Disclaimer: - I don't own Bully, Rockstar does. I do own Sophie.

Chapter 21
The Darkside of Popularity

It was a lot of fun having a double life. I could 'hang out' with Mandy and the other cheerleaders knowing that I'm helping Earnest with his plan, then go play Grottos & Gremlins in Dragon's Wing with Beatrice, Melvin and everyone, while we eat burgers and not care about our weight. That was another thing that was great at Bullworth, Enda had slipped on something in the kitchen and some how broken her leg, so they brought in a replacement cook, John. He was a really nice guy, who had OCD, so he had memorized 2 things about everyone and knew all our names by the end of the day. All the Jocks called him a weirdo. I thought that was insensitive and rude, but I couldn't say anything at all about it.

"Morning Mandy, Sophie, and Pinky too!"John said, when it was our turn to get some food. "What can I get you today?"

"I'm like trying to put on 3 pounds, but I don't like want to be fat," Mandy said. Mandy was convinced John was a god, when it came to dietary advise, for some reason I didn't know.

"How about a cheese sandwich with whole wheat bread?" John suggested. "The cheese will help with the weight gain, along with the butter, but the wheat bread makes it healthy."

"Great, I'll have one of those then!" Mandy said, cheerfully. I started to suspect that she might have a crush on him.

John was kind of good looking, and was young, since he was just out of college. I'm sure Mandy wasn't the only one that had a crush on him. Then it was my turn.

"Ah, new cheerleader Sophie," John said, as he turned to me. "Don't tell me... pizza with pepperoni?" I nodded my head. "I knew it!" He served the food up on my tray.

As we moved further down the counter, to get a soda, Mandy turned to me and said, "Oh, so that explains why you are such a cow."

I looked down at myself, with a twinge of vanity. My uniform fit me perfectly. "I'm not a cow... my uniform fits me..." I muttered, before my voice gave in. I reached for a Beam Cola, only to find Mandy took the last one. I'll probably have to go to the machine in the foyer or something.

"Yeah, everyone knows that a cheerleader uniform shouldn't fit," Pinky said, her usual 'lovely' way. "It has to be loose on you."

I decided to ignore them. They don't realise it now, but their constant dieting was doing them more harm than good. While they talked about the four things I don't care about, (hair, fashion, gossip and boys), I sat looking over at the Nerds table, while eating my pizza. Today Algie had gotten a new cap, with a funny play on words on it, it said 'Orc what?', he was proudly showing it to Thad and Melvin. I couldn't help snickering, it was a very funny hat. Mandy misunderstood me, thinking my laughter was mocking.

"What losers! I mean, wearing hats that are total eye-sores!" Mandy said. "I, like totally, have half a mind to go over there and insult them."

I nodded my head, and returned to my pizza. I silently hoped that she wouldn't ask me to go with her. The last thing I wanted, was to go over there and mock my only real friends at this school. None of them were probably speaking to me, after I called Beatrice a nerd, in the insulting sense.

"In fact, Pinky, let's put a stop to that crime against fashion," Mandy ordered.

Mandy and Pinky rushed off to bully Algie into getting rid of that hat. I was relieved they didn't ask me to go. Once I had returned my empty tray, I walked out into the foyer, to get a soda from the machine. There wasn't really that many kids out here. Just Ted leaning with his back against the wall, watching Bucky and Cornelius talking on the other side of the foyer. I hadn't notice that Melvin had walked out after me, and joined Bucky and Cornelius in their discussion.

I approached the vending machine, and inserted my quarter. There was only one choice, yet they had five buttons for 'Beam Cola.' Seemed a waste to me. Just after I collected my soda from the slot, Ted approached me, and put his arm across my shoulder.

"'Sup?" Ted said, trying to act all cool.

I muttered something completely inaudible. Not only was Ted dating Mandy, but he was now hitting on me! I'd seen him do this move on Mandy numerous times. I thought he hated me, well, he did a couple of weeks ago.

"How about you and I go somewhere private, and get to know each other better?" Ted asked.

I gagged, not only because I found him repulsive, but because the smell of two stink bombs engulfed us. When I came around to my senses, I saw Ted charging after Bucky, Cornelius and Melvin, who split up to escape him. I knew that wasn't a hit to act like they hated me, they were helping me. I took a step towards the doors, to go get a shower, when I saw Christy stood there, open mouthed, staring at me. It was obvious that she had seen everything. Christy ran off to tell Mandy her juicy new gossip. I just knew, that when Christy told it, it wouldn't be Ted doing all the flirting.

There was nothing I could do about it now, I really needed to shower and change. Luckily, I did have a spare cheerleader uniform, Angie had made sure to give me two, so I had one for when the other was in the wash. When I was in the shower, I heard someone come in.

"Can you believe that nerd lover?" said someone I was sure sounded like Mandy. "The nerve to hit on Ted, when she knows he loves me."

"I know right? Ted wouldn't even look at a heifer like her," said a girl with a posh faux-British accent. Most likely Pinky.

"Yeah. Well, I'm not letting the loser get away with it," Mandy replied. "The only reason I let her on the squad, is because Ted's planning a little revenge hit on her and those disgusting Nerds."

"I don't even know why he bothers," Pinky replied. "She's nothing special. I could tell that, the minute she stepped foot in this school."

"Like, me too. You just know, that some people are a complete bitch," Mandy replied.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Christy had clearly twisted it, to make me out to be some temptress that had threw herself at Ted, and now Mandy and Pinky claimed to have hated me all along. I was sure that neither of them even knew who I was, before the rumours of me and Melvin were supposedly dating - even though we never were.

A/N: Another chapter! (About time too, Rose! XP) Thanks to everyone that reviewed! :D

For this one, I felt I should focus on all the backstabbing going on, and kinda link back to that part of the story when the Jocks tried to get revenge on her the first time.

I will work on my other stories, but because this one has been unfinished for longer than any of my stories, I'm giving it my full attention.

Thanks for reading! :D Rose X