Prove It

Chapter 3

“Jess?” Tristan said in disbelief as he stared into his girlfriend’s furious blue eyes. What the hell was she doing here? And why did he feel suddenly guilty?

Jessica looked the pair over taking in every detail. Her gaze finally landed on Tristan.

“I was waiting for you in the cafeteria when Chris and Jason told me they thought they saw you come in here.”

Shit, Chris and Jason sent her after him knowing he was in here with Sierra? He was going to kill them.

“I didn’t think you were going to eat lunch with me today,” he said to Jessica. “You said you were going to be at practice.”

“I wanted to surprise you,” she answered softly.

Oh yeah, he was in trouble. The tone of her voice told him that he had some major explaining to do; she wasn’t going to let this go. He immediately got up from the floor and went to her.

“I’m sorry, Jess. I didn’t know.” Tristan paused to look at his watch. “There’s still time. We can still eat lunch together if you want.”

He approached Jessica, but she immediately stepped back. She folded her arms across her chest and said, “What I want is for you to tell me what the two of you are doing in here.”

He turned to Sierra and almost laughed at the look of pity on her face. She felt sorry for him. She had one of the worst days and had been in here crying moments earlier, and now she feels sorry for him? He didn’t get how she could look past her own pain to care about his problems.

He would never tell anyone the real reason he came in here. He wasn’t even sure about the real reason he followed Sierra in here. But he knew he definitely wasn’t going to tell Jessica about what happened to Sierra, even to save his own skin. Jessica needs to get over her insecurities and learn to trust him. He and Sierra had finally found some common ground and he wasn’t about to betray that trust, just because his girlfriend was jealous. But he also didn’t want to lie. He didn’t know what he was going to do.

“It’s not what you think,” Sierra surprised him by saying. She stood up from her spot by the window and began to gather her things. “I literally bumped into Tristan and his friends on the way out of the cafeteria. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

“Sierra –” Tristan began, but she cut him off.

“No, Tristan, it’s okay,” she told him and turned her attention back to Jessica. What the hell was she going to say? Was she going to tell Jessica everything? If she did that, it would be all over the whole school by the end of the day, guaranteed. Jessica already had some grudge against Sierra given his fight with her yesterday, and he knew Jessica wouldn’t hesitate to use anything she had against Sierra.

“Tristan just came in here to make sure I was okay,” Sierra continued. “When he tried to leave, I asked him to stay. He was reluctant, but he stayed anyway because he’s too nice to hurt my feelings.”

Jessica turned to him, her eyes disbelieving. “Is that what happened?” she asked.

Technically, it was the truth. Can something be a lie and the truth at the same time? God, he hated that he was in this position, and he hated that Jessica was forcing him to choose between lying to her and hurting Sierra.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “I just came in here to check on her. She ran into me pretty hard.”

Tristan watched as Jessica narrowed her eyes at him, trying to decide whether to believe him or not. She looked at Sierra one more time before turning on her heels and leaving the room. He released the breath he didn’t even realize he was holding and he leaned against the wooden teacher’s desk at the front of the room.