My Boyfriend's Girlfriend

twenty three

meet me at barton's cafeteria monday at 5:30

The amount of times I'd checked my texts with Tessa could have classed me as clinically insane and put me in a 72-hour hold.

Stacy had taken my phone after she had come to the realization I was a naïve idiot, and told me she'd come up with a plan. She texted Tessa, asking her to show up at Barton at the end of our last cheer practice for the season, but it was now Monday morning and I'd still not heard a word from her.

I still had no idea what I was going to say to Tessa, I was nervous as all-get-out to see her. I knew had to tell her that the reason I wasn't ready to end things was because I was afraid to say goodbye to her. I worried that maybe she didn't like me after all, and it was just the thrill of getting back at Danny that had her so interested in me. She could change her mind any time now that things were over with him, and it broke my heart to think about - a fact that still terrified me to realize. I'd fallen for her, I'd fallen hard.

I thought about how if things had been different, if we hadn't decided to get revenge, how weird my life would be right now. I truly felt like there wasn't a moment in my life where I hadn't known Tessa, which was silly, but true. And I was so afraid of losing her.

"Attention." The outdated PA system crackled, throwing me abruptly back into reality. I looked around at my classmates, realizing I'd daydreamed nearly all of AP Literature away. It was truly a wonder how my grade in the class had stayed above a 90 percent with everything that had happened in the past two months. I'd somehow ended the quarter with an A-, leaving my 3.98 GPA in tact.

"Daniel Schwinn please report to the front office." Our principal's secretary, Holly, announced over the speaker. I furrowed my brow, feeling like Saturday was a lifetime away. Danny Schwinn was a completely new person to me, it was astounding how quickly he'd become such an irrelevant part in my life.

"I heard he lost his USC ride."

A whisper caught my attention, and I fought the urge to turn my head to see who the gossiper was. A tiny smile wormed its way across my face, and I chuckled under my breath. I doubted it was true, knowing everything had only just come out this week. However, if it was, it felt refreshing to know karma always found a way.

"He cheated his whole way through calc, and coach is benching him this Friday." The same voice said. "There goes our chance at state."

"I wonder if Abby knows." Another voice pitched in, quieter. I stifled a laugh, and buried my head in the book in front of me, hoping they wouldn't catch on to me listening in. It was strange, hearing about my life from someone else's point of view.

I'd been mildly popular my entire school career, especially more so once I'd started hanging out around Danny and joined the varsity cheer squad. I'd heard things here and there said about myself; I was vapid, self-centered, dense. While I'd never really heard much more than surface-level things said about me, I always wondered if they wanted to say more. Although popular enough, I had kept to myself for so long that I didn't get involved in anything. It did eat at me regularly, wondering what people thought about me. And I was sure once news broke about Danny and I, there would be plenty to be said.

"I heard he cheated on her, too. She left him at Russo's party." And apparently the news had broken.

"What a douche." The second voice said. "Once a cheater, always a cheater."

How true.

"Yeah. Who knows though."

I knew. Tessa and Stacy, and even Rhys, knew. I had a small circle of people in my corner, and that was enough for me. Whether Tessa would forgive me or not, she was still on the same side.