Ariel knew a thing or two about guilt. There was the time she accidentally spilt grape soda on Sherri's uniform before a big game. She ended up letting her wear hers instead.
And not forgetting how terrible she felt when she had to face Angie after making things official with Jeff.
Ariel had done a lot of things that had made her feel extremely guilty but none quite like this.
"Jeff's mad at you."
Ariel jumped when she heard the voice come up behind her.
She spun around and saw Clay.
She let out a breath. Partly of relief because it wasn't Jeff.
"What - what are you talking about?" She asked, her heart pounding. He couldn't know. I mean how would he know?
Clay leaned against the line of lockers.
He shrugged.
"He seemed distracted during our tutoring session today. I figured it had something to do with the winter formal."
Arie turned around and shut her locker. "Yeah, uhm, I had to leave early because Justin wasn't feeling well."
Clay was still looking at Ariel.
"And you couldn't call him after? He said you've been avoiding him."
Ariel felt like her palms were getting sweaty. She wanted to swallow but her throat immediately got dry.
She leaned against her locker feeling like she really needed the support.
She used one hand to clutch the dollar valentine flyers she had in one hand and the other to tug on her cheerleading uniform.
"Just... uhm, busy."
Clay looked at her suspiciously. He could immediately tell that something was up with her.
"Look, Ari." He spoke with a sigh. "I don't like getting in between you and Jeff and your... business. But, one thing you really need to do is talk to him if something is wrong. Don't... don't repeat what happened last time."
Ariel let out a breath. She knew what Clay meant.
She had a tendency of ignoring issues and avoiding the person instead of confronting them and talking things out.
It had always been a habit of hers since she was younger.
"I'm gonna -"
"Ari! There you are!"
Ariel barely turned around before she felt herself get pulled aside by Sherri.
Her sister dragged her down the hallway, looking over her shoulder at Clay.
"Sorry Clay, super important dollar valentine stuff."
Ariel had never been so grateful for her sister's rudeness.
She turned to give Clay an apologetic look as she let Sherri drag her away.
"It's a disaster!" Sherri huffed in frustration.
Ariel looked at her sister in confusion. She was grateful that Sherri had unconsciously saved her but she was a little worried that she had walked out of something with Clay and right into another.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"This dollar valentines crap! No success stor whatsoever! And I keep going through all the girls who signed up." Sherri surely held up a list written neatly on her notepad, some names already scratched out.
