He nodded. “Okay, cool.”
I glanced beyond him, and the two women were glaring at me.
I started to turn, and I caught his eyes sweeping over my body. My face flushed, and I made a beeline to the bathroom. As soon as I got in there, I grabbed the porcelain sink and hung my head. My heart was racing, my mind was spinning, and my blood was boiling.
Morgan looked completely different, but I remembered her name. I remembered how she’d always followed Olivia’s lead. She was Olivia’s right-hand woman. And from the looks of things, nothing had changed. She was a follower. She was part of the problem, but she didn’t do anything without Olivia’s say so.
Olivia Chapman had been the quintessential mean girl—a pretty, popular cheerleader who most girls wanted to be and most boys wanted to be with. But she wasn’t a good person. She perfected nice nasty. She did her dirt in such an underhanded way that only those affected by her saw her for who she really was. She had teachers, parents, and her minions fooled. But anyone who’d had the bad fortune of getting in her way saw her for the conniving, heartless bitch that she really was.
I squeezed my eyes shut and then let out an exasperated breath. “What the hell?”
I’d spent the last twelve years recovering from their bullying. Rebuilding and rebranding myself, I broke out of my shell and became the woman I’d always wanted to be. Therapy helped me achieve asense of peace that I could hold on to through the emotional turbulence of the last few years. Yet seeing Olivia and Morgan and hearing them call meJummyhad almost taken me back to a dark place—a place that made me want to fight. I hadn’t seen them since high school graduation, and I wasn’t surprised that they hadn’t changed. But Iwassurprised by the visceral reaction I had.
Lifting my head, I stared at myself in the mirror. My almond-shaped light-brown eyes were framed by naturally long lashes. My caramel skin was flawless thanks to a host of skin-care products and removing stress from my life. Even without lipstick or gloss, my bow-shaped lips had a natural tint and shine. I hadn’t seen my beauty back then, but I saw it now.
“Fuck them.”
Taking a step back, I turned to view myself from the back. The yoga pants fit perfectly and accentuated my bubble butt. The way my clothes clung to my thick, pear-shaped body was the saving grace to my otherwise-bland attire. I wasn’t dolled up like Olivia or Morgan, but I looked good, and as a grown-ass woman who was very secure in myself—inside and out—I wasn’t going to let them disrupt my night.
Pulling out my cell phone, I sent a text to my best friends in our group chat.
Jazmyn Payne: Why is the one person I hoped to never see again at this bar?
My phone rang almost immediately.
“Hey, Aaliyah,” I answered.
“Who?” she screeched, forgoing a greeting.
“Do you remember that bitch who bullied me in school?” I replied.
“The one you beat up?”
I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. “Yeah. I mean, I wouldn’t say I beat her up. I knocked some sense into her.”
“You knocked her ass out, so you beat her up.” I tried to interject, but she continued. “Anyway, what is she doing at the bar? Better yet, what areyoudoing at a bar?”
I started pacing from one side of the bathroom to the other. “Ineeded to get out and clear my head.” I rushed past that to get to my point. “So, I’m talking to this man—”
“Oh really? And you didn’t tell him you were unavailable?”
I rolled my eyes. “Stop. I’m at a sports bar talking to this man about football,” I clarified. “And Olivia and one of her minions come up to him and start flirting—while we’re mid conversation!”
“Rude!”
“Right?”
“So, are you interested in him?”
Heat crept up my neck. “It’s not like that. We just… clicked. We’re talking football, so inevitably that means I’m friend zoned.” I sighed loudly. “Regardless of that, I refuse to let Olivia get her gnarled hooks into him because…”
Olivia always got what she wanted, I continued my sentence silently.
“Because what?” Aaliyah asked.
“Because she’s not a good person, and he is.”
The surety with which I said that gave me pause because I’d just met the man. But the statement rang true in my gut, and it had taken me a long time to trust my gut again.
