Chapter 10: Ensnared - Part 3
Funny thing about high school.
The way the hierarchy is formed is so completely mundane that it's almost laughable. Who decides who the most popular guys are? Even outside of high school, it goes without saying that popularity and success go hand in hand. To become popular, the first thing required of you if you want to become someone is to be successful in your respective field. This is even more apparent in fields that garner large audiences.
So what's the high school equivalent of this? For guys, the quickest way to stardom would be trying out for their respective school's football team. If you think about it, the most popular guy in school is always the quarterback right? The leading role in the team's offense; the shining star of the school's most recognizable sports team. Even major players of the baseball and basketball team pale in comparison to the popularity of the quarterback.
Naturally, by this logic, popularity for girls equates to being a member of the cheerleading squad. It's a position that really does justice in exemplifying both a woman's beauty as well as her athletic prowess in the public eye. As much as I hate to admit it, every time I watch the cheerleading squad perform, each cheerleader goes up a spot on my personal "would wife" power ranking.
Wait, that probably sounded a bit creepy, didn't it? Please cut me some slack, I promise you that I'm not that much lewder than the average teenage boy. These hormones are new to me, okay?
Anyway, the reason I brought all of this up was to talk about one thing: the key to getting into the panties of any girl you could ever want. If you already know the answer then we can say it on the count of three. One, two, three: music!
I'm not entirely sure what about musicians is so attractive to women, but every single musician I've known has been a bit of a womanizer. Well, as much as a womanizer as you can be at our age anyway. I mean, the term groupie exists simply because of how much women love being involved with them. But either way, it's a given that any successful musician is bound to be popular with girls.
Even if the guy behind the music is a completely narcissistic douchebag.
Which brings us to everyone's favorite Jack Bourne.
"Dude I'm actually so upset that you embarrassed us by picking such a bad Astolfo drawing. He doesn't normally have hips like that!"
"I couldn't help it… The joke doesn't work if they suspect anything so I had to go with a more feminine drawing."
Once our P.E class is over, three of us entered the changing room after everyone else had already left. The two of them have been arguing about this ever since the period ended for some reason, and it's kind of giving me a headache.
"Is this all you guys have been thinking about? You both played worse than usual out there."
"P.E is rigged, dude. There's literally no point in trying. I mean, why do I always end up on the same team as Sig? He is such a scatter-brained idiot. It fucking boggles my mind that he doesn't get hit by a truck on the way to school"
"Shut up Nick, at least I didn't burn out doing warm up laps."
"Yeah? Well at least I didn't catch Kennedy's pass with my gut."
"YEAH? Well at least I didn't keel over when Ron broke my ankles!"
"God, will you two give it a rest?"
I sigh as I step into the shower of the changing room after getting completely nude.
"Chase just be honest, which one of us was more useless during basketball?"
"To be honest, you were both pretty bad. I'm not saying I'm good or anything, but… Pfft… Sig you were a riot today! Ahahaha! "
"Grrr…"
"Hahaha, right? Sig is such a NERD LOL!"
"Ahahaha, and the look on Nick's face when Ron got past him was amazing. A deer in headlights will never describe anything so perfectly again."
"Tch."
"Yeah, don't ever forget that you're a nerd too, Nick. We're in this together bro. Like Simon and Kamina."
"Didn't those two… Actually, you know what? Never mind. And P.E sucks anyway, so I don't really see the point of this topic. Who needs sports when I can just play videogames all day?"
After finishing up my shower, I turn the water off and step out.
"Don't be like that dude, you need to take better care of your body. You're lucky your metabolism is pulling most of the weight for you right now."
"Yeah yeah, sorry I don't have a well-toned body like your normie ass. I bet Scarlet bites her lip whenever you take your shirt off in front of her."
I place my towel on my head and begin drying my hair.
"Yeah, I'm the worst. I get it. How dare I date Scarlet, right? What sort of evil guy am I for betraying you guys?"
"Yeah, that's what I said."
"Huh?"
I remove the towel from my face.
"…"
That's strange. I could've sworn I was in the middle of talking to Nick and Sig.
Now they're gone and the only person left in their place is…
"Yo."
He greets me with a sardonic grin.
Before me is a well-groomed guy with slicked-back brown hair and blue eyes. For some reason, he's completely clothed despite being in the males shower room. Not just clothed, but he's rocking a leather jacket for god's sake. Is he trying to make a statement? And that jawline…
"Liam Hemsworth?"
"Jack Bourne."
"Oh, that so? What's up man?"
I take the moment to dry my arms and shoulders with the towel.
"If it's true that you're dating Scarlet, then you probably have an idea of why I'm here."
"Do you want my autograph or something?"
He clicks his teeth, then takes a moment to calm himself.
"Break up with her."
To be honest, I did expect guys who didn't approve of my relationship with Scarlet to show up, but…
This is happening sooner than I thought.
She must be surprisingly popular then. I mean, this guy isn't even a freshman!
"You know, it's awfully nosy of you to butt into someone else's relationship like that. You're acting kind of like a caretaker right now."
"Caretaker? No. I just think the two of you are far from a good match. In fact, it disgusts me to think that someone like you is even breathing in the same air as her."
He shifts his posture while running his hand through his hair.
"Let's face it, she's way too good for a degenerate geek like you to even consider dating, y'know?"
"Oh, are you in love or something?"
"L-"
For just a moment, it looked as if he wanted to laugh. It really was just a moment though, as he managed to catch himself before it happened.
"Let's not change the topic. You're the one answering to me."
"To you? Really? Okay then, why don't I talk about you Jack? I've heard a healthy number of rumors that you've been in more than your fair share of relationships."
His smirk disappears.
"Even if I have, what's that got to do with anything?"
"I'm just thinking, right? If those rumors are true, then what do you have to gain from Scarlet and I breaking up? Well, if you think about it for more than two seconds it's already kind of obvious, isn't it?"
"I don't care about fake rumors or gossip and neither should you. I'm only here to ask that you do everyone a favor and drop Scarlet today. Or else…"
He lifts his fist slightly above his shoulder for a moment.
And then suddenly, with almost no warning, he slams it into one of the lockers with every ounce of force he can muster into his arm. A thunderous, metallic sound echoes through the changing room. In fact it was so boisterous that it almost felt alive. A roar of his determination to not let me have Scarlet anymore.
The hands that were drying my body had completely frozen up.
"Look, I think I'm being nicer than I have to be by asking. Seeing the two of you together kinda pissed me off yesterday, y'know?
Seriously..?
"You get the position you're in now, don't you?"
This is… More worrying than I thought.
After completely drying my body, I sling my towel over my shoulder and face him.
"I'm sorry, but I really can't do it. It's way more complicated than you think it is."
"Huuuh? You're just talking out of your ass, aren't you?"
"Well, maybe I am. Either way, I don't see myself breaking up with her at the moment."
He grins.
It almost feels as if he prefers that I'm being defiant about it to begin with.
"Haaah, that's how you're gonna play it huh? All right, all right. Fair enough. I'll stop pestering you about it. But this is probably gonna pan out for you worse in the long run, y'know? Well, just don't beat yourself up about it later."
After leaving me with those words, he snickers to himself like some sort of third-rate movie villain and walks out of the changing room.
"Haaah, that was stressful…"
Jack Bourne. He's a bit of a celebrity at this school.
He's the vocalist and lead guitarist of a band called "Think". The group of four came together thanks to their mutual passion for music during their first year at school when they ended up creating a huge splash in the local community. Despite only being sophomores, their talent has already granted them free use of one of the two music rooms at school whenever they so desire it.
That said, his music isn't the only source of his popularity. Jack has a bit of a reputation as a player. Rumor has it that he's already dated many of the most popular girls at this school. Judging by his narcissistic personality, it's probably nothing more than a game to him.
What's really surprising though, is that somehow, despite those slanderous rumors, he's managed to maintain his popularity with girls. To this day he's continued to date more influential students every other week. If I had to guess, I'd say that to the girls of this school, dating Jack is probably some kind of badge that validated their self-worth.
Anyway, the fact that he's interested in Scarlet can only mean one thing. She's most likely just a stepping stone for him. His end goal may just be the most popular freshman girl, Jennifer Swift.
Naturally I couldn't care less about Jennifer. She's already obsessed with the concept of wearing men as badges so dating Jack wouldn't be anything new. As a matter of fact, they'd be a match made in hell.
But if my suspicions are right and this is the guy that Scarlet has been texting all this time, then it's apparent that he is more than just validation for her. I mean, this would be her first real boyfriend, right?
For someone who feels so nervous around men to be dumped for her best friend like that…
I don't think it takes a psychology major to tell you what that could do to her.
Sheesh, this girl is too much. It feels like I'm the one who's caretaking.
Anyway, I can think about this more when the time comes.
"You guys can stop hiding now, he's gone."
On cue, the two who were previously in the middle of a conversation with me suddenly come out from behind some lockers.
"H-haha… Hiding? Who, us? Don't be ridiculous."
"We are samurai, Chase-dono. We would never leave our ally to fight alone."
"Come on, if you guys were scared then you can just be honest with me. I won't blame you for it."
The two of them stop for a moment to look at each other, then nod and turn back to me.
"W-well, the truth is…"
"It's because…"
They take a nervous gulp in unison before Nick continues.
"We didn't want him to see our d*cks!"
"… Eh?"
"Yeah! Our d*cks!"
"We don't want normies to make fun of our d*cks!"
"It's embarrassing to be shamed for our d*cks!"
"Down with d*ckshamers!"
"D*cks! D*cks! D*cks!"
"STOP SAYING D*CKS!"
Goddammit, I got caught up in their pace again.
Is that why we went into the changing room way after everyone was already done?! Talk about insecure! And besides…
"You don't have to remove your underwear in the changing room."
"What?"
"Seriously?!"
I lift my palm up to my face and shake my head.
"Seriously. You really don't have to remove your underwear if you don't want to. In fact most people don't. It's way weirder to stay back just to shower naked and alone."
The two of them end up breathing a heavy sigh of relief.
"Haha, silly us. Thank you once again, Chase-dono. Still though…"
Sig scratches his chin while looking back at the door.
"What was up with that conversation, though? We couldn't catch most of it, but he seemed to want you and Scarlet to break up. What's up with that?"
"Ah, yeah. I figured guys like that would start showing up. You don't have to worry about me though, I'll be fine."
"Woooow, really? I guess you have everything under control, huh? As expected of the newest member of our group… Right, Nick?"
Nick looks away for a moment.
"Y-yeah, let's leave it to Chase. Hurry up and get dressed so we can leave."
I guess even they can be worried about me, huh? That's kind of comforting.
Seems like I've chosen some good friends after all.
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