Dear Diary

Chapter 39

I was quiet for a solid minute. I swallowed slowly and stared at my friends who looked at me with anticipation.

After another pause I muttered, "What?"

Natalie shifted in her cross-legged position. "There's a rumour going around that you are cheating on Richard with Cole. We know that you aren't actually dating him, but ... is there something going on with you and Cole?" 

She was the only one brave enough to speak it seems.

"How... how did this rumour start?" I asked as I felt my heart kick up in speed. 

Was this why everyone was behaving so strangely towards me? They were angry with me?

"Apparently someone saw you and Cole come out of a classroom after school hours yesterday," Betty said and paused, choosing her words carefully. "And you were all over each other."

"Is it true?" Tyler asked and I found myself at a loss for words. 

A gentle nudge from Anne brought me out of my stupor.

"Yes," I muttered and the group's eyes widened, so I quickly added, "but it's not what you think!" 

"Then explain," Natalie said and crossed her arms.

I sighed. "I ... was with Cole yesterday, but not in the way you're thinking. Remember at the beginning of the year we were assigned tutors? Well, Cole was assigned to be mine because he scored the best mark and I the worst. We've been meeting from Tuesdays to Fridays for one hour after school ever since."

"Okay, but where does the 'all over each other yesterday' come in?" Tyler asked and I saw worry in her eyes.

I knew why it was there; I would be disgraced and disowned by my family if I had become a 'fallen' girl.

I gave her a comforting smile. "The floor had just been washed when we left the classroom, I slipped and Cole caught me. That was all." 

I sort of purposely left out the fact that we stared at each other for quite a while.

I physically felt the tension leave the group. No doubt they were very concerned about me. I wouldn't blame them though. The girl who has absolutely no confidence around boys suddenly doing ... that with one of the best, not to mention scariest, looking on the school grounds. It might have been viewed as something against my consent, or not. 

 My face suddenly flushed as a thought crossed my mind and I quickly shook it away. Where did that just come from?

Natalie sighed. "Why didn't you just tell us?"

Anne had remained silent the entire time. I knew she was feigning ignorance. It would not go down well with the group if they found out that Anne had known all along. But one thing that struck me was why Amy was so quiet. True, she wasn't very talkative, but she seemed extra quiet today.

I shrugged. "I don't know ... I guess it's just embarrassing to have people know how badly I do in maths, is all."

Tyler nodded her head in understanding, "It's okay," she soothed, but then a gleam came to her eye and I instantly dreaded the next words that came out of her mouth. "But now you have to tell us everything that's happened!"

-

As you can imagine, I didn't get to eat much at lunch as the girls kept interrogating me with questions, but I didn't give them any juicy details that I knew they were waiting for. I didn't tell them about any non-maths related conversations we had, or the fact that he played with my hair and carried me to the car when I was injured.