The Downfall of the 'It Girl'

Tattle Tale, Tattle Tale, Hangin' From A Bull's Tail!

“Hey, I’ll see you in class, okay?”

“Oh, sure. Where are you going?” I asked, stopping in front of my locker. 

“The office. I have to turn in papers again for the classes I’m taking at the college,” he replied. 

“Oh, alright. I’ll see you in a little bit, then,” I answered with a smile. My heart and mind were still buzzing from holding his hand moments ago. I couldn’t remember ever feeling exactly like that anytime I had been with Landon. 

Watching him walk down the hall for a moment, I turned around to open my locker, releasing a small sigh. I wasn’t sure if I was exactly ‘in love’ with Calvin yet, but I was definitely at least falling; and falling hard. 

“I sent you a text last night. Didn’t you get it?” Landon’s voice in my ear made me jump ten feet it seemed. Spinning around on my heel, I found myself face to face with him, and we were a lot closer than I had anticipated. My back pressed against the cool metal locker door, I swallowed hard, frantically searching for an adequate response.

“I… uh, yeah. I got it,” I stammered, trying desperately to avoid his eyes. All that time I had spent wishing I was part of the group again, and all of the time I wished to be dangling from his arm again. Here he was now, inches from my face, and I yearned to be anywhere else in the world right now other than right here. 

“Well, why didn’t you text me back?” he asked. Forcing myself to look at him, he had the perfect ‘puppy dog face’ expression. His eyes seemed as big as a pair of saucers, and his bottom lip protruded slightly outwards in a pouting fashion. This exact face used to melt my heart and make me give in to whatever he was asking for or wanting, and it wasn’t all that long ago, either. Now, I wasn’t sure how his trademarked face made me feel. Indifferent? Sad? Upset? Angry? I wasn’t sure. 

“I…I don’t know. I was just… busy, I guess,” Swallowing hard, I watched his face relax into a more thoughtful one from his ‘puppy dog’ one. 

“Hmm,” he said thoughtfully, placing his index finger lightly on his bottom lip. I fought very hard to keep myself from rolling my eyes. I said nothing, waiting anxiously for him to either say something else or lose whatever interest he suddenly had in me again and get on with his morning. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kelsey and the rest of the group standing fifteen or twenty yards away from us. Every single pair of eyes in the group were concentrated directly on Landon and myself. 

“Busy doing what?” Landon asked, forcing my attention back on him.

“Studying, Landon. I have a history test this morning,” I answered, finding myself growing more and more irritated with this entire charade the longer it continued. Who did he think he was, anyway? We weren’t together anymore. Even though he had sent me a text, I was no longer under any kind of obligation to respond. 

“Oh, I see…” Landon said, deliberately drawing out the ‘e’ sound, his head cocked to one side, his eyes watching me closely, studying me. “So I guess that guy being at your house half the night had nothing to do with it?” he sneered.

Shock coursed from my head all the way to the ends of my toes. How did he know that anyone had been over at my house last night, let alone that it was a guy? Slightly narrowing my eyes, I studied him closely for a moment. Oh, who was I kidding? Landon could find out anything about whatever he wanted. He had an inane ability to know everything about anything, always. Especially if it caught his interest. He would probably be a great asset to the FBI one day, I’m sure. 

“I’m not really sure how that is any of your business,” I began, the anger bubbling up in the pit of my stomach giving me a burst of bravery, however brief. “He was helping me out with my chemistry class,” I added, irritation and anger lacing my words. The more I thought about it, the angrier I felt myself becoming. He really did think that he was ’It,’ that every girl should fawn over him, forever and always, no matter what.