Twenty-One

The Monday morning chill makes me shiver on this gloomy February day. I'm already dreading this week, and not just because I have a ton of things to do, but because Valentine's Day is in a few days, and I absolutely hate the holiday.

If Valentine's Day falls on a weekday, Branton High's student council conducts a rose giveaway. We're in charge of keeping track and collecting the money, which means I get to see everyone else get sent roses while I usually receive none. And this year, I really didn't want to witness all the roses Jamie was most likely going to receive.

I spot Gwen hiding out with Gibbs and Darian in the cafeteria through the window, waiting for the bell to signal them to class. Then Jamie meets up with me on the way.

"Morning," she greets.

"Good morning." I look up at her. "How was your weekend?"

"Insignificant."

To my knowledge, Jamie had hung out with Lora this weekend, according to Lora's Instagram story. It looked like they had a good time, but maybe Jamie just wasn't impressed. Or maybe she just didn't want me to know she was potentially seeing her.

I refuse to ask her about it.

We walk up to our friends who are now hovering over Gwen's shoulder, staring at her phone.

"What are you guys looking at?" I ask.

"That stupid blog." Gwen shakes her head. "You know, The Branton Buzz."

"The one run by Jacki and her yearbook minions?" I roll my eyes. "Why do y'all still give that thing attention?"

"We don't really know if Jacki is the one running it," Gwen says. "But check this out."

She turns her phone toward Jamie and me, only to reveal a semi-disturbing picture taken in the girl's locker room. The headline reads: Lost and Found¸ and below the headline is a picture of a pregnancy test sitting on the locker room floor.

And to make things even juicier, the test is positive.

I take the phone from Gwen and begin to scroll backwards. I hadn't looked at this in forever because I think it's the stupidest and most disturbing idea ever. Jacki, or whoever is running the damn thing, just seems hellbent on starting drama and gossip here at Branton, and I couldn't support something like that.

"Wait, go back," Jamie says. "That looked like..."

It was an old post, but it wasn't that old because the haunting words I had covered up months ago were now staring me in the face.

"Branton High vandal on the loose?" Jamie reads.

Below the headline is not one, but two pictures. The old mural idea was there, with no one else in the picture, and next to it is a picture literally right after it had been ruined.

Well, I think. And here I thought we had kept the gossip about the mural to a minimum.

I hand the phone back to Gwen. "So y'all weren't gonna tell me they posted about the vandalism?"

Gibbs sighs. "Peyt, you were already really upset about it."

"Yeah," Darian agrees. "And bringing it up after seemed wrong because we didn't want to make you feel worse."

In the middle of their explanation, a bing! comes from Gwen's phone. It must've been another post on the blog, and judging by the look on Gibbs' face, he isn't at all happy about what he's looking at.

"Lemme see," I order.

Gwen hands me her phone.

This headline reads: Don't forget a rose for your crush this Valentine's Day!

Below is a picture of a single rose, and a guy and girl kissing in the background, except whoever posted it didn't bother to blur them out for a reason, because it's Courtney Wilcox and David Lowell.

I look at Gibbs, but I can tell he's trying to hide the pain on his face. He and Courtney were never officially together, but he always claimed it was because neither of them wanted a relationship. Judging by his expression, that wasn't entirely true on Gibbs' part.

"Bro." Darian reaches over to comfort him.

The bell rings for first hour.

"Whatever, man." Gibbs stands and slings his backpack over his shoulder. "It doesn't matter."

Then he leaves us without another word. I look at Jamie, only to see her angry and confused over everything she had just learned about this "blog." Gwen and Darian leave together for first hour, but I feel the need to confront someone about this. That picture had been posted on purpose, to openly expose Courtney and hurt Gibbs. It was to start drama, because everyone knows Gibbs and Courtney had been on and off forever.

"That's pretty horrible," Jamie fumes. "Whoever manages this blog is messed up."

"Yeah," I agree. "They are."

We walk together in silence while I continue to be angry about Gibbs being affected by the blog's latest post. It isn't fair that it was a thing, but for some reason students kept quiet about it, even if it is borderline bullying.

The sound of obnoxious laughter pulls me out of my thoughts. It's Jacki and a few others, laughing over something that's apparently hilarious, even this early in the morning. A part of me believes it's over the latest post, which starts a fire in me. I find myself storming over to her.

"That picture was uncalled for," I say.

Jacki rolls her eyes as she pulls her gaze up from her phone. "What picture?"

"On the blog."

She scoffs. "Are you accusing me of something?"

"I know you're involved somehow."

"I didn't post the picture." Jacki looks down at her phone and smirks "But I kind of wished I had."

"Because you're a bitch?"

Everyone falls silent. I hadn't meant to use the harsh language. It isn't expected from me, but lately my patience has been running low, especially when it comes to Jacki.

"I'm a bitch?" She tilts her head and steps into my personal space. "I provide the truth, Peyton, when fake bitches like you lie about who they really are when people aren't looking."

That was it. That's Jacki's blatant confession to ruining my mural, yet only her and I seem to catch it. The conniving smile on her face infuriates, and mildly intimidates, me. I step back.

"That was also uncalled for." Jamie steps between us and grabs my arm. "C'mon."

I allow Jamie to pull me away from Jacki before I could give her a real reason to hate me. Fighting isn't something I ever felt compelled to do, but lately it's becoming harder not to hit Jacki in her left tit. Her passive-aggressive threats and subtle comments that hint at knowing I'm hiding something low-key scares the hell out of me.

Why would she want to out me? She, of all people, should know how important it is for people to come out on their own terms. It shouldn't be forced, and should be as natural as it possibly could, because if it wasn't, it could be traumatizing. But Jacki seems dead set on ruining my life any way she can, and I couldn't let her take away the one thing I'm so dearly holding onto.

• • •

It's last call to buy roses and people are scrambling. Everyone usually waits until the last minute to buy their roses, which makes this morning a busy one for student council. I take my last payment before closing the safety box and look around for stragglers.

"Are we done?" David asks.

"Yeah, looks like it," I confirm, refusing to ask David about the picture posted on The Branton Buzz a few days ago.

Luckily, senior student council isn't responsible for handing out the roses to people. That was a sophomore job. I find great relief in this.

I make my way to my first class and watch the time pass in a blur. My mind is elsewhere with the thought of the mural's progress and my soccer tournament this weekend. The stress weighs heavy on my chest, but I keep telling myself the school year is almost over. Just a few more months, and then I will hopefully escape Branton for good.

I just have to make it past my mom first.

Eventually fourth hour comes, and Jamie meets me in the art room to collect the supplies to work on the mural. To my surprise, she's empty handed.

So, no one had gotten her a rose?

"Looks like we're the only two in Branton High that didn't get a rose," she says. "I'm kinda happy about that, actually."

I smile, but silently wish I had gotten her one, and vice versa.

We make it to the room where the mural waits for us. There's still so much to be done. I'm afraid we won't be able to finish it in time at this pace, but we're aiming for perfection.

"Stop looking at it like that," Jamie orders. "We're gonna finish it in time."

"We only have two and a half months left," I inform her. "And if we continue at this pace..." I shake my head. "There's no way we'll finish it."

"We will." Jamie picks up a brush. "I promise."

I give her a trusting smile and hope that she's right. We have a lot riding on this, especially since the entire school apparently knows about the vandalism that occurred. We have to finish, because Jacki couldn't win.

We begin working on the mural and make conversation to fill the silence. This goes on for about twenty minutes until an underclassman knocks on the door to grab our attention.

"I have a delivery," he says, revealing two roses. "Two for Jamie Kendall, from Lora and Jacki."

I roll my eyes at the names. I should've figured Jacki would send one to Jamie to spite both of us, so I don't take it to heart. As for Lora, well, she's certainly making it known that she's interested.

Jamie accepts her roses. "Thanks."

I continue to work on the mural and pretend not to care, even though I'm annoyed that Jamie had received not one, but two, while I still sat empty handed. God, she probably thinks I'm such a loser.

"And one for Peyton Kelly," the delivery boy claims.

I turn around in shock.

"From Noah Peters."