Thirty Reasons Not to Date a Player

06. He'll Make You Sell Your Soul

When Monday rolls around, I am so not looking forward to school. 

"Hurry up AJ," my dad calls from the kitchen. "I'm going to be late for work." 

I don't have time to eat breakfast because the next thing I know, I'm walking down the block to where the car is parked. The weather looks bad so my dad is driving me today. I would drive myself, but my dad needs the car for work afterward. 

Usually, I get rides from Melanie, but she got her car keys taken away when her mom found out about her ditching the annual Halloween bash to go to "some stranger's alcohol party". But I think Mel really dug her own gave with this one. She didn't get home until the following morning. 

I know most teenagers are used to sneaking around and lying about everything, but this is the first time I've ever felt the inclination to hide something. I did leave out April's dancing display and my encounter with her ex-boyfriend, but besides those minor details, my parents know everything. April stayed over at my place that night, and woke up with a nasty hangover. Sunday morning, my mom called her's to explain the situation, and it got around to Mel's family from there. 

The car ride to school is painfully awkward. My dad is trying to give me the whole "don't have sex or do drugs" talk, but he isn't very good at it. I act like I'm listening, but in reality, I'm just worried about how Mel and April are handling everything. I haven't really been able to talk to them with all the parent-drama going on. 

Before I know it, the car pulls up in front of a large brick building, which reminds me of a prison. I mean, it's just my high school, but it often feels like something worse.

 "Bye dad," I say, stepping out of the front seat. He waves, and then drives off. 

The hallways seem to be buzzing with talk of Steve Parker's Halloween party. By the end of first period, I've discovered that Bethany Turner hooked up with some college boy in Steve's parent's bedroom and that Tyler O'Brien got busted for selling controlled substances to minors. I don't even know what these people look like, but I assume that they must be popular if they've got the whole school wound up over their scandalous behavior. 

Bored, first-world teenagers do love to gossip. 

It gets worse. I'm putting a stack of textbooks back into my locker when Mel runs up to me. She looks as though she's seen a ghost. 

I'm more curious than worried. "What's up?" 

"We have a problem," she states flatly, grabbing my arm. I have to jog to keep up with her pace. She leads me into a nearby bathroom, and after taping a sign to the door that says "Out of Order", she pulls me inside. Mel opens the largest stall, and locks the two of us in it. 

 "Okay, I'm officially creeped out," I say, crossing my arms. 

She takes out her IPhone and taps the screen a couple of times, although I have no idea what she's doing. 

I'm lost. "I thought you got your phone taken away."

"I took it back." Mel says, as she pulls a set of blue headphones out of her pocket and plugs them in. She gives one of them to me. "Someone uploaded this onto YouTube this morning." 

I look at the screen. The video is called Good Girl Gone Bad, and my mouth hangs ajar when I realize it's from the Halloween Party. Someone holds a shaky camera which videotapes a crowd of screaming teenagers. But the focus of the video is a girl in a bat-woman costume dancing on a large wooden table. 

April. 

The video is a whole two minutes long, capturing almost the entire scene and at one point it zooms in close enough for anyone from school to recognize her.