“Because crazy people don’t use logical reasoning, Truth. And from what I have seen, she’s crazy with a capital C.”
Chapter Twelve
Idiom
She’s becoming all the rage.
Truth
I’d rather be the cause of happiness.
Friday
The halls of Seashore aren’t as quiet as they had been since Tuesday. There’s a new excitement buzzing, and I know that buzz isn’t because the baseball team has its first game after school tonight, or the fact that notifications from The Sound for a party have hit the upper echelon of the elite to an after party at none other than Gabrielle Morales-Ortez’s house. It’s the fight.
The invitation has, however, caused Alexa, Baker, James, and Abhi to attempt to pull Brisa and me back into the friendship circle.
I was a little pissed that they were blatantly avoiding us, but the part of me that sees full truths in others, even though I’ve been juggling mine like a circus clown on her first day of training, I never really blamed them for avoiding further knocks down the rungs on the popularity ladder because of me.
For all the opportunity Seashore gives with state of the art facilities, small class sizes, more clubs with better coaches, teachers who should be teaching at colleges and universities and not a high school level, mentorship programs, standardized testing prep, college course credits, and access to the best colleges in the world, it does have its faults.
The students here aren’t wondering where they’ll get their next meal, if they’ll be picked on for not having this season’s clothes, if they’ll get caught in the crossfire of some gang activity on their way to school, or worry as much about school shootings. They worry about fitting in.
Bullshit, I tell myself then quickly amend my thoughts to, we all worry about fitting in.
Why is it all my most profound moments are while peeing? I wonder as I open the bathroom stall.
When I see Gabrielle standing there, waiting for me, I roll my eyes.
“We’re going to become friends,” she says as if she were Moses standing on Mount Sinai and had just received the eleventh commandment.
Forcing myself not to stand there and laugh in her face, I turn on the water.
“And”—she holds up her phone and starts typing something then looks at me—“there’s the olive branch.”
My phone pings as I dry my hands. I pull it out of my blazer pocket and see a notification from The Sound.
“An invite from Gabrielle Morales-Ortez.” I laugh as I read it then hit deny.
When I look up at her, she’s looking at her phone and doesn’t look angry, as I expected. She looks completely unaffected.
She types out something again, and then my phone pings with another notification.
I look down. Again, an invite.
When I’m about to hit decline, she says, “Wait—hear me out.”
“No,” I say as I hit decline then shove my phone in my blazer pocket. “You hear me out. I’ve kept your secret when I could have blasted that shit everywhere, but I’m not that person. I’m more the type to sit and wait for a person to hang themself.” I step around her. “And friendship means a hell of a lot more to me than making nice with someone for the sake of perception and popularity.”
When I’m about to open the door, she says, “I’ve never had a loyal friend in my life. Not one. If any of the people who surround me knew what you did, they’d bury me. I’ve been a bitch—”
“A cunt actually,” I say as I turn around.
Her face hardens. “That’s a disgusting word.”
“And your actions have surpassed disgusting.”
She scowls at the floor as she shakes her head in frustration. “I keep trying to figure out your fucking angle.”
“Don’t lose sleep over it, Gabby. There is none. You stay away from me, I’ll stay away from you.”
“Fine,” she snaps, and I swear I see tears in her big brown doe eyes.
Walk away, I scream at myself. Walk. A. Way.
“People like you have lived a different life than most.”
Defensively, she snaps, “You mean people like us.”
I shake my head. “I wasn’t raised to shove my nose in the air, Gabby.”
“You have no idea how I was raised,” she snaps, eyes filling more, and I have to look away before I decide hugging a poisonous snake is a good idea.
“And you have no idea how I was. Just consider yourself lucky that I was taught that, if you keep your nose in the air, you’re gonna drown when it rains.”
When I walk out, Harrison is leaning against the wall.
“I didn’t hear any yelling, or I’d have come in.”
“I’m not some princess who needs to be saved, Reeves.”
“Which is exactly why I choose you.” He smirks as he pushes himself off the wall.
Gabby walks out of the bathroom, not a single tear in her eyes.
“Told you to leave her alone.” Harrison shakes his head from side to side.
Her face scrunches up in disgust. “I didn’t do a damn thing.”
“Actually, you—”
“Made nice, called a truce,” she cuts me off.
“So, no more videos will be popping up on the entire student body’s screens?” Harrison asks.
“Fuck you,” she snaps as she walks down the hall.
He purses his lips and shakes his head.
“I’m gonna tell you what I told her. Keeping your nose in the air is a good way to drown.”
“That’s sound advice, Miss Steel.” He smirks. “However, looking down is also frowned upon, which leaves a man like me to wonder, as well as doubt myself and all those who have taught me to be a gentleman to just keep looking ahead, to do the work it takes to gain the rewards.”
I start to walk away, and he stays by my side.
“I’m guessing your parents’ humble beginnings may have given them different perspectives than mine have given me.”
“Thank God,” I huff.
He takes my elbow, stopping me as he walks around in front of me. “Show me yours, and I’ll show you the good parts of mine, the ones you shun, which makes you just as wrong as me.”
“I don’t have time for this. You and yours have bullied my brother into a fight this weekend. Forgive me if showing you how to be human doesn’t top my list of priorities.”
He smirks.
“Why is that amusing to you?” I ask, truly curious.
“For one, your loyalty and judgment are just as misplaced as mine.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“I didn’t lure your brother into a fight. You and I both know that video had nothing to do with me. JT jumped at the chance.”
“To defend me,” I hiss.
He looks at me sadly then sighs. “A catalyst to unleash his inner male instinct.”
“You don’t know him.”
He smirks. “I have a leg … well, three legs up on you in that matter—I know men. Tell me, Miss Steel, since his decision, has he acted disheartened by it?”