The Trouble-Makers

"Stella?" Jaime asked again, but I didn't answer him. I just looked away, my cheeks flushing. "Come on, Stella, what's up?" His squeezed his hands on my shoulders.

"Come on, Jaime," I heard someone call behind him, probably Jack. "What's the-" I was right, it was Jack, because he paused mid sentence when he saw me. "Oh shoot," he said. These guys weren't used to seeing a crying girl, I guess. But right behind him was Alex and he shot straight to my side.

"Stella, what happened?" Alex murmured, replacing Jaime's hands with his own hands. "You can tell us, we trust you."

"Z-Zack," I stammered, fighting to get my voice back. I always lost it at times like this.

I felt Alex's arms stiffen. "What did he do?" His voice came out hard and sharp.

"N-nothing, I mean, I did something," I explained more now.

Alex relaxed a bit before taking me over to one of the outside benches. Jack and Jaime had disappeared now, but I was thankful to have Alex there. I still didn't understand why he was willing to go out of his way like this for me.

"Okay, what did you do?" Alex asked, one of his arms around me. It felt strange to have him touching me like that, but I knew he was doing it to comfort me, so I leaned into him.

"We're over," I whispered, shaking my head. "It's stupid, I know, to cry over this when I was the one who said it was over. But I was dragging my feet for so long, I just didn't want to upset him because although he's part of the clique he is a nice guy. I just didn't want to see him hurt."

Alex sighed, squeezing me closer. "I'm sorry, Stella, but you did the right thing. If you weren't feeling it, then it's better to end it than to pretend you felt the same way."

I slowly nodded my head, willing myself to believe his words. I sniffled and wiped my eyes. "Oh, god, I'm so sorry you had to see me like this," I said, pulling away. "God, I never cry, I'm sorry."

A crooked smile hinted at Alex's mouth. "It's no problem." We both stood up and I looked around to see that the rest of the Trouble-Makers were on the other side of the courtyard. "You think the clique is still going to accept you?"

"Doesn't matter, because I'm going back to being a loner," I said, shrugging my shoulders. That was one thing I was grateful; not having to deal with the clique's crap everyday. Their drama only in one day was enough to give me a headache.

"Seriously?" Alex asked. "Why don't you just hang out with us more often?"

"Because I'm not a Trouble-Maker," I explained. "I don't think Jack would be so gracious to let me into your guys' group."

"You don't have to be a Trouble-Maker to hang out with us. We hang out with Vic and Mike a lot, and they're not Trouble-Makers, even though we want them to be." He shrugged his shoulders. "And maybe you'd make a good Trouble-Maker yourself." He winked.

"Are you kidding me? I don't have the guts to get a teacher pissed off at me, well unless they're asking for an attitude. The only place I misbehave is at parties," I said, before adding, "and I mean cool parties. Not the kind this stupid school hosts."

One of the corners of Alex's mouth tugged upwards, and he shook his head. "I would've never guessed that you were a party animal."

"Not at first, but when I get a few drinks in me..." I shrugged my shoulders.

"Whoa, I have to take you to a party sometime," Alex said, smiling down at me.

"Plan on it," I said back. "But I have to get going, Jay will probably be wondering where I'm at." I reached down and picked up my bag, swinging it around my shoulders.

"Jay?" He asked, his voice stiff suddenly.

"My cat," I explained, and Alex couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"Okay, well, see you later, Kent," Alex said, taking a few steps away. "And I'm holding you to that party invitation."

"Got it."

***

"Jay-Jay," I said enthusiastically as my cat started rubbing on my legs. "How was my baby boy?" I asked, picking him up and scratching under his chin. He started purring now, and I smiled. I walked over to the living room and plopped down onto a couch. My legs were sore from walking home, even though it wasn't a long walk at all. They were just sore because I was so used to Zack driving me to and from school. Now that I think about it, I was going to have a hard time getting used to that schedule of walking again.

I sighed and reached into my bag to pull out my phone. It was still on silent from being in school, not that I ever got many text messages from anyone. But this time proved me a liar, because on it I had a new text message from the queen herself.

1 New Message!
From: Nicki Smith
It's about time you realized you weren't good enough for him, you mutt.

I felt my eyes narrow and my free hand squeezed into a fist. It was just a simple text, but it was enough to piss me off. I guess I should've expected I would become a target of the clique now, but I guess I'd prefer to have them as my enemies and the Trouble-Makers as my friends when it came down to it. I let out a sigh and threw myself against the couch, almost knocking into Jay who let out a surprised meow.

"God, I wish I had one of their numbers," I said to Jay, letting my phone fall to the carpet.

Notes