A/N: OH DEAR GOD AUGUST? I THOUGHT IT WAS A LOT SOONER THAN THAT! I'm sooooo sorry. Time really does fly by. I swear I thought the last time I updated was September. I'm really really really sorry. Grrr. I can be an airhead sometimes.
Anyways, I started my junior year of high school, and things are a bit crazy. I've been in newspaper as an editor this year, which is not fun if your staff writers don't show up. Then, I participated in NaNoWriMo. I didn't write the full 50,000 words (Although it was the very first time I ever participated. And I'm a high schooler who only has a limited amount of time to write.) but I'm still happy that I made it to 16,000. I have to go back and edit it all though.
Finally, things in my personal life have not gone as great as I hoped. Boys are stupid. Anyways, I'm going to be happy for Rodrick and Erica since I'm not. Yay!
(Oh, did I mention that I woke up at 7 am during break and can't go back to sleep? Oh, how happy I am.)
Chapter 14
Erica POV
I froze. Everything around me was going in slow motion. How? I tried so hard to hide my mark of shame. Why did Heather have to scream it like that? What were we, twelve? Geez, she really put me on the spot there. I stood there with a blank expression, trying to calculate what was going on. Uh... What was my excuse again? I'd never had this many eyes on me at one time... Or at least that I can remember.
Then it came right back to me like a blow to the chest. The cat did it. Right.
I shook my head as fast as possible. "No, it's not, though I can see how it would look like a hickey. It's actually from my cat scratching at me when we were playing." I smiled uneasily, looking at each face of my gym class for some sort of acceptance.
But it seemed that Heather wasn't buying it. "Oh, really? I never would have thought you had a cat. You never have any cat hair on you. What's your cat's name?"
I crossed my arms. "Just because I don't have any cat hair on my clothes doesn't mean I don't have a cat. I actually take the time to get the cat hair off my clothes, unlike you." The crowd oohed in excitement. Had no one challenged Heather before? "My cat's name is Snowflake."
The class cleared out before she could respond because the classroom bell rang and we still needed to change back to our normal clothes. (And being sweaty was not going to make it easier.) She glared at me before walking past, her shoulder colliding with mine. She really had a cold heart. I would have never done that to someone, especially someone I didn't know. But didn't she compliment me not too long ago? Like right before I sang for Löded Diper?
Maybe it was like in Mean Girls when Regina tells that one girl she likes her skirt but then tells Cady it's the ugliest skirt she's ever seen. Maybe that movie was much more accurate than I thought...
I rushed over to the locker room and changed as quickly as possible, not even bothering with covering up my mark this time. Everyone in my class knew about it, what was the point in hiding it? I was able to successfully make it before the school bell rang marking passing period. Luckily my sweat-covered hair dried too.
I somehow avoided Rodrick to our next class. Not because I was mad at him (although I very much was for causing all this commotion in the first place) but because now everyone suspected I had a boyfriend. Although my cat excuse may have convinced several people. My school is not filled with very bright and intelligent people. It is filled with cliques however, so gossip got around pretty quickly. I mentally prayed to whatever gods where willing to listen that Heather wouldn't start any rumors. That would suck majorly, especially since we were not too far into the school year.
All I had to do today was bear through it all.
Greg POV
So the thing going around school today was the most interesting rumor I'd ever heard. And obviously not true. Everyone was telling me that my brother gave Erica a hickey. I have to admit, I laughed at first. My brother doesn't get very many girls. And Erica? She's too square to date my brother, let alone get a hickey from him. Funniest rumor I've ever heard.
Rowley cried a little when he heard it, though. He believes everything he hears, which probably isn't a great way to go about high school, so he totally thought Erica was taken and he'd lost his chance with her. I had to find him in the bathroom and console him, telling him he still had his chance and most of the word traveling around in our school was false. That seemed to calm him down a little bit. I felt really awkward doing it, though.
By the time we got to lunch, though, I got so tired of hearing it. Everyone had to alert me because my brother was involved. Fantastic. So I decided to vent about it to who other than the people the rumor was about. Maybe we could all have a laugh about its ridiculousness.
"Wazzup Tubby?" Rodrick greeted while sitting himself down across from me.
"Is it true?!" Rowley questioned suddenly. I could see the tears forming in his eyes once again. This guy just really can't get over it.
"Is what true?" Rodrick responded quickly, looking genuinely concerned. Did he not hear the rumor?
I shook my head at Rodrick, hoping he would leave it alone for two seconds before Rowley broke out full-on crying. "Now, remember, Rowley, it was just a rumor. That means it was not necessarily true. Most of them aren't. You still have your chance. Don't worry."
He sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Thanks, Greg."
Erica finally sat down next to Rodrick. "Is he crying?" she asked me.
I nodded, feeling embarrassed. I've never seen a fourteen-year-old dude of his height and abundance of facial hair cry in public. That's pretty much unheard of. "He thinks everything he hears is true."
She began eating her salad. "What did he hear?"
My eyebrows furrowed. "You two really don't know anything?" They shook their heads. "Really?"
Rodrick glared at me. "We really don't. Now tell us before I tell the whole school your name is Bubby."
I rolled my eyes. "The whole school thinks you gave Erica a hickey."
Rodrick snickered while Erica's face turned bright red. They couldn't have had more opposite reactions. "She really did it!" he replied, grinning at Erica. She had her hands over her eyes in shame, shaking her head at Rodrick.
"Shut up," she mumbled, barely audible to us on the other side of the table.
Rodrick continued to laugh. "That's because she... her cat... Snowball-"
"Snowflake," she interrupted.
"Yeah. He-"
"She."
"She bit or scratched her on the neck making it look like one of those things."
Erica buried her head in arms, avoiding looking at anyone. I could see the mark in question easily from this point of view.
"I don't think that came from a cat," I thought out loud. "Was that true?"
They didn't say anything.
"Are you serious?!" I exclaimed. "There's no way. I don't believe you."
Rodrick threw his banana peel at me. "Shut up, Bubby. You're shouting."
I could not believe my ears. "Rodrick never gets girls."
"Hey," he started, definitely feeling offended. "I do too get girls. I've gotten more than you have."
I shrugged. "At least I'm not the one giving other girls hi-"
Erica's head popped up from her arms. "If you say another word about it, I'm going to kill you. The more you talk about it, the more people think it's true. So let's just talk about something different."
The rest of lunch was pretty much silent. Rowley tried to hold back tears the entire time, avoiding looking at any of us. Erica refused to talk to anyone. She only said hi to some girl who let her copy her homework. Rodrick had a smirk on his face the entire time and would try to irritate Erica from time to time. I watched, still not believing anything. They were the last two on earth who I'd put together. There was absolutely no way.
Alright guys, I'm gonna call it a chapter. This took me several hours to write, but it at least kept me busy while I was supposed to be sleeping.
I went back and reread the entire story and realized that I wrote chapter 11 a year ago. That's kind of sad. I'm really sorry. I'm such an airhead. I've been playing lots of Sims instead of writing. (Which, by the way, barely works on my Mac anymore. EA, you suck.)
Have an awesome New Years and happy 2013! I hope to see you all soon! Thanks for all of the favorites and follows and reviews, it really means a lot to me! You guys are the reason why I haven't abandoned this story! (:
-Venus/Abby