Chimes

10

*Delilah's POV*

~~~ Present day, Junior Year, September 24, 2020 ~~~

"Delilah. Delilah?" Garrett calls out my name as I space out.

"What?" I ask, annoyed.

"Are we going through with this?"

"We? Come on. I don't have to make decisions for you anymore. Isn't it 2020? All your LGBTQ rights and shit."

"Delilah." Garrett sternly says.

"Okay, sorry." I wasn't allowed to say that Garrett was gay out loud, even though if you spent 5 minutes with him, you might figure out a thing or two.

"Please, Delilah. No one can know." No one can know, Garrett refers to his secret boyfriend which even I didn't know about for a while, and I still don't know who it is.

"You're gonna tell me soon, right?" I curiously ask.

"Sure." He reluctantly replies. Was it that bad? Garrett would typically be open about other issues, like with his family or his grades. But this, this seemed bad.

"I'll come to your house tomorrow afternoon. We can take the bus to Ben's together." Garrett says before parting ways with me. The end of a stressful first week back at school at last. I peer to the corner of the field seeing my sister, Persephone, kiss her supposed ex, Jared.

"What the hell?" I whisper to myself.

"They got back together." Kirah Lopéz appears behind me.

"I didn't ask you." I only look at her face for a mere second. she cusps her hands together in awkwardness and fear.

"Delilah I-"

"Look. You just, mind your own business, kay?" I didn't get why Kirah wanted to even start a conversation with me. She already knew she was the reason ben and I broke up and she still had the gall to open her mouth in front of me. Before things got out of hand, I left the field to leave school and then to get home.

"It'll be okay," I say to myself, having to go back to ben's house was gonna be a problem. It was my first time back since we fought in front of his family, I really couldn't bring myself to, but for Garrett and Calvin's sake, I decided it was only right.

~~~ Summer Break, September 19 ~~~

"Delilah, Delilah, come on, you're overreacting." Ben tries to hold my hand. I retaliate.

"Stop! Leave me alone!" I shout at him.

"Just talk to me. please." People begin to stare.

"No! We're done. Officially. This is the last time I'm dealing with your bullshit, Ben." I storm out of his house as people slowly start dancing again.

"Delilah!" He shouts one last time before I can no longer hear him.

"Hey, baby." A drunken Pablo Hernandéz, a member of the gang blue bolts and my classmate, flirts with me.

"Fuck off." I toss my almost empty cup of punch at him. He is probably the horniest student in the whole cohort, along with Elena Roberto of course, explaining their whole "friends with benefits" situation.

"Come on, have a little fun." I kick him in between his legs after he touches my shoulder.

"The amount of sexual assault here is un-fucking-believable." I say to myself. All of a sudden, a voice calls out my name.

"Delilah, Delilah, wait! Listen to me." Kirah Lopéz rushes towards me.

"What do you want?" I cross my arms.