Although bathed in embarrassment from the sudden landslide of popularity, Steph felt an undeniable bout of anger at the reaction of her supposed friends. Paige was giving her strange looks, and then leant in to whisper - although quite loud enough for Ethan to hear.
"Don't tell me you were waiting for [i]that[/i] weirdo." She muttered, darting a glare at Ethan. Another uncharacteristic wave of anger hit her, and she backed away from the group of girls , heading towards Ethan with a scowl beginning to show on her face.
"Yes, I was." She snapped, tightening her grip on her portfolio, clutching it tighter to her chest as if it could somehow shield her and Ethan from all the judging looks they were getting. Honestly, it's not like he was an actual bad person. They would have had a better reaction if Steph had been waiting on one of the junkies which frequented the back alley of the school, smoking weed and various other drugs. Glancing at Ethan, she found it surprising that he was offering to let her off the hook - as if being friends with him was a bad thing.
"I reckon I'd rather go with you Ethan." She said in a final sort of tone, then stepped well out of the group, looking at him expectantly. "C'mon... I don't want to be late for class."
Judging by the shocked silence and obvious dark looks behind her back, Steph had a feeling she was no longer welcome around those girls anymore. Eh. She wasn't losing anything special. In fact, she had a feeling she'd gained something better instead.