“Damn, really hurting my feelings here,” Mason says with no hint of sadness in his voice.
“Dude, you want to get her killed?” one of the faceless blobs beside him says, and snorts scatter around the table.
I immediately stand, grabbing my bag, but Alexis’s hand flies to my arm.
“That’s not funny,” Alexis says sharply. “Mason, stop being an asshole.”
Mason holds up his hands in surrender and sits back down.
“Ji, please sit,” she says quietly. I swallow hard before settling back into my seat. It feels as if I split muscle from bone.
Alexis lets out an exasperated sigh before picking up her fork and knife. Mason says something, and she laughs, relaxing, but I don’t hear anything. White noise garbles in my ears.
My feet are rooted to the floor. I feel like I’m betraying myself.I should not sit here. I should have stormed out. I should have made him feel small and embarrassed.
The moment to do anything is gone, and they move on to another topic. I’m becoming exhausted with not having a voice. I’m no longer hungry. Instead, I start counting the seconds until this lunch is over.
Spun Gold
We need totalk,” Alexis says, catching me at the end of the day.
She takes my arm, dragging me to a corner of the hallway as the other students rush by, calling out goodbyes to one another.
“What?”
“Are you okay?” she asks, mouth pressed into a thin line. “I just…I didn’t think it would be this awful for you.”
I nod, rubbing my shoulders. “I wish I could say I’m surprised.”
She frowns. “Why?”
I raise my eyebrows. “Come on, Alexis. This whole place isn’t made for someone like me. And your friends and boyfriend aren’t letting me forget that.”
She blushes, her eyes cast away, looking guilty. “I know what they’re doing, but they don’t mean any harm in it.”
I bite my tongue and say, “Did you tell Mason my family is struggling?”
Her eyes go wide. “What? No! Why would I say that?”
A knot forms in my chest. “I don’t know. He said—”
She exhales loudly. “I told him we’re childhood friends. That’s it. I have no idea where he got that from.”
She sounds sincere, and I believe her over anything Mason says. “Okay.”
Relief breaks over her expression. “I think the girls are just weirded out a bit because they’ve been trying to be nice, but you keep distancing yourself.”
My jaw feels heavy. “How?”
“Well, things would have been a lot easier if you let Nicole be Jamie’s partner.”
“But it wouldn’t be, Lexi.” I dig my fingers into my palm to steady myself. “If I were in the group with you and Hayley and Jenny, I’d be ignored. My texts wouldn’t be answered. I’m pretty sure they’d make another group with just you three. I’d be made fun of. Just like I am right now.”
Her face becomes a gray shade darker. “No, they wouldn’t. You’re just assuming.”
“I wish I were.”
“Look, the jokes go a bit too far, but you’re not helping your case either. You don’t smile. You don’t try to talk to them. You just sit in your chair and scowl. And look, I get it. I know you’re still traumatized with what happened to your mom but—”
