Crushes Over Papercuts- A Mid 90s Tale

Chapter 23

I slipped my shoes off under my chair. It was the last song of the night and most of the party had left with only a few couples still dancing. Nicole, Lily and I shared a table with Paige and Wendy and their dates. Lauren was huddled with Brandon and some band classmates a few feet away.

I couldn't get the picture of them out of my mind. Courtney took Ben's arm and wrapped it around her shoulders as they walked under the balloon arch together. I knew where they were going. It wasn't my business...he wasn't my boyfriend, maybe not even my friend, but it hurt and I was jealous. I had never been more jealous of anything in my life.

Homecoming was amazing. I had an awesome time but that last image of him with her soured the whole evening. I wish I hadn't seen it. I could have thought of them tonight as a possibility, but to know it was a fact was something I couldn't escape.

Lily leaned over to me. "You saw them, didn't you?"

"Saw who?" Nicole asked.

"Ben and Courtney left together with the others," Lily told her. "The crew rented like five hotel rooms and are staying there tonight to party and you know...do whatever else."

I stared down at my shoes. "It's fine. I knew that was going to happen."

Lily shook her head. "It's not fine. He's leading you on. Taking you to dinner and making lame excuses to hang out with you. What an asshole! He should have dumped Courtney as a date and taken you."

"It wouldn't have been right for him to ditch Courtney right before homecoming," I said.

"Screw her! And don't for a second think that she wouldn't do her best to screw you over given a chance."

"I don't think Courtney has anything to worry about, Lily. Tonight should convince her that there's nothing between Ben and I. There's no doubt she's not the Courtney I used to know but she wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt me."

A look passed between Lily and Nicole.

"What?" I asked.

Nicole rubbed my shoulder. "Nothing. We'll tell you later."

"Tell me now. What's going on?"

"Nothing. It's just," she paused. "I saw something that I knew would bother you but I knew you would want to know."

I felt my pulse press against my neck. "You guys are starting to scare me."

"It's not that big of a deal, really. It's stupid actually but I wanted to wait until after homecoming to tell you."

"Well, it just ended so spill it."

Nicole took a deep breath. "You know the bathroom in Blinker hall? The one near the stadium – "

"The one that all the cheerleaders like Courtney use," Lily interrupted.

I nodded.

Nicole glanced at Lily then back to me. "I happened to be using that bathroom since I wanted to poop in peace and not many people use that one during school hours."

Lily sighed. "Just get to the point, Nicole."

"Someone wrote Jenny Bloom is a druggie on the wall."

I slumped into my chair. "Ben told me about the rumor but I thought it had blown over or got extinguished somehow because no one I knew except Alex had asked me about it. I figured it was over before it began."

Lily scooted her chair close to me. "It's stupid and everyone knows it's not true but Courtney wrote it. I know it."

"Did you see it too?" I asked.