Play the Player

Tracing my fingers across the picture of me and my boyfriend of a little over two months, I couldn’t help the smile that started to form on my lips. I didn’t know why, but for some reason he had chosen me. He could have any girl at this school and yet I was the one he liked. I gave the picture a last glance as I grabbed my books and placed them in my messenger bag. Closing my locker, the smile was still intact on my face and I started to make my way over to where I was suppose to meet, my boyfriend, Paul. Walking down the hall, I noticed that people were staring at me and whispering. What is going on? I decided I was just being paranoid. I was almost at Paul’s locker when I heard a familiar voice calling me.

“Hey Rose!” turning around, I hugged my friend Julie.

“Hey Jules, what’s up?” I looked over one of my best friends. She was biting her lip and her hands couldn’t keep still. It was like she jumping up and down, and yet standing still. All in all, like someone could jump at her from out of the blue at anytime.

“I…I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?” she looked over my shoulder. I furrowed my brows at her. She knew I had plans with Paul… and why does she keep looking over my shoulder?? I tried looking over my shoulder, but was stopped by Julie.

“Why are you acting so weird? And no I can’t, I have plans with Paul remember?” I gave her a scrutinizing look, trying to read her expression. Why is she looking at me like I’m a hurt puppy or something? I tried turning around again, only to be stopped by Julie again. “What?!?” I half yelled at her. This time I knew it was a look of pity.

“Rose…I…” it looked like she was trying to find the words, but just couldn’t. I shook my head at her as I once again started to turn around. But this time she didn’t stop me. I wish she had… A little longer ahead of me was Tara the school slut, in her usual uniform; a short miniskirt, a see-through white t-shirt with a tailored leather jacket and a pair of hooker heels. But that wasn’t what had me glued to the floor. She was making out with Paul. My Paul!!

My breathing became shallow as silent tears flowed down my cheeks. Paul was cheating on me… I shook my head, trying to get the image out of my mind. But it had burned itself into my mind. How had I been stupid enough to fall for his crap? Turning on my heel, I grabbed Julie’s arm and started walking out of the school. I could hear everyone around me whispering and at times, I even heard laughter. I inhaled deeper, as we continued our way out of the school.

“Rose, Jules wait up!” I immediately recognized the voice of our other best friend Jessie. But I didn’t want to stop moving right now, I could feel the humiliation and pain underneath the surface and if I stopped now, it would catch up with me. Luckily I didn’t have too, as Jessie grabbed my other arm a moment later and we continued on our way. I gave my car keys to Jessie, as we reached it and soon enough we were speeding out of the school’s parking lot. Everything was blurry for me, and before I knew it I was being pulled out of the car.

“We’re almost there Rosebud,” whispered Julie gently into my ear. All three of us walked into my house and straight to my room. The tears just kept on falling and as soon as I could feel the bed beneath me, the sobs followed. Julie and Jessie pulled me into a group hug, whispering sweet reassurances in my ear. After what felt like days, I finally stopped crying.

“Are you done?” Jessie asked jokingly. I smiled half heartily at her. I tried wiping the tears of my cheeks, but they were already dry. I chuckled dryly at this.

“I think I need a shower. Will you guys still be here when I’m done?” I asked my voice hoarse from crying. They smiled at me, giving me yet another group hug giggling.

“Well of course dumbass, you have all the good movies remember?” Jessie said jokingly. I could always count on Jessie for some good laughs when I was feeling down. Rubbing my eyes, I nodded my head before grabbing some things for my shower, a towel and some clothes. I walked into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind me before I dared to look into the bathroom mirror. My make-up was pretty much gone and my eyes were red and puffy. Shaking my head, I stripped before beginning my shower.

When I was done in the shower, I started to do the usual bathroom routine: managing my hair, massaging body lotion into my skin and so on. Faster than normal I was finished. So I cleaned up after myself and walked back into my bedroom. Julie and Jessie looked up from the TV for a second, before their eyes were once again glued to the screen. I chuckled at them, “so what are we watching?” I asked as I sat myself between them on the bed.

“Pirates of the Caribbean, we thought some Johnny Depp would be good for you.” I chuckled a little at her response, as I got comfortable in my bed and watched the movie.

“WAKE UP CALL!” I almost jumped out of my bed, as my older brother Jason busted through my bedroom door. I blinked a couple of times before I realized that I must have fallen asleep while watching movies last night and looking down at the grumpy figures of my friends, my theory was confirmed. My brain started working as I started to glare Jason down. He simply shrugged his shoulders at me.

“Mom made breakfast for you, grumpy and sleepy.” With that he turned around and walked down the stairs, leaving my bedroom door wide open. Slowly I got out of my beloved bed and made my way over to close the door. When that task was done, I looked back at my sleeping friends. I shook my head, before I took a running start and jumped on my king sized bed, successfully waking them in the process. Jessie gave me a sour glare, as I simply smiled at her.

“Get up, my mom made breakfast.” At those words, all three of us made our way over to my closet to find something to wear. We were over at each other’s houses so much that we at some point decided to have emergency outfits ready at each of our houses, for cases such as this. I shuddered a bit of the last bit, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. A few minutes later we were all ready and making our way downstairs to the kitchen.

“Morning ladies,” my mother greeted us warmly. She’s that kind of mom, who just radiates warmth and love. I gave her a small smile. My mother being well my mom, probably already knew everything just by looking at me. I was brought out of my train of thoughts as she placed three plates of chocolate chip pancakes before us. I gave her the best smile I could muster and started to dig in.

Looking at my two best friends as they stuffed their faces, I couldn’t help but feel better. God I love them. When we were all done with our pancakes, we made our way to my bedroom again and sat ourselves on my bed again.

“Are you feeling better?” Julies asked me, while gently squeezing my hands in hers. I inhaled deeply. Did I feel any better? Luckily I hadn’t fallen for the guy, it was merely a destroyed crush and a severe blow to my pride and self esteem. Slowly I nodded my head.

“Yeah, it was more about the humiliation than him.” They nodded their heads in understanding. I looked over at my calendar and was relieved when I was noticed that it was Saturday today. Jessie looked over her shoulder to see what I was smiling at.

“Oh thank God it’s weekend… Want to go shopping in Port Angeles?” Jessie asked us, her smile turning into a contagious grin.

“Hell yeah, some retail therapy would do me good!” we all burst out laughing at that. We loved shopping, so this just gave us an excuse to go. It didn’t take long to get permission to go and we decided to go to each other’s houses to clean up and get the stuff we would need for the trip, before we started our shopping trip.