PROM QUEEN, eddie munson

THE LOVELIS' LIES

SOPHIE HARRINGTON HAD A STRANGE feeling about school. Something felt off and the bubbling in her stomach was telling her just that. It was like any other day though; first period chemistry and Steve driving her to school, so why did it feel so weird?

As Steve parked his car in the school parking lot, Sophie unbuckled her seatbelt shakily. She felt anxiety festering not just in her mind but throughout her whole body. It was as though she was being warned of something that hadn't even happened yet.

The older Harrington twin eyed her unstable hands, concern growing on his face. She'd been fine a moment ago, they'd just been discussing her weird crush on Luke Skywalker and she'd been laughing along with him. Now she was eerily quiet.

"Soph?" He broke her out of a trance, she was getting caught up in her own head, "you okay?"

"I don't know," she furrowed her eyebrows, frown etched onto her face. Sophie was familiar with the feeling of anxiety, it was something she felt quite frequently, specifically throughout freshman year when she had to get used to not having Eddie around to calm her down. "I feel weird, don't you?"

"No," Steve answered honestly, quirking his eyebrow at her. He smiled at her, trying to ease her worries, "trust me, Soph, the weirdest thing about today will be Mr McConaughey's tight gym shorts." He squeezed her hand gently, "you'll be fine."

She sighed, nodding her head along, "you're right," she tried to excuse the feeling, "maybe I'm sick or something," she shrugged, opening the car door quickly and exiting the vehicle.

She believed it for a minute. She believed that everything was normal, that the swirling nervousness pooling in her stomach was just some unnamed illness like food poisoning. Though, the presence of a sympathetic Billy Hargrove was enough to tell her that something was wrong.

Billy was never sympathetic, not to her and not to anyone. Some small part of him got enjoyment out of other's pain, but another part of him cared for Sophie in some way. Even though he didn't want to.

He approached her, no spring in his step as he avoided Steve's eyesight, he didn't want to be punched again. "Hey," He started, blue eyes piercing into her.

"What happened?" She questioned right away, gulping back her nerves. She felt extremely sick now, the look on his face was making her want to throw up.

"Look, you might wanna go home," he told her, his eyes casting to the doors of their high school.

"Why?" She asked, fear travelling through her.

Billy sighed, putting it bluntly, "Becky."

Sophie's breathing became more rapid, but she was angry too, her face carrying a boiling red tinge. "What did she do, Billy?"

"She told everyone that you slept with Eddie Munson," he informed her, "and look, I don't know if you did, but everyone's believing it with how weird you've been acting recently." She had been acting weird, but only with the cheer team, it was because she knew they wouldn't understand the complexity of her friendship with Eddie.

She became confused, "that doesn't sound all that bad." She'd said before that she'd rather have people think that she slept with Eddie and not Billy and it was true.

"A lot of them still believe we had sex," he gestured between them, "and Becky's saying it was on the same day, that you couldn't even wait 24 hours before jumping onto the next guy." He looked at her apologetically, "they're saying some awful shit, there's already stuff written on the bathroom stalls and lockers."

"Like what?" Her voice cracked slightly. She saw Steve, who was perched against the wall talking to Nancy. He hadn't entered the building yet, so he wasn't aware of anything.