The Insiders

"Crap,"
Leigh was having a bad day. Maybe it was the chemicals she had spilled all over herself in Chemestry. Or the fact that in study hall some students insisted on blasting Justin Beiber (seriously why was he still a thing?) and she forgot her iPod.
Or maybe it was the fact that she was now lab partners with Gerard Way and Lenanne Jones, the two people she wanted to avoid most in the world.

The day was just getting better and better.

For the past two months, Leigh had done an excellent job of avoiding all people and distancing herself from The Insiders as much as possible. She chose a new seat at art. She managed to switch her elective from Cooking to Drama. All precaution was taken to avoid every last person in that group.

When Olivia found out that her daughter received detention the first week of school, she practically blew a hole in the roof. Leigh decided it was best she didn't get into any more food fights.
And as far as why she was going out of her way to avoid the only people who had taken the initiative to be her friend? No, we don't go there. The past is the past, pure and simple.

"Ryan! Get your ass down here an help me with these decorations!" Leigh screamed up the stairs. Christmas was supposed to be a fun time full of festivities, but after the day's news, she was in no mood to party.
Ryan lurched down the stairs with a big bucket of shiny ornaments. The Evans had more of less moved in now, and had even managed to grab their stored up tubs of decorations from the storage unit.
"Don't say 'ass' Leigh," Olivia sighed and appeared from behind the kitchen, a candy cane wedged in her mouth. Leigh echoed her mother's sigh but shut up.

"Ryan, get your lazy ass down here!" Olivia shouted up the stairs, five minutes later. Hypocrite.

The tension was extremely high this year, and that night at dinner, Olivia pointed out the fact.
"Well maybe if..." Leigh started, but stopped. She was going to say that maybe things would be better if dad were there, but that can of worms was best left unopened. Olivia knew exactly what her daughter was going to say, though, and shot her daughter a glare.
For once, Ryan seemed to pick up on the awkward situation's heavy silence, and spoke up.

"My friend's coming over later tonight," he mumbled through a mouthful of chile.
"Oh, awesome!" Olivia squealed in excitement, happy for the change of subject. Secretly, Leigh was relieved too, though she wasn't thrilled that Ryan would have a new annoying thirteen year old boy around the house, driving her up a wall. One was enough.

Sure enough, fifteen minutes later the doorbell's merry chime echoed throughout the house.
"Leigh, honey, could you get the door?" Olivia called from within the depths of the kitchen. She was making cookies for Ryan and his new friend; probably excited that at least one of her two children was attempting to be social.
"NO!" Leigh called back down the stairs, still mildly grouchy from the day's earlier events. The chemicals on her hand still stung slightly. She hoped that was supposed to happen.
"Come ON!" Olivia screamed up the stairs. This house was slightly bigger than their old one, and they had adopted screaming into their daily routine.
Leigh groaned but got up, pausing A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. Despite it being two weeks away from Christmas, she was in major Panic! mode.
She trimmed down the stairs noisily, brushing a stray stand of brown hair out of her face. The person at the door rang again.
"Chill, I'm coming," she muttered to herself, unlocking the door and opening it. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said to herself out loud. Gerard Way smirked at her, one arm wrapped protectively around who she assumed was his younger brother.
"Wassup, Mikey?!" Ryan apparated out of no where, grinning like the Sophmore doofus he was. Soon, the two boys had disappeared back into the depths of the house, happily munching away on cookies and booting up Mario Kart.

"Uh," said Leigh, cursing her brother, mom, and every single person on the stupid planet for putting her in such an awkward situation.

***

Gerard was freaking loving this. He had successfully made "Miss Cool" feel awkward.
Take that, he thought, remember all of the times that she had successfully made him look like an idiot, starting with day número uno (Frank started calling it Rejection Day).
After a couple of seconds, though, she managed to regain her composure and quirked a eyebrow. Classic Leigh.
"So apparently Mikey made a new friend," he started out innocently enough. But then he got a playful evil glint in his hazel eyes, "And I now know where you live," he smirked.
"Try avoiding us now."

Yeah. As much as Leigh made it her life goal to avoid Te Insiders, they made it theirs to become her friend. She supposed it was almost like a challenge. Or maybe they enjoyed making her mildly uncomfortable.

But if she had to guess, she'd say it was almost playful, friendly teasing. And that idea scared the crap out of her.

Notes

But seriously, why is Leigh so determined to not make friends? Epic backstory, maybe >:]
Feeback is much appreciated!