I was such a fucking fool. I don’t know why I thought I was special. Of course James was doing what he did best, lying and being a whore.
But it was Inez that really pissed me off. That girl had the fucking audacity to tell people that I was fucking James when she did the exact same thing the same time I was. Like, I was low key super pissed at her. She’s such a bitch.
I walked away from Inez’s table and back over to my booth where Dorothea was. She was there, looking over her notes for choir.
My best friend is the star soprano in the Acapella Choir. Acapella Choir is a group of the 20 most talented singers in the school, and Dorothea is the face of it.
Despite having met with numerous record labels, she’s severely underrated as a person. I met her for the first time in fifth grade, under the bleachers during gym class. We were both trying to get out of playing soccer. We clicked instantly. We’ve been best friends since.
And she’s gorgeous. She’s never had a boyfriend, though. Her mom used to enter her in beauty pageants. So when her mom found out that she got nominated for Junior Prom Queen, she skipped the dance altogether just to piss her off. It was kind of funny.
I sat down, hearing Dorothea’s angelic voice humming. She looked up and gave a small smile.
“Remind me, I have to talk to you about something later when I come over,” she said.
I nodded. “Uh, okay. What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing’s wrong, I just don’t wanna talk about it here. It’s all good, I promise,” she replied.
She continued to look over her papers while I looked on Instagram while eating my lunch. Betty’s account popped up. There were pictures of her in a hospital bed with ice cream. Este and Cam were there, looking like they had just gotten married.
And there was a guy. I had no idea who he was.
He was tan, with dark brown, fluffy hair and brown eyes.
I turned my phone around to show Dorothea. She looked up from her papers and raised her eyebrows.
“And who is that?” she asked.
“No idea, but he and Betty look very comfortable,” I said.
“Hell yeah they do,” she replied.
I sighed and I put my phone down to finish eating.
Then the bell rang.
Everyone got up and threw their stuff away. Dorothea packed up her papers and started walking alongside me. We walked toward the front door, because neither of us had any more classes that day, so we both got to leave everyday after lunch.
We walked out toward by car, a silver Mercedes. She got in the passenger side, and we rode 20 minutes until we got to my house.
My grandmother was out front picking flowers. She waved at us when we got out of the car.
“Hello, dear. Hi, Dorothea,” called my grandmother.
Dorothea waved at her as she got her bag out from my car.
We walked up the path toward the front door, where my grandmother was standing. Dorothea walked over to her and gave her a hug. She loved my grandmother.
“Hi, Miss Marjorie,” she said as she gave my grandmother a hug.
“Hello, dear. How was school today?” she asked.
“It was good. I got a new song for choir today. I like this one. I’m really excited to start working on it later,” she said.
“That’s great, dear. Augustine, how was your day?” asked my grandmother.
“It was fine. Nothing too exciting,” I told her.
My grandmother smiled at us. “Well, that’s great. It’s nice to see you, Dorothea. I just finished baking some cupcakes, they’re on the counter if you girls want some,” she told us.
Dorothea smiled at her. “Thank you. Nice to see you, too, Miss Marjorie,” she said.
We walked inside and our dog came running over. My grandmother had gotten us a dog three years ago, when my dad got promoted to Vice President of the company. We had a white lab named Sophie.
Sophie jumped up on Dorothea, almost knocking over my small friend.
Dorothea started laughing. “Sophie! I missed you, too, girly,” she exclaimed.
Sophie jumped down and followed us into the kitchen. We each took a chocolate cupcake from the counter and went upstairs to my room.
Dorothea set down her backpack in a corner as we sat down on my bed. Sophie jumped up and layed down right next to Dorothea.
“So, what did you want to tell me?” I asked her when we finished eating.
A small smile appeared on her face. “Um, what do you think of Piper Sanchez?” she asked.
“The cross country runner?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she replied.
“She’s nice. She’s really pretty. I don’t really know, I don’t talk to her that much. Why?”
Dorothea started to blush. “No reason,” she mumbled.
“Don’t, be embarrassed, tell me,” I said.
She took a deep breath. “Well, I was thinking of asking her to homecoming. Like as my date,” she told me.
“Oh!” I said. “I didn’t know you liked her.”
Her face turned more red. “I’ve been meaning to tell you. I just didn’t know how to tell you. I just wanted to make sure before I told anyone. And you’re my best friend, so I knew I could trust you,” she said.
“Yeah, that’s great. I’m happy for you. So are you like-” I said.
She cut me off. “I’m bisexual, and I’m not ashamed. It just took me a while to come to the truth with myself,” she said.
“That’s amazing, Dorothea. I’m really proud of you,” I told her.
“Thanks. So, like, it’s okay?” she said.
“Why are you asking, of course it’s okay! It’s more than okay,” I said.
I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around her.
“I’m really proud of you,” I whispered.
“Thank you,” she said back.
She leaned back and wiped a tear from her eye.
“So, Piper?” I said.
Dorothea’s face lit up. “Yes! She’s so amazing. She’s funny, she’s smart, and she’s so pretty! She smiled at me today in Calc and I’m telling you, the internal bi panicking was crazy!” she exclaimed.
A big, real smile took over me. The joy was so pure and real, for the first time in a long time.
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