Chapter 2 Cliques

DURING lunch, Kace and Nix sat on their usual table in the cafeteria. Chester showed up together with the other members of the editorial board, Kenneth Davis, Brandon Bailey and Maximilian King for their emergency meeting.

"So, what do we do Chief?" Brandon laid his tray on the table and sat next to her.

"I...honestly don't know," she answered him with a bothered look.

The three guys felt that their EIC was definitely feeling a lot of burden now. They knew how much she wanted to keep the publication alive.

"How about we post announcements for applicants on the bulletin boards?" The round-eyed guy, Kenneth suggested.

Max narrowed his eyes at him. "We already did that and it will just be ignored, Ken."

"Then do you have any better ideas?" Kenneth turned to the others.

They all shook their heads. Just as Kace was about to say something, the door of the cafeteria opened and revealed four guys approaching in a line. Everyone literally stopped and stared as they made their way inside.

Starting from the left was the guy from the martial arts club, Theodore Hwang. Beside him were the Oliver brothers, their classmate, Stephen and the Student Council President, Jhun Michael. And the last guy who was walking infront of them was the ever-popular soccer captain, Chandler Andrew Parker.

Kace knew the latter really well. He was the long-time bestfriend of her brother Kris. They'd known each other since primary school. He was the exact opposite of her brother – arrogant, loud and narcissistic. It was still a mystery to her as to how they got along.

The six-foot-three stunner, Chandler walked in with so much poise like he was modelling on a runway. This scene had been quite a routine that she already grew tired of it. They all watched as the popular guys sat on their exclusive table.

Suddenly, another guy with a tanned skin showed up, whom Kace knew was from the dance club. He was with another guy who was a complete stranger to her. They high-fived each other as they reached the others on their table.

"Ah! They're so dreamy." Kace heard her bestfriend say. Nix stared at them like she was seeing celebrities in person.

She shook her head in disbelief. "Yeah right."

"I wonder where the other one is?" Nix commented as she continued to stare at them.

She turned to them again and realized that her brother was missing. "You mean Kris?"

Nix nodded. "Yeah."

Then, the guys on their table turned to Kace and reacted. "We thought you're supposed to be the president of their Anti-fans club. Why do you know their names?" Brandon asked her suspiciously.

"I just...heard it. Besides, who wouldn't know them?" Kace threw as an alibi.

"Yeah makes sense." Kenneth mumbled.

"Aren't you guys tired of seeing them everyday strutting their stuff like they own this whole place?" Kace pierced a look at them.

"Yeah. I guess you're right. Especially that Chandler. I still can't believe he dated two girls at the same time," Nix commented.

"Three... actually," Max corrected her.

Nix heaved a sigh. "Can't blame them though. He's too gorgeous. If he'd ask me out, I'd probably say yes."

She raised a brow at her. "Are you serious?"

Nix nodded leading Kace to shoot her a death glare. "All right! No!" She took back her words, though in her mind, she had also been dreaming of going out with the most popular guy in school.

"Uh... Kace?" Brandon suddenly butted in.

She turned to him with a questioning look. "Why?"

Brandon was hesitant but then he leaned closer to her anyway. "The new student has been staring at you ever since we got here."

Kace paused, absorbing what he said. "New student?"

Nix searched for the new student and when she finally saw him, she exclaimed, "OMG! He really is."

Kace didn't want to confirm it. Why would he even look? "Maybe he just happened to look this way."

"Oh okay. Then what about the smirk he gave you earlier?" Nix questioned her again.

"Smirk? How are you even sure that he was aiming at me?" She answered, taking the courage to glance behind her. They were right. He was still looking.

She gulped and quickly looked away. He had been really weird since they bumped into each other earlier. But, she couldn't figure out the reason.

Why is he giving me that scrutinizing look when we don't even know each other? Unless, there was something else I didn't know?

***

KACE just finished having her lunch when she felt a nudge on her side. With her brows creased, she spoke, "Nix, what do you want?"

"Luke is staring at the table of the popular guys." Nix lifted her chin up towards the direction of the table in the middle of the cafeteria.

Kace shook her head, ignoring her friend. "Not again Nix."

"Can we just eat silently?" Max suggested without looking at the both of them.

"Yeah Nix. Why don't you just go to his table if you want to talk to him so badly?" Brandon commented, a slight pang of irritation evident in his tone.

Nix shot the guy a death glare. "Well, maybe I should. I'll ask why he's always looking at my bestfriend."

"Okay. Do it. If you can't, you have to buy me lunch tomorrow." Brandon challenged her with a grin on his face.

Nix stood up from her seat.

Kace quickly got hold of her bestfriend's hand and held it tight, stopping her from moving. "Nix, what are you doing? Are you insane?"

"Kace, relax. I'll just welcome him here in our school." Nix assured her with a smile.

Kace sighed and let go of her hand. They all watched as Nix made her way towards the new kid.

Focusing her eyes on her phone, Kace attempted to not look at her bestfriend's attempt to talk to the new guy.

Suddenly, she heard the guys beside her chuckle. "Ah! I knew she couldn't do it," Brandon guffawed.

Chester tapped Kace by the shoulder, catching her attention. "You can look now, Chief. It was a failure."

She slowly looked up and saw Nix heading to the washroom, instead of going back to their table. Worried about her bestfriend, she stood up from her seat to run after her.

The guys looked at her in confusion.

"Kace, where are you going?" Ken asked.

Max turned to her. "Are you going to talk to the new kid?"

"No. I'll just go get a soda," she answered.

"Oh! I'll have one," Chester ordered.

Max raised his hand. "Me too."

"Me three," Ken added.

"Me-" Brandon got cut off when Kace answered. "I'll just go get one for each of us, all right?"

"Thanks Chief," they chorused.

Walking over towards the vending machine, she pressed the button of 'soda' and bent down as the bottles dropped down from the machine. She held the five bottles and carried them infront of her chest.

As she turned around, her legs failed at her, losing her balance and hitting someone behind her. A loud sound ensued, splatter of food flying everywhere as the plastic tray landed on the ground.

Why was I having such a bad day today? She mumbled to herself, bowing her head at the person she just bumped into.

Sighing, she brought out her handkerchief to wipe the stain on her victim's clothes. But when she was about to reach her, the girl infront of her shoved her hand away. "You think you can just wipe my face with that?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" she got cut off when the girl butted in.

"Didn't mean to? You just spilled food on me. Your sorry isn't enough." The girl raised her tone causing everyone in the area to look at them.

Feet frozen on the ground, Kace wasn't able to defend herself at once. She had never met someone who was as rude as the person she was facing right now.

"Jules! That's enough!" An authoritative tone caught everyone's attention, breaking the intense atmosphere in the room.

Kace looked up and saw their student body president, Jhun Michael coming their way. Stephen was also walking beside his brother.

"She's the one who spilled on me," the girl, Jules cried, pointing at Kace dramatically.

"Jules, that was an accident." JM, being the SC president that he was, turned to her with a calm yet furious look.

"Accident or not, I don't care!" Jules raised a brow at Kace, lifting her hand and aiming towards her.

Stephen suddenly stopped her by the arm. "Jules, that's enough."

JM finally dragged Jules away from Kace.

Stephen moved near her, looking at her in worry. "Kace, are you all right?"

She nodded sheepishly. "Thank you, Stephen."

***