“I told you, it meant nothing Ava! Leave. Me. Alone.”
Isis was walking down the hall with a bathroom pass in hand, about to turn the corner when she heard Roman speaking in an aggressive tone. She had never heard him speak that way before. He was yelling at Ava. And what she heard implied they were familiar with each other.
What. The. Hell.
Her heart was pounding so loud in her chest. Her hearing faded. Her vision blurred. She felt like a bomb had gone off and her senses were fading. She should have stayed and listened, but she turned around on legs that felt like jello and fled downstairs. She ran outside to the quad and collapsed onto a bench. Thankfully there was nobody around because classes were in session.
She didn’t know if she was about to cry or turn into stone. She turned into stone. She sat there and anger started to build. She could guess what was going on. Roman had been distant and she assumed it was because he didn’t approve of her streaming, but deep down something else had been tugging at her for weeks.
She put the pieces together… His face clouding over when he got texts. Telling her he was “dealing with something”. And worst of all, Ava’s comment at the restaurant.
Had he cheated? With Ava?! The stone started to crack and a tear slipped down her cheek. Then another. She pulled out her phone and texted Jackie.
“Can you get a bathroom pass and meet me in the quad? ASAP?” When she hit send, the tears were in full force.
A couple minutes later Jackie walked up, saw her face, and instantly dropped onto the bench. Her arms went around Isis and she asked with urgency “Isis what happened? Are you okay? Talk to me!”
Isis couldn’t speak, she just sobbed into Jackie’s hair and Jackie continued holding her.
Isis felt like an eternity had passed by the time she lifted her head from Jackie’s shoulder. When she looked at Jackie, she saw such sincere concern that her heart cracked open. Jackie asked again, “Babe, what happened?”
Isis told her what she overheard and all the things she had been noticing over the past few weeks. She tried to keep it short because she knew they needed to get back to class, but she wasn’t sure how she would be able to pull herself together.
Jackie said “Fuck class” and told her they would go to the nurse’s office and say they had period cramps or something. Thankfully it was fifth period and they already had lunch. She was glad she didn’t have to see Roman yet.
Isis asked if she should ignore Roman or confront him. Jackie told her to confront him right when school was out. She said she would go with her, but Isis definitely didn’t want that. She didn’t trust Jackie not to absolutely curse Roman out.
She just wanted to talk to him and hear his side of the story. What had him and Ava done? Maybe he could explain things. Maybe she was misreading the whole situation.
When she said those things out loud, Jackie got firm with her. “No. Isis. It’s obvious. Do not let him convince you otherwise.” And she knew Jackie was right.
The bell rang and Jackie told her to go to the nurse’s office. She said it was a good thing Isis had been crying because it would sell the story about period cramps. Jackie said she would go a few minutes after Isis and tell them she had an upset stomach.
Isis reluctantly stood up and Jackie enveloped her in a hug before they parted ways.
Sitting in her last period, Isis was building up the courage to text Roman about meeting after school. She knew he had 30 minutes after school was out, before his Computer Club started. That wasn’t enough time to talk, and she knew it, but she discreetly pulled out her phone under her desk and hit send on the text she had typed out. It simply said “Meet me in the gymnasium after school.”
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