“New girl...”
“Did you see her?”
“Pretty...”
“In my first period class..”
“New chick,”
“I heard she came from-”
All week people have been talking about the new girl. Whitney, the girl, has been in nearly all my classes. I’ve let her sit next to me in classes that I don’t have Gabe in. Even then we sit at tables and she joins us. I’m glad about it. Gabe and her seem to be good enough friends, which is good for me. I like her and that way we can be friends.
Gabe, my boyfriend of three years, has been every girl’s main crush since kindergarten. This has made it really hard to have friends. I’m...Possessive. Having girls talk about how great and good looking Gabe is doesn’t make me happy. He’s mine and has been for almost four years. I want to have a friend, but it’s hard when they’re all drooling over Gabe. My six foot three boyfriend with dark brown hair, deep blue eyes that sparkle, strong set jaw, muscular body. Even though he plays football, he’s not a typical jock. Funny, smart, compassionate. He’s got it all.
“Hun? You’re spacing out.” Gabe chuckles.
I blush a little and nod. “Just thinking.”
“Penny for your thoughts?”
“I’d prefer a dollar,” I smile. “Or maybe a dinner.”
“I can do that. So, what’s your pretty little head thinking about?”
“Just Whitney. I thought she seemed really nice and was thinking we could maybe invite her to come with us to the movies on Friday?”
“Of course.” he nods.
To explain a bit, we’re planning on going to the movies with a group of friends on Friday. Susan and Brian, a couple, along with Jordan, Lynn, and Phoebe. Those are the singles. I’m not close with any of them, but Gabe is friends with a bunch and they’re really nice.
“Okay, everyone, I need you to pair up in groups of four.” Our english teacher shouts, trying to be heard over the cluster of noisy teens. I look up, making eye contact with Whitney. She smiles and waves me over. Gabe waves back.
“We just need one more person,” he murmurs, wrapping an arm around my waist. I smile and lean into him, slipping my hand into his back pocket. Together we walk slowly over to where she is, nudging each other repeatedly.
We belong to a small school, so everybody knows everyone and everything. That means all our teachers know about us and kind of look the other way with our affections. It also means everybody knows that Gabe’s from an abusive relationship and is emancipated, living on his own in a small apartment. His birthday was last month, making him eighteen. Mine’s in a month.
“Are you coming over tonight?” he whispers in my ear.
“I can’t...School night...”
“So? I get lonely,” he fakes a pout and stops, taking both of my hands. “I’m sure you’re parents will understand if you come over for like...Homework and stuff.”
“You don’t have any homework?” I smile, tugging him along.
“They don’t know that.”
“I thought you told me that we’re supposed to be completely honest with my parents and not try to deceive them in any way.”
“I said that? Psh, your memories wack.”
I giggle and push him away from me, sitting down at the table Whitney’s at with Mike. Gabe feigns hurt and sits across from me. With an unreadable expression Whitney looks back and forth between us, particularly looking at Gabe. I don’t think anything of it.
“Okay so we’re supposed to split up into teams of two and create a skit from the book than perform it to the other and decide which we want to do for the class.” Whitney explains. “I’ll work with Gabe and you guys can work together.”
“I kind of-” I start, but he cuts me off.
“Okay. We’ll work on something and talk in fifteen minutes, alright?” Gabe flashes a smile. After a moment I nod.
“Do you guys want to go first or should we?” Whitney asks, smiling.
“You can.” Mike says boredly. Me and him decided to just go with whatever they made up.
“Okay, great. I was hoping we’d get to go. C’mon, Gabe.” She flips her hair over her shoulder and places her hand on his arm, pulling him towards the front. I can feel myself getting uncomfortable and wanting to just take him away from her, but I can’t. I won’t even say anything about it to Gabe. What guy would like obsessively possessive like me? Oh no, I won’t say a word of it.
Whitney begins rattling off some stuff from the book, playing the part of the main girl who’s hopelessly in love with the star of the football team. Gabe says things back, making eye contact with her. My stomach drops. This can’t end like I think it will.
“You don’t know how long I’ve watched you...” she says softly, touching his cheek.
He kind of shrugs her hand off, but continues on like they probably planned. “Don’t think I haven’t been paying attention to you.”
“But...You’re girlfriend...”
“She meant nothing to me.” he says without any hesitation.
Some people around us have started to pay attention, shooting me looks. I struggle to keep any expression off my face. Doesn’t Gabe realize what he’s doing? What this leads up to?
“Prove it.” she lets out breathily, cupping his strong jaw line.
Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it...
“Get your filthy hands off my boyfriend!” I scream.
“Kendall, nothing was going to happen.” Gabe reaches for me. “We were going to just hug. It’s okay.”
I stare at him, realizing my mouth is open slightly. He can’t be serious.
“Seriously, sweetie, it’s fine.”
“What’s going on over here?” Mr. Sneffer asks, coming over. “Why’re you yelling?”
Whitney watches me for my next move. She wants me to have another outburst, to have me attack her so that she can play the defenseless role that did nothing wrong. I know what she was going to do. How could nobody else see that?
“Calm down,” he says softly. “Whitney didn’t do anything. She was just trying to get a class assignment done.”
I hate her.
