Mark My Words

91 | Stupid Decisions

"I reiterate: Explain what to me."

All of the blood that skyrocketed to Rosalie's head plummeted. She went lightheaded in an instant, and if it weren't for the wall next to her, she would have fallen. She leant into the wall with a gasp, all but panting as she tried to catch her breath.

Ray looked at her weirdly, but Rosalie couldn't look her in the eye as Lennie explained, "We just spoke to Arden."

There was a beat of silence before Ray stepped closer, startled, and hissed, "What the fuck are you talking about? She's in Georgia—right?"

"Uh, yeah, that's what I thought too," Rosalie huffed, hands over her face. Her palms were tingling from the moon-shaped indents Arden's fingernails left behind. "But that isn't even the worst part."

"You spoke to her? And you didn't call 911?" Ray said, and Lennie rolled his eyes.

"She's a teenage girl, Ray."

"Yeah, so am I, and I can still whoop your ass," she said, slapping him in the arm right where Rosalie had punched him.

Lennie gave her a dull, monotonous look and said, "Yeah, which is why I might actually be hospitalized when I tell you that... I might have told her that..."

"Lennie said we're dating," Rosalie said, face still covered. She dropped her hands to find Ray staring at her, eyes wide as could be.

Ray pointed to Lennie, still pinning Rosalie with her confused, wide-eyed stare. Rosalie nodded with a sigh. She had seen Ray pissed before, and this wasn't it. She distinctly felt Judgement in the air from the way Ray turned sharply to Lennie. Lennie startled with a grimace, hands held up in surrender. Perhaps if they both played the dumb, desperate fools they both were, Ray would go easy on them.

"Arden didn't believe Rosalie was straight," he reasoned as Ray's expression twisted into something akin to murder. Rosalie winced. Okay, if she wasn't pissed two seconds ago, she's definitely pissed now, she thought. "And she had a picture of Rosalie's prom outfit, but it was a picture with the two of us so I just—it just flew out of my mouth. I swear it—"

"For someone with your IQ, you sure have the strongest dumbass energy I have ever witnessed in my entire life," Ray seethed, and before she could do anything to Lennie, she stepped back with a huff and crossed her arms. Lennie let out a breath of relief, only to suck it back in when she pinned him with her finger and said, "I'll deal with you later."

Ray dragged her hands through her hair, her graduation cap securely pinned. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and huffed, "Well, at least there wasn't blood shed this time, am I right ladies?"

Rosalie looked down at her hands. The center of her palm stung, so she showed the irritated dot to Ray and said, "Not entirely. Better than last time, though. She loosened up when Lennie butted in, but she really doesn't like straight cis guys."

Ray put her hands on her hips and said, "Well now we know her kryptonite. We just storm USW with a bunch of cishet douchebags."

Rosalie laughed despite herself and caught Lennie rolling his eyes, arms crossed over his chest. She offered a bright smile when Lennie looked at her—they were in this together now, weren't they?

"Question is: How long are you planning on keeping that shitshow up?" Ray asked. "Half the class knows we're dating just because of prom and Lennie's little girly fanclubs."

"We'll just..." Rosalie started, hesitating. Could she really say that she had any say in this? She glanced at the arena door where she recognized Alyssa amongst the students listed under "M". Joanna would be coming out soon.