7

Chapter Seven

Puddinitous Loulani

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I laughed out loud, not being able to contain how funny I found it when I walked to our usual table in the cafeteria and saw basically everyone with lifeless looks on their faces. I could smell the alcohol that was reeking off their bodies, combined.

"What's funny?" Luke groaned as he lifted his head up off the table that he was resting it on.

Luke, Leo, Joy, and Kai seemed the worst. Leo was literally wearing a pair off sunglasses and Joy had her head resting on Kai's shoulder as she stared off in the distance and sipped water from a straw that she had in her Fiji water bottle.

"Quiet down the laughs, will you?" Leo muttered, his voice drained out as he rested his head in the palms of his hands that were propped up by his elbows.

Charlie just looked tired and he was complaining about a headache all morning, he seemed calm but I could tell he was agitated because I knew him well enough. Jade seemed normal, probably because she hardly had anything to drink.

Ezra was just as amused as me as he casually leaned back in his seat and watched everyone complain and groan, so lifeless they weren't even holding up a conversation.

Then I looked at Noah who was looking at me with a small smile, his eyes lit up with amusement.

"What?" I gave him a weird look.

"Nothing," he shook his head, still smiling at me. "You don't laugh very often. You should, smiling suits you."

I narrowed my eyes at him, glaring as I took the empty seat between Luke and Ezra which was right across from Noah who continued to look at me with a grin.

"And now you fools know why drinking - especially on a weekday is a horrible, horrible idea." I gave them all a tight lipped smile, amused by their agony which sounded a bit psychotic.

"Ah princess, you never cease to lighten the mood." Luke grumbled sarcastically as he draped his arms around me and hugged me, resting his head in the crook of my neck. He looked like he could doze off at any minute.

I scrunched my noes as I looked at him but didn't have it in me to push him off. Funny as it was, I felt bad because I did understand how atrocious a hangover could make you feel. I guess Luke was growing on me.

"At least you all have good reasons not to drink again." Ezra mumbled, a grin playing on his lips. He was amused, alright.

Jade laughed, "You're delusional if you think this is going to stop them from drinking the next time we go to a party," I stiffened a bit, not wanting to think about attending another party. "Leo says he isn't going to drink every time and then he plays so much beer pong he ends up passed out at every party."

"Hey," Leo mumbled dryly, "I am the champion at beer pong. Nobody ever beats me."

"Then how do you end up drinking so much?" I retorted, raising my eyebrows in question.

Leo shrugged lightly, "I get one in, they get one in. I defeat everyone but continue playing to show everyone that I am invincible and end up going through so many rounds that..." Leo gagged as he thought about alcohol.

"Oh, you best not throw up on me again," Charlie shoved Leo away from him causing Leo to groan loudly.

"Again?" I questioned.

Noah laughed, "Leo has thrown up in one too many places. On Charlie, on Kai's shoes, on Joy's handbag, in half of our cars."

"I payed for the cleaning, okay." Leo grumbles, defending himself as he adjusts his sunglasses on his face.

"I never used that handbag again," Joy sighed, her tone making it quite obvious that she was exhausted and in need of more sleep. "It was cute too."

"Why'd you all come to school anyways?" I asked as I leaned back while Luke unwrapped his arms from around me and changed his position so he was now leaning his head on my shoulder. "Dip the day and stay home and sleep."

"I debated but couldn't miss practice," Charlie stated in a tired voice. "Not with the big game coming up... although, I don't know how useful I'll be in practice."

Leo scoffed, "Look at me, I'm far worse of than you guys."

"My dad doesn't let me miss school," Kai spoke up for the first time. "Asian parents and all."

"Don't think I'm letting you guys off the hook at practice," Noah stated firmly but his voce light with amusement.

"Wouldn't put it past you, jerk." Luke grumbled from beside me. "You never cut us any slack especially with the Herbrooke game coming up."

Noah shrugged, "cutting the team slack will weaken us and that's the last thing we need when going up against Herbrooke."

Jade nodded in agreement, "You guys are good but Noah's right. Herbrooke is your biggest competition." I wanted to question why they were so competitive and worried but didn't because I remembered what it was like on the field. Sure I was a lot younger but I knew how competitive the sport got, especially with me being the only girl on the team; you had to be the best and never let your guard down once you were on the field. I also knew what it was like going against other strong teams that became your enemies and biggest rivalries, soccer or other things... I had a bit of experience with intense rivals.

Ezra looked at me, a knowing look in his eyes because he knew what I was thinking about. He shook his head in a way that told me to snap out of my thoughts and old memories. I cleared my throat and looked away from when I locked eyes with Noah who had his eyes narrowed on me. He must've caught the look Ezra sent me but didn't say anything about it.

Ezra stood up and silently started to make his way out of the cafeteria when I stopped, "Where are you going, Razzi?"

He gave me a cold look, "Out." He was probably going to go smoke.

I clenched my jaw and gave him a pleading look as if to say "don't go" but he ignored it and left. Ezra didn't smoke a crazy... actually, compared to how much we— I mean how much he use to smoke, he doesn't nearly as much anymore. He's starting to quit but it takes some time. It went from at least 8 cigarettes a day down to 4 now and slowly going to 2. He was getting better.

"Why do you call him Razzi?" Joy asked, bringing me back into reality and out of my head.

"Oh," I looked at her, a dull look on my face. "When we were kids, just a few years old, I didn't know how to pronounce his name properly so Ezra became Razzi. I never grew out of it, I guess."

Charlie chuckled, "She used to call me Cherry for years. She had a nickname for everyone she was close with."

I unconsciously looked at Noah when Charlie said that. He looked at me with a smirk an eyebrow quirked. God dammit, why did I start calling him ace? Oh yeah, because it was fitting. He shouldn't flatter himself, it was just a nickname and it's not like I was a kid or anything. No deep meaning here. I just wanted to wipe that satisfied smirk off his face.

"I want—" Luke started talking when someone harshly bumped right into the back of my chair causing me and him to jolt forward since his head was still resting on my shoulder.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Lukey." A bitterly fake sweet and squeaky voice called out. I turned around to look at a girl with straight, long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was pretty. However, her eyelashes were clumped together with too much mascara and she wore a glossy pink lipgloss, blush on her cheeks but no other makeup aside from that. She was in a tight white tube top that showed her dark blue bra underneath and low-waisted pants that allowed most of her stomach to be shown. She placed her hand on Luke's arm causing me to notice her long and bright pink acrylic nails. "I didn't mean to bump into you. I just hadn't noticed the piece of trash beside you."

Everyone at the table looked at the girl with scowls on their faces. At least I thought it was aimed at the fake, puddinitous loulani standing in front of me but it could also just be their hangovers.

Luke pushed her hand off of his arm which was a surprise because look was an angel to everyone, "That is my friend you're talking about, Madison. I don't need you feeling up my arm while insulting someone I care about, thanks." Luke gave her a bored look before turning around in his seat so he was no longer facing her.

I easily hid the surprise I felt because I didn't expect him to stand up for me. It was nice but I hardly knew him. I wouldn't think I was someone he cared about... at least not yet while I didn't know him for long.

"You're going to defend this skank?" the puddinitous loulani muttered in disbelief, her voice getting higher. "Who even is this irrelevant bitch? You've known me for years, Lukey, shouldn't you be more concerned about me?"

I scoffed causing her to glare at me but I simply looked at her in amusement. This was so cliche, it was bizarre.

Charlie stood up, "That's my sister, is who she is. Nobody asked for your presence here, Madison, so you can leave and stop stirring up bullshit for attention."

Madison dramatically gasped at the insult, "Aw, Charles babe, I'm so sorry. I did not mean to harm your family in any way. I'm sure you can understand why I was quick to jump to conclusions and assume she was another skank who was using you for your money and popularity."

Charlie looked at her in disbelief. "What is-"

I cut Charlie off as I stood up and was face to face with this puddinitous loulani. Being a short 5 foot 3 girl, she was taller than me by a few inches but I held my head high. I wasn't mad because I was more amused at the bullshit that was coming out of her mouth. She was like a pre-recorded, early seasons Alison Dilaurentis or something.

"Listen— what was it, Mary? Look, I like you. I mean people tell me I have shitty taste but I like you so I'll give you some friendly advice and let you know that nobody here wants to hear your mouse-like voice. While I'm giving out free advice to the less fortunate, I may as well also tell you that your unibrow is starting to grow out so you might want to take care of that because it's not too flattering." I was lying about the unibrow but girls like her took these types of things very deeply. I knew I was on the right track when she gasped and raised her hand to subconsciously touch the space between her eyebrows.

"Listen, skank," she dug her pointed nail into my chest but I only smirked

"Listen, skank," she dug her pointed nail into my chest but I only smirked. She was hovering above me a bit seeing as she was taller but I stood straight, not allowing her to feel like she was intimidating because she really wasn't. "Who the hell are you to speak to me like that? I should have you know that I am very respected in this school, you're new here so you wouldn't know. You may be Charles's sister but they'll always prefer me over you so how about you crawl back into the hole you came here from."

I grabbed her hand that was still pointing a finger in my chest as if that would scare me. I took her wrist and pushed it back into her chest causing her to wince as she stepped away from me. I continued pushing her wrist back until she was a good few steps away from me.

"How about you stay out of my personal space until you get a breath mint or learn about the invention of toothpaste and mouthwash because you sure need it." Once again, she gasped as she covered her mouth with her hand. She looked horrified. I took a step closer to her causing her to step back. Good to see she was in-fact intimidated. "And next ti—"

I was cut off when Noah appeared beside me. He didn't look at me but instead simply glared at Madison.

He was about to open his mouth to tell her off when she beat it to him and grabbed onto his hand, "Oh my god, Noah, thank God you're here too. Look at this... hideous bitch. She's threatening me! I seriously thinks she needs to be admitted somewhere because she sounds like a real threat to society."

I scoffed loudly, "The only threat here is your face. I seriously hope ugliness isn't contagious." I mimicked her high-pitched voice when I said 'seriously'. I could hear some of my friends snickering and laughing behind me.

"See! Look at the cruel things she's saying to me, Noah!" She exclaimed, practically hugging his arm. "She's one to call me ugly, I mean has she looked in the mirror?"

"Hey, I'm right here bitch. Why don't you say it to my face?" I taunted her, stepping closer and getting right up in her face as I started to raise my fist but Noah held his other arm out to keep me back while at the same time, Luke stood up and pulled me back as well. Madison winced as she took another frightened step away from me.

By now, the whole cafeteria was silent as they watched the scene go down like it was right out of a reality tv show.

"Noah, baby, you have got to get her some help I mean look at her, she's ready to pounce on me like some zoo animal!" She continued pulling Noah towards her as if he would shield her or something. I looked at her with a smirk, glad to see she was scared of me. That's what you get for starting shit with me, bitch.

"Really, bitch? Say it to my fuc—" I was cut of by Luke who held me back as I was about to actually bash her face in because I was getting tired of her damsel in distress act she was showing Noah. Luke grabbed both my arms and held me back as Madison literally let out a shriek as if i had just pulled her hair when I had literally just taken a step closer to her, not even close enough for her to feel my breath on her. Dramatic much?

Noah very slowly grabbed Madison's hands and pulled them off of his arm. He released himself from her grip and let her hands fall to her side.

She looked at him with wide eyes, her jaw dropping.

"Call her ugly all you want but we all know she's gorgeous." What he started off with completely took me by surprise. He was just trying to hurt her ego like I was doing because that would offend her the most but he spoke so calm and bluntly that it was hard to tell if he were saying bullshit or being serious. "You are not our friend, stop acting like we're your day one pals. You're annoying and come here thinking we'll have your back when you start bitching at one of our actual friends. Fuck off, Madison."

Madison's jaw dropped even further. She huffed out an angry breath before she groaned, throwing her hands up in frustration before stomping out of the cafeteria.

"I cannot believe that just happened." I turned back around to see Kai with his jaw dropped. Everyone at the table was stunned with amusement, laughing at what just went down.

"Fucking puddinitous loulani." I grumbled, shaking my head as I sat back down in my seat.

"A what?" Luke looked at me in utter confusion. "What the hell is a puddinitous loulani?"

I looked at him, shrugging nonchalantly, "Puddinitous is a disease that is caused by utter retardedness and loulani means a suck-up, evil, dangerous, backstabbing, mean girl." I looked at him with a straight face, as if everything I just said was something you hear everyday.

Everyone at the table looked at me like I had just grown another arm right out of my chest but then they started laughing.

"Well, it couldn't get more accurate than that." Luke laughed, swinging an arm around my shoulder.

I was hoping I wouldn't have to deal with that puddinitous loulani again but something told me that was a stupid wish.