White Noise

19

When the final bell rang, I was the first out of my seat.

It had been a long day. Caroline hadn't been lying when she told me last night that six people had texted her asking about me and JD. The entire day, no matter what class or hallway I was in, I always felt a pair of eyes on me, which was extremely uncomfortable seeing as up until this point my reputation was hardly worthy of even a lingering glance in my direction. Even when I used the restroom during break, two sophomores chatting near the sinks halted in their conversation when I exited the stall, revealing my presence and identity. I pretended not to notice, and eventually they returned to their discussion about upcoming auditions for the school play.

In second period Pre-Calc, Allegra George, probably one of the most popular girls in the junior class, who played basketball and would usually only say hi to me when I was around Lauren, slid into the desk next to me. Normally she sat in the back corner with Will Fordham, also a junior and well-liked in the popular clique.

"Hey, Kate," she said to me sweetly.

After the looks I had gotten in AP English in first period, I knew she was here for one reason only-the details and gossip. I refrained from indulging her with any large reactions. "Hi, Allegra."

She pulled out her binder and textbook loudly, as if letting me know she was here to stay. "So, you and a Buckley senior, huh?"

I reached down into my backpack to grab my pen case. "I'll be disappointed if this is really the most interesting gossip going around right now."

"I mean, you got to admit, it's pretty juicy," Allegra said with a smirk, her eyes watching me closely as I selected a pen from my case. It was the one Jack had given me on the first day of school. I hoped maybe it could give me the strength to get through this conversation, the same way Jack and I often leaned against each other to get through time spent around people exactly like Allegra. "Most people barely knew your name, just referred to you as Lauren's best friend up until yesterday, no offense," she said, although it didn't sound like she cared whether I took offense or not. "And now you're dating the senior captain of the Buckley lacrosse team."

"We're not dating," I replied without hesitation.

Allegra scoffed. "He drove from Buckley to Whitewood just to pick you up. And you have a car."

I finally met her gaze to give her a closed mouth smile. "Anything else?"

When she realized I really wasn't going to disclose any details, she huffed and quickly grabbed all of her belongings to retreat to her usual seat next to Will. Once she was gone, I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

During lunch, Lauren, Bridget, and Emily forced me to dish out every detail from my encounter with JD yesterday, in addition to our movie theater date and Landon's party, which I had been tight-lipped about. But now that the whole school knew something was going on between myself and JD, they were unrelenting in letting me hold onto any details of my own. They wanted to know the most.

When Lauren insisted she come say hi to JD when he picked me up from school again today, a whole new can of worms opened.

Bridget, who hadn't been able to stop freaking out about our make out sessions, put her hands over her face and screamed at this new information. "Two days in a row! Are you serious!?"

Emily was simply not having it. "No way, if Lauren is going to say hi to him, then I'm coming to. I'm the only one who hasn't even met him yet."

"I hardly met him," Bridget retorted, before turning to me. "I'm coming too."