If only she knew what happened this summer, I thought as I watched the love of my life walk over to go talk to her. His girlfriend, Betty. It was only the second day of school, senior year nonetheless, and I was already done.
And, to make things worse, I’ve been paranoid for three weeks. That was when Inez Blackly saw me and him hooking up behind the mall. Him, as in James Young, the love of my life.
The love of my life, who happened to be dating my ex best friend.
Yes, he was cheating, and no, I didn’t stop it.
He made me feel so good about myself, and I was too selfish to be a good person and put a stop to it. James is really, really funny, and he has the most beautiful light blue eyes. His brown hair, his eyes, his humor, everything about him turns me on. I’ve liked him for as long as I can remember, and when the opportunity came to have him, I took it.
So when Inez, the biggest gossip in the grade, caught us in the act, I paid her to keep her mouth shut. It was $500, so I’d figured that she would take it and do what I asked. It wasn’t that much; basically pocket money for me. My dad’s rich.
But ever since school started, I’ve been stressed out about everyone finding out. I knew that Inez wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret for that much longer, so I needed another plan.
I knew that James wouldn’t tell anyone, the thrill of cheating excited him. But deep down, we both know that if it got out, he would pick Betty over me. They have been dating for two years now. She was his first love, his first kiss, his first time, everything. And that’s exactly why me and Betty weren’t friends anymore.
She had always known that I had the biggest crush on him. I would rave about him every day to her. But he asked her out right before sophomore year started, and I was so mad at her when she said yes. I haven’t talked to her since.
I hated everything about that relationship, the way he walked up to her and hugged her from behind at her locker, the way her stupid friends laughed at them, how they held hands in the hallway, the way they were so outward and flirty with each other, everything. It made me hate her more everyday.
Like right now, James walked up behind her at her locker and wrapped his arms around her. From where he was, it looked like his hands were pretty high up, probably around her chest. Her friends started giggling.
Betty turned around with a flirty smile on her face and kissed him. After a second she pulled back, but he pulled her back in for more, like he did when he was with me. It made me so jealous.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked over to find my best friend, Dorothea, by my side.
“Don’t look at them. It just makes you feel worse,” she told me. Anything she says always sounds so innocent, she was a small, petite girl with a high voice. She was the star soprano in the school choir.
As close as me and Dorothea were, even she didn’t know about me and James.
I felt bad not telling her, but she is the type of person who would force me to tell Betty herself that I was having an affair with her perfect boyfriend. And there was no way I could do that.
“I know. It’s so hard though. They just passed two years, and I still can’t believe she did that to me,” I told Dorothea. And on the night of their two year anniversary, can you guess where he was? My bed.
Me, her, and Betty used to be a trio, but after Betty ditched us for the popular cheerleaders when she started dating James, it was just me and Dorothea. Which was honestly better.
I glanced back at James, who had pinned Betty against the row of lockers and they were making out. I couldn’t help but feel a huge wave of jealousy wash over me as the bell rang and I walked down the hall to Pre-Calculus. A class I happened to share with James.
“Hi, Augustine! How was your summer?” asked a familiar voice. I turned to find Inez Blackly walking next to me, who was also in my math class.
I gave a heavy sigh. “It was fine, Inez,” I said. I looked around at my surroundings to make sure nobody was listening. I whispered to her, “I think you know exactly how my summer went.”
A sly smile lit up her face. “What, that you were getting hot and heavy with another girl’s boyfriend all summer? Yeah, I know. And I thought you were gonna play nice,” she said.
I glared at her. “What is that supposed to mean? Play nice about what?” I said.
She laughed and tucked a loose strand of her dyed blonde hair behind her ear. “Well, I could still tell. That’s always an option, you know. I already spent your daddy’s money, so there’s really nothing left for me to do for you. I don’t have money hanging over my head, just this teeny secret that could ruin senior year for three people. You wouldn’t want that for James, would you?” she taunted. Inez flipped her hair and walked into the classroom.
I groaned and shook my head. This day could not get any worse, and it was only third period.
Until it did. James walked into the classroom with a huge smile on his face and a piece of paper in his hand. My heart melted as soon as I saw him.
He dropped the piece of paper on my desk as he made his way to the back of the room where he sat. I opened up the folded piece of notebook paper to see his messy writing sprawled out in black pen. ‘Your place at 7?’ it read.
I turned around in my chair and made eye contact with him and gave the slightest nod of my head. He flashed a flirty, seductive smile at me, which was enough to kill me on the inside.
I turned back around to face the front of the room, when I heard a giggle from a few chairs over. Inez was looking at me, laughing to herself, and then she glanced back at James and laughed some more.
Inez quickly came over to my desk, bent down, and whispered “have fun tonight, you little slut,” and walked away. I was pissed.
All she would do was taunt me. I wouldn’t count on her to say anything. At least, not soon.
The bell rang for class to start, and our teacher, Mr. Bell, called attention to the front. He instructed us to get out our homework from last night, which was a get to know you paper, like we were in elementary school.
The first question said to write your favorite memory from the summer. Of course I couldn’t write that I lost my virginity to the boy of my dreams behind the mall, who happened to be cheating on his girlfriend with me. So I just wrote that I went on vacation to the beach with Dorothea, which was true. Dorothea was in his fifth period Calculus class, and there’s no other Dorothea in the school, so he will know who I’m talking about.
I took my hair tie off my wrist and tied my hair back in a low messy bun. I thought Don’t worry Inez, I’ll have fun.
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