"This is all your fault, director's pet. This is a play. I'm not falling in love with you, and I would never ever go out with you, Jack Garrison."
Jack and Shayna can't get through a rehearsal without fighting.
Cheerleader Shayna loathes perfect Ja...
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The school was buzzing. Everyone was talking about Jack and Lilly. By now, every student at Crestview High School had either already read about it on social media, seen it on the news, or heard about it from someone else. There were so many differing opinions, and everyone wanted to talk about it.
Hearing each distinct variation of the story was exhausting, especially when I knew the truth. Everyone from the cheerleaders to the freshmen wanted to hear the latest news on the ever-elusive Jack Garrison. Kids who'd never spoken to him were saying how they always knew that Jack was a hero. Others argued that Jack framed his father to get all the family money.
By now, the tale was an overdramatized jumble of facts and fiction. Some were claiming that Jack carried his sisters out of their burning home. That was false. There was no fire.
Others said that Jack had bravely wrestled the gun from his father. Also untrue since, according to Shayna, Jack and his sisters fled the scene.
There were even a few people convinced he was dead. That was laughable. Even though I hadn't seen Jack since before that night, I knew he was fine, at least according to Shayna.
Samantha was lapping up the attention. Her father had volunteered to be Jack's lawyer, so suddenly, it seemed like she had insider information.
Jules was disgusted by all the attention that Jack was getting. They kept saying that Jack was too famous before all this happened, and Samantha didn't even seem to care about the play anymore. She was constantly texting and stirring up more gossip.
It worried me. The state of our play was uncertain. We didn't know when Jack and Anton were coming back. Jack wasn't answering his messages, and he hadn't so much as posted on social media since the incident.
Shayna had mentioned social services, and if Jack's mother was on death's door like everyone was saying, things could get so much worse for Jack. I hoped he would be okay at the end of the fallout.
After school, Hugh and I planned to take flowers to Anton to get some answers about where the play was headed. We hadn't known about the guards the lawyers had hired to keep away the media and anything else deemed a threat to Anton and Jack.
The two of us walked up to the gate to push the button to request entry to Anton's apartment when we found our path blocked. A burly man crossed his arms and obstructed our way.
"No visitors," he growled.
"We wanted to give Mr. Sterling some flowers," Hugh said. "We're kids in his theater class."
"Mr. Sterling isn't seeing anyone," the man growled. "Be on your way, or I'll call the police."
"Sir, can you at least give him the flowers for us?" I asked.
"No," the man snatched the flowers and threw them in a nearby dumpster.
"Well, he was friendly," Hugh said as we drove away. "I guess we can go to my house."
