Chapter 146 Chapter One Hundred And Forty Six
"Will you please stop this?" Jake pleaded, trying to position himself between the two groups. "This is insane!"
"I will, gladly," Allison said, her voice dripping with venom. "As soon as you and your band of freaks get the fuck off my lunch table."
She turned her attention back to me, stalking forward until she was only inches from my face.
I shrank back in fear, not keen to find out what part of my body she would manhandle next but it didn’t help.
She got even closer, bringing her face so close to mine that we were nose to nose. I had never seen anyone with a more bloodthirsty expression in my life.
Her finger jabbed into my chest, once, twice, then three times, using each poke to emphasize her words.
"Do you honestly think getting a makeover and putting on a few discount clothes puts you on the same level as me?" She laughed, her eyes full of cruelty.
"Bitch, you're still the same pathetic nobody you always were. You are the mud underneath my Louboutins, do you hear me? Just a little insect that I can crush in my sleep. And before this term is over, I'm going to make sure every single person in this school remembers exactly where you belong, in the fucking dirt where I found you."
I nodded slowly, my gaze falling to the floor. I had heard her loud and clear.
"What the fuck is going on here?" Jace's voice boomed across the cafeteria. “Get out of my way. Move!”
The crowd parted slightly as he pushed through, his eyes scanning the scene.
He spotted us in the centre of the crowd, me with my hair dishevelled and tears threatening to spill from my eyes, Noah's arm around my waist, and Allison being held back by Madison and Tracy, while the entire football team and cheer squad faced off like two rival armies.
"What the hell happened?" he demanded, his voice deadly quiet now.
"The new girl sat in Allison's chair," someone offered helpfully.
"Then Allison pulled her off her seat by her hair and said she was going to kill her," another student added.
Jace's expression went lethal. He turned to face Allison, his whole body language radiating barely controlled fury. "Fuck this shit. This has gone far enough, Allison. For fucks sake, what the hell is your problem?"
"My problem?" Allison let out a hysterical laugh. “You’re the one who had a problem, you ungrateful cheating bastard!”
I watched in silent horror, staring at Allison while she pointed at Noah, then at Jace, her voice rising to a shriek. "That's the guy your girlfriend is cheating on you with! Did you know that?!”
She glared at me then, “I saw them both, Jace and this bitch, together at the park yesterday, practically eating each other's faces off with his little brother and my little sister as witnesses!"
If this were happening to literally anyone else and not me, I would’ve laughed at the loud gasp the whole crowd made.
But no, it wasn’t an episode of a bad reality TV show, it was my real life.
I watched in HD as a group of strangers all pulled out their phones just to record every second of my life falling apart, just for shits and giggles.
Noah's jaw tightened, but his voice remained calm and controlled. "I'm not going to discuss our relationship in public with you, Allison. My girlfriend and I prefer to keep those details personal."
But I could see the heavy tension in his shoulders, how his eyes flicked to Jace full of hatred.
"But you're not actually in a relationship, are you?" Jace shot back, taking a step closer to Noah. “You say she's your girlfriend but we both know she isn’t.”
And he didn’t stop there, “You're just using her to get back at me because you're a manipulative piece of shit who can't stand that she'd rather be with me than your fake-ass, trust-fund—"
"Now's your chance, Jace!" Marcus yelled from somewhere in the crowd. "Teach that guy a lesson!"
"If he has a problem with me," Noah said coolly, "he can speak with my lawyers. Not everyone handles things like a caveman, Jace. Control yourself."
"Lawyers?" Jace laughed, bitter and harsh. “Yeah I thought you’d say that, it’s definitely on brand for you to hide behind lawyers like a fucking coward—"
"At least I don't solve every problem with my fists like some kind of Neanderthal. Now run off back to Daddy before he grounds you again.” Noah spat back.
"Can we just go?" I said desperately, tugging on Nicole's sleeve. "Please? I’ve had enough of this. I'm not even hungry anymore."
"You're not hungry, Piggy?" Allison's voice cut through everything else. "You sure about that?"
It happened in almost slow motion, Allison grabbed a heaping handful of spaghetti from the plate of a stunned freshman, squeezed it up in her hand, and then hurled it directly at my face.
The pasta hit me with a wet slap, marinara sauce exploding across my cheeks, my hair, my brand-new shirt. I felt wet noodles slide down my neck and into my collar.
The cafeteria went dead silent for exactly one second.
"That's it," Nicole said, her voice terrifyingly calm. "You're going down, Allison."
"No, no, no, no—" Jake started.
But Nicole had already grabbed a massive slice of chocolate cake from the dessert table. She wound up like a pitcher at a baseball game and launched it with perfect accuracy.
It hit Allison square in the chest, exploding in a shower of frosting and crumbs.
"Shit," Jace muttered.
"FOOD FIGHT!" someone screamed from the back of the cafeteria.
And then all hell broke loose. A dinner roll whizzed past my head, and chocolate pudding splattered against the window behind me.
“Get them!” Nicole screamed at Jake.
War cries erupted from every corner as students grabbed whatever food was within reach and hurled it at anyone and everyone.
“Food fight in this economy?” Jake sighed and shook his head, “Damn, better make it worth it then.”
He picked up an entire tray of tacos off a table next to him, smiled and gave an evil smile that matched Nicole’s perfectly, and threw it at Marcus's head with a loud Thunk!
A very satisfied Nicole ran over to Jake and gave him a high five, “God, I could kiss you right now. I’ve been wanting to do that to Allison and her clique ever since I met her!”
Meanwhile, the air was filled with flying food, pizza rolls, and mashed potatoes. All three hundred something students had been waiting for an excuse to lose their minds, and now they’d finally found an opportunity to do it.
I stood frozen in the centre of it all, sauce dripping down my face, my beautiful first-day-back outfit completely ruined, wondering how in the hell my life had spiralled from anonymous nobody to this catastrophe in the span of six hours.
Eventually, I found a seat, walked slowly over to it and sat down, putting my head in my hands and groaning with exhaustion.
Suddenly the cafeteria doors burst open with a bang, making me flinch.
Coach Ellis stood in the doorway, his face red with fury, his whistle already at his lips.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"