A year to remember

28. Sam

"So, Mila was drunk, as usual. She posted it to her insta story, but she took it down before the morning." 

I glanced at the perky blonde cheerleader, Mel, who was presenting her phone to her friend, Ashley, with a triumphant smile. "I saved it though, before it was deleted!" 

"Oh. My. God!" Ashley gasped as she greedily drank in the content of the phone. I continued walking by them, rolling of my eyes. I didn't care for their B-grade gossip. 

"I though Scarlett had a boyfriend?" Ashley exclaimed.

I stopped in my tracks. A-grade gossip, I had all day for.

"Right?!" Mel said, taking her phone back. "So did I! So does everyone who has seen this! Everyone is taking about it!"

Just then, a group of jocks walked by.

"Grayson, have you seen this?" Ashley called out and he swanned over with his friends hot on his heels.

"What is it?" Grayson asked, somewhat hesitantly when he saw the phone in Mel's hand. "It better not be some dumb cat video."

"It's certainly not."

"Oh, yeah." One of the jocks behind Grayson said as the video started to play. "They won't be thrilled this got out. But damn Scarlett looks hot as hell, doesn't she?"

I peeked through the gap between two jocks, thankful for my invisibility. That's when I saw it. The video the whole school were evidently talking about.

Scarlett was with Jared in a hot tub. He was topless, she was in a tiny bikini. They were kissing, like really kissing. Kissing like they were about to have sex in the hot tub. Her hands cupped his face, then twisted their way into his dark curls. His hands squeezed her hips with desire as she straddled him. The image lasted for about 5 seconds. What had happened next? Did they have sex? Jared hadn't had a conquest for a month, at least one that I knew about. Had they been secretly dating this whole time?

My heart broke, then it shattered into thousands of tiny pieces. I ran into the bathroom and cried until my eyes burned with salty tears, the image playing over and over in my head. 

Then I went to the school carpark and waited. Jake and Mila pulled up, coffees in hand, standing intimately close together, even sharing a small kiss before going their separate ways. Nothing new there. That didn't interest me today, even if others still stared and swooned.

I wiped the snot from my face. Jared arrived first, then checked his phone. Scarlett pulled up a moment later. He waited for her as she slowly got out of her car and gathered her books, but someone came over to him first and shoved a phone in his face. He took it and his face dropped. Scarlett watched him, then as soon as she joined him, she peeked over his shoulder to watch the incriminating evidence on the phone. Her face dropped too. 

They had been filmed, and now their secret love affair was out in the open. Jared gave the phone back to the cheerleader. I couldn't see his face, but I could see her hopeful one. He was likely disputing the rumour. He was probably telling her it was a once off and to delete the video. She nodded, then turned to Scarlett, looking sheepish. Scarlett turned her back on the apologetic looking cheerleader and began walking off. Jared took a few quick steps to catch up to her and they walked inside together. 

They hadn't even noticed me as I stood on my own, tears streaming down my face, heartbroken, and worthless, as they walked right by me.