“Why does everyone keep saying I have a reputation?”
She rolls her eyes. “Everyone has a reputation. And yes, I admit, being Royal Dolce’s girlfriend would put the cherry on top of mine. I don’t know what it would do for your bad girl rep. Probably make you lose street cred.”
I snort at that. “I have zero street cred.”
“Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“I honesty appreciate it, Gloria. But I can look out for myself.”
“If you say so,” she says, and she tosses her hair and struts off, making me wonder if I just imagined she was trying to do me a solid. Maybe she really was just warning me off because she wants Royal for herself. Not that it matters.
If I can get in with the Dolces, I will. But it’s not for the reasons she thinks.
*
Lo(w)
She cheers for us
On the field
As if we’re worthy
Of her best.
How can something I did
In my darkest hour
Shine so much light
On my finest?
She sits next to me
In class, at lunch, in the lounge
But we never speak directly
It’s against hotel policy—
Don’t ask, don’t tell.
It’s just as well.
She gets me
ice from the first-floor machine
“Busted up again,
my friend.”
“You know I’m sorry.”
That’s as close as I come
To spilling these truths