Time And I

Ten

"You're seeing him again tonight?" Darcy smirked, jabbing at my arm. "Ooh, what's going on between you two?"

"He told me about why he's not wanting to come back to school, and he invited me to hang out after school. It might be a way for him to get used to being out of the house and in a teenage environment... I'm hoping this will help in the long run. Maybe if he gets used to spending time around his classmates in a non-school setting, it may help him if he comes back."

"And he wants to?"

"Yes."

"He's just not ready?"

"I get why."

"Why?" she perkily asked.

"I can't tell you."

"You promised not to?"

"No, but it's still a sore subject for him. I don't want to say anything unless I know he wants it to be known. He could have been telling me in confidence. I don't want to break his trust."

"You know that guy's a jackass, right?" Jett snarled from the locker a few down from Darcy's. "Why would you willingly want to spend time with him?"

"Because there's something more trustworthy about him compared to you," I stated. "And I'm pretty sure you deserved that punch."

"Sure, blame the victim. All I did was tell him the truth, and he was the one who took it the wrong way and punched me." Jett slammed his locker shut and strutted up to us, as if he was trying to be tough. He wasn't. "I'm telling you this as a friend-"

"We are not friends."

"Devon Quid is a bad guy. And not in the Billie Eilish version. He's dangerous. He picks fights for no reason. He gets triggered over the smallest of things. He's a man whore, always sleeping with other people's girlfriends. Why would you want to be around someone like that?" he whispered frantically.

"Because he's not you," I said. "He doesn't pick fights for no reason. He always has a reason, whether or not it's justifiable. And he's not a man-whore. That's what you look at whenever you see your own reflection." I lightly pushed him away, and he stared at me with wide eyes. "I know for a fact that Devon punched you because of something you did. I don't know what it was, but you better believe me that the moment I find out what it was, I am outing you."

Jett paled.

"Boo," I sarcastically whispered before walking away to my next class, Darcy following behind me.

"Someone is about to be even more ostracized here," she sang.

"Are you leaving me?"

"No. I've got your back."

"Then who gives a shit?"

By the time it was lunch, a few rumors spread around that I snapped at Jett and said horrible things to him because Devon influenced me to. People were staring at me with wide eyes, whispering to each other, but I didn't care. I knew what actually happened. Rumors were rumors, and the moment people found something else to fawn over, they would.

I sat alone at a table made for eight people. No one would dare to sit next to me, especially with the rumors circulating. Buddy stood at a table nearby, and when he saw me, he excused himself before sitting next to me. Every so often a few girls would try to sit next to us, but with no one willing to approach him alone, we typically sat alone. His friends would normally sit with us, but because of the rumors, people seemed to keep their distance.