“I’m not. We’ve barely spoken in the last few weeks.” I’m not sure what game Christina is playing but I don’t like feeling like prey in her trap.
“Huh, I thought I heard you were at the movies the other night.”
Nosy bitch.
“You heard wrong.” Claire happens to walk by. “Hey Claire, tell Christina who my date for the movie was on Friday night.”
She smiles. “I was the lucky girl.”
Christina scowls at her former friend. I wrinkle my nose and once Claire walks away, I remark, “Watch out, your homophobia is showing.”
“If I’m homophobic, then you’re a slut,” she hisses under her breath. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to with those boys. With Jake one day then George the next. I’m sure the others are in the mix, too.”
I want to flat out deny it but there’s too much truth in there. I don’t want to deny any of them. “Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Christina, especially when you’re out of line.”
“How? By calling you a whore?”
“No, by calling the police on me and the guys when nothing was going on. We were stuck and making the best of it and you totally fucked up their lives.”
She steps back but doesn’t say anything, surprised I guess that I’m actually calling her on it. “You don’t get to ruin people because you’re petty. Karma’s a bitch and one day she’s gonna come knocking and you won’t be able to outrun her.”
“You’re all just trash. A bunch of homeless, juvenile delinquents. You deserve one another.” she says. “One day they’ll realize that your little innocent act is all that—a game. They know nothing about you. Who you really are. Where you’re from. That you’ll run away from them like you ran away from your other life.”
“You’re crazy. You don’t know anything about me.”
Claire walks up behind me and touches my arm. “Is everything okay here?”
“Christina was just going to take her meds and settle down.”
“Ouch,” Claire says as the girl’s lips turn into a nasty grin.
“You’re probably screwing her too.”
“Shut up,” Claire snaps.
“What if I am?” I say, feeling frazzled by all the accusations. What is her problem? I turn and face Claire and grip her face, pulling her to me and planting a big kiss on her mouth.
“You’re pathetic,” Christina says storming out of the room.
I release Claire. “Sorry about that. She just—”
“She’s the literal worst.” She watches her ex-friend go. “Honestly, I’m surprised she’s messing with you. Jake told me he’d handled her.”
“Oh really?” I’m curious as to how, but at the same time I’m not sure I want to know.
“Guess it didn’t stick.”
We both laugh and then notice the rest of the room has grown silent. Margaret, Jasper, and all the other kids are watching the two of us.
“We were waiting for a new rumor to take over the old one. I guess we handled that.” She laughs.
“Is it wrong for me to say that as awesome as that was, I think I’m still into guys.” Four guys in particular.
“Nope. And really, it’s probably best that we never discuss this again. Mona is coming home for the break and I don’t need your drama to filter into my life.”
“Good luck with that,” I mutter, but I feel a hundred pounds lighter just telling Christina off. She’s had it coming for a long time. I just hope for once she doesn’t try to swing back.
The last days of school before Christmas break come with so much energy and excitement, all the drama and gossip from the past two weeks gets pushed aside. I’d almost forgotten about the kiss with Claire until Dexter cornered me in a small alcove outside my Spanish class and says, “There’s a rumor going around that you kissed Claire at the Helping Hands meeting. If Christina is spreading gossip again—”