It Comes Naturally

12.

Contains Island Dialect

Spencer, North Carolina

Another school week has ended and the weekend closed, Selby was back at Spencer High for another go at the school week with a new clique of friends and the fallback of cutting ties with Spencer's elite. She never knew how much she was under the microscope by her peers when she stopped being a friend to Raine, Ayanna, and the others.  Rumors were going around about the 'break up' along with Harem's absence and Erica's addition to the group. Don't forget the island girl's new relationship with everyone's favorite billionaire son. 

Selby wanted to just dig a hole and wait for everything to blow over but that will be most unlikely. The clique she was now stuck in were major gossipers. No one really knew what happened except for her, Derek, and Harem. In her peripheral, as she sat in Math class, she eyed her boyfriend. His bruises were healing well, leaving a hue of purple and yellow where Harem landed his punches. She never went to his boxing practices when he invited her along but by the way, he knocked down Derek easily, she knew he was good at it. Leaning into her boyfriend, the accusations her ex-best friend laid upon him filtered back into her mind. Her Derek loved her, he may be egotistical at times, girls flock to him because of his looks and football infamy but he will never cheat on her. They had one of the most cliched relationships and it withstood scrutiny, doubts, and major naysayers for two years now and counting. They were proving to everyone that high school love wasn't fickle.

She couldn't understand why Harem will lie so callously. Derek was right. He wanted to put a wedge between them, he was probably lying about his love for her. Selby frowned upon the recollection of her teammates' reaction to her no longer being friends with Harem and the others. They too claimed Derek wasn't the right choice and deducted among themselves that Harem chickened out in telling her how he felt. She didn't dwell on their opinions, they were wrong. 

"Want to come over after practice?" she asked Derek softly. 

"Sure, babe," he returned, kissing her head before placing his focus back on their Math teacher. She loved their alone time. Though they haven't been fully intimate, Derek respected her decision in saving her virginity for the right time. He made sure she was sexually satisfied otherwise. Selby smiled to herself, she will prove to them all that Derek isn't a bad guy. 

The bell rang, ending the class and signaling lunch hour. Not wanting to face her old friends again, she allowed herself to be perky and friendly to the girlfriends of the other ballplayers, inviting them all out to lunch with her. They eagerly accepted and followed her noisily out to her car. She was never close to these girls but they accepted her in their group with the exchange of a few tidbits about Trey and  Alec. Having boyfriends doesn't mean you cannot appreciate goodies from afar. To Selby, she thinks the girls won't mind being part of the two guys' menage. It wasn't a secret well to her, that those two wish for a menage-type relationship, they have been best friends since preschool and knew each other inside out, one thing that no one can doubt was their sexuality. They were one hundred percent straight alpha males who simply love to share their women. Though she witnessed the love and understanding within a menage relationship with Marielle and the twins, she still had her doubts.

"What do you guys think about lunch at the mall?" she asked aloud when they all got settled into her car. The girls were marveling about the interior of her  17th birthday gift from her stepfather before they answered. She was fortunate to have a loving stepfather and equally rich to have the expensive car, it brought along envy and fake friends but she didn't care about that, she knew how to keep her head on right.

"The mall is great. It will save us a trip after school. The guys always complain when we ask them to go," one answered. Pheona, Selby reminded herself of the raven-haired girl who spoke up. Middle eastern descent and girlfriend to the school's linebacker, the couple were inseparable. Throwing a smile her way, Selby left the school parking lot quickly but she found herself looking for Harem's car, for some reason. 
The ten-minute ride was filled with laughter and Instagram pictures which Selby found undoubtedly fun. It reminded her of the mall trips even out of town ones with Raine and Ayanna. Subtly shaking her head of now useless memories, she found a park in the mildly packed mall car park. The exclusive mall was another Johnson-owned building, proudly built for the town of Spencer and cared for by them. With reasonable rent, sole business owners filled most of the storefronts mixed with chain stores. The eclectic mixture of stores and the indoor oasis design made the mall a huge attraction.