A/N: I don't really do author's notes on this because I'm writing more for myself than anyone else, but I just really want to say this.
I graduated high school 2 years ago and this year I was hesitant, but ended up joining an independent color guard far away from my former guard. Last night, I had an amazing performance—my best one so far this season—and I'm so happy that I've been able to put the past behind me and get back to doing what I love!
I got home from school Thursday and flopped down on the couch. My phone buzzed and I looked to see that I'd gotten a voicemail on my way home. I hit play and lifted it to my ear to hear MK's concerned voice.
"Hey, so uh... when I got to class today, your ex passed me at this note and then they gave me a whole spiel about you guys doing some sort of thing at color guard practice, like an uh... an interpretive dance or something, and you fell on them and started like, pummeling them or something. I don't really understand it, but they said S had to pull you off of them."
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. That never happened.
"Anyway, apparently your coach found out about it. She's supposedly like, um, investigating it now or something, and if she finds anything, she's getting the police involved. I don't know how true any of that is. Actually, I don't think any of it is true, but you really need to do something about it before you get in a lot of trouble for something you didn't do.
"I know you don't want to tell your parents and you're scared they'll say, 'I told you so' about them, but this is really serious."
I barely heard the faint "Bye, love you!" coming from my phone as I lowered it in shock, realizing for the first time that this wasn't just some stupid thing that would blow over soon.
I closed my eyes for a moment, taking everything in, when my phone buzzed once more. Turning it back on again, I clicked on a text from MK.
It was a picture of a little scrap of paper in her hand, and the messy handwriting scrawled across it said, "Someone told our coach that Lizzie hit me, which is true, but now our coach wants to call the cops on Lizzie."
——
I stood in the doorway of my mom's bedroom later that day. Sitting in her bed, she looked up from her phone at me.
"I have to talk to you," I muttered, coming to climb onto the bed next to her.
With tears in my eyes, I told her everything. I explained our break up, which I'd been neglecting to mention for the past few months. I told her about every argument we'd had since then and even some from before. And then, I told her about the past week.
By the time I was finished, I was completely sobbing and worried that my mom, who'd always insisted my ex was crazy, would tell me I should have known better than to date them, but she didn't. She leaned over and hugged me.
"Tonight we need to talk to your coach, A, before practice," she said. "And then tomorrow after school, we'll talk to your principal. We'll get this fixed."
I sniffled and wiped a tear from my eye.
"It's gonna be ok," my mom told me, hugging me tighter.
Despite how scared I was, I finally felt like things might actually be ok.
YOU ARE READING
Look What You Made Me Do
Non-Fiction"Don't tell anybody about this." "If you just ignore it, it'll stop." "There's nothing I can do to help you." And so I did everything I was told. I shut up. I put on a brave face. I followed all the rules. But that was the past and it's not who I am...
