Prom Queen

chapter five - gossip, the supermarket and the loveable brother

chapter five - gossip, the supermarket and the loveable brother

Everyone had heard about what happened between Barry, Tommy and I. Ryan included. She didn't say anything to me directly but I could tell that she knew by the way she acted in Biology.

Sometimes I really think that the teachers at Westview high liked torturing me. Our town was into gossip. The adults were into gossip as much as the teenagers were. I'm sure they knew about the problems Ryan, Chris and I were having. But Miss. Fred made me sit at the same table as Ryan.

I learned how to read people since last year. I had to. I had to know when someone was doing something because they wanted to or because they were afraid of me. I can't be ignorant to behavior anymore. We all know how my ignorance turned out last time.

Ryan was always tense when we were near but today she was frigid. She moved robotically and I watched her glance at me every few minutes from my peripherals. She acted like she was going to turn around and see me about to claw her to death or something. It really didn't make sense. So I was talking to her brother? I wasn't going to fight her over  it.

I couldn't help but glance at her phone when she took it out under the table. It felt like a stab to the heart when I saw she was texting Chris. It took me a minute to realize it was him because his name was saved under "Smoothie Boy" with a series of lovey emojis following it.

I watched their conversation about me and Tommy and about why he tried to protect me. My heart sped up when Chris asked Ryan if she thought I should have been hurt by Barry. He was actually defending me to her. But that stopped as soon as they ended their conversation with "I love you"'s.

Would talking to Tommy mean I had to deal with that? Because if so, I really didn't want to talk to him. Tommy seems really interesting and fun to bother but I need to move on from Chris. I know that he doesn't love me. I know that he might even hate me but everytime he is even civil with me, I get a glimmer of hope and it sends me into a whirlwind of thoughts that maybe he'll come back. But it's all just false hope and I don't know if bothering some guy that doesn't like me is worth all of that.

Gym was even more annoying. I had to deal with Kris and Jesse questioning what went on in the hallway and the group of people staring at me while gossiping. That group of people was none other than Chris, Ryan, Lola and Vincent.

It was uncomfortable and made me want to back out of working with Tommy on the project even more.

When I stepped into my house after today I breathed a large sigh of relief.

"Hey Pupete" I bent down and petted my dog. "You love me? Don't you girl?"

"Hello?" My Dad's voice came from the kitchen.

"Dad? What are you doing home?" I called out. Dad was never home early.

"Hey kid" Dad walked into view. He was wearing a white tank top and some jeans. His brown, graying hair was greasy and slicked back and his skin was a bit tanner than it was last time I saw him. Probably the effect of working in the sun non-stop but it made his blue eyes pop out at me.

"What are you doing home?! I haven't seen you in forever!" I ran to hug him, almost tripping over Pupete as she hopped around happily. Forever also means about a week. He was working a while away so I would be asleep by the time he got home.

"Jay left the company credit card in Barcelona when he was on vacation and Mort just started his vacation so he was gone. The bank was giving him a hard time so he just sent everyone home" Dad laughed and squeezed me tight. "Where's your brother? I thought he got home before you?"