crashing down | all american¹

betrayal

The day after Evelyn's game was back to school as normal. Although the volleyball team had just won a championship game, they weren't celebrated as highly as the football team. They got their trophy presented to them during first period and Evelyn got MVP for the season but there wasn't much hype around the win.

Sitting in her history class, Evelyn kept spacing out until a note arrived at her desk telling her to report to Coach Baker's office immediately. She was confused, to say the least, but, at least it was her way of getting out of her lame history class.

Walking into the locker room in order to get to his office was probably the worst part of having to go to Coach Baker's office. "Dad? Coach Baker...what is this?"

"Evelyn sit. This is important," Joaquin demanded standing beside the older Baker man and glaring at his daughter. "I'm gonna ask you this one time and one time only. You're going to tell me the truth. ¿Entiendes?"

"Yes, I understand," she nodded.

"Did you and Jordan smoke weed on homecoming night?" Coach Baker asked.

"No," she scoffed.

Joaquin slammed his palm against the desk. "Don't! Don't lie to me!"

"Joaquin," Coach Baker intervened holding his hand up. "Let her speak."

"Where is this coming from?" she asked. "Why would you think I smoked weed with Jordan that night?"

"Jordan came to me and told me that you two smoked the night of the dance. You need to tell us the truth, Evie," Coach Baker sighed.

"I am telling you the truth, Coach," she scoffed. "He clearly lied to you. Jordan and I broke up that night. Yes, we ditched the dance early and went to the beach. But, I left because he told me he cheated with some cheerleader from Malibu."

"Then where were you that night?" Joaquin asked. "Ricky covered for you and said you spent the night in Liv's room which obviously isn't true."

"I was with Asher. The night of my birthday party, he tried to tell me that Jordan might've been doing something with that girl and I went off on him and so I wanted to apologize. Asher ended up telling me what he did at the dance and we fell asleep on a park bench. Unsafe, I know, dad," Evelyn explained. "No offense, coach, but, Jordan's the problem, not me. He probably smoked with that cheerleader. Her name's Ripley, do what you want with that information."

"I'm sorry about Jordan," Coach Baker sighed.

"Whatever," she mumbled, walking out of his office and storming over to Jordan who was at his locker with Enrique right next to him. "Hey, asshole!"

"Evelyn, what the hell?" Enrique yelled, pulling his sister off of Jordan.

"Dude, it's fine," Jordan reassured.

"No, Jordan it's not fine," Evelyn scoffed pushing his shoulder. "How dare you cheat on me and then blame me for smoking weed. I just got called into your dad's office and he called my dad! Because of you! Do you know what an accusation like that could do to me if it got back to my volleyball coach or my track coach? Stay away from me. Forever."

"Dude!" Enrique hissed, grabbing Jordan by the collar of his shirt. "You're lucky my sister's here right now on the verge of tears or I'd kick your ass. Come on, Evie."

"I haven't told anyone. Well, I told Destiny and V," Evelyn sniffed, wiping some tears from her face and looking at her brother. "But, I haven't told Liv or even Layla. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Ricky."

"It's okay," he comforted, pulling her in for a hug. "You've been holed up in your room blasting your shitty music since homecoming I should've known something was wrong. Plus, you've been avoiding all of us."

"I didn't want anyone knowing. It's so embarrassing," she sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Asher also knows...but, that's a story for another day."

☆☆☆

After the extremely dramatic day at school. Evelyn decided on texting Layla and wanting to talk to her first. So, she drafted a text, asking if she wanted to meet at the cafe and do some homework. Also, if she was being honest, she didn't really want to speak to any members of the Baker family even though Liv was her best friend.

"Nice to see my friend's alive...Hey, miss MVP," Layla greeted sitting across from Evelyn who was typing away on her computer.

She sighed. "Sorry, a lot's been going on."

"Does it have to do with how your brother almost killed your boyfriend in the hall earlier?" she questioned.

"How do you know about that?" Evelyn asked.

"I heard some people talking in my 5th period. Something about Enrique trying to kill Jordan and how you almost killed Jordan, too," Layla answered.

"Yeah, it does," she sighed. "For one, Jordan's not my boyfriend anymore. He cheated on me and he told me the night of homecoming...I didn't want to tell anyone because I was so embarrassed about what happened. But, ignoring my best friends also isn't the answer. Sorry."

"No, Evie, I'm sorry," Layla said, reaching across the table to grab her hand. "I've been so wrapped up in my own stuff. I haven't even noticed anything wrong between you and Jordan. How are you feeling?"

"Shitty. But, it's to be expected," she responded, shrugging her shoulders. "Remember when I was going through a tough time freshman year and I dyed my hair blonde...kind of like that."

"Please, don't dye your hair blonde, again," Layla laughed. "I'm here for you if need me. Just no spur of the moment trips to the hair salon. Got it?"

She nodded in agreement. "Got it."

"Hey," Asher greeted the two, walking up with flowers in his hands.

"Oh, hey," Layla said, staring at him awkwardly.

"Should I leave?" Evelyn asked.

"No!" Layla blurted out. "Stay. Please."

"Okay," she whispered, awkwardly placing her attention back on her homework.

"What's this?" Layla asked looking at the flowers in his hand.

Asher answered. "Me climbing out of the hole."

"You're going back to the school," she said.

"Yeah," Asher said. "And I've been thinking a lot about what you said. How there's always a way back."

"Oh, um, I was talking about football," Layla told him. "You still have a bright future, Asher."

"All I care about is my future with you. I love you," he revealed.

"I'm with Spencer," Layla admitted.

"That was so painful to listen to. I'll be right back, Layla" Evelyn exhaled, watching Asher walk out of the cafe and running after him. "Hey, Ash! Wait up!"

"What?" Asher snapped. "Sorry, that came out harsher than it was supposed to."

"No, you're good," she said. "Um, sorry about what happened in there. I...I just wanted to say thank you. For coming to my game the other day."

"Well, it's been in my calendar for weeks," Asher shrugged.

Her face warmed at his admission. The thought of Asher putting something in his calendar and going through with it even after skipping all of his classes was sweet. But she quickly shook that thought out of her head.

"I'm gonna head back inside," Evelyn said. "But, if there's anything you need. Don't hesitate to reach out."

1x09