Peaches 'N Cream

5. Honey

THE FIRST TWO WEEKS OF SCHOOL WERE TOLERABLE. Jericho got to see the few real friends he had every other day, and his classes were easy.

Everything was incredibly peachy until the school's football season officially started. It was Friday, and spirit week would finally begin in a few weeks, probably going to be fucking ridiculous again this year.

"Your daily rumor report is that Faith Thatcher got an S.T.D at the summer bash, Mr. Whitaker is very hot and divorced, and Joseph is apparently going to homecoming with Jessica Johnson."

Angelica took a giant bite out of her chicken sandwich, and Cadence scrolled through his Twitter feed for the fifth time in the last three minutes. A few of the theater people joined them today, mostly talking about who was auditioning for the upcoming short plays.

It was pouring down rain, and the dreariness outside somehow made its way into the building. Everyone looked exhausted or upset, but the teachers were still trying to shove the whole "excitement" and "school spirit" agenda down their throats.

"Our football team is the only reason everyone glorifies homecoming."

Jericho rolled his eyes; he didn't want to think about any of it. He has yet to accept Joseph's apology for sucking faces with one of the twins. Apparently, Jessica saw them that day during lunch, and when the blond wouldn't fess up about exactly what they were talking about, she forced herself onto him. Disgusting.

The Johnson sister's, Johanna and Jessica, are hot, white, and rich, that's it. Jessica's the 'evil' twin but is also good at pretending to be nice. That was the problem because it went against high school lore, she's supposed to be a super bitch, but apparently that's not the case. Bullshit.

That, however, wasn't the reason he disliked her. The cafeteria suddenly became even quieter than it already was when Joseph walked in, the two red-heads following closely behind with another guy.

Jessica pulled a lock of her magenta, shoulder-length hair behind her ear, and Johanna smiled at a few of her volleyball teammates. A pair of honey-brown eyes scanned the entire cafeteria before redirecting their attention back to a slightly annoyed looking Joseph.

He led the small group to their usual table. Did he mention they were cheerleaders? Yeah.

As soon as they all sat down, someone pressed the resume button on life because everyone continued their previous conversations as if nothing happened. Now, that right there was why he didn't like them. They were idolized and it was weird.

Popularity wasn't all it's cracked up to be, and he'd never understand why anyone willingly let themselves be swept up in it. It screwed with your sense of self and it looked exhausting too.

There wasn't a lot of bullying at Alamance, though, and most of the student body, taking into account that they lived in the rural south, were a little more open-minded than you'd expect. People still talked, though, and when they did, good lord did it get around fast.

"Well," Angelica clapped her hands together excitedly, "My environmental science teacher said that I could come in during lunch to finish a quiz, so I'll see y'all tomorrow, bye!"

She stood up quickly, and bolted out of the side cafeteria doors in the complete opposite direction of the science hall. Jericho shrugged and continued to eat,

Lunch eventually ended, and it was time for his dreaded fourth block; he dragged himself to his English class, where Joseph was already seated.

Except, he wasn't alone. Standing around him in an almost cult-like semi-circle was probably half of the team. That wouldn't have been an issue if it also meant that his desk wasn't crowded.