"Stay away from me, okay? Stop acting like we're a thing and making my life complicated. It doesn't make any sense. You don't even know if I have someone, do you?" She tried to explain, but he just kept yelling without giving her a chance to explain. "I don't wanna have this conversation with you again." He walks away as I stood looking from my porch. "Oh boy!"
This could have been me. I got ready for school and I was minutes late, and Mrs. Smith was in the class already. "Welcome, Princess, we all have been waiting for you," she said with a slight bow. "I'm sorry," I chuckle nervously, and went to my seat. But it wasn't till I settled down I realized that everyone was looking at me. "What?" I whispered. "Lanie, everyone been talking about you, courtesy of Layla, who told them you stole her man from her." "Her man?" I asked. "Yeah," Megan replied. "She actually went to visit him this morning, but he lashed out, saying he had someone, and I think she thought it was you." I turned to the back where Emory was seating, but he was focused on the board and his book. He was really handsome, and that serious look on his face made him even more handsome.
After school, I was about to go home when Tiara called out for me. "Mel, Emory wants to see you." "Omg, wait up!" I called. When I got to the stairs, she led me to... it was the basement, and it was dark. I was a bit skeptical about it. "Is Emory here?" Then she chuckled a little. "Yeah, he is." When we got to the basement, ascending the stairs, she ran off immediately.
It was Emory, alright. He was leaning against the wall, and he has his hands in his pocket. And then I called, "Emory, you wanted to see me?" This was the first time I'm having a conversation with him alone. Little did I know it was a set-up. "Yeah," he answered, stressing the word out. "Okay, I'm listening," I said with a smile. "You know, I'm not a fan of being caught in the middle of drama. I love people who are straightforward, and I don't think you're one of them." "Uhmmm..." "Hush," she commands. "I'm not done yet. The whole school believes we're together, and we're not. Can I ask you why? Is this your way of telling me indirectly you love me? Because I'm a bit confused," he added. And all this while, he was talking, I was looking at his lip and his body language, how he moved, and how calm his voice sounded.
"Umm... I... well, first it was because I was under pressure, and for some reason, your name was the first thing that came on my mind, and I'm sorry if that made you feel uncomfortable. But I thought you will say something that day and maybe tell them it wasn't really you." He chuckled. "I'm pretty sure you were going to say something, but you even handled being called a whore without clearing the air, so I didn't care about your petty lies. But you're ruining my life, and stay here. It's getting exhausting how this week it's been you and me around school. Do you love me? Yes or no?" I was looking on the floor, drawing circles with my eyes and tugging at my sweater. Then his voice came again, "Do you love me? Yes or no?" "Yes," I answered quickly without thinking about it. He sighed softly. "What kinda girl behaves like this?" he spit. "I want you a hundred miles away from me. You hear me?" he yelled this time, and I was shocked and shaky a bit as he walked up and exited through the door.
I stood there quietly, and whoever was there with me was too. And when it actually dawned on me what really happened, I slumped down and cried, and I heard a loud sound from behind me. "Oh, poor baby, don't cry!" And everyone present there was Layla and her friends and some few boys and other random school kids I don't even know. And she held out her phone. "If you don't want this to be on TikTok, you better be ready to do whatever I want." And I got up, so angry. I pushed her on the floor, and the loud thud that her fall made probably smashed her phone, and I ran out of the basement crying uncontrollably and bumped into Luca. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked. Luca was my first crush or first love; we both attended grade school together, and we were quite close then. He's all grown now; he has beautiful blue eyes and average length hair—wasn't long, but it wasn't so short—it was blonde, and he had this piercing that made him look more handsome. He asked again, "Mel, are you okay?" I shook my head in response, and he gave me a tight hug, and I didn't know for how long we stood there. Then he offered to walk home with me. I told him everything that happened, and he was a pretty much a good listener and not that goofy Luca anymore; he was matured. And I kept trying to hold a longer conversation with him, hoping those assholes would see us together.
At my house, he waved at me, and I waved back at him as he made his way across the street. And seeing him leave and thinking about today, I started sobbing again as I reluctantly went into our house. "Heyyyy, Lanieeee!" I heard someone called. "Hey, Jason, it's my brother's friend and group member." "Guess what?" he asked. "You guys are coming back together?" I answered, and he screamed, "Yes! We're starting small, but it's great to be back." "Are you okay, Mel?" my brother asked. "I'm good," I answered and went upstairs to my room, where I laid down for hours trying to control my emotions and tell myself it's normal for things like that to happen. Then I heard a knock on my door—it was my girls. When they walked in, I can see the look in their eyes—non-judgmental look—and even Lara was already crying, and we hugged each other for hours. It was quite long, really. Then we promised to sleep over and have some fun, and it was once again a great night with my favorite people. We watched "The Kissing Booth" and laughed so hard!