Tell Me You Love Me

8: How Does It Feel To Treat Me Like You Do?

 The entire bus falls silent as I step onto the bus and slowly begin to walk up the aisle, trying to find an empty seat in which I could steal.

I told you before, I’ve never liked Wednesdays but this Wednesday somewhat was worse than normal.

People watch me with earnest eyes, mainly girls, whispering about me until I shoot a glance in their direction and they fall silent and look away, until I walk away, hearing them return to their conversations about how I was the one Jesse Phoenix chose to dance with on that night three days ago.

Even Alex Williams, the guy who I’ve had a crush on for a year knows me as “Jesse’s dance partner” which to me, is a little bit annoying. The whole world knows who I am and they’ve even started making up rumours about me, saying that I’m trying to steal Jesse Phoenix and become a gold digger which I have “Apparently” been all my life, that is, according to OK! Magazine.

Pilar has even been acting differently around me. She hasn’t talked to me since that night and whenever I try to talk to her, she completely ignores me and walks away.

I’ve talked to Mom about it and she says Pilar is just a bit jealous and she’ll get over it but I don’t think so. Pilar can hold a grudge for a very long time and considering I shared a dance with one of the world’s most talented, hottest teenage celebrities in the planet who she’s had a major crush on, she won’t talk to me for a long time.

‘Excuse me, are you –

‘Yes,’ I interrupt, knowing what the freshman was just about to say. I continue walking up the aisle to an empty backseat. I slide in and dump my bag in the seat next to mine, pulling out my cell phone which Teddy had got working again for me.

I have three new text messages, one from Mom, one from a fashion website in which I had subscribed to and one from an unknown number.

I open the one from Mom:

Can U come 2 the shop this avo? We R lacking M-ploy-E’s again and need sum help. Can U tell Pilar 2 come 2? Thx <3

Great. I was going to finish up that Geography assignment that I was supposed to finish a month ago but I just hadn’t had time to and now Mom expects me to go to the shop to work. I swear, this isn’t my month.

I text her back:

Fine but Pilar isn’t talking 2 me after the JP concert bc of what happened so she’s not coming

I’m about to click send when a hand lands on my shoulder and I spin around, officially freaked out but only to find the school’s head cheerleader Barbie biach, Willow Rosenbroke sitting in the seat behind me with her posse of Barbies.

Her blonde hair is curled and looks frail and dry from all the curl ironing she does every morning. She smiles falsely at me and I stare at her, forcing a smile.

‘Hi, Bessie,’ She says.

‘Bethany,’ I correct her.

‘I knew that,’ she says quickly and I try not to look doubful.

'Okay?’ I say to her, looking around at her group of followers.

‘I was just asking my girls about your little venture with –

‘If it’s about Jesse Phoenix, I’d rather not talk about it,’ I interrupt her, feeling so aggravated about the only reason people are talking to me is because I had a dance with Jesse Phoenix

Her mouth forms a small ‘O’ but in a second, her fake smile resumes and she flips her golden hair behind her shoulders.

‘Well, Bessie,’