So What?

Chapter 36: Clout.

Chapter 36: Clout.

"He is getting eaten alive out there." Chanel says and Christian smacks her hand.

"Don't say that about Ethan. He's trying his best." Christian chides.

"Well, he can do better. They're scouts here." Chanel says and I laugh as I watch the two of them go at it.

I wipe my sweaty palms on my light-washed jeans and stare at the basketball court.

Once it's halftime, I am going to do something that would probably make a lot of people hate my guts. I don't care though. I've been stalling for way too long now.

"Oh, shut up." Christian says, rolling his eyes at Chanel.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I pull it out. I have a text message from Miles.

Miles: Hey, stranger.

I actually haven't had a conversation with Miles since the dinner and right now isn't the best time to have one, so I'm just gonna ignore him for now.

The halftime bell rings and my heart skips a beat in my chest. This is it.

It's showtime.

"I'm gonna go use the restroom." I tell Chanel and Christian who are still arguing with each other.

Standing up from my seat, I walk out of our row and head to the control room.

"Hey, Leah." I say as I walk in.

"Hey, are you ready?" She asks me and I nod.

"I know this is scary, but it's also really brave of you to do this." Leah tells me and I smile at her.

"I mean, I didn't want to leave high school and have people not knowing the truth. I don't want to be remembered as this perfect it-girl that had the perfect boyfriend and perfect life. My life was far from rosy and they're about to find out." I tell her.

"Atta girl." Leah tells me. "I'll turn off the lights right before you go on, so the girls can set up."

"Wish me luck." I say before I walk back to the basketball court. The room goes dark and people start murmuring. I feel someone take my hand and start walking. When the lights are turned back on, I am seated on a stool with a microphone in my hand. I am sitting below the basket and everyone on both sides of the court is staring straight at me.

"Hi." I start. "My name is Jasmine Prentice." I add.

"A lot of you may know me as Aaron Jackson's ex-girlfriend and Miles Prescott's alleged new girl. I just want to formally introduce myself." I say, rubbing my sweaty palms on my blue jeans.

"Um." I say, with a shaky breath.

"GET ON WITH IT!!!" Someone from the crowd yells and that reminds me why I'm here.

"To the entire student body, Aaron and I were hashtag couple goals. We were everyone's favorite couple on campus and we had it all. Or it looked like we did. Aaron Jackson is an abuser. He physically assaulted me more times than I can count." I say and everyone goes quiet. I feel like everyone is staring at me right now.

Well, that's no surprise since I just called the captain of the basketball team that we're all here to watch play, an abuser.

"Aaron is a violent human being. And he threatened to kill everyone I loved and get my mother deported if I ever told anyone that he was hitting me." Pictures of my bruised face and body appear on the screens in the basketball court.