Rising Sun

Chapter Seven

Hayley Gibson hadn't left Skylar's thoughts since Wednesday night.

Her laugh, her smile, the Gucci Guilty perfume she wore; no matter what Skylar did, the girl wouldn't leave her mind alone. And the more she thought about Hayley, the more she thought about the weird feeling she got whenever she was around.

When Friday morning rolled around, Skylar remembered Justin was having that party Hayley had talked about. She wondered if Lindsay was planning on going, and if not, what she could do to convince her to go.

She opened her bedroom door and knocked on Lindsay's door. Their rooms were conveniently located right next to each other, and Skylar knew she had been awake for at least an hour. Her sister always listened to fast paced punk music in the morning to get ready. They were alike in that aspect, sharing a lot of the same CDs. This morning, her playlist consisted of Sum 41.

"Yeah?" Lindsay called from her room.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Skylar opened up her door, seeing her sister sprawled out upside down on her bed. Lindsay picked up her remote and turned down her speaker before flipping over. "What's up?"

"Hey, are we going to Justin's tonight?" Skylar asked, the words coming out quick.

"Who?" Lindsay furrowed her brow. "I actually didn't have anything planned for once."

"Justin Moore. I heard he's having a party." She said. "He invited Hayley the other day." She elaborated, noticing the confused look on her older sister's face.

"He invited her?" Lindsay asked, taken aback.

"What's wrong with that?" Skylar asked her.

"Nothing, I'm just surprised he didn't ask me, but he asked a junior." She answered, shrugging her shoulders. Her tone was dismissive, as if there were more to the story, but she didn't want to say more.

"What?" Skylar pressed.

"Nothing, really. There's just this stupid rumor going around the senior class." Lindsay said. She got off her bed and sat down at her vanity. Lindsay was always the prettier sister, everyone knew it. While Skylar spent time studying and watching T.V., Lindsay was doing her makeup and kissing boys. There wasn't anything wrong with it, it was just a fact.

"What rumor?" Skylar asked. She couldn't believe someone was already spreading rumors about Hayley, she didn't seem to have any enemies so far. Everyone liked her.

Lindsay put the tube of mascara she was holding down, and spun her seat around to face Skylar. "There's a rumor going around that she's like a, you know, lesbian." She said, almost whispering the last word.

Skylar froze for a moment. Lesbian. The word sounded so concrete, so hard. It was a word reserved for family dinner, when her dad wanted to curse the couple down the street. A word that only seemed to be used as an insult.

"I doubt it, though." Lindsay said after a second, not noticing Skylar's stone posture. "I'm pretty sure Abby Hadler started it because she's worried Hayley's going to take her spot on the softball team this year." She turned back to her mirror, and finished applying her mascara. "And Abby's totally gay as hell." She laughed.