Chapter 131

I had a couple of days before the next cheerleading practice, so I took that time to try and decide what I should do. I still wasn’t sure if I should come clean with the squad about being pregnant, or just deny everything and hope they didn’t report me.

While I decided, I tried my best to continue on with life as normal and went to all of my classes. Strangely, I felt the eyes of my classmates on me whenever I came into the room.

I didn’t have any friends outside of Asher, Aimee, and Nicole, but my classmates were usually cordial to me at least. Now they seemed to totally ignore me, or went out of their way to avoid me.

It could have just been in my head, so I tried not to mind it. I was feeling sensitive from everything that happened the past few days, so I could have been seeing shadows where there were none.

But then, as I was leaving the classroom after lecture, I heard a group of my classmates talking about me.

“Did you hear how Cynthia attacked one of the other cheerleaders? I heard she put her in the hospital.”

“I always knew there was something off about that girl, but I never would have guessed she was a bully.”

“I don’t know, a lot of pieces are falling into place now in my mind. Like some of the things Joseph said about her. I didn’t want to believe him before, but…”

“Oh, yeah! Like how he said she was stalking him.”

Stalking him?

“Oh! Or when he said she was the most selfish lover he’d ever been with. Apparently she’s a real diva in bed.”

The blood drained from my face.

I should have stopped and corrected them, especially about the lies Joseph had apparently been spreading, but I was too embarrassed to do much more than keep my head down and rush away.

Besides, if I had tried to tell them the truth, why would they believe me?

Joseph aside, parts of what they had said were true. I hadn’t been trying to bully that girl, but I had attacked her. I had been defending myself, but would that matter to them?

Yet even trying to stay out of trouble, only going from class to class, I couldn’t escape the rumors and gossip. Everywhere I went, people whispered behind me. They stopped talking when I turned to face them.

For lunch, I ate alone in the cafeteria. The circular tables were large with lots of chairs. They encouraged strangers to join each other in a meal. No one joined my table today.

Not even Nicole, who spotted me, then turned away to sit instead at the table beside mine.

I tried not to take it personally. Nicole was still mad at me. She needed time to heal. I had to respect that. But that didn’t keep my shoulders from slouching or my lips from slipping down into a frown.

To help me feel better, I brought out my phone and texted the one person who had promised to be in my corner no matter what: Asher.

Can we meet later? I’m feeling kind of low.

His response came after a few minutes. Yes. In class, can’t talk. But I will hold you later.

His promise lifted some of the weight off my shoulders. I could really use a hug, and soon I would be getting the best kind, one from Asher!

Suddenly, a loud noise sounded from the table beside mine. Nicole had abruptly stood. Her chair had skidded sharply across the hardwood floor. She threw her silverware down.

“Cynthia isn’t like that,” Nicole snapped. She pointed at someone else at her table. “And if you believe that, you are the worst kind of asshole.”

Then, Nicole picked up her tray of half-eaten food, stepped away from that table, and joined me at mine instead. She dropped into the open seat directly beside mine with an annoyed huff.

“You wouldn’t believe the bullshit people are saying about you,” Nicole said.

I gave her a sad smile. “I would, actually. I heard it too.”

Nicole’s frown deepened. “Assholes, the lot of them. Who would believe such things? Who gets their information about people from Joseph? Just because he’s sometimes attractive and good at soccer. Ridiculous.”

I agreed. And knowing the rumors were spreading made my stomach sink a little. But having Nicole here beside me, defending me like we were friends again, eased some of that discomfort.

She caught me looking at her and tilted her head. “What is it?”

“I’m sorry for not telling you everything,” I said.

“Forget it. I reacted really badly. It hurt, but something this big… I understand why you would want to keep it a secret.”

She poked at her lunch with her fork. “I heard about what happened in practice. I can’t believe she would try to see if the rumor was true in that way. What was she thinking? She could have hurt you.”

“I don’t know. But it’s definitely put me in a spot.”

Nicole nodded. We sat in silence for a minute, then she asked, “What are you going to do?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” I said with an honest, half-hearted shrug. “I might have to tell everyone the truth. I can’t just deny what happened. Everyone saw.”

“Well.” Nicole pushed away her tray. “I’m in your corner, okay? We’re friends, and we’ll always be friends.”

Just like that, another weight lifted off of me. “Thank you,” I whispered to her, afraid to speak louder, that my voice might break.

“No need for that.” She playfully pushed my shoulder. “Friends mess up sometimes. They hurt each other. But they make up again and everything’s fine. People are people. Nobody’s perfect. You’ll never have to thank me for being your friend.”

I didn’t quite agree. I hadn’t had friends before her. I held nothing but gratitude in my heart for her kindness and friendship. But if she didn’t want me to tell her that aloud, then I’d keep it inside instead.

We sat together for a while, then hugged before we parted ways. With her support, I made it through the rest of the day okay. The continued rumors still bothered me, but not as much.

Still, by the time I was to meet Asher at the park that evening, I was totally drained from an exhausting day.

I saw him standing on the sidewalk and headed his way.

He spotted me at once, turned to me, and held out his arms in invitation. Immediately, I walked faster, until I was directly before him. Then I all but collapsed into his waiting embrace.

He held me closely, and finally I could relax, knowing he would protect me from anything and everything. I didn’t have to be strong anymore with him around.

“I won’t ask you how your day was,” he said. “I pieced it together on my own.”

He rubbed his hand up and down my spine. I shivered at his touch.

“How was your day?” I asked him.

“Not good,” he said, but didn’t elaborate. I hoped he hadn’t gotten into any more fights on my account. If he did, he didn’t say. I didn’t ask.

After a while, I felt like my batteries recharged from the comfort of his hug. Slowly, I pulled away.

“Can we go for a walk?” I asked him.

“Of course.” He offered his hand and I accepted it.

We walked a quiet loop through the park, enjoying the sounds of crickets. In a clearing, Asher pointed out a few stars overhead.

We stood side by side, our shoes in the grass, damp with recent rain. He lifted my hand to point me toward the little dipper.

He was so kind and so sweet. He was talking about anything and everything other than what was bothering me, and likely would all night.

His kindness helped ground me. With him and Nicole and Aimee on my side, I finally had the courage to decide what to do.

“Asher,” I said.

He must have been able to sense the shift in me. He lowered my arm and faced me.

I took a steadying breath and told him, “I can’t keep running from this. I’m going to arrange a meeting with the cheerleaders.”