Chapter 7 #2
“Oh, yeah, that does suck.” I was suddenly grateful I hadn’t joined any clubs at school.
“Tell me about it,” she said. “Quite a few of the girls on the squad have boyfriends too, so I think I’m going to struggle to find volunteers to man the booth.”
“Well, there’s always Anna. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to help you out.”
“Yeah, I’m sure she will.” Cress laughed, but her expression dimmed as she glanced down at her phone once more. “I’m trying to figure out how to break the news to the squad. Everyone is asking in the group chat what happened at the meeting.”
I shrugged. “I’d just be honest. Tell them the cheerleaders stole your booth and that they’re going to need to pucker up.”
“I don’t think that’s going to make them feel any better about it.”
I smiled as an idea came to me. “Or, you could tell them you got stuck with the stand but you’re going to change it to a kiss or scare booth. When people come up for their turn, they don’t know if they’re getting a kiss or a scare from the girls.”
“Oh, I like that,” Cress said. “Definitely more fitting for Halloween. Maybe I’ll create some kind of coin that can be flipped with kiss on one side and scare on the other so it’s a game of chance.”
“That would be so fun,” I agreed. “You could also get some cute guys to volunteer so the girls wouldn’t have to do all the kissing.”
“Like who?”
“Well, a certain twin who loves kissing comes to mind.”
Cress looked thoughtful. “Yeah, I’m sure I can rope Sawyer into it.”
“I think it would be harder trying to keep him away.”
Cress giggled, her familiar bright smile fully restored. “Okay, I think this might go down better with the team. I guess we’ll just have to convince a few other guys to help us out.”
She grew quiet as Veronica entered the room and took her usual seat in front of me.
Veronica slowly turned to Cress and flashed her a fake smile.
“Sorry the dance team missed out on the photo booth this morning. I know you girls were thinking about doing it, but I’m sure you can understand that I didn’t have a choice.
I was just doing what the cheer team wanted.
They have all these ideas for different backdrops, and I’d hate to disappoint them. ”
Cress returned Veronica’s smile with one that was just as empty. “Oh, I understand,” she said. “But you don’t need to worry, we’re pretty excited to be doing the kissing booth.”
“Seriously?” Veronica scoffed. “You can’t actually want to kiss all the losers who are going to be lining up.”
Cress shrugged. “We have a few ideas that might make it more fun.”
Veronica lifted one eyebrow, as though she was having a hard time believing Cress, but she didn’t respond. Instead, she turned her attention to me. “I haven’t seen you and Noah together this week. Of course, everyone’s wondering is there trouble in paradise already?”
I swallowed a heavy lump that rose in my throat. I’d heard the whispers, and to be honest, I had no idea how everyone at school hadn’t already confirmed the truth. I didn’t want to have to admit it to Veronica though. The gloating look in her eyes might just kill me.
“Because I heard a rumor you two were over, and since you’ve been looking so...” She paused as she considered her next word. “So tired, I had to wonder if it’s true,” Veronica continued. “Did Noah already get bored of slumming it with the help?”
“She’s not the help,” Cress growled.
Veronica’s eyes flashed with vile pleasure. “Oh, so you’ll deny she’s a charity case but not that their relationship is over. Interesting…”
“I’m not sure why you’d even take interest in their relationship,” Cress replied. “It’s not like my cousin will ever be interested in you.”
Veronica shrugged. “That’s not what he was saying at the ball on Saturday night.”
The teacher started the class, and Veronica gave us one last smug smile before she returned her attention to the front of the room.
I felt frozen to the spot. I hadn’t been able to utter a single word in my defense, and I hated that Cress had felt the need to fight my battle for me.
I didn’t want to give Veronica the pleasure of knowing Noah and I were finished, but pretending we weren’t made me feel even worse.
Was I really so pathetic I couldn’t admit to people the relationship was over?
I must have been completely tuned out to what the teacher was saying because the class erupted into excited murmurs and I had no idea why. My eyes darted to Cress. “What did I miss?”
She was grinning widely as she faced me. “Were you really not listening?”
“I was distracted.” I shot an annoyed look at the back of Veronica’s head.
Cress gave me an understanding smile. “Mr. Wagner just announced we’re going on a field trip for English.”
“We are?”
“Yep.” She punctuated the word with an enthused nod. “All the senior English classes are going to New York to see Romeo and Juliet next week.”
“Seriously?” It was hard to contain my excitement.
I’d always wanted to go to New York, and even my conversation with Veronica couldn’t dampen the delight I felt that I was finally going to visit the city.
Seeing the play would be fun too, but it was New York that had my heart racing with anticipation.
“Quiet down, everyone,” Mr. Wagner said in a weak attempt to wrangle back control of the class. No one wanted to listen. He let out a heavy breath like he knew it was a lost cause and started scribbling on the whiteboard.
“This is going to be so much fun,” Cress said as I faced her again. “I’m sure we’ll get free time so I can show you all of my favorite haunts.”
“That sounds great.”
“It does, doesn’t it? Oh,” she gasped. “We should make a weekend of it and stay at my place.”
“Do you think the school will let us do that?”
“I’m sure they’d be fine with it. Plenty of other kids are from the city and will probably do the same. So, what do you think?”
“I’ll have to check with my mom first, but if she says yes, then obviously I’m in.”
“Excellent.” She grinned brightly and continued chatting happily as she came up with ideas for all the fun things we could do.
It all sounded amazing and exactly what I needed to create some space away from Noah.
This school felt too suffocating at the moment.
His presence was near impossible to ignore.
I often felt like I could feel him even when he wasn’t in the room.
As Cress started planning out our time in the city, another thought came to mind.
She wasn’t the only person based in New York.
Matthew was there for the next couple of weeks too.
He was supposed to be too busy with work to come to Weybridge and answer all my questions, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t go to him.
The more I thought about it, the more I started to like the idea. I was never going to get over Noah when my thoughts were still so tangled and confused about the reason behind our breakup. Matthew could give me answers. Perhaps with this trip, I could also get some much-needed closure.
But, first, there was something else I was going to have to do if I wanted to get over Noah. I was never going to move on when everyone still thought we were together and constantly gossiping as they tried to figure out what was going on.
It was time I grew more proactive about our breakup, which meant I needed to put an end to the constant cycles of rumors. So, when class ended and everyone started to file out of the room, I touched Veronica’s arm, stopping her before she walked through the door.
She rolled her eyes as she turned to me. “If it’s taken you all lesson to find your tongue and come up with a retort for me, I don’t want to hear it.”
“No.” I shook my head. “That’s not it. I just thought you should know that you were right. Noah and I are over.”
Veronica looked too stunned by my revelation to make fun of me. And even Cress, who knew the truth, appeared surprised I’d just admitted it to Veronica.
“So, he’s all yours,” I said before I pushed past her and left the room.
I didn’t see the point in fighting over a guy when he wasn’t mine anymore. I knew Veronica would tell the whole school the news. I just hoped any extra attention I received would be short-lived. Once everyone knew the truth, I’m sure they’d soon grow tired of the rumors and gossip.
As much as it hurt, it felt like a small weight had lifted from my shoulders. Saying the words out loud, that Noah and I were over, felt like a step in the right direction. I just had to hope I didn’t stray from the path.