Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
He never noticed how close their lockers were. Her locker was down the hallway from his and yet he never noticed until now. Clutching the straps of his backpack, Eli nervously made his way to the girl standing at her locker. "H-Hey, Odessa." He stuttered.
Odessa turned around and smiled when she saw him. "Hey, Eli," she said back and pressed her books to her chest.
"How are you?"
She could lie. She didn't want to lie. Not to him. "I'm okay." She lied anyway. "How are you doing?"
"Good." He quickly nodded. "Um, I was wondering if you were planning on going to the Halloween dance?"
The blonde girl out one of the books she was holding in her locker. "Uh, I'm not sure, honestly. I'm not really a party girl."
"Neither am I!" He blurted out, making her flinch. His eyes widened. "Cause, uh, obviously i'm not a girl—" he stopped himself. "Sorry."
He felt relieved when she laughed. "It's okay. Are you going to the dance?" She questioned.
Eli lightly shrugged. "I was thinking about it."
She thought he was cute. An awkwardly adorable kind of cute. He was really shy but making an effort to talk to her. She thought it was sweet. "The I might consider it." She told him, smiling kindly.
A haunting laugh cut into their moment. "Careful, Lip, she might give you an STD if you stand too close." Kyler Park announced. He looked at Odessa and smirked. "But if you want something all you have to do is ask and she'll give it to you."
His friends that were with him burst into laughter and Odessa uncomfortably crossed her arms over her chest. Eli looked at her with sympathy, understanding completely, and he shifted on his feet. Kyler and friends walked away from them and Odessa closed her locker. "You know, I don't believe them, Odessa." He assured her.
She felt embarrassed. "I'll see you later, Eli." She ignored what he said and took off with tears in her eyes.
When the rumor first started, Odessa came to school and was confused why everybody was staring at her. Just the day before she had went to a party at Yasmine's house. She went the whole day feeling confused by their sudden coldness until she found Yasmine and Moon. She would never forget the last conversation she had with them.
"Joey said that you went down on him," Moon had said to her.
"On the first date? Real classy, Odessa." Yasmine had said.
When she found out that it was Yasmine that started the rumor, telling everybody in school what had happened, she felt betrayed. It was like a piece of her life had been taken away. Suddenly, she was quitting the cheer team because of all the girls taking about her and she was out of the running for class president because the teachers found out what everyone was saying about her.
