To Be or Not To Be

Nine

Amara's P.O.V

When I got up to the bleachers, I saw Chris on her phone. She looked up as soon as she heard me come closer to her.

"You have a shit load of explaining," Chris chuckled.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Have you not seen any entertainment news?" She asked before handing me her phone. I saw me and Brennan together from last night.

"It was just a platonic dinner. Brennan wanted to take me out to dinner for finishing my finals," I assure to her.

"Tell that to Travis when he gets here," Chris tells me.

"I will."

"And speak of the devil," Chris said. I looked over to see Travis coming up.

"Hi," I said with a smile. However, Travis didn't look so happy.

"Hey. Can we talk?" Travis asked.

"Of course," I tell him.

"Alone," Travis said before taking a small glance at Chris.

"I'll leave. I'll see the two of you at the senior meeting," Chris said before leaving. When she left, Travis looked at me.

"My mom said she saw you on E! News with some other guy at some dinner," Travis tells me.

"It was Brennan. The one you met at Panera. He wanted to congratulate me on finishing my finals and for getting into NYU. I didn't want to be rude and reject his dinner invitation," I tell him.

"There's nothing going on between you two right?" Travis asked me. I hated lying to him.

"No," I tell him.

"Okay," Travis said before sitting next to me.

"Hey, don't worry. You know that you're my one and only," I tell him. Travis smiled at me before giving me a small kiss.

When I got back to the mansion, I felt my phone buzz rapidly. I looked down to see Chris, my parents, and a few other friends texting me some articles. I opened them to see me with Brennan from the other night and a picture of Travis and me kissing. I looked at the headlines.

Brennan Kindell's Mystery Woman a Cheater?

Brennan Kindell's Date Slut Shamed!

Who is the New Mystery Woman?

Using for Fame? Or Money?

I let out a small scream. I heard footsteps to see Brennan rushing over. I could feel my eyes water with hot tears. I didn't want this attention on me. Not now.

"Amara? What is it? What's wrong?" He asked as he walked over to me.

"What the hell!" I screamed.

"What's wrong?" Brennan asked as he put a hand on my shoulder.

"Fix this please!" I begged as I showed him my phone. Brennan took the phone from my hand before looking at it. He looked back at me before handing my phone back.

"I promise you that I will fix this," Brennan said.

"You better because I am not graduating as being known as a slut," I tell him before walking up to my room.

I sat in my room as I hugged a pillow. I hated how my life was turning out. I was grateful but now, I just wanted everything to stop. I heard a knock on my door making me look over.

"I came to check on you," Brennan said.

"I'm okay," I tell him.

"I should've warned you about the press," Brennan tells me. I didn't respond back to him.

"Didn't you tell them that we weren't dating that night?" I asked him.

"Yeah but they can always assume we were lying."

"Maybe they'll get the hint when I go to Chris's performance tomorrow," I tell him.

"Maybe. I promise I'll clear this up for you," Brennan tells me.

"Thank you," I said.

Three hours later, Brennan made the statement that he and I were not a couple but just family friends going out for dinner. It cleared up a little but I was still talked about on the internet. It was funny in a way since grown men were calling me a child and criticizing how I was dressed when they had no right to comment on me or my appearance.

I walked over to Brennan's office to see him organizing his desk. I knocked on the door making him look up at me.

"Thank you for clearing everything up," I tell him.

"No problem. I got hell from my parents for clearing it up but I honestly don't care what they say at this point," Brennan told me. I smiled softly at him:

"Don't stay up too late," I tell him. Brennan gave me a chuckle.

"Goodnight," He said.

"Goodnight," I said back before leaving his office.