay frowned. "She is?"
"Surprised the hell out of everyone, you'd think she's some sort of a star with all the attention she's getting," Zeke said. He jerked his head to the side. "Come on. Let's go sit with everyone else."
"...Okay."
Zeke felt like he was leading a kid to his first day of school. Jay looked around the cafeteria cautiously, probably expecting something to happening.
"Look who I found," Zeke said.
"Jay!" Steph exclaimed happily.
"Hey partner," Virgil grinned.
"Hi guys," Jay waved. The joyous way she smiled made Zeke feel happy. He couldn't help but to grin himself.
"You can...take this seat if you want," Virgil offered the one next to him. "Leave your stuff here to save the seat and go get some food. The mashed potatoes are AMAZING."
"Okay, thanks."
As she slung off her messenger bag, Zeke looked at Eugene. "Hey, can you scoot over?"
The flimsy kid didn't seem to be paying attention, forcing Zeke to snap his fingers in front of his face. "Hellooo? Earth to Eugene. Scoot over."
"Oh, oh, okay."
Chester moved a seat over, giving his chair to Eugene and allowing Zeke to claim the chair next to Jay's. The biker accompanied her through the line, seeing as how she seemed intimidated, and when they returned Virgil told them about the Top Ten program showing later that night. The idea of having everyone hang out to watch it excited Virgil, plus he was positive Charlie would agree to watch it as well.
Chester and Eugene cheered and high-fived, thinking the invitation included them. However, Virgil wasn't mean. He shrugged and welcomed them as well, much to Zeke's annoyance. He didn't let it bother him much, especially since Jay actively agreed to participate as well. He watched her eat and she must have seen him from her peripherals because she looked at him with a sparkle in her eye. The best part was that even then her Vampire Smile didn't waver.
...
Jay was looking forward to later that night. Hanging out with everyone again (and those other two boys) was going to be great! She was in high spirits and decided she wanted to buy a cold drink, the thought of walking through A-Hall didn't bother her. Midway down the stairs, she heard a group of females-probably cheerleaders-talking and it didn't affect her until she heard them say, "Stephanie."
She hurried down and around the base, leaning against it to eavesdrop. The cheerleaders were in the open, Jay didn't understand how they could just talk crap like that. They didn't even try to lower their voices, allowing Jay to hear every word.
"-understand if I were in her shoes. Especially with how Derek's been acting lately. I would have broken up with him too."
"I heard she caught Derek and Jocelyn Lee doing something and THAT'S why she broke up with him."
"But she broke up with him when he almost got in a fight with those two idiots. I was there, I heard her."
Jay scowled. Zeke and Virgil were NOT idiots.
"That was them taking a 'break.' Steph officially broke up with him this morning, out in the parking lot."
"It's understandable, but sitting at a different table during lunch? Especially with a group of losers?" the girl talking scoffed. "With her reputation she'll be drawing attention and not the good kind."
"How long until she becomes one of them?"
"She won't. Her reputation will be hurt of course, but she's been popular all through high school. She's a cheerleader. Everyone knows her by now. She'll just have people talking crap behind her back."
"Oh my goodness, I CANNOT believe-I mean how did she even know those losers?" The girl's snicker sounded cruel.
"I don't know, but did you see that nerd's BIG GLASSES? They were huge!"
Their laughter made Jay feel nauseous, as if their voices were some sort of poison.
"Ugh, that blonde she was talking to needs a better haircut. His. Looked. Horrendous."
"He was ugly too."
"Hon, they all were. They need a stylist to help them. Especially that girl that was sitting with them. Her jeans were horrendous. They looked like hand me downs. Ugh."
Jay felt a fire burn in her chest as she heard the roasts. THIS is why she stayed away from people. They were backstabbing, judgmental assholes that deserved to be stuck in a horrible loop for all of eternity. But the fact that they criticized her hurt her the most. She tried her best to be neutral to the crowd, but they had the gall to mock the quality of her clothes.
I'm better off on my own, she thought bitterly as she stomped away, leaving the cheerleaders to their roasting session.