Twenty-four hours have passed and I still haven’t thought of what happened that afternoon. Haven’t thought of the tears that streamed endlessly down my face in that girl’s bathroom, the laughter that seemed to never stop, or the fact that all this pain was caused by the one person I had always trusted.
Friday afternoon, not able to wait until the final bell of the day rang. I wriggled around in my seat constantly glancing at the clock. My stomach growls in tune with the tapping of my pencil. I gaze at the last two words on the word search in front of me. Bird and dolphin, simple enough right? Wrong, the easiest words on the paper always ending up being the hardest.
I hear a sound from across the room. I lift my head and smile at my best friend, Kelcie. In fourth grade we had made up these weird noises that we used to get each others attention in class, so hearing the clicking sound, I had already known it was her. She lifts her paper up and points to the two words that I also happened to be looking for. She then shrugged her shoulders and gave me a questioning look.
I shook my head and mouthed a sorry. Once again she shrugged and then returned to her paper. Before I can get another look at my own, the bell rings for lunch. I scoot away from my desk and hurry toward the door. I had been sitting with my friends Erin and Jenna for a couple weeks now. The only problem was that Kelcie’s ex-boyfriend also happened to sit at our table.
But today Kelcie couldn’t say anything to me because I was going to sit with her and our other friends. Erin wasn’t here today and she was like the glue of our table, so Jenna and I went to sit with Kelcie while Parker went and sat with his friends from the baseball team.
Before I had always hated Parker, thinking he was a stuck up guy that thought he was better than everyone else, but now that I had started to hang out with him at lunch, I found out he was actually a pretty nice guy. I would even consider him one of my friends now. Kelcie hated the idea of me being friends with her ex. Always had something to say about it.
After grabbing a slice of pizza and a water, I sat down next to one of my friends. Not long after taking a bite of my pizza, Gabi pipes up and says, “Hey, Taylor, do you like Parker? Cus someone told me you did.”
I almost gag, “No, we’re just friends. Why who told you that?”
She glances at Kelcie who I can tell is trying not to grin. “Oh, no one, but it’s spreading around the school like a wild fire. Almost everyone thinks you do, I think Parker does too.”
My face probably turned bright red at that point. Then Travis Johnson leans over toward our table and said to me, “I know who’s started the rumor,” he winks at me and then points to Kelcie, “that chick right there. Probably got jealous you were hanging out with her ex-boyfriend.”
I stare open mouthed at the girl who had spent the night at my house so many times, who I had shared secrets with, who I let cheat off my math test. “Kelcie, what the heck?”
“Oh, don’t act so innocent. I told you to stop hanging out with him.”
“We’re just friends! I don’t like him like that! How could you do something like this to me!” The conversation had gotten so loud now that everyone was listening. Tons of people where laughing.
“It was a mistake, I didn’t mean for it to spread so fast. I just wanted to understand how much I didn’t want you hanging out with him.”
“Well thanks for the clear message!” I yell.
I slide out of the booth and run toward the exit of the lunch room. Parker grabs my arm, “Hey Taylor,” he puts his fist out waiting for me to do the same, like we had been doing for the past couple weeks. But I don’t return it, I just run out the doors to the girls bathrooms.
As soon as I enter the bathroom, I run into a stall. I dial my mom’s number, crying as I waited for her to pick up. I felt so betrayed. All of this had happened so fast and over something as stupid as a boy.
Finally I hear my mom’s soft, soothing voice, “Taylor, what’s wrong? Shouldn’t you be in class?”
Trying to slightly compose myself I say, “Mom, can you please come pick me up? I’ll explain in the car. Just please, I can’t stay here right now.”
“Oh, sure thing honey, you sound real upset. I’ll be there in five minutes.”
I mumble a thanks and close my phone. I grab my book bag and go sit on the bench outside the office. When my mom’s car finally pulls up my entire face is covered in mascara and eyeliner.
I hop in and grab my sunglasses. Closing the door firmly, I let out a sigh. Just today in Language Arts, we read a quote by Oscar Wilde, “A true friend stabs you in the front.” Maybe it had been a warning about what was going to happen, I’d never know. What I did know now though was that even though Kelcie had said the mistake was hers, it was actually mine for ever trusting her.