like.it.or.leave.it [vincent]

[alinea manchester]

Alinea was sprawled across her bed comfortably with a book lifted above her that she was in the process of reading. Suddenly she heard a large growl and felt a rumble in her stomach. Looks like lunchtime, she thought to herself. Placing a bookmark between the pages she closed it and got changed into more appropriate clothes. She pulled some dark straight leg jeans on and a white tank top, underneath a v-neck long sleeved black shirt. She slipped a brown leather belt through her pant loops and then proceeded to put on her brown suede boots before zipping them up. Quickly she checked her straightened hair before grabbing her jacket and her book and headed out the door. Buttoning up her jacket she proceeded to the dining room.

Pulling open the door she quickly found herself a seat alone and placed her book on the table. Slipping her jacket off she ordered spaghetti and an ice tea. Her mother had always made spaghetti for supper on Saturday and she missed the tradition. Her blue eyes searched the room for any familiar faces and having seen none she grabbed her paperback book and opened it up once more. Alinea quickly immersed herself in the book while sipping on her ice tea, adjusting her glasses every once and awhile.

[vincent rivera]

Vincent was sitting with his usual crowd. The crowd that never appealed to him, but the one he got stick with through sports. They were alright sometimes. But today they were really irritating him. Vincent turned his head to see a lone girl sitting at the table next to them. His 'friends' followed his gaze and saw her, as well. They started jeering, calling her a bookworm and a nerd, amongst much worse things. Vincent rolled his eyes, took his plate of food, and stood up. His friends then started cussing at him and being rude. "Shut the hell up." Vince snapped back, and made his way over to her table.

He was satisfied that they had in fact, shut up. Vincent sat down in front of the girl. "Sorry about them." He muttered. "Mind if I sit here?" He tugged at the collar of his plain, long sleeved black sweater.

[alinea manchester]

Alinea was so deep in her book she never even noticed that other students were poking fun at her before she heard a loud shout and she looked up. What on earth was going on and why in the hell did it have to disturb her. She stared coldly at the boys sitting at the table before noticing one left the table and was now headed in her direction.

Great, so they must have been teasing her. Well if looks could kill those boys would be dead by now, and she shoved the bookmark into her book before closing it. The nerve of those boys! She crossed her arms and stared at the plain white table cloth before hearing his voice.

"What were they saying?" she asked brutally.

Now, now Alinea there was no need to be rude to this guy. He was the one that had been sticking up for her. She should be kind to him, but at this moment she was finding it rather difficult. He must have been friends with them otherwise why would he be sitting with them? She was offended, what more did those boys want? Maybe he was coming over as a bet from the other guys. Her thoughts were racing, and she took one more look at him before deciding to give him a chance.

"No go ahead." She said quietly giving one last harsh look at the distant boys.

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[vincent rivera]

Vince looked at her, alarmed by her coldness. He swallowed a bit before answering, as if stalling. "Well, just...not anything I'd like to repeat." He muttered before stabbing his fork into his food. "And it's not true anyway." He looked down at his plate. He shook his head and glanced at the guys.

"They're not exactly my friends." He said, in a defensive tone. Those were often the words he told anyone, really. Vincent had been stuck with them since freshman year. It wasn't that he didn't have any other friends, because he had plenty from different cliques. They were just the ones he fell with.

Vince looked at her for a moment, "You're Alinea, right?"

[alinea manchester]

She nodded her head, almost sadly. Was this girl showing emotion? Looked like it. Shaking it off quickly she smiled at her plate of spaghetti that had just arrived. Oh it smelled so good she grabbed her fork and spoon excitedly.

"Well thanks for sticking up for me." she said as she sorted through her spaghetti with her fork. Well at least now she knew she shouldn't be rude to this guy. A flush crossed her tanned, freckled cheeks and she smirked. "By the way you snapped I should assume its not true either. But then again you never know."

Alinea lifted the spaghetti off her plate and used to spoon to wrap it around her fork before taking a bite. She never understood why people would spend time with those they didn't like. It just didn't make sense, and she definitely could not relate. If she didn't like someone, they were bound to know it and avoid her. At least it was sort of reassuring that he didn't consider them friends.

"Then why do you hang out with them? she said with a slight shake of her head. Ah, you bitch. Here this guy is trying to be nice and you have to push his buttons. She realized what she had said and tried to make it sound more inquisitive instead of slightly rude by adding, "I mean, if you don't like them why waste your time right?" Hopefully he wasn't taken aback, she really hadn't meant to be that way.

Slightly shocked she almost choked on her spaghetti. How on earth did he know who she was? She had seen him at basketball games and around school, but Alinea wasn't exactly the popular type. She smiled softly before swallowing her mouthful, "Yes I am. How did you know? I already know your Vince, but that one was easy, you're everywhere at school."

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[vincent rivera]

But then again you never know. Vincent smirked and nodded. "I guess not." He could she was smart. Not just because of the book she had her nose in. But because of the way she talked, and the way she held herself. And who knew. Maybe she was murderer or something Vincent would never even find out.

Vincent shrugged. "They're my buddies on the court. I've been playing sports with them since freshman year. Sports would suck if I didn't maintain a sort of friendship...or alliance...with them. You know?" He took a bite of his corn and swallowed. "And I used to be just like them."

"Hard to get away from people you've been with for a long time." Vince added, quickly changing the subject back.

He kind of laughed at her reaction. "Everywhere? I don't know about that." Only for sports, he thought. Not because of brains, or anything else for that matter. But he blushed a bit, and desperately needed a change of subject. "I've seen you around. Classes, mostly." Vince took another bite of his food. Unlike her, he was having steak and corn for dinner.

"Don't act so surprised, you're hard to miss."

[alinea manchester]

Her spaghetti was quickly hitting the spot and she couldn't help but devour it in his midst. For once someone actually made her understand the way people pretend to be nice even though they dont like each other. It wasn't that they were pretending, they really were being kind but only to prevent tension amongst others. Alinea thought it was a good reason for him, but she wasn't sure if it applied to everyone. "That makes sense." she nodded with a look of approval.

"I totally understand that. Especially when you have to be around them all the time. I used to friends with this girl but only because she was my neighbour and I couldn't escape her." it was dreadful. Her neighbour was horribly controlling and if you could imagine, jealous of who Alinea spent her time with. Eventually they moved so it was easier for her to get away than Vincent.

Oh classes. That was really the only place you could find her. She liked to avoid the high school drama that usually ensued in between and during lunch hours. Alinea never missed a class so you were guaranteed to find her there. Hard to miss she thought. Her eyes widened, now even more embaressed than before. She wasn't even sure how to answer that one, and grasping for words she only managed to say, "Shut up." in a teasing manner.

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