The Whole Truth

Chapter 5
Ever since that Gym class, it felt like I saw everything differently. I started imaging Ryan everywhere, watching me, doing things with me. Every time I saw him I would blush, even just passing by him in the hallway, and my breathing would pick up. I decided to just face the facts; that I had a crush on this boy.

Lunchtime, a couple days later, I was walking quickly from the cafeteria outside into the quad. It was a nice day out, and I was gonna find a place for Amber and I to sit and eat. I went past a group of guys, Ryan’s friends, and then heard one of them call my name.

“Lucy,” called a guy with dark, shaggy hair, “It’s Lucy, right?” I nodded confusedly, and then backtracked to walk towards them. They opened up their circle for me, and I stood, kind of in the middle, not knowing what to do.

“So, Josh has been telling us about you. How good you were. Tell us, how much did he pay you? Extra, for the stuff you did?” One of the guys asked, then smirked as his friend punched him in the shoulder.

I felt tears of embarrassment spring to my eyes, and disappointment too. If this had been last year, before the rumor, I would have been psyched to be talking to this group of incredibly cool juniors. But now, everything was different.

“Yeah,” added a different guy, “how much do your people charge for something like that? Could we hire you?” They were laughing now, openly mocking me, and I gripped the foam of my lunch tray tighter, moving to walk away.

“Going so soon?” the first guy asserted, grabbing my arm. “Did we say something wrong? You didn’t seem to have a problem with that kind of thing the night of the party.” He sneered at me, pausing to look around for the approval of his friends.

Suddenly, I looked up to see Ryan approaching. I sighed with relief.

“Guys, what’s going on here?” He questioned, not looking at me.

“Oh, we were just asking Lucy here for the intimate details of her night as a prostitute. She’s not talking though. A bit rude, really.” I waited for Ryan to say something, to tell them to stop, but he just looked down at his feet uncomfortably.

“Come on Ryan,” his friends prompted, “How much do you think that ass is worth?” He fidgeted, still determinedly not looking at me.

“Not nearly enough to find out. Josh set his standards lowww.” He said to the ground, and his friends laughed cruelly. Stunned, I fled, pausing only to shoot him a look. And the look said it all.

I ran around to the outside of the school, to a little grassy area secluded behind a classroom, and sat down on the ground. This time, I was too pissed to cry. I started yanking handfuls of grass out of the ground, sprinkling them over my jeans. I looked up suddenly as I heard footsteps approaching. It was Ryan.

“Lucy-” he began, but I cut him off.

“Ryan, what the f*ck?” I said loudly, glaring at him. “As if I don’t feel bad enough already. Jeez, grow a pair, would you? They’re just guys. Not transformers.”

He looked down at his feet, taken aback by my words and obviously uncomfortable, but didn’t say anything. I continued to glare at him, then huffed with impatience. “Well, say something.”

He glanced guiltily at my face. “Look, it’s just, it’s difficult. I’m not like you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I questioned angrily.

“It’s just, I screw up a lot.” He said slowly.

“Is that your excuse? You screw up? Cuz, a lot of things are screwed up right now. I- I thought I could count on you.” My voice faltered, and then it was my turn to look down.

He shut his eyes, and breathed in slowly. “And you should. How can I prove that to you. F*ck.”
He said again agitatedly, seeming to hesitate for a second. Then, he strode forwards and dropped to his knees in front of me. I had a crazy idea for a second that he was going to propose, but instead he put his hands on my knees.

“I know I don’t have the right to, but can I ask for one more chance?” He questioned slowly. I just shook my head at him, got to my feet, and walked off.