Prove It

Chapter 20

***********Tristan*************

Today was the longest day ever. For Tristan, every class seemed longer than the last. Rumors about his new status with Sierra travelled quickly through the school’s gossip channels and everyone had something to say. He didn’t know what to expect, but he didn’t think it would be this big of a deal. Since his very public breakup, he’d tried to keep a low profile, but he was once again the center of attention and not sure how he felt about it. He didn’t want Sierra to be in this kind of position because of him. He wondered how she was handling everything.

The most unnerving thing about all the attention was the unexplainable increase in the number of smiles and lengthy stares from seemingly random girls. Girls he didn’t even know were talking to him and the ones he did know were treating him differently, especially the minority girls. There was an Asian girl that smiled shyly at him for all of second period. They’d never spoken before, so he didn’t know her name. She waved at him as she walked by. Tristan shook his head. What was happening?

Jason was the first person to actually say anything to him. Tristan wasn’t surprised when Jason came up to him after class.

“Hey, man,” Jason said with a huge grin.

“What’s up, bro? It’s been a while.”

“Yeah, it has,” Jason agreed. “So, you and Sierra, huh?”

“Yup. Me and Sierra.”

“So that’s what you’ve been doing with all your free time. Good for you, man.”

“Thanks.” 

“Sierra’s a good girl and a good girl is exactly what you need after everything that happened.”

Tristan smiled to himself. Good girl? Maybe, but he knew just how bad Sierra could be and he was happy to let that stay their little secret.

“That’s not why I’m with her,” Tristan said.

“No, obviously. She’s fine as hell.”

Tristan rolled his eyes. “That’s not why either.”

“Whatever, dude. You have your reasons. I just want you to know I approve. You guys look good together.”

“Thanks, man.”

Tristan thought about how much time he was spending with Sierra, he’d barely seen Jason after being kicked off the swim team. Jason always had his back and he missed his friend. He made a mental note to spend more time with the guys.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you about your college situation? Did they take back your scholarship or acceptance for fighting?”

“Nope, I’m still going to Stanford in the fall,” Tristan answered. He didn’t really care about the consequences of his actions after he fought with Chris, but his father was understandably relieved that the university was willing to overlook what happened as long as Tristan continued his conditioning and stayed out of trouble for the rest of the year. His father made sure that Tristan knew how lucky he was. “I have a meeting with the head coach coming up to discuss what happened with the swim team and my summer training schedule. Why?”

“Chris wasn’t so lucky. He got his scholarship taken away and his father came to the school and talked to the principal and the coach. Chris is back on the team.”

“What the fuck?” Chris was back on the team and he wasn’t? The words “double standard” came to mind. “Since when?”

“I just found out that he was back this morning because he was at practice.”