She is the Sunlight

Ch. 4: True Rumors

On Monday morning when his alarm clock went off at 6am, all Crispo wanted to do was throw it at a wall. He was completely dreading the entire next week of school. Not only was it the beginning of actual learning, but the dance was on Friday and he was going with CJ. However, he wasn't going with her as a date.

"Ugh, I hate Mondays," CJ groaned as she made her way over to Crispo when he walked into the school.

"They suck," Crispo agreed, opening his locker.


Suddenly, a girl from Crispo's english class came up to them.

"Are you guys finally dating?" she asked them, her eyes wide with excitement.

"No..." CJ said slowly, "Who told you we were?"

She glanced at Crispo with a confused look on her face. He shrugged. Ever since they were in elementary school, rumors were always circulating them saying that they liked each other. But now they weren't just rumors anymore.

"Everyone's talking about it," the girl explained, "people at Mindy's party said that Crispo and Justin fought over you and Crispo won so he gets to take you to the dance!"

CJ blinked, "First of all, I am not just a prize for guys to fight over. I would never let two guys get in a fight over me. Second of all, me and Crispo are going to the dance together, but just as friends."

The girl frowned, "Aw, but you two belong together!"

"We're just friends," Crispo stated. CJ just wanted to be friends so he was granting her wishes.

"He's clearly in love with you. Why can't you see that?" the girl whispered to CJ before running off.

For the rest of the day after that strange encounter, all CJ could think about was what that girl whispered to her. He's clearly in love with you. Why can't you see that? He couldn't possibly be in love with her. They'd always been just friends. Wasn't that what he wanted?

"Is Crispo in love with me?" she asked Fenwick out of the blue, catching him completely off guard.

"What?" he replied, making sure he heard her correctly.

"Is Crispo in love with me?" CJ repeated.

Fen had no idea what to say or how to reply.

"Are you in love with him?" Fen countered.

CJ felt her stomach lurch, "I, uh, I have to go. I'll call you later." She grabbed her bag and hurried off.

-

"Crispo," Mindy said, coming up to him at has locker.

Crispo slammed his locker shut, startled, "Mindy, um..."

"So I heard you don't have a date to the dance," she began, slowly.

"Well, I, uh, not technically," he stuttered.

Mindy giggled, "Do you want to come with me? As an actual date?"

"Mindy, I...er," Crispo stammered, nervously. Mindy stared at him expectantly. He was looking around for an excuse when he saw CJ walking down the hallway. Not thinking, he grabbed her by wrist and pulled her close to him.

"Sorry Mindy, I can't go with you. I'm going with CJ," he lied, putting his arm around her.

"Yeah, but that's just as friends," Mindy countered.

"Actually, uh, no. We're-" Crispo started.

"We're dating now," CJ finished for him.

"What? Literally this morning you told Ashley that you were just friends," Mindy reminded them, practically begging.

"We thought we'd keep it a secret until the dance," CJ lied smoothly to her. Mindy huffed, spinning on her heel and walking off.

Crispo let out a sigh of relief, "Good thinking, CJ. Sorry for getting you into this, I wasn't thinking and I panicked."

"Crispo, it's fine," she assured him, "I guess we're gonna have to fake date until the dance is over."

He nodded his head slowly, "Yup...will we stage a breakup or something after the dance?"

"Yeah," she said hesitantly.

"We should probably go so we don't have to deal with everyone when they find out we're 'dating,'" Crispo suggested, trying to hide his disappointment.

"Yeah, probably," CJ agreed, taking his hand in hers. As they walked down the hallway, they could feel everyone's eyes on them.

"About time," someone whispered to their friend.

"Finally," another said as Crispo and CJ walked passed them. Soon enough, the news of them dating would be spread all around the school. And they were kind of okay with that.