The Beginning of the End

XIV.

I figured that by that point in the year, people would have learned to have leave me alone. Considering their intelligence levels (my school wasn't ranked that high with SAT scores and whatnot), they probably weren't aware of the definition of "alone".

I dragged my feet along the linoleum floor of the cafeteria. After several months, my eating habits had not improved one bit. In fact, nothing worked for me. Not the therapy, not the advice from the people I had thought were my friends, not music, not anything.

When a finger tapped my shoulder, I was clearly taken aback. Heather and Dinah stood behind me in line, a tray being shared between them. Each had a slight grin on her face, but the atmosphere between the three of us was so weird and so awkward, I had to resist the urge to walk away from them both.

"Er—oh my God," I managed out. "I haven't... I haven't seen you guys in so long!"

"JT, even Heather's smart enough to know that what you said is a complete cliché," Dinah stated, rolling her eyes.

Heather shrugged. "She's right, JT. We're not living a reality show, but we'd make a pretty good one if I do say so myself."

I tried to smile, but I think I sort of looked contorted. "Um, well, aside from my really weird comments—er—how are things with you g-guys?"

I waited for them to get their food and we eventually found a seat close to the cafeteria doors in case we wanted to leave.

"Cut the crap, JT. What's wrong with you?" Dinah asked.

I choked on the incredibly salty burger meat. "What do you mean?"

Heather sighed, clearly frustrated. "Explain why you keep interrupting your sentences with 'er' and 'um'. Why're you sweating? Is our presence making you nervous?"

I shook my head violently. "Well, that, but... Fine. You got me. I'm not okay. But how do I know that I can trust you?"

The two looked at each other, then back at me. "Why are you asking us this...?" Dinah asked.

"Why do you think? Last time we had a conversation, there was tension. It was so awkward. The specialist's office? How do I know that you're not gonna go around telling the whole school my secret?" I asked.

"Oh wow, so it's a secret we're gonna be talking about?" Heather asked with a hint of mischief in her voice.

"Heather, please!" Dinah exclaimed. Her cheeks reddened from the frustration she had towards Heather. "I love you, but... shut the fuck up?"

I, once again, tried to avoid the awkwardness by taking another bite from the burger on my tray.

"Hunter, we've been outsiders for our whole high school life, and probably are more outsider-ish than we've ever been now that Florence has been gone. Please, just tell us. We're over the drama. Florence was a bitch for doing that to you, and you were a dick for implying that we shouldn't care about what happened. Whatever's happened is in the past, and we can't dwell on that anymore. It's done. It's your time to vent, and anything Florence-related is over."

Dinah's words were powerful. It was like a cliché wise man speech that you hear in fantasy movies, but being able to experience one aimed toward you was unreal. I almost felt... worthy.

"Okay, whatever. The thing is..." I started, my fingers tapping the table furiously. "Jess and I had sex and now she's pregnant."

Heather's eyes widened as she started choking on her food. Dinah stopped with the burger halfway to her mouth.

"JT!" Dinah would have screamed had she not whispered to me. "What do you mean you got her pregnant?"

All I could do was shrug my shoulders. "What else is there to say about this? I got her pregnant, end of story."