The Anklebiters
She Gets What She Wants and She Breaks What She Gets
Seven days can feel like a year when you’re hurting. You can’t stop it, even though you want to. The only way to heal is to repair, and to repair means to clear the air. But that’s hard when the one you care for most hates your guts.
Hayley hated Alex. She hated him because of how short of a time span they had together, despite it all just being a plan. She hated him because of how much he impacted her life. She hated him because he was so nice to her, when she was just using him for her friends’ benefit. But most of all, she hated him because she loved him.
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Jenna and Hayley made their way towards the lunch line in the cafeteria, noticing all the confused looks the orange-haired girl was getting as to why she wasn’t with a particular Hustler at the moment. Only few at been notified of the big breakup between Hayley and Alex, and those who did were now spreading it like a wildfire to the confused. Sensing the looks, Jenna sent a glare to most of the students they walked by.
The friends were so distracted by the stares that Hayley didn’t know exactly where she was going. In just a second of turning her head, she bumped shoulders with a male walking the opposite way. Before she could turn and say sorry, she heard a familiar voice call behind them, “Hey, watch it!”
The two Anklebiters spun around at Jack’s grumble. Hayley glanced back, seeing Alex’s glare right on her as Jack’s brow furrowed. “Who the fuck do you think you are, asshole?!” Jenna growled their way. “You do not get to talk to anyone that way.”
The cafeteria fell silent almost instantly. All eyes remained on the members of the two most popular groups arguing. Noticing this, Hayley swallowed down her pride and started tugging on Jenna’s sleeve, muttering, “Jenna, please stop it.”
“No, Jack’s right,” Alex suddenly piped up, taking a step forward, “I don’t want her near me.”
“That’s it,” Jenna sneered, pulling away from her friend’s grip and throwing her fist up.
Hayley was just in time to drag her behind her. “Jenna,” she said through her teeth. The green-haired girl obliged, smoothing out her shirt. Hayley looked up at the almost scared faces of the two boys, and it was then she knew she needed to say something. But her anger suddenly took over, making her start something that wouldn’t help at all. “Oh, come on, Alex. Stop acting like a child.”
Alex cocked an eyebrow. “I think I have a right to act anyway I want since I found you making a move on my best friend.”
Hayley’s teeth started to grind in frustration, and she was surprised to hear the loud words that flew from her mouth, “You have no right to treat me not like a human being just because I made a mistake!”
“How do I know this wasn’t the first time? How do I know you didn’t do it other times, and you went even further with others?” Alex stepped closer to his former girlfriend, letting Jack’s mumbles for him to stop fade away. The cafeteria was so quiet, like it was only him and Hayley. “Please, enlighten me: how do I know?”
The ex-girlfriend scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “You sound like a child.”
If it were possible, Alex’s eyes would’ve popped out of their sockets at her words. “I’M A CHILD? Did we even mean anything? Could you feel it when you broke into my head? Tell me, was that kiss with Jack worth it? Was it perfect when you up and left me cynical?”
Jack was through with them making fools out of themselves, which caused him to step forward and pull on his friend’s jacket. “Alex, stop―”
“NO!” Alex opposed, struggling to get out of Jack’s hold as he watched Hayley’s teeth grind in anger. “You’re just a no good, two-bit, filthy, rotten―”
“IT WAS A SET UP!”
Hayley didn’t mean for it to come out so loud, but now that it was out, she almost felt herself relax. The tension and silence could be cut like a knife, she noticed, as Alex and the rest of the cafeteria stared at her with wide eyes. She looked across the room, now seeing the smile that had been creeping on Taylor’s face, and the shock on Tay and Abi’s. Hayley could then feel Jenna’s hand slip away from her shirt, surprised at her friend’s sudden actions. Jack blinked his eyes a couple times in understanding, and then he realized: all he had thought before―Hayley’s feelings being a lie and the relationship failing to be real―was right.
Hayley let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding in. “Our whole relationship was a setup … planned by the Anklebiters … to get back at you guys, the Hustlers, for starting your group and getting popular.” She opened her eyes to see Alex and Jack’s unreadable faces.
“I fucking knew it,” Jack whispered.
Alex took a second to compose himself from the shock. “I should’ve known―” he paused “―never trust an Anklebiter.”
“Hayley,” Jenna murmured in a voice that was foreign for her friend to hear. “Hayles, let’s go.”
Hayley looked from Jack to Alex, the expressions on their faces never changing. She finally let Jenna pull her away as she realized how wrong that went, and she regretted it more than anything.
Jack laughed―an almost evil chuckle―as he waved to the girls. “SEE YOU LATER, BITCHES!”
The last of the argument involved Jenna giving them the middle finger as she walked away.
Notes
I've had so much time lately before I go to work in a work so that's why this is early! I also got really excited to write this too :3
Do you guys have any predictions about Hayley and Alex's fate after he FINALLY found out???
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Rock on \m/
Haha, wait a minute, hold up. HOLD UP.
I started reading this story, thinking it was your other story I have yet to read with multiple installments... and then I just got to this last update, realizing I confused the stories the whole time AND THIS WAS NEVER FINISHED. UGH.
OMG. This story though...
This story is seriously amazing. Very John Tucker Must Die, but different. I've seen people take that plot and incorporate it with an ATL story before, but this story is definitely different with it; not as much of a direct influence, but kind of a similar thing going on, and able to stand alone on its own and be great. I'm really bummed that this was never continued; you're a really talented writer and I'm itching to know how this would have ended now. Especially considering I was thrown for a loop since I mixed it up with the other story, ugh! SO FRUSTRATING.
I hope maybe you still get on here, or get notifications, or are just able to see this comment... I see another person commented around a month ago, so you definitely still have readers!
That being said, I know that life can be hell with hecticness and just reality and so... that seemed to be catching up with you in your last author's note. I hope everything is okay with you. Even if this story isn't ever continued, I hope at the very least, you're still writing on your own time... you definitely have a knack for it.
And as Taylex_Jarkarth said... this story made me feel weird things as well. Maybe butterflies? Hayley's emotions definitely transpired through me as a reader; whatever she was feeling, I was feeling. You conveyed her as a very relatable character, and I commend you for that. I'm just bummed that things had to go down the way they did. :/ I'm just wondering how you planned to end it all, now. lol. I have faith that Alex still loves her, and if he knew the full truth (and Hayley plucks up the courage to tell him how she truly feels and how it changed for her), there may be chance for reconciliation. But idk. What she did was pretty big, so it's hard to tell and you honestly can't blame him for being angry. But I'm an optimist, lol.
How did I confuse the multiple installment stories. Ugh. I guess I would've had to reach the end of what you had eventually. XD But it just frustrates me that there isn't more to read!
But anyway, you are seriously an amazing writer, and I just wanted to let you know that. This story had me in with just the first chapter. Even though it's been a minute, I have faith that you could come back to it; I've seen other authors do so before. :) I will be here to read and leave feedback if you do, for sure.
7/2/17