The First Rule

Chapter 11b: Sweet Poem O' Mine

Taylor pauses, stopping her dance routine boasting. In a brief moment you swear you could notice her rolling her eyes—but somehow, she's just so good. at faking things. Almost as impressive as her ability to use her push-up bra to show her cleavage a little too much. With that thought, you let out a little amused scoff—only to be met with her fake smile as she eyes you up and down.

"Oh really? What type of songs do you like, Emily?"

You roll your eyes internally at the nickname. It's not that you dislike your own name, it's just—you detest how it sounds coming from her mouth. With an air of nonchalance, you reply, shrugging a shoulder, "Soul, pop, rock, rhythm and blues—"

"Oh I don't listen to that type of genre, sorry,"

The Queen of River High smugly interrupts. Then, clutching Tyler's sleeves in an annoying manner, she continues, "Babe, it doesn't match with the type of dance I dance," her tone oozing brattiness all over.

Challenged, you tilt your head in curiosity and raise an eyebrow, "Oh, what kind of music do you dance to—" you pause before laying it bare on the table, darting your eyes to the nervous Tyler in front of you. Putting both of your elbows on the table, you support your square chin upon your fingers, and tilt your head slightly. Giving her a sweet sweet smile, you mimic her style of talking, and add, "Taytay?"

A subtle but unmistakable tension lingers in the air as a murderous tone in your words roams through the group, especially when it's flourished with a brand new nickname, special for her majesty in the making. Along with the others—excluding Taylor's friend who remains absorbed in enjoying the view since Dom's face is now in front of her—Tyler tightens his grip on the edge of his seat.

The girl keeps gawking, even though Dominic's attention is undeniably distracted by someone else—bringing his elbow to the table, his body tilts towards you. Running a hand through his hair, Hunt wears a slight smirk, thoroughly enjoying this side of you.

Maybe I'll treat this one as my interrogation room, huh? Ha.

A smirk surface on your lips. You witness Taylor release her grip on Tyler's sleeve with a sour expression. Noticing his girl's displeased expression, Tyler puts both hands behind his neck and leans back to face the ceiling to groan, clearly regretting the first conversation he once initiated. The room feels like it's holding its breath—but not until his girlfriend tackily barks,

"I only dance to sultry and trendy songs, like Pop and RnB."

The room falls into a stunned silence. Everyone starts looking around—as if searching for a punchline to the unexpected joke. Sighing, Tyler glances at you, witnessing your bewildered expression as you scoff in satisfying amusement—then quickly turns away, unwilling to face his girlfriend. Liam manages to hold in a big laughter as his girl are left speechless, not knowing what to say. However, with an expression of sheer determination, Dom chimes in to save the day—at least, that's what he intended,

"You're aware that rhythm and blues is RnB—right? You know, R for the rhythm, B for the blues—oh N for the and by the way—"

"Yeah, yeah bro. She gets it—" Tyler interjects, his voice tinged with shame.

"Oh my God Dom, you're so clever.."

Suddenly Taylor's minion chimes in awe. With hands supporting her chin, she continues to gawk at him with glinting eyes of wonder. Staring at the other bimbo, Dom lets out a fake chuckle and turns his back away from the table once more just to mumble, "This is why I don't make them my girlfriends." Unintentionally overhearing those words, you hold back a laugh, letting it out as a cough. Dom smirks, aware of your reaction, and continues to smoke his pod.

Face red in shame, Taylor's about to open her mouth for a comeback—when a boy suddenly bumps into Tyler's back, making him stumble forward towards the table!

"Sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Clearly unintended, the boy with round glasses hurriedly expresses his regret. Tyler turns—and in the midst of it, the boy is already catching on to the realization of whom he bumped into as his eyes wander through all of you. As the boy's eyes land back on Tyler, he urgently stammers, "Tyler! I—I'm really sorry I didn't mean to bump into you—It was an accident, I swear! I was pushed! I was just about to leave—"

"It's fine bro! Chill!"

Grinning in his seat, Cavill extends a hand for a high five, reassuring the boy that it's all fine. The boy nervously grins in relief—but just as he's about to reciprocate with a high five.. Seemingly already in a bad mood, Taylor stands up from her seat to 'talk' to him.

"Don't you have eyes?"

A single sentence plunges the whole room into silence. You squint your eyes at her and to Eve—mouthing a 'what the f**k' in unison. Beside her, her boyfriend watches the scene intently in confusion. Even Dom pauses in the middle of his illegal pod activity. Even without noticing the whole room's gaze fixed on your direction, Tyler urgently nudges his girlfriend's hand, prompting her to sit her ass back down,

"Tay sit down. He's good."

Flushed with anger as she realized her boyfriend's not on her side—twice—she pulls her arm away from him, and shouts, "This geek needs to learn some manners!"

The onlookers exchange concerned glances, few start to stand up to have a better view of the scene. Dom and Wyatt share a look of disbelief, clearly not expecting this level of drama. For once, her friend begins to show that she's not just some fangirl robot and stands up. However, little did you know—instead of calming down her friend—she shoves him, mirroring her master's emotion!

The boy stumbles backwards—but he regains his balance before freezing in internal and external panic. At the scene, your group starts to stand up in alert. Tyler and Liam step in between the three of them, attempting to mediate. With a huge amount of irritation evident in his voice, Liam shouts to the girls,

"Enough! Seriously, what's gotten into y'all? Let it go!"

Poor boy starts to tremble, however, feeling a bit relieved with Liam's support, you can see his eyes sharpen and clenches his knuckles for his own encouragement.

"Just leave me alone, Taylor!"

Why does it seem like he's been in this situation before..? Why does it seem like he's already too fed up—and finally taking a stand now? How long has this been going on?

So ‘The Regina George of Rivers’ title really fits her well all along, huh?

Oh Tyler..

Just as those thoughts wander through your head, Taylor violently grabs the boy's glasses and tosses them across the floor! The boy, visibly embarrassed by the whole attention, frowns as he searches for his thick glasses. Tyler and Wyatt exchange bewildered glances, both clearly taken aback. Unintentionally, Eve and Dom slightly retract their heads in disbelief. In disgust and bewilderment, you stare at the scene, darting your bulging eyes to Tyler's discomfort and then away at wherever the ground is, still processing the fresh Regina George-like drama that unfolded.

Eve, who finally regains her composure, squats down to find the boy's glasses. The scene of your sane girlfriend helping the boy pass by your eyesight—awaking you from your reverie to follow suit. The three of you search and search while in the background, the boys seem to be trying to diffuse the situation with the mean girls.

Finally, noticing a reflection of light near another table not far from yours, you squat and take the glasses, cleaning them with your clothes, and then give the boy back his glasses. As he puts his glasses back on, he mumbles a 'thank you so much,' and you reply with a gentle smile. Patting his arms, you both stand up, and the boy shoots Taylor a heated glare before finally leaving the area.

Still in her manic phase, she screamed a shrill, "Hey! Where the f**k are you going?!" Still in massive confusion, Tyler's bewildered expression transforms into one of disbelief, watching his best friends in hushed tones, trying to talk some sense into the two bullies.

But then you let out a loud scoff, redirecting her—no, all of the attention onto you. You notice Tyler making his way to you, Dom turns to you—clearly still in a state of confusion, Liam finally making his way to Eve, and Taylor.. is being patted by her minion. Shamelessly, she dares to taunt you,

"What was that? Are you trying to make me look bad—"

"Nothing, My Queen." You cut in sarcastically.

Ha, as if I'll ever approve of her title.

Then you walk past pursed lipped Tyler, circling around the table. Then when you're in front of her, you lightly pat her arm, noticing her flinch a little. With a forced smile, you continue,

"Just daily feeding my good conscience, ever read of Chicken Soup for The Soul? I think you should check it out."

She scoffs in further annoyance and embarrassment. However, you notice someone more embarrassed by the whole ordeal who's been standing still in front of you.. Tyler.

Gazing at him with incomprehensible disappointment, you exclaim, "I can envision how this group of people becoming into," you can't help but also shift your eyes to Wyatt, wondering how much further his bet would unfold, "and if you're aiming to be a f*****g bully? Count me out."

You see his eyes widen in surprise. Guiltily, he averts his gaze from you. Striding away from the group, you pass by Tyler, and when you're right in front of him, you take a last glance back at the group.. before laying em bare to his face,

"King and Queen of River High, huh?"

Finally piercing your eyes on him, you shake your head, take a long look at him.. and open your mouth to say,

"Think you should f*****g act like one."