Growing Pains

Chapter 33 - All boys were liars

A L L O R A

The girls all wanted to know about my date with Edward. We were in the cafeteria, trying to get through today's mac and cheese, and they wouldn't stop asking questions. Did he pick me up at mine? I said yes. Did he open the car door for me? I said no, obviously. We weren't in the eighties. Did he buy me popcorn? I told them he did, and that he had paid for the tickets too. They asked if he had let me pick the movie or if I had told him right away that we could watch whatever he wanted, because that was what all of them did when they went on their own movie dates, so as to show they were really up to anything, which just meant whatever it was the boy they were with liked.

I told them I had let him pick the movie, yes, but only because he had suggested a period drama. I hadn't known if that had been him playing a reverse card, showing me he was the one who was really up to anything, which again, just meant whatever it was I liked. This would have been insulting, if it was the case, because it would mean he probably thought I was interested in period dramas because I was a girl and surely all girls loved the likes of Jane Austen adaptations. I did love them, but that wasn't the point.

It turned out, however, that Edward had picked a period drama, because Edward himself actually liked period dramas. The girls' take on this was that he was either a very good liar or a closeted gay. I would rather agree that he was a very good liar than that he was gay, because really what they were saying was that a boy couldn't enjoy typically feminine things without losing his masculinity, which for them, meant his heterosexuality. This, for me, was of course ridiculous. 

Before I could say all this, however, they asked if he had kissed me. I said no. They decided immediately that they disapproved of him. Mostly because their movie dates tended to end on the backseat of a car. Until last night, so had all of mine.

"I think he's just a very good liar," Kylie said next to me, pushing a piece of macaroni around with her fork. Kylie thought, in some way or another, all boys were liars. I agreed. "The world's changing and the boys are catching up. Respecting women is what's hot right now, that includes respecting women's interests. He doesn't really like period dramas. He likes what lying about it will get him."

"Then why didn't he kiss her?" someone asked from the end of the table.

I rolled my eyes. Kylie went on, "Well, because he wants to be different. He's trying to be the quote-on-quote Nice Guy."

The others disagreed. Nice guys finished last. Everyone knew that. He was gay. They had decided. Kylie looked at me and shrugged.

"This guy asked you if you wanted him to ask you out. He's going as far as asking what you want. He's good. He's really good," she said.

I smiled, "I love you."

Kylie threw her head back to laugh, "Why?"

I shrugged, still smiling, "Because."

Around us, the girls had changed the topic to none other than Jason Allen. I turned around. He was walking inside the cafeteria in his crutches, his jeans falling off his waist, and showing his boxers, his backpack open on his shoulder, and showing almost nothing inside. I would rather they talked about something else, anything, really.

"Now Jason's a very good liar," one of the girls said. When she saw me looking at her, she added, "Just a few months ago he was saying he was in love with you, beating up whoever even looked your way, and now, just like that, he's dating someone else."

Kylie touched my leg under the table.

Another girl said, "He's probably just trying to make you jealous, All."

"Who's he dating anyway?" I asked. I couldn't help myself. I should have, because mayhem was doomed to start. Suddenly, all the girls were talking at the same time. Under the table, Kylie's hand was still on my leg.

"I think her name's Daisy,"

"It's definitely Daisy."

"She's in the glee club."

"She's not that pretty."

"Yeah, you're way prettier."

"She's kinda fat."

"And she dresses really weird."

"Yeah, you dress way better."

"I kinda like how she dresses."

"Yeah, I actually think she's pretty for a fat girl."

"Maybe he was with her when you guys were still together."

"Yeah, honestly, who knows?"

"Why would you say that?"

"I doubt that's true. He was super jealous. He was obviously obsessed with All. Why would he be cheating?"

"Because that's what guys do."

"Alright, shut the fuck up!" Kylie said then, sending everyone a look. They all shut up at once. Kylie smiled, "Who's going to Jacob's party this weekend?"

The conversation changed. I watched Jason struggle to get a tray, then to get food onto the tray, and finally, to get it all over to a table. On the way, a textbook fell from his backpack, and he had to ask someone to get it for him. Finally, he sat next to the football team, even though he wasn't really on the football team anymore. Jacob was sitting at the end of the table, arm wrestling one of the idiot twins, and making everyone laugh at the same time with whatever it was he was saying. I doubted it was funny.

Edward wasn't with them. I was yet to see him today.

"They got in a fight," Kylie whispered in my ear. She had successfully shifted the girls' conversation to whether or not they were going to Jacob's party, if yes, what they were going to wear, who would host the pre-drinks, what would they drink, and who wouldn't drink so they could all get home safe. If Kylie hadn't just said what she said to me, I would have been happy to join their conversation.

Instead, I looked at her, "Who?"

"Edward and Jacob," she said.

"How do you know?"

"We had class together this morning and they barely said a word to each other the entire time. It was really awkward."

"You shouldn't be talking in class anyway."

She made a face, which was a good point, because we did talk to each other all the time when we had class together.

"It was Spanish class," she went on. I had chosen Germain. "Mr. Hernandez made us do that thing where we have to role play with the person sitting next to us, and, let me tell you, they were not happy to be asking, donde esta la biblioteca, to each other."

I laughed, "You have great pronunciation."

"Gracias." She smiled.

"What do you think happened?"

"Who knows? Boys are fucking dramatic."

She was right. Across from our table, Jason got up from his seat so fast, the chair fell on the floor behind him. The next thing we knew, he was reaching for the fruit cup on his tray and throwing it at Jacob's face.