Love Rectangled

Three : Rumors

On Monday, we worked on our plan. It was simple: get people to start rumors about us. I knew people these days were more interested in others' lives than their own.

During lunch, Emily and I went inside the bathroom and saw two of the stalls were filled. I glanced at Emily and she gave a thumbs up.

"What's going on with you and Jax?!" Emily asked loudly so the girls in there could hear.

"Oh, nothing," I yelled back. I faced the stalls and leaned my hip against the sink behind me. "This vacation we coincidentally met in Hawaii and fooled around a bit. Then the vacation ended, and we got back to our lives."

"What's with him flirting with you now?"

"Guess he couldn't get enough of me and now he's desperate to date me!"

"Oh. Wow!" Emily almost giggled. She covered her mouth with her hands to stop and looked at me with her twinkling brown eyes.

"Yeah, and I'm not giving in that easily. He has to beg to get me." I giggled and gestured for Emily to leave.

"That was fun," she laughed, coming out of the bathroom with me.

"And it's just the beginning," I smirked.

Jax and I flirted with each other around everyone. In the last period, he and I were at my locker when I saw Ivy and Noah coming down the hallway.

"Ivy is coming," I whispered and leaned my back against my locker. Jax stood in front of me, placing one hand on the locker above my head, leaning in with the other on his waist.

"How's this?" he asked, darting his blue eyes into my hazel ones.

"Perfect," I whispered and fake-giggled loudly, placing my hand on his shoulder. "Oh Jax, you're so funny!" I gushed.

"Well, what can I say?" He gave a high-pitched laugh, running his fingers through his light brown hair and I blinked at him.

"You're terrible at acting," I said sternly.

"What else do you want me to do?" he whispered, looking nervous and I sighed.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Ivy and Noah getting closer. "I'll see you tomorrow." I winked and left him with them.

The face Ivy made when I winked was so satisfying, and in that moment, I knew I made the right decision.

* * * * *

My plan worked epically. The next day, rumors went out about Jax and me, and oh boy, they went to another level.

Some said Jax and I intentionally went on vacation together, some claimed I got pregnant, and one even said we eloped. I rolled my eyes at them.

People are so stupid these days.

One of my favorites was that Ivy came between Jax and me, breaking us apart. That was the only one remotely true. Everyone was aware of our friendship and how the group formed and broke.

I entered my Home Economics class and went to sit in my usual seat, waiting for Emily. I loved this class because we got to cook. The first few weeks were boring though, since the teacher babbled on about theory. I had Home Ec. every Tuesday and Thursday before lunch.

I peeked at Miss Maddox, our teacher, whose head was buried in a magazine and I rolled my eyes. For some reason, she hated me. I thought she was jealous—probably because she had no fashion sense and I did.

Miss Mad was a blonde with her hair always wrapped in a tight bun. She wore thin wire-framed glasses that sat on the tip of her nose. The long, gown-type dresses she wore—made of old, scratchy-looking fabric—gave me shivers. I just hoped she would pass me and not take her frustrations out on me.