Just Like Cinderella

Just Like Cinderella [4]

The next day went by without any encounter with popular, handsome guys—Asher most importantly. Soon Thursday arrived and the dance was all anyone could talk about.

It was even worse than usual, Josi noticed the minute she walked into school.

She hadn't bothered with a dress like she'd told Megan, and she hadn't thought about changing her mind ever since that afternoon. But there was still this small voice in her head telling her she was making a huge mistake. She ignored the voice, much as she ignored Caleb Flynn in school. Though she'd hardly seen him since bumping into him at their locker.

The handful of times she had seen Kehlani, her usual model-perfect face was sad and distracted. Yesterday, Mr. Hanson had called out her name about four times in AP Calculus before she finally answered. Josi couldn't help feeling a little sorry for her. Despite all she'd said and done, she obviously liked Caleb a lot.

However, it was none of her business so she didn't dwell on it.

She walked into the hallway, holding a cup of steaming hot coffee and minding her own business as usual. The coffee was from the coffee shop a few streets away, her almost daily dose black with a dash of cinnamon and little cream. Megan always teased her that only overworked college students or old people drank coffee, and warning her that the universe would probably make her soulmate as addicted to the beverage as she was. Josi definitely wouldn't mind. It showed he had good taste.

As she made her way to her locker, blocking out all the noise around her, a blur of black whipped her right across the face without whoever it was stopping. It took her a second to realize it was someone's hair, and she turned back in annoyance to see who it was this time around. It looked like Kehlani but she was gone too soon, disappearing into the girls' bathroom. Josi figured she was imagining things. She'd gotten a brief glance of swollen, bloodshot eyes, and Kehlani Simpson didn't do puffy eyes.

Megan arrived almost immediately after, looking around frantically. "Did you see her? Did you see Kehlani?" she asked, her breath coming out in harsh gasps, as if she'd been running. "I had to run after her to make sure I didn't imagine the whole thing. That Caleb really just broke up with her."

Josi had barely recovered from her shock of finding out it was indeed Kehlani. This newfound information completely stunned her. Caleb Flynn and Kehlani Simpson, golden couple of Cary High—probably the whole of Cary—weren't together anymore. She shouldn't have been so surprised, lately all they seemed to do was argue. And besides Monday evening, they hadn't shown up at DaDiva in a really long time. Still, it was taking a minute to process.

"They broke up?" she echoed.

"Fuck yes. I still can't believe it and I witnessed the whole thing." At Josi's confused frown, she explained. "Okay, so Betty wanted to spend the morning watching the lacrosse team practice and perv on them, nothing new. Then she somehow managed to drag me along. When we got there was when Kehlani showed up too, trying talk to Caleb. One minute they were talking in private, and the next Kehlani was crying and yelling so loud, everyone on the field could hear her. But you know how Caleb is, he remained cold all through her crying and screaming. Then, he said it was over between them and went back to practice like everything was fine. Even I felt embarrassed for her. Everyone was looking and talking, so she ran away from there and I think she came here."

Josi didn't exactly care for the drama she'd missed, even if she felt sorry for them. It wasn't her business, or anyone else's, what happened between Caleb and Kehlani. "I feel sorry for Kehlani. It must have been tough to go through that, especially in front of so many people."

"I'm sorry too," Megan said sincerely. "She can be such a bitch sometimes, but no one deserves to have their heart completely shattered. And you haven't even heard the worst part. As he ended things, Caleb looked so tired...like he was bored of her. And I swear, everyone noticed this, not just me. I mean, I know he's an coldhearted asshole, but making her cry like that, treating her like last week's trash... It just ain't right." It was one of those rare times Megan's southern drawl came out.