I had two and a half days to figure out what the hell I was going to do.
Chapter Ten
I felta little light-headed as I stood on the edge of the football field where Grace watched the sophomore football team practice on a Saturday afternoon. Normally, I ate breakfast, but nerves got the best of me that morning and I went with only tea. I liked to join her on weekends sometimes, but especially now that I felt unsettled. It was hot as hell outside, and my black shirt stuck to my back, but I didn’t care. I craved vitamin Dandthe warmth. I hadn’t been able to calm down since Samantha’s threat, and it was a secret that was eating me up inside. I wasn’t sure if my shivers were nerves or the fact my condo was always kept cold. Either way, I was a mess.
Did I tell Grace and see what she thought? Or would she judge me? Would she yell and not understand? Would she tell me to disclose everything to Fritz?
She yelled at two of the athletes being idiots before coming over to me and rolling her eyes. “Boys act like doofuses at every age.”
“True.” My mind went to my infuriating hot buddy teacher for a second. “You look good on the field though, G. Like you belong.”
She flashed a grin as a teenage girl wearing a school shirt and black athletic shorts walked up to us. “Mrs. Anderson, can I, uh, ask a question?”
“Of course,” she said, looking at me for a second. “She’s in my advisory and in my sports med program, so we see a lot of each other. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Oh, not at all. Please, ignore me.” I smiled and took a few steps back to let them talk in something that resembled privacy. I got my phone out to scroll through emails, but her voice carried over.
“I’m not sure what to do. Peter cheated on me, and he’s in our advisory and texted everyone I’m easy and a slut, and I just…I’m so embarrassed, and he plays on the team and…” She sniffed and looked over the field with her heart in her eyes, and it brought me back to the heartbreak of high school. The pain was so sharp and real and horrible as a teenager that I wanted to hug the girl myself.
Peter was an asshole, and I already hated him.
Grace’s face softened as she turned her attention on the girl, and pride flushed through my body seeing my best friend turn into a mentor. “Kayla, you are intelligent and have so much going for you. One teenage boy is not going to ruin that for you because he made a dumb decision. If you’re about to tell me you’re quitting my program to avoid him, we will have words. You are fantastic and—”
“Anderson, we have blood,” a coach yelled in our direction, and Grace almost growled.
“I’m sorry, Kayla. I have to go, but we are not done with this conversation.”
“I understand.” The blond girl sighed and pushed her hair out of her face. She looked so heartbroken and sad, I couldn’t stop myself from walking toward her. She wiped under her eyes before her very blue eyes landed on me. She flushed with embarrassment, and I held up a hand.
“I’m Gilly. Grace…uh, Mrs. Anderson’s best friend.” I smiled, and the girl nodded. “I’m so sorry—I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. It just kinda happened, and I’m going through something similar to you. I work with someone who is awful, but I refuse to let his actions dictate what I want out of life.”
“Really? Did he…ruin your reputation?”
“No,” I said, tilting my head to the side. “But he makes me doubt myself a lot.”
“Yeah, Peter made me feel gross and dirty. We never did more than kiss, and he said all this stuff…it’s just not true! People believe him, and it makes me so pissed.”
“You know the truth though. Your friends know. The people who matter know the truth, and sometimes, that’s all you need.” I thought of Fritz and Grace and Larissa, ignored the guilt seeping in about Samantha, and focused on Kayla. “It’s really hard, and I wish I could say this stuff doesn’t happen out of high school, but it does. You just learn how you deal with it better.”
“What are you going to do about this guy at work?”
“I’m going to keep doing what I love—which is teaching. Do you love the sports med program with Mrs. Anderson? Does it make you happy being on the field and treating injuries?”
She nodded and pulled on the hem of her shirt. “I would love to do what Mrs. Anderson does when I grow up. Being a teacher was always something I liked, but doing sports medicine with it would be cool.”
“Then you work hard at it. Ignore this Peter dude. The best revenge is being happy. Have you heard that before?”
“No, but I like it.” She smiled a bit. “Be happy.”
“Yes. He did that stuff to get a reaction out of you, to hurt you. There’s no other reason besides that, so him seeing you happy will be like a kick to the shin.” I nodded a few times and found myself following my own advice. Being happy and continuing doing what I love—teaching—would block out the weird and confusing feelings about Christopher. “People are going to hurt you. This guy…really misjudged me, like Peter did to you, and it hurt. It still does, honestly.”
She exhaled and stood up a little straighter. “Thanks for being honest with me. There are a lot of teachers or adults that think being seventeen means we need kid gloves or something. That’s why I like Mrs. Anderson so much.”
“Yeah, she’s always been pretty real with people. I met her when I was just out of high school.”
Kayla smiled as Grace waved her over, but before she started jogging, she thanked me again. “I hope your work situation gets better.”
“And you, I can’t wait for Mrs. Anderson to tell me you’re kicking butt.”
