The Anklebiters

Alex pushed through a group of people he had never seen before surrounding their table. He luckily got to his usual seat, seeing some of the girls from the group fawning over Jack, and the skunk-haired boy was definitely enjoying it. Jack finally took a moment to take a bite of his lunch, which consisted of heated up meatloaf and fake mashed potatoes, so Alex used this time to say, “You look like you got your hands full.”

Jack smirked. “Almost as full as Rian’s heart for his crush, Miss McDougall.”

Alex chuckled as Rian shot his head up. “I do not!” He defended, but Jack just snickered.

Because of their topic of choice, Alex was reminded of what he had been thinking about lately: his own budding crush. He didn’t exactly want to tell the guys all of it―he had only known them for just over a month―but for that month since he got there, he always had his sights on one orange-haired girl in particular. He knew that they were just friends―even after the big incident in chemistry a week ago―but he couldn’t help the feeling of butterflies rushing to his stomach every time she looked at him.

He finally decided he needed to let it out, but in his own way. “While we’re on the subject of girls,” he started, and all their heads swung in the shaggy-haired boy’s direction, “do you guys think it would be weird if I … um … asked Hayley Williams out?”

The whole table went silent for a moment, until Jack broke it with a raise of his eyebrows and saying, “Dude, didn’t she almost punch you in the face last week?”

Alex shrugged. “Well, yeah. But―”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Rian interrupted.

Jack furrowed his brow. “Shut up, Dawson. You’re such a hypocrite with your full-on obsession with Jenna!”

Rian slammed his fist down, causing everyone―even the people surrounding their table―to flinch. “Guys, I do not have a―”

“You should do it,” Zack said, and everyone looked in his direction. The muscly boy shrugged, taking a large bite of his apple. “Hayley seems cool, even for an Anklebiter. I’ve seen her at the skate park a couple times alone too, and she can do an awesome kick flip. She’s a lot more different when she’s not around her group.”

“Thank you, Zack,” Alex smiled, gesturing to the boy who helped him and turning back to the rest. “I really like her, guys. I don’t care about her reputation of being an Anklebiter, because she is different without them. She puts up this front while with the Anklebiters, but in reality, she’s nice and―”

“Okay, I’ve heard enough.” Jack put his hand up. “I think I might be sick with all this lovey-dovey Anklebiter shit.”

Rian rolled his eyes. “And you call me a hypocrite,” he muttered. “You’re always prancing around with the new Anklebiter, Tay, and waiting to tap that at a moment’s notice.” Before Jack could defend himself, Rian went on, “And wasn’t it just a couple years ago that―”

“SHUT UP, RIAN!” Jack frowned, pointing in the shaved-haired boy’s direction, and Rian officially became quiet. “Anyways,” he turned back to Alex, “I accept your decision, dude, I really do. I’m just warning you.”

Alex lifted a caterpillar brow. “Of what?”

“Soon enough, you will feel the wrath of the Anklebiters.”

---

For the whole week, all Hayley could think about was how to start her new “relationship.” The entire plan was stressing her out, and she was actually debating on whether she should call it off with the rest of the Anklebiters. She knew she needed to do this, for Taylor at least, but she couldn’t deny the nagging thought about how uncomfortable this ordeal was making her.

Besides, Hayley wasn’t one who was big on dating anyways. Her longest relationship had only been Chad, and that ended so awful that she doesn’t want to talk about it with anyone. Dating Chad had almost made her repulsed of the male population, or even scared. She wasn’t sure which it was. Either way, this whole situation with Alex terrified her.

But an Anklebiter was never scared, so all her feelings were out of the question.

She practically sprinted out of chemistry that day, trying to avoid Alex like she had been doing every day until she sorted out what she was going to do. She hugged her books close to her chest as she glanced behind her, hoping Tay would magically get out of the class early but had no such luck. In fact, as soon as she looked back, Alex walked right out of the classroom and met her eyes, his own lighting up. Her hazel orbs went wide and she started running away, until she heard him call, “Hayley!”

She cursed herself under her breath for not running fast enough and turned around. Alex ended up not catching up with her, since he was surrounded and stopped by a few cheerleaders at the moment. She didn’t know if she should take this time to run or wait for him, but didn’t have the chance to decide as Alex pushed the cheerleaders out of the way to sprint towards her.

“Hey,” he breathed out, rubbing the back of his neck.

She threw him a small smile, “Hey.”

“So … um …” He was at a loss for words as they stood a few feet away from the chemistry classroom. “Thanks for helping me with the lab report. I didn’t exactly get it.”

She shrugged. “I figured.”

He chuckled a little. “So … I …”

“Is there a reason as to why you’re so tongue-tied?”

“Yeah, actually there is,” he nodded and let out a sigh of relief. “Do you … uh … have any plans for this Friday?”

And it was in that moment that Hayley enacted the first part to her plan: the chase.

She shrugged. “I might. Why?”

He rubbed the back of his neck again, something Hayley had noticed he did when he was horrifically nervous. “Do you possibly want to go to a movie with me?”

Hayley knew this whole thing was going to be a fake relationship that was going to end horribly in the end, but she needed to make this plan as good as possible. She had to make sure Alex really liked her and wanted to take her out before the relationship could take off, because she didn’t exactly believe Taylor when she said Alex had a thing for her. Even though Alex asked her out, that didn’t mean he wanted her that bad. He had tons of girls trying to win his heart at the moment because he was in the Hustlers, and probably had a montage of dates to set up for all she knew. She needed to believe he really wanted her, and if he did, he would chase.

“I would,” she started as Alex’s expression brightened, “but I kind of don’t feel like doing anything on Friday.”

His smile dropped. “But―”

“Sorry, Alex.”

And with that, she officially started the chase.

Notes

I've been busy lately so I'm sorry that my posting has been sloppy :/ I've just been stressed to the max lately with SATs and finding colleges.. Growing up sucks, so never let it happen, okay?
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