CHAPTER TWO
“A Not-SoFun Party”
The bell rang before Amanda could argue anymore. Students rose from their seats, abandoning trays and unfinished conversations as they headed toward their next classes. Melissa grabbed her backpack.
“Meet me at the park after school.”
“Melissa—”
Melissa backed away from the table. Then she turned and disappeared into the crowd before Amanda could stop her. Amanda remained seated for another second, staring after her.
“That girl is going to get me killed one day.”
Unfortunately, she already knew she would meet Melissa at the park.
She always did. Melissa spent the beginning of her next class pretending to read.
The open textbook rested on her desk, but she hadn’t absorbed a single sentence.
Her thoughts kept circling Maria’s party, Amanda’s reluctance, and the complete absence of anything resembling an actual plan.
I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to pull this off.
She turned the page anyway.
But Maria is still going down.
That thought brought a small smile to her face. Then a girl’s voice carried from the other side of the classroom.
“You were amazing at practice today.”
Melissa’s eyes lifted from the book.
Two girls, Lori and Vanessa, sat close to John Prescott near the back of the room.
Their desks had somehow migrated toward his despite assigned seating, and both girls leaned in as though competing to see who could invade his personal space more successfully.
John looked mildly trapped. Vanessa rested her chin against one hand.
“You always are.”
Lori smiled brightly.
“Can I have your number?”
John looked between them.
“You two certainly don’t waste time.”
“Why would we?” Lori asked.
“Everybody wants you.”
Melissa rolled her eyes and looked back down at her book. It was ridiculous. The girls barely knew him, yet they hovered around him as if proximity alone might transform them into someone important.
“As much as I enjoy the attention,” John said, “I need to use the bathroom.”
Vanessa pouted.
“Already leaving us?”
“I could come with you,” Lori offered.
John stood.
“That would defeat the purpose.”
A few students nearby laughed. Melissa tried not to. John walked out of the classroom, leaving Lori and Vanessa visibly disappointed. Melissa glanced after him. She shouldn’t have been watching. She knew that. Unfortunately, Lori noticed.
“What are you looking at?”
Melissa’s attention snapped back toward her desk.
“Nothing.”
Vanessa laughed.
“She’s jealous.”
Lori’s expression softened into exaggerated pity.
“Aw.”
Melissa tightened her grip around the edge of her textbook .
“Is someone upset that John flirts with us and not her?” Lori asked.
“Why would he flirt with her?” Vanessa added.
Her eyes traveled slowly over Melissa’s clothes. Melissa immediately wished she had worn something else. Her shirt was clean. It fit properly. There was nothing wrong with it. But it wasn’t new. It wasn’t expensive. And in Westbrook High, that was sometimes enough.
“Look at her clothes,” Vanessa said.
“Did you get that shirt from a donation bin?”
Lori laughed.
The words struck more deeply than Melissa wanted them to. She lowered her gaze. That morning, her mother had mentioned the eviction notice again. Her father was back in the hospital. Their kitchen table was covered with bills no one knew how to pay.
Now two girls who had never worried about the cost of anything were mocking her because her shirt didn’t have the right label sewn inside it. Melissa forced herself to breathe. She would not cry. Not here. Not in front of them.
“Maybe John could buy her something better,” Vanessa said.
“Only if he felt sorry for her.”
“Both of you can leave.”
The voice came from behind Melissa. She turned sharply. John stood a few feet away, his expression colder than she had ever seen it. Vanessa blinked.
“John?”
“You heard me.”
Lori sat straighter.
“We were only joking.”
“Then learn how to be funny.”
Melissa’s lips twitched despite herself. Vanessa’s face hardened.
“You’re seriously choosing her over us?”
John looked toward Melissa, then back at them.
“I’m choosing not to sit with people who enjoy humiliating someone for having less money than they do.”
Neither girl spoke. John pointed toward the door.
“Go.”
Lori scoffed.
“John—” “Now.”
The sharpness in his voice silenced her. Lori and Vanessa stood, gathering their bags with offended expressions. Vanessa muttered something under her breath as they walked away, but neither dared say anything loud enough for John to hear.
The room fell into an uncomfortable quiet. A few students pretended not to have been listening. Others stared openly. Melissa wished the floor would open beneath her desk. John took the empty seat beside her.
“Are you all right?”
She kept her gaze on the book.
“Yeah.”
It was automatic.
“I’m fine.”
John studied her.
“You don’t look fine.”
Melissa gave a weak laugh.
“I’ve looked worse.”
“What they said was disgusting.”
“People say worse.”
“That doesn’t make it acceptable.”
His voice was calm again, but the anger hadn’t fully left his face.
Melissa finally looked at him. Up close, John was different from the version of him she had constructed in her head.
She had expected arrogance. Someone careless.
Someone who knew exactly how much attention followed him and enjoyed every second of it.
Instead, he looked genuinely bothered on her behalf.
“Thank you,” she said.
“You don’t have to thank me.” “I do.”
Melissa glanced toward the door Lori and Vanessa had disappeared through.
“Most people would’ve pretended they didn’t hear it.”
John leaned back slightly.
“I’m not most people.”
“No,” Melissa said quietly. “Apparently not.”
His gaze dropped briefly toward her shirt before returning to her face.
“And for the record, you look fine.”
Melissa raised an eyebrow.
“Just fine?”
The question slipped out before she could stop it. John’s expression shifted. For the first time, he seemed nervous.
“Beautiful, actually.”
Melissa stared at him. The entire classroom seemed to fade around them.
“You think I’m beautiful?”
“Most definitely.”
Her face warmed. She looked away before he could see just how much the answer affected her.
“You’re very different from what I expected.”
John laughed softly.
“Should I be offended?”
“Maybe a little.”
“I’ll survive.”
He rested one arm against the desk.
“If they bother you again, tell me.”
Melissa looked back at him.
“I can handle myself.”
“I noticed.”
There was something almost admiring in the way he said it.
“But you shouldn’t always have to.”
The words caught her off guard. Her whole life had become a series of things she had to handle. Her father’s illness. Her mother’s exhaustion. The bills. The eviction notice. School. Maria. Now this. No one ever told her she shouldn’t have to carry it alone.
The bell rang, breaking the moment. Students immediately began packing their bags. John stood.
“See you around?”
Melissa tried not to smile too eagerly.
“I hope so.” He winked before walking away. Melissa remained frozen beside her desk. Her heart hammered wildly. John Prescott had defended her. John Prescott had called her beautiful. John Prescott wanted to see her again.
“That just happened,” she whispered.
And for the first time all day, the weight on her shoulders felt a little lighter.
Later after school… Amanda arrived at the park late enough for Melissa to have checked the time seven times.
She found Melissa sitting near the garden, staring at her phone with a smile that seemed completely out of place after the morning they had endured.
“I’m here,” Amanda announced, yawning as she approached.
Melissa looked up.
“Only three years late.”
“I had to finish an assignment.”
Amanda dropped onto the bench beside her. Then she narrowed her eyes.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
Melissa tried to contain it. She failed.
“John talked to me.”
Amanda sat up straight.
“He did?”
“These girls were making fun of me.”
Amanda’s expression immediately darkened.
“Who?”
“Lori and Vanessa.” “What did they say?”
“Nothing worth repeating.”
Melissa waved it away, too eager to reach the important part.
“John heard them, made them leave, and sat with me.”
Amanda stared.
“John Prescott defended you?”
“Yes?”
“The same John Prescott you accused of being a jerk to Maria last week?”
Melissa winced.
“I… may have misjudged him.”
“Clearly.”
“He called me beautiful.”
Amanda grabbed Melissa’s arm.
“He did not.”
“He did.”
“Melissa!”
Amanda nearly shouted the name.
“This is huge.”
“I know.”
“We’ve liked Michael and John since elementary school.” Melissa nodded.
“And now they finally know we exist,” Amanda said.
“It only took five years.”
“I told you we just had to keep trying.”
“We didn’t try.”
Melissa laughed.
“I got bullied, and he happened to witness it.”
“Progress is progress.”
Amanda’s excitement softened.
“I’m glad something good happened today.”
“Me too.”
Melissa leaned back against the bench.
“I definitely needed it after the morning I had.”
Amanda’s expression changed.
“Speaking of which, how are things at home since talking to your mom?”
The smile left Melissa’s face.
“Still bad.”
She looked down at her hands.
“ Like I said, my dad’s back in the hospital. My mom keeps asking me to find work, and the eviction notice is still sitting on our kitchen table. Nothing new.”
Amanda hesitated.
“Then maybe we shouldn’t go tonight.”
Melissa’s head lifted.
“What?”
“You have a lot going on.”
Amanda spoke carefully, already anticipating resistance. “We could skip the party.”
“No.”
“Melissa—”
“I’ve spent every day thinking about bills, hospitals, and whether we’ll still have a home next month.”
Her voice tightened.
“I want one night where I don’t have to think about any of it.”
Amanda studied her.
“Are you sure?”
“I need this.”
Melissa paused.
“Besides, John will be there.”
Amanda leaned back.
“Ah.”
Melissa smiled. “There it is.”
“And Michael will probably be there too.”
Amanda’s hesitation vanished.
“What time are we leaving?”
Melissa laughed.
“I knew that would work.”
“Don’t judge me.”
“The party starts around six-thirty. Come get me at seven.”
“Seven?”
“We can’t arrive first.”