“Want to get out of here?” he asks.
Yes. “I can’t, I have a game tonight.”
“Right. We’ll I’m walking you to class, I’ve got you.”
Cooper walks me to class, then is there when it’s over to walk me to my next one. At lunch, he sneaks us into an outdoor corridor. This happens daily for a week.
Dylanand I’s breakup does little to help kill the rumor. Instead, it only enhances it. I hate going to school. I hate going to school without my best friend slash bodyguard even more.
Cooper has a dentist appointment today. He’s supposed to be at school by lunch, but he hasn’t texted me yet.
I’m sitting with my friends. They were all shocked to see me since I’ve been avoiding anyone who doesn’t have the last name Carmichael since I was dumped.
Izzy had called me after she found out Dylan broke up with me, but the other three haven’t said anything.
At lunch, so far, they’ve attempted to get me to bad-mouth him, but I don’t. Can’t bring myself to, especially since everyone is saying mean things about me all over school. I refuse to stoop to their level.
I tear the crust off my sandwich. Then, tear it into smaller pieces. My appetite non-existent.
“You know who started this rumor,” Izzy says, bumping her shoulder into mine to get my attention.
“Who?” Clara pipes up.
“Cooper.” His name is an alarm in my head.
“What?” I shake my head, dropping the crumbs in my hands. “No way.”
“Why not him?”
“Because he’d never do anything like that.”
“Really?” Izzy rests her elbows on the table, leaning my direction. “I think he’s always had a crush on you and wasjealous of Dylan. What if he started the rumor to get Dylan to dump you?”
I hate that she makes sense. Still…I don’t think Cooper would do this to me.
“Wait,” Jasmine chimes in, “did he tell you that?”
“You’re talking to him?” I ask.
Izzy moves her head from one shoulder to the next. “I mean…we bumped into each other over the weekend, and I asked.” She turns to me, placing a hand on my forearm. “I didn’t want to say anything then because you’ve been upset, and Cooper has been hoarding you.”
“But Cooper told you that?” I seek out the confirmation.
“Yes,” Izzy says plainly.
Clara, Jasmine, and Sammie all eye each other. Sammie bites her lip as if she has something to say. Jasmine shakes her head no at her.
“I don’t think Cooper would do this.”
There was only a semi-truthful part of the rumor, everything else was a lie. My worries about being enough were, while accurate, twisted.Desperate. Will do anything to make someone love her. Manipulate boys into being with her.
“Come on, just give it a thought. Who knows the most about your feelings on being adopted?”
I swallow harshly. Cooper…
Some things I can’t tell Meave.
I don’t talk about it with Jordan, Cooper’s little sister. I don’t talk about it with my teammates or the girls that often either, not like I do with him.
