The cafeteria at Monroe High was a reflection of the school's entire social system. There were the nerds, the debate club that always seemed to have something to argue about, the manga fans, the goths, the 'normals'(who were anything but), the 'fine-arts' students, the computer geeks, the Greek-obsessed geeks, the movie geeks, music geeks, space geeks [a lot of geeks really], then the band, the loners, the stoners, the jocks, the rebels, cheerleaders and the Good-ats students(who were too good at everything to care about trivial matters like social class). The sinkers, who didn't belong anywhere. And the floaters who belonged everywhere. 

The table you belonged to defined your entire life in high school. Everyone knew it was shallow, but they still stuck to their social group. Not doing so would be considered an abomination and would be frowned upon by society.

Persephone Ariadne Carlisle sat alone at the corner of the cafeteria, with a book in hand and her green-colored cat glasses hanging low on her nose as she deeply engrossed herself in 'The Silent Patient' by Alex Michaelides. Her long brunette hair was tied in a tight ponytail with the bangs hanging just above her long lashes. She put on pink lip gloss that made her lips pop and nude makeup that made her light brown eyes stand out. She was beautiful, there was no denying that. 

"Perse!" an all too familiar high-pitched voice called out from across the cafeteria. Every fiber in Persephone's body wanted to ignore that voice, but she knew it would only get louder and more annoying. Maya McManus has always had a flair for creating scandals. Ignoring her is the quickest and surest way to get one. "Perse I swear you're asking for trouble!"

Two girls joined her at the table, half the cafeteria following them with their eyes after Maya had decided to oh so blatantly announce her presence. She flipped her blonde hair and shot Perse a glare. Even with her eyes and attention still on the book, she could feel Maya's blue eyes pierce through her. 

"What did I do this time?" Bookmarking the page she was on, she put the novel aside, took off her glasses, and gave Maya and June [her ever-loyal puppet] the undivided attention they were begging for. 

"It's not about what you did__ it's about what you didn't! J and I had to walk around in a straight line instead of a classy triangle because you decided that your books were more important than the squad! 'PM&J' was just__ 'M&J'!" Maya shrieked.

Perse rolled her eyes and held in a sigh. She should have gotten used to this by now, but what Maya doesn't lack is lip gloss and drama. Talking back would mean more hours spent listening to Maya complain and June mimicking and repeating her complaints. 

"I was busy earlier. I had___"

"Save it for someone who cares P," 

"Yeah! Save it for someone who cares!" June repeated, and Perse bit her tongue not to tell her to shove it.

"Everyone knows the first Wednesday of every month is 'squad day'. The whole squad has to be together the entire day! No compromise!"

"I'm sorry Maya. I wouldn't intentionally skip squad day___"

"You always skip squad day !"

"Not intentionally___"

"If I wanted excuses, I'd have asked you to write a letter instead!"

"I'll make it up to the squad then,"

"Of course you will. I swear dealing with you will give me wrinkles one of these days," Maya combed through her hair with her fingers as June held out a mirror for her. "That's a drama for later though. I have the latest gossip!" she squelled excitedly as she sat down with June, and signaled the cheerleaders to come over to that table. 

Perse plastered on her cheerleader star smile. She knew she'd need it to survive this. She thought about all the things she could be doing with her time, like finishing up that fantastic novel, planting tree seedlings with the Go Green club, or even just reading up on the syllabus at the library. Instead, she was wasting time gossiping about a guy named AJ Thorne who had some kind of fight with Josh, the school's quarterback. 

They all giggled about how hot they thought Josh was and some thought AJ's 'rebellious bad boy vibe' made him mysterious and hot as hell. None of which interested Perse as she idly started admiring the striped black and white nail polish on her fingernails.

'God please make this end! Please!' she inwardly thought to herself as the table erupted in another fit of giggles. Maya showing off her position as cheer captain as she struts down the hallway with her 'golden two'. And then later share gossip about the entire school. This was what Squad Day was about... and this was the reason she always skipped it.

Breaking the rules like Perse did, only meant you had to take the entire squad out the following weekend. Persephone has done it for the past 8 months, so it was routine to her at this point. 

"Oh my Gawd! Shut up! There he is!" someone randomly said as she pointed towards the entrance of the cafeteria. The entire table turned to look, making it ridiculously obvious that he was the subject of the day. 

"He isn't even that good-looking," Maya rolled her eyes, but still couldn't help but stare at the guy. "What do you think P?"

Perse, who had sneakily gotten back to reading her novel, briefly glanced at Maya as she discreetly shut and hid her book. 

"Who are we talking about?"

"Asher Jayden Thorne!" Maya pointed towards the subject of interest. Following Maya's finger, Perse finally saw him. His heavy leather boots echoed with each footstep. His jet-black hair, ruffled and untamed, framed a chiseled face adorned with an intimidating scowl. He wore a worn-out leather jacket with patches, each a testament to his rebellious spirit. Even from where Perse sat, she could see the tattoos peeking out from under his sleeves, and a black stud glinting in one ear.

The chatter in the cafeteria quieted as he made his entrance. It wasn't just the cheerleaders staring at him, he had the attention of the entire school. His piercing dark blue eyes scanned the room with an air of indifference, not seeming to falter under the glares of the entire cafeteria. He walked past the long lines of students waiting for their cafeteria trays, bypassing the rules like they were nonexistent. The cafeteria monitors exchanged nervous glances but dared not to challenge him. The bruises on his face were a huge 'PISS OFF' to anyone who made the mistake of considering picking a brawl with him. He was a walking danger sign and everyone knew it.

"He looks okay. Why? Who is he?" Perse asked, trying to hide her curiosity behind a nonchalant expression.

"He's bad news... Very bad news,"

"And how come I've never seen him before?"

"How are you supposed to see anything when your nose is always buried deep in a book?!" Maya rolled her eyes in annoyance, and Perse didn't bother to say anything back. "I hear he's been in prison though. And that they released him on probation,"

AJ Thorne walked past the loners' table, past the goths, the stoners, and the rebels, and settled into an empty seat at a corner table near the table the cheerleaders had decided to occupy for the day. He propped his booted feet up on a chair, and with a flick of his lighter, ignited a cigarette, the smoke curling upward in a defiant plume. Smoking wasn't allowed in the cafeteria. It wasn't even allowed in school. Nobody cared though if you smoked in the parking lot___ but everybody cared when someone decided to smoke in the cafeteria. 

The cheerleaders looked toward the jock's table, their looks imploring them to do something to stop this absurd behavior. But after what AJ did to Josh, nobody was willing to risk it. Everyone whispered to each other, but no one whispered to him.

"Is that even allowed?" June asked, scrunching her nose in disgust. 

"Of course, it's not!" Perse answered more to herself. She thought about how peaceful her lunch would have been if she had just taken it at the schoolyard like she always did. No gossip. No Maya or June. And more importantly, no self-absorbed rebellious AJ Thorne to poison her oxygen and ruin her appetite. It would have been just her, nature, and her books. She would have escaped this entire social escapade. But with the schoolyard under construction, relocation was necessary. 

Unable to take it anymore, she stood up, her chair scraping on the floor. Her stilettos echoed as she walked to AJ's table, ignoring all attempts her friends were warning her against. 

AJ couldn't help the devilish grin that crept on his lips when Persephone defiantly stood in front of him. She didn't seem scared, not even the slightest bit phazed___ just extremely pissed. And that only added to his amusement.

" 'Sup cheer squad?" he winked. His voice was hoarse and added to his already killer look. But Perse wasn't about to let herself sink into those blue eyes or be charmed by his sexy voice. Her anger wouldn't let her. 

" You do know that smoking in the cafeteria isn't allowed, right?" she said, pointing to the no smoking sign behind her, at the entrance of the cafeteria, at the counter near the kitchen, and the window near the exit. 

"Ah! I must have missed those," he grinned. He took another drag from his cigarette and blew it in the air, the smoke hitting Perse in the face. She shut her eyes and held her breath for a while. But even that didn't help cause as soon as she inhaled, she felt the smoke go down her lungs. It took everything in her to hold in a gag. 

"How about this?" she pointed at another no smoking sign, this time, the one that was on the table literally in front of him.

"That was there the whole time? I honestly had no idea," and yet again, he took another drag. 

"Well now that you 'have an idea' can you put it out, please? You're making everyone very uncomfor___" The smoke he blew in her face momentarily made her lose focus.

"Sorry. You were saying?" 

"You're making everyone uncomfortable. Put. Out. The. Cigarette!"

"Well no one has said anything___"

"I'm saying it aren't I?"

"Are you their spokesman or something?" 

"Spokeswoman! But no. I'm not. I'm just someone highly concerned with my health___" She snatched his cigarette from his hand just as he was about to take another drag. She instantly snaffed it out with her stilleto as she cast him a defiant glare. She leaned near his face so that nobody else could hear her. "I have kept my lungs running this entire time on oxygen- never smoked anything my whole life. That won't suddenly change because you decided to make a statement. Pull a stunt like this again and you and I are going to have a problem." 

"Did you just threaten me, cheer squad?" AJ sounded more amused than anything else.

He knew for a fact that this 5"3 cheerleader in 4-inch stilettos couldn't possibly do anything to him. And even if she, hypothetically could, he gladly welcomed the challenge. 

"Threaten you?" Perse fake gasped. "Me? Persephone Ariadne Carlisle? I would never! I just had to be sure you and I were on the same page___" she removed invisible dirt from his shoulder, then fixed his collar and straightened his jacket. "___And I've confirmed that we are indeed on the same page,"

"Well you certainly move fast," AJ smirked. "From intimidation to flirtation. My kind of woman,"

Perse gave him her rehearsed cheerleader smile. "Oh, sweetie. I don't think you can handle all this," Reaching into his jacket she pulled out an entire pack of cigarettes. 

"But I'll keep these for you. Safekeeping and whatnot," she said with a wink, straightened up, flipped her ponytail, and sashayed out of the cafeteria, throwing the pack of cigarettes in the trash as she did.

It took an intense extremely long minute for everyone to go back to chattering, three minutes for AJ to fully digest what had happened, five for him to finally storm out of the cafeteria, and six minutes for him to get summoned to the principal's office. 

Even as he sat on 'the hot seat' while Principal Malt rambled on and on about the rules he had broken since he came back from his suspension. It was a long list. He zoned out in between. His thoughts were occupied by the highlight of his week.

'Persephone Ariadne Carlisle.' he smirked to himself, especially after Googling what her name meant, 'Bringer of Destruction.

Despite the clear intention to intimidate him, and the obvious scary meaning behind her name, all he could look forward to was their next encounter. 

"Are you even listening to me?" Principal Malt asked. He sounded annoyed. AJ wanted to give a snarky remark, but his next class was algebra. Normally, he'd be making plans on how he'd be able to sneak out of school. But it was one of the three classes he had with Persephone. And he wasn't just about to skip it. 

"I am I am," he placed his hand over his chest to show sincerity, but it looked like mockery to Principal Malt. Only he couldn't do anything about it. "I broke the rules... a lot of rules! I'll do community service after football practice and detention three times a week for the next 4 weeks... including Saturdays. Can I go now? I'll miss Algebra,"

He wasn't listening. Principal Malt just has a thing for repetitive punishments. His creativity ended in Community service. 

"I've got my eyes on you Thorne," he warned before finally dismissing him. Nothing mattered though... Nothing but Persephone. 

Bring on the destruction cheer squad!