Hadleigh: I, uh, was just about to text you. I heard some kids talking about you and Liam dating. Something about being at the coffee shop together, then another girl piped up that she’d seen the two of you together at the grocery store.
Zoey: Uh-oh. All true, no?
Hadleigh: From there, it was a bunch of speculation, and I shut it down.
Hadleigh: I’m sorry I didn’t get to them before they’d spouted off about it. :(
Me: Yes. All true.
Me: The speculation part is what’s going to be harmful.
Hadleigh: I’m so sorry.
Me: Not your fault.
Zoey: So, wait—why did this come up?
Madison: That’s what I was about to ask.
Sophia: Me too. Weren’t you tutoring Olivia at their house today?
Me: Yes. And I stayed for dinner at her request.
Me: And things were going great. We knew we needed to tell her.
Zoey: But the rumor mill got to her first?
Piper: Oh man.
Me: Yep.
Me: When she came down to confront us, we were kissing in the kitchen.
Me: We thought she was in the shower.
Sophia: Oh, damn.
Hadleigh: Yikes.
Madison: So, she would have found out today, rumor mill or not.
Me: Correct.
A text notification from Liam flashes at the top of my screen.
Me: Hang on a sec, Liam just texted me.
Switching over to the thread of messages with Liam, my heart sinks.
Liam: She fell asleep after crying in my arms.
Me: I’m so sorry.
Liam: She hasn’t done that since she was a little girl.
Liam: I don’t know what to do.
I’m not sure what the right course of action is here. But I can’t figure any other way around this.