The Perfection Paradox (5 page)

“
We’ll be at
your party this weekend Ryan!” Ryan barely managed to smile back,
“great, see you there...” he muttered laconically.

Hunter
smirked at Ryan slyly, “she wants me so bad…” he declared
immodestly.

Ryan chuckled
“They all want you man!” he said, causing Hunter’s pompous grin to
spread even wider.

Ryan had been
Hunter’s best friend since they were toddlers. Their parents had
gone to high school together. Their fathers had played Varsity
Football for Rosewell together. In many ways, Ryan was Hunter’s
brother. Their families were constantly at each other’s houses,
going out for meals and watching football games together every
Sunday during football season.

 
Their
families were interlinked, old friends. It had been pretty much
decided they would be best friends before they were even
born.

Ryan’s family
was similar to Hunter’s, generations of all-American cheerleaders
marrying handsome football players. Ryan’s older sister had dated
one of Kennedy Blakewood’s brothers, ruling Rosewell as head
cheerleader and Football captain, a memory Ryan’s parents regarded
with all the nostalgia of the American dream.

Ryan was
handsome like Hunter, but his eyes were a crisp blue that seemed to
cut into your soul when he looked at you. His hair was blonde and
shaggy, falling into his eyes messily, causing the girls at
Rosewell High School to swoon. 

While Hunter
and Ryan were often paired up together, the ruling sports stars of
the school, their personalities couldn’t have been more
different. 

While Hunter
was hot-blooded, arrogant and stubborn, Ryan was equable and
modest, his demeanour more friendly and approachable than Hunter’s
arrogance.

Ryan couldn’t
be mean, if a girl dared to approach him, dared to talk to him, he
couldn’t do what Hunter did, he couldn’t be cruel. He knew he was
good-looking, he’d noticed the way girls glanced at him and giggled
to each other, blushing violently. The way they stuttered when they
spoke to him, the way their eyes widened when he smiled at them as
they passed him in the hallway.

As they
strolled down the hallway after picking up their new locks and
combinations at the secretary’s office, Hunter spotted Rebecca
Gardner hurrying towards him, her face twisted into an expression
of hateful vexation.

“
Why didn’t
you return any of my calls?” She demanded as soon as she was within
shouting distance of him. She searched his face for an answer, an
exasperated frown spoiling her already ordinary face.

“
I had a
great summer Rebecca, thanks for asking” Hunter answered
sarcastically, not even bothering to look at her as he kept walking
towards his assigned locker. “You could’ve just told me you weren’t
interested anymore Hunter, you didn’t have to be such a jerk…” She
yelped.

The
shrillness of her voice was beginning to irritate Hunter beyond
belief; it was like a walrus bellowing at him. The thought was so
abstract Hunter nearly guffawed; he stopped himself, snapping back
to reality.

“
I never told
you I was interested… You just assumed that, and the next thing I
know you’re calling me every half an hour and sending me emails way
longer than anything I would
ever
bother to read from you” He flicked his hair out
of his eyes lazily, shrugging as if none of this was his fault, “I
thought you were cool, I thought you were chilled out, but you’re
just some
clingy annoying
girl
.”

Rebecca
stopped in her tracks, not quite sure whether to be angry or hurt.
Hunter took the opportunity to walk on and leave her standing alone
behind him. “HUNTER!” she shrieked after him at the top of her
lungs. Hunter turned back to face her, his eyes fixed on her
unblinkingly, quiet rage filling him.

He stepped
towards her and said quietly but threateningly, “I suggest you shut
the fuck up Rebecca. I put up with your pathetic behaviour over
summer because I pitied you, but if you do anything to mess up my
senior year, you’ll be sorry. Now get the hell away from me and I
better not see you around me again.”

Rebecca was
gazing up into his eyes, frightened and hurt, wondering how this
could be the guy who had been so nice to her only a few months
before.

“
Go.
Now
.” Hunter whispered.
Rebecca turned on her heel and sped down the hall and out of sight.
Hunter re-joined his friends, who had been watching this
altercation quietly. “Stupid bitch…” Hunter muttered under his
breath, and Taylor and Ryan exchanged questioning
glances.

By the time
the three friends arrived at the West Wing of Rosewell High School,
where the seniors’ lockers were spread throughout half a dozen
hallways over three floors, their attention was turned irrevocably
from Hunter’s squabble with Rebecca.

The hallways
were lined with their friends and teammates, girls they had hooked
up with and girls they wanted to hook up with, and there were two
months worth of summer’s happenings to be exchanged.

Hunter high
fived Josh Laird, who’s broken collarbone had healed so he would be
playing Varsity football on Hunter’s team this year. He tactically
ignored Lizzie Auld, which was impressive considering her piercing
ceaseless stare. He glared at Schmidt, his arch-nemesis, who was
unfortunately an amazing football player he had to endure for the
sake of Rosewell High School’s Varsity Football team.

Regardless of
whom he saw and spoke to, Hunter’s eyes were constantly searching.
Looking out for her.
Her
.

Finally,
Brooke Kent strutted down the hallway, tanned from her holiday in
the Caribbean, wearing a black mini dress and designer sunglasses.
An ugly purple handbag hung from her elbow joint. Strappy sandals
added a few inches to her already tall frame but her best friend,
who stood next to her, was still taller.

The best
friend in question was Kennedy Blakewood. A 5’10 blonde with the
most beautiful face Hunter had ever seen.

She was
dressed casually compared to Brooke, in a white dress and sandals,
but still garnered more lustful glances and longing stares in the
three minutes it had taken her to walk from her car to her locker
than most girls at Rosewell High School would receive in their
whole four years there. 

She had a
knowing smile, like she was smiling at a secret only the two of you
were aware of every time she looked at you.

While Brooke
might adhere to the stereotypes high school bestowed on her, the
rich bitchy popular girl, Kennedy was the girl everyone was
watching. She was the one all the girls glanced at enviously as she
undressed in the locker rooms, she was the one the boys wanted but
would never get, she was the one boys and girls alike competed with
mercilessly, hoping to match her perfect grades and 4.0 GPA. The
sports starlet of Rosewell High School and the darling of every
teacher who ever taught her. Talented and unattainable, glorious
and undefeated. Hunter watched her approach her locker with hungry
eyes, his senses reawakened to her surreal beauty, to the larger
than life aura that always surrounded her. He’d forgotten how
magnificent she really was.

7.

Emily leant
on the sink, observing the pimples on her cheek and forehead she
had tried and failed to cover with foundation. She rubbed away the
sprinkles of heavy blue eye shadow that had fallen from her eyelid
to her cheek.

Emily had
arrived at school early that morning, rushing to the bathroom to
perfect her ‘first day of school’ look. She’d woken up at 6am to
curl her hair and apply her makeup. She was wearing the new clothes
she’d saved up for over summer, a fuchsia pleated skirt and a
matching cardigan adorned with silver sequins.

She took a
step back and stared at the final result. She definitely looked
different, more girly and grown up. She smiled to herself,
satisfied. She picked up her furry neon pink tote bag off the
floor, she’d found it at a yard sale and thought it looked very
retro, and pulled the straps up to rest on her elbow joint, the way
she’d seen the girls carry their oversized designer bags last year.
She pulled her pink mobile phone out of her handbag and checked the
time, ten minutes until classes started.

She could
hear the hallway outside the bathroom buzzing with the excited
chatter of returning students. With one final glance in the mirror
she turned and strutted out of the girls bathroom, her pink heels
clunking loudly on the school’s tiled floor. She started in the
direction of the secretary’s office, which had been shut when she’d
first arrived at school forty-five minutes ago.

Coming
towards her, Emily noticed two tall slim figures, one blonde, the
other brunette. The blonde was reading her class schedule, a faint
smile on her face, while the brunette was texting on her phone,
which Emily recognized as the new smartphone that cost more money
than Emily had ever had spent on her in her whole life.
 

Glancing
around, Emily saw they were in the North Wing, which had been
designated to incoming freshmen. That at least explained Brooke’s
disdainful glances around her every few steps.

She seemed to
sense Emily watching her and looked up from her phone, directly at
her. Emily smiled widely, immediately regretting it as she saw
Brooke grimace and look back down at her phone.

Crap
, Emily thought, why hadn’t she
been able to smile the subtle model-like twinkle she’d been
practicing all summer, instead of the idiotic grin that made her
look like Chucky from Child’s Play.

She lowered
her head and rushed to the secretary’s office, vowing that next
time she would keep her cool.

 
Emily
had been stood in the queue of students waiting for their locks and
combinations for about twenty seconds when Veronica Stell and four
girls from her cheerleading posse joined the line and waited behind
Emily impatiently.

Emily saw
another chance to befriend some of the ‘popular’ girls and turned
to greet Veronica enthusiastically “Hey Ron! How was your summer?”
Veronica looked like she’d just seen someone get hit by a
bus.

“
What did you
call me?” she demanded icily. Emily was already filling with
immediate regret and she could feel her face turn a deep shade of
crimson.

“
Ron…” she
replied as steadily as she could manage.

“
No one calls
me that… My name is Veronica, why would anyone call me Ron…” She
demanded vacuously.

Emily
couldn’t overcome the nerves and dread that had exploded in the pit
of her stomach.

“
I’m
s-s-sorry” she managed to stammer back.

“
How the hell
do you even know my name? Are you some sort of
stalker
?” Veronica’s friends shot
each other excited glances, this would make a terrific story to
gossip about on their first day back,
Veronica had a stalker
!

“
No, no…”
Emily replied hurriedly, “I was in your American History class last
year…” Veronica folded her arms indignantly.

“
Oh,” she
replied slowly “I thought you were new… judging by your outfit… you
clearly don’t know how we dress here at Rosewell.” She smiled
maliciously at Emily and then smirked at her friends on either
side.

“
You mean
this?” Emily said, tugging at the hem of her pink cardigan, “Well
we just got back from our holiday in Miami last night, so I didn’t
have time to unpack, I just had to throw something on” she lied,
her face growing redder still.

“
Right…”
Veronica said, rolling her eyes, obviously not buying it,
“Whatever…” and she turned her back on Emily and launched into a
hushed conversation with her friends, giggling and throwing
sideways glances at Emily intermittently.

Emily spent
the next five minutes wishing the ground would just swallow her,
anything rather than standing here alone in a line being mocked by
a group of skinny pretty girls.

As soon as
she had her lock and combination she hurried to her assigned locker
in the West Wing, actively avoiding Veronica Stell and her horde on
her way out of the office.

The bell
marking the beginning of first period rung out as Emily was
scrambling to enter her locker combination correctly, and
eventually she had to give up on her locker until their mid-morning
break.  

As she fished
a browning banana and pot of fruit yoghurt out of her fuzzy bag,
she felt an eager tap on her shoulder, followed by two pairs of
arms hugging her enthusiastically from behind. She laughed, knowing
exactly whom these two pairs of arms belonged to. Sarah and Amanda
were grinning back at her. Sarah was tanned from sunning herself
throughout the road trip she’d taken with her family from LA to New
York. Amanda’s hair was no longer the mousy brown colour it had
been last year, but an auburn reddish colour. It was shiny and
blow-dried and Amanda was shaking it out of her face like a model
advertising volumising shampoo and conditioner in a TV
commercial.

“
Oh my god!
You guys look great!” Emily exclaimed. She realized this was the
perfect opportunity to utilize some of the ‘hip’ lingo she’d
adopted over the summer, “totally fab!
Fab
a daba doo
!”