I waited for Tara out at the front of the school, per her instructions. Where they used to have teachers monitoring us to make sure no fights broke out in the courtyards, eager underclassmen stood in their places, waiting to catch some action with their phones ever since the new rule came out about the school not suspending fights off campus and before and after school hours.
"Bruh, I was finna leave," I told Tara, sighing tiredly as soon as I saw her.
"My bad. Nolina and I were arguing again."
"No surprise there."
Tara shot me a warning look, reminding me of our past. She could fuck me up pretty bad. But I could do the same to her.
"I'm gonna stand up on the table and tell everybody we didn't kiss. Hopefully I don't get in trouble for being up there. Since it's not a fight, I could still get suspended for that, right?" she grinned, her slightly easy demeanor showing that she didn't really care.
I bit my lip. "I hope this works. I'd really like to see people looking at me in a more friendly way here."
"That's the goal," she patted me on the shoulder, walking over to one of the stone benches deeply imbedded into the ground of the courtyard and covered in weeds. It probably had been out front ever since the school was made, wayyy before the new renovations, and probably before I was thought of.
"Ay!" Tee shouted out, her backpack laying at her feet as she looked around the lawn.
She kept shouting until she had mostly everybody's attention on her.
"I wanted to clarify some things! Me and Gialla Collins never kissed in 9th grade! We just fell out! We were friends!"
"Dyke!" somebody shouted, some skinny ass boy trying to impress his cluster of friends, as he laughed.
"Yeah, what about it?" Tara rolled her eyes. "Anyways! Don't believe what my shawty is going around saying! Plus, me and Gialla cool now!"
"I'm Gialla," I waved my hand around, in the center of the crowd, trying not to laugh. If it wasn't my name at stake here, I'd probably be laughing some more. I just really couldn't believe Tara's crazy ass was up there on that table. When that ancient thing split in half, we gonna have to get her out like King Arthur sword.
In this moment, I realized I don't give a fuck if we people keep giving me a hard time about Lina's rumor. Oh well. I know I like Tara...and that's all that matters.
Something warmed inside of me seeing her defend me up on that table like she was at a rally or something. The way the sunlight fell on her. The way she looked so passionate about what she was saying.
"Get down, Tara!" Nolina shouted, coming out of nowhere, standing below her girl.
Nolina shook me out of my thoughts, her voice shattering through the angelic moment.
Tara got down, ignoring Lina as she got her backpack. Tee started walking towards the front gates. I guess walking shawty home was out of the question now. I jogged after them, against my better judgment.
"So now you gon ignore me? Wowww. I should've expected that," Nolina laughed. Some of their friends caught up with them, but Tara obviously wasn't trying to talk. She told them to go away, a pissed off expression on her face.
"Tara, say something!" Nolina demanded.
"Lina chill," I said, following behind them.
"Bro. Shut up," she snapped at me.
"I'mma keep talking as long as my name in ya mouth," I told her. "If you hadn't spread that false ass rumor, then she wouldn't have gotten up there to clear my name. What's wrong with me and her being cool? We not friends like that."
"I don't have to explain myself to you," Nolina refused to look at me anymore.
Her friends backed off, staying on campus as I followed the angry couple out onto the sidewalk.
Now it was just Tara, me, and Nolina.
"Tara, baby, stop this. This is embarrassing."
"You so busy tryna get back at Gialla," Tara flipped around, "knowing the truth about the false rumor you spread and flipping it, that you didn't even stop to consider that people looked at me crazy today because they thought Gi kissed me. Either way you could have worded things, that still affected the both of us."
I didn't even consider Tara's end of things.
"And they believe the rumor you spread even more because everyone knows I messed around with Felicity. They know I like studs," she threw up her hands.
"Don't say that," Nolina frowned, looking around at all the people. "None of that matters if you're with me."
"That's like calling a bisexual girl a lesbian when she's with a girl and straight when she's with a boy. Even if you're a fem and I'm dating you, Nolina, I still like studs and stems and fems and anything else under the lesbian rainbow," Tara argued. "I'm tired of censoring myself just to be with you. You're acting no better than the homophobes right now."
"Every time you say you like studs," Nolina held Tara by her face, anger and hurt in her eyes, "it reminds me of how you cheated with Felicity, okay? What's wrong with feeling like I'm not adequate enough for you? That's a natural emotion. One I shouldn't have to feel, I admit, but that I'm entitled to since you decided to cheat."
"Well, I'm sorry that it reminds you of that. But I'm telling shit how it is," Tara shrugged, taking Lina's hands off her face. "I want to take a break."
"What?" she snapped.
I watched them, crossing my arms.
I guess she was going for the public dumping after all.
"I need to rethink things and see how I can handle life without you. Right now, you've brought unnecessary drama to my life. I hate to say it, but dealing with Gialla in the past is better than dealing with this new Nolina now. I need space," she told her.
"Wow," Nolina glanced back at me. "Happy that you got what you want?"
"It hasn't sunk in yet," I laughed.
"Gi," Tara warned.
"Bitch," Tara held Nolina back before she could fully lunge at me. I stood there, smiling my ass off as I walked around the two of them. "Happy Monday," I said cheerily, walking home.
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