The Dating Game

TWENTY

Shelby's expression grows impossibly more worried when I ask her to show me the post. Her hands tremble—in fear, or maybe even embarrassment—as she places her phone in my hand, her eyes glued to mine to watch my expression.

I skim over Anna's name in the top left corner and check what time it was posted instead. Seventeen hours ago; she must've posted this as soon as Chase and I left the school yesterday. She's quick—I'll give her that.

My eyes scan the unnecessarily long message, plenty of grammar mistakes scattered around the novel she'd written about me. I would've been flattered by how much she had to say if they weren't such horrible things. Despite the painfully boring substance of her first few sentences, though, my eyes finally focus on one specific section.

She's obviously only with Chase because of his popularity and he's only dating her because he feels bad for her. There's no other reason they would be together if that wasn't true. Plus, Michelle doesn't even like him. She likes Miles instead, which is so fucked up to do to Chase. He's literally so out of her league and still giving her a chance. Like, the least she could do is be loyal to him. But no. Instead, I saw her making out with three different guys at once before school even started today. And to think Chase proudly calls her his girlfriend. She's such a joke.

I would like to say I'm not bothered. I would like to act casual as if her words mean nothing to me because, truly, they don't. I'm not offended by her lies or her poor sentence structure. I'm not even affected by the vulgar name-calling. But when she chooses to walk into class completely nonchalant and shoot me some devilish grin like she's some sort of top bitch—

That's when I lose my shit.

I push myself up from my seat and march straight in her direction. Her careless expression drops and instead her mouth drops into a suspicious frown.

"Anna," I say through my teeth.

"Oh, you need a mint," she gives me a pitied look.

My insatiable resentment only grows twice as fast when she tries to act all tough after hiding behind a screen and posting straight lies about me.

"I saw your stupid post. You're such a jealous bitch, you know that?" I ask her. Her expression doesn't shift.

"I was just exposing you for the slut you are," she shoots back instead, crossing her arms.

"You don't even know me, Anna." I take a step closer to her, watching as her eyes burn into my skull. "And if there's a slut here, I think we both know who that would be."

Her jaw drops to her chest. "Are you trying to start a fight?"

"You're over here posting shit about me on social media," I remind her. "You're clearly the one who wants to start a fight."

She just chuckles, flipping her hair behind her head with a whip of her wrist. "You're just scared I'll beat you."

I instantly shake my head. "I just don't wanna slip on your hair extensions when they fall out."

"You little-" she says, lunging towards me like a wild animal, leaving me to dodge her again and again. I'm really not looking for a fight. I'm not scared of Anna but I am scared of my parents.

As she starts swinging at me, I'm suddenly reminded of my dad and it starts to be difficult to keep my focus. And after half a second of getting lost in the moment–in the worst way possible–Anna's fingers grab violently onto my hair and pull.

"What the hell are you doing?" I ask, knowing damn well she's not listening to me. But I gave her a chance to respond, and I won't just let her tear me down. No way I'm letting a white bitch beat my ass.

But as soon as my hand reaches for her hair, my fingers pull out a tape-in hair extension, and I struggle not to giggle at it. Instead, it lies sadly in my grasp, Anna's face mortified and ashamed, until I hear the classroom door fly open with angry footsteps.

"What is going on in here?" Someone asks, obviously incredulous.

Anna and I instantly freeze and look over at Mrs. Peters. In my hand is a long strip of strawberry blonde hair while Anna's hand is reaching for my neck. When Mrs. Peters sees exactly what is happening, she immediately sends us to the principal's office. God, I hope my mom doesn't kill me.

///

Inside the principal's office, the air is thick and warm. I glance over at Anna, whose face is a calm, innocent facade with her casual posture and her thin lips set in a sure smile. We've already received in-school suspension for engaging in a physical altercation on school grounds, and Mr. Parks informs us he'll distribute additional punishments based on our individual perspectives of the situation.

"Can one of you explain to me why you were tearing each other apart at eight o'clock in the morning?" He begins with exasperation.

Immediately, we both start spilling out our sides of the story in loud, cacophonous arguing. I refuse to look her way as I go on about how shitty of a person she is, but I can feel her eyes burning a hole through my head as she degrades me in front of our principal. After only a few seconds of our mindless yelling, Mr. Parks cuts us off with a raised voice.

"Girls!" He snaps, silencing us instantly. "I specifically asked one of you to start talking; I did not ask for the sound of wild animals screaming at each other. Michelle, you stay in here and tell me what happened; Anna, take a seat outside."

Anna smirks with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Okay."

As she starts to stand up, Mr. Parks continues, "And if you even think about ditching, your punishment will automatically be doubled. Understood?"

Anna's face falls when she hears that. Her smirk is wiped clean from her face and she rolls her eyes as she struts outside with much less confidence. When the door closes behind her, Mr. Parks' eyes meet mine.

"Miss Adams," he says, "Please explain what happened."

When I open my mouth, I have no clue where to begin. I could tell him about my relationship with Chase, and that she's just being a jealous teenage girl, but I doubt that would do much of anything to excuse a physical fight.

"I'll just show you," I tell him finally, pulling my phone out from my back pocket and scrolling to Shelby's contact. I'd screenshotted Anna's post from her phone earlier and sent it to myself to talk shit with Isaac about it, but I guess this is a much better use for it. "She made a post on social media degrading me and spreading rumors about my relationship."

As he reads the screen intently, I continue, "So, I confronted her about it, because nothing she said was even remotely true, and she got all aggressive. She repeatedly insulted me and tried to make me instigate a fight by egging me on, and then when I said something back to her, she put her hands on me."

Mr. Parks pulls away from my phone, shaking his head with an irritated expression on his face. "Did you hit her?"

I shake my head. "It was mostly hair-pulling on my end, but she did swing at me a few times."

"And you're not lying to me about any of this, are you?"

"No, sir."

He lets out a long sigh. "Okay. Go get Anna and tell her to come inside. No fighting."

I nod quickly and make my way over to the door to fetch Anna, but when I open it, she's gone. I glance back at Mr. Parks and when we make eye contact, he throws his head back and groans.

"So much for a relaxing weekend," he mutters under his breath, yet just loud enough for my ears to pick up fairly clearly. "Just wait outside. I'll get her."

I politely oblige, not wanting to get into any more trouble that could affect my chances of getting into a good college. Outside, the air is much smoother without the presence of Anna or the tension of the situation. After a few minutes of silence, Mr. Parks rounds the corner with a sour-faced Anna by his side, arms crossed and lips pursed. We make eye contact for a second before she sends me a death glare and looks away.

The door shuts with intensity after they enter and I'm left alone outside while Anna is inside explaining her side of the story to Mr. Parks, no doubt lying about every detail to avoid the massive punishment she'll be receiving.