"Lili! It's great seeing you back here!" Shelby says in an unnaturally pleased voice. I look at her in confusion as I place my books on my desk.
"What do you want?" I ask slowly.
"I wanted to congratulate you," she smiles brightly, her eyes holding an evil glint.
"Yeah, right." I roll my eyes and sit in my chair.
"No, really. I wanted to congratulate you for becoming so popular so fast! I mean, not everyone gets spread on media so quickly. It's quite a success." She's caught the attention of most of the class now.
"Shut up, Shelby," I say cautiously, my eyes narrowing.
"Why? You're embarrassed?" She asks, giving a very believable sad face.
Sarcasm.
Instead of getting into a fight with her right before class starts, I decide to ignore her and sit down, my hair falling from behind my ears to offer some sort of shield from her face.
"She's embarrassed!" Shelby laughs. "Look at her, bright red."
Some members of the class are now laughing as well.
"Why don't you sing us a few verses, Lili? You know what, why don't you cry a little and smear your makeup so we can recreate the video in person! Entertainment for the whole class!"
Almost everyone is laughing and staring at me know and I feel so overwhelmed by embarrassment and I just want to be anywhere but here.
"Get your cameras ready, I think I see some tears!" She howls with laughter. "Lili, tell me, what's it like to have no friends? What's it feel like to be betrayed? I saw what Brendan posted. I saw what Drew commented. I would cry if I were you. I would cry knowing how they actually feel about me. I guess your fake friends didn't last anyways, so you can lay off."
"What did Drew comment?" I ask, suddenly sparked with curiosity.
"Listen to this. He said, 'I can't believe we actually hung out with that loser. You think she bought into our little charade to totally make a fool of her? I think we surprised the little nerd alright. Hah!'" She says, looking down at her phone screen. She shrugs a little and gives me a look I might mistake for pity if I knew it were someone else.
I stand up quickly, and stumble towards her to grab her phone. Sure enough, it's there written under his name. I feel shock at first. Undeniable betrayal. I feel hurt. I feel abandoned by the only real friends I thought I had.
I look down to avoid eye contact, grab my backpack and rush towards the door. I pull it open and hurry out the door.
I hit someone on the way out, but keep moving anyways, not wanting anyone to see the tears streaming down my face.
"Lili?"
I keep moving away from the room, faster now. I hear hurries footsteps following me.
"Lili!"
If they want me to be pushed over the edge I already am leaning over, nows the chance. If they want me tormented more, this is their opportunity.
I should have known.
I should have listened to Caleb.
I turn down a new hallway and pull open the door to the bathroom.
It seems to be empty, so I shut myself in the last stall, slide down the wall, and cry into my folded arms over my knees.
"Lili, please," the voice is outside the bathroom.
I don't want to look at you. Go away. Leave. Don't come back. Let me be alone.
I wipe off my eyes, but new tears immediately take their place on my face.
"I'm coming in," the person says, and the bathroom door creaks open.
I try to calm my breathing and stop the tears from falling. I try to erase Shelby's pleased face from my mind. I try to remove her evil glint in her eyes. I try to mute her words going through my head. They won't stop coming. I hear them over and over and I end up with my head in my arms again.
I'm so stupid.
I'm such an idiot.
I don't want to look at myself again.
I feel ashamed.
I actually fell for it.
I actually thought they could be my friends.
And they're all right.
They're right about me.
I'm just a loser with no friends.
"Lili, open this right now." Someone is shaking the stall door.
I ignore it. I don't do as much as looking up to acknowledge the door being shaken.
"Lili, you're in there. I know you are. Stop ignoring me."
"You aren't supposed to be in here," I say quietly, but my voice sounds as if it is leaking with venom. The hatred is evident though I don't mean it to be.
"I don't care," he takes a deep breath.
"Lili, let me in."
"Go away," I say quietly.
"I want to know what happened, Lili. Who did this to you?"
This throws a wrench into my stomach and forces more and more tears to flow as an affect. I tighten my grip around my legs. Who did this to me? Oh, just the few people I thought actually cared about me. The few people I thought might actually be friends with me. I find those words funny coming from him.
"Unlock this door now," he says.
"Just go," I say softly.
"No, tell me what caused this, who did something, just tell me! Do you know that it hurts not only you but me too when I see you like this?"
"Give it up! Give it up, Drew! Your act is over! It was funny, a real great memory keepsake! Is that what you wanted? Because right now, you've got everything you want, right? You've got the crowd, you've got the school, you've got girls jumping all over you, you've got the best reputation and what do I have? Just what you wanted. Thank you. Goodbye, Drew," I say, and end breathing deeply, my head aching. "You have what you wanted."
"Lili, what are you talking about?" He lets out a frustrated breath. "You're killing me, Lili. Come out here so I can talk to you."
"What, got a new brilliant idea to make me look like an idiot in front of everyone? Got a new shiny camera out there to capture a new hilarious video of me embarrassing myself and get me made fun of all day? Because that's a good time!"
"Lili, I-"
"Go! Leave!" I wipe my eyes on my sleeves and let out a deep breath.
"Excuse me, what do you think you're doing in here?" By the sound of it, he's been caught by one of the hallway monitors. He'll be taken back to wherever he came from and away from me, which is all I need. Privacy.
"But..."
"With me. Now."
And the door closes. They're gone.
I rest my head back against the wall and close my eyes. Only two days ago I thought my life could never get better. I was naive and in a dream, and now look where I am. I have nobody, nothing.
I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pull it out and look down.
'I don't know what I did wrong. Whatever it was, I need you to talk to me about it. This distance you're putting between us is tearing me apart.' -Drew
*•*•*
'We have a meeting today for the magazine article, everyone be at my house by four.' -Brendan
I shake my head in disbelief. No way.
'You're kidding right?'
'No...?' -Brendan
'If you think I'll ever take a step near you again, you're crazy.'
'Funny.' -Brendan
'Funny? I'm serious. Take me off your contacts. Go back to your happy little life.'
'You signed a contract. You'll be here at four.' -Brendan
'You have got to be kidding me.'
'I'm not. See you then, Lili.' -Brendan
I throw my phone back on my bed and push my hair back with my hands. He can't seriously want me there. He can't honestly think I'm clueless about everything he's done. His mom must be making him keep me as photographer.
I look at the clock on my phone and see that it's a quarter to four and groan.
I get myself up out of bed and brush out the knots of my hair before pulling on a jacket and heading out the door. Since my mom is not home and I don't have my own car right now, I'm walking.
It's feeling cooler outside now, and the leaves are starting to change colors. I walk down the streets with my arms crossed and the wind blowing against my cheeks.
"Need a lift?"
I turn around, and surprise surprise, there's Drew. I turn away from him and keep walking.
"Lili, you can't walk all the way there," he says, pulling forward again.
"I have before. I can now."
"Get in this car now," he says.
I ignore him and keep walking. I don't want to even look at his face. He knows what he did, and acting like he did nothing is doing nothing to help him.
"Lili, you need a ride and we need to talk. Get in or I'll drag you," Drew says with a sigh.
"There's nothing to talk about."
His car stops and he walks out. Before I know what's happening, he has me over his shoulder and is carrying me to his car. I thrash around and kick, trying to get him to put me down, but he doesn't. He throws me in the passenger seat and locks the door. He starts driving before I can even think about getting out. And there's no way I'm jumping out of a moving car.
"What's up with you, Lili?" Drew asks, looking concerned. "Something's bothering you. I don't know what I did wrong."
Oh, funny. You don't know what you did wrong. Yeah, because I'll believe you. Sure.
"Look, I can't do anything about it until you tell me what I did wrong. I want to fix this. Just talk to me," he says with a frustrated sigh.
I keep my focus out the window. Playing games will do nothing. Pretending I'm blind to the things he does is useless. I know what I saw. I know he planned the whole video thing. I know he wanted me to appear as a loser in front of the school.
As soon as the car hits the driveway of Brendan's house, I'm out of the car. It hasn't even stopped yet, but I don't want to be in there a moment longer.
The front door opens before I can get to it. Shelby and Missy are standing there looking smug. I try to shove past them, but they stand in my way.
"What?" I ask, irritated.
"What's up with you and Drew?" Shelby asks, looking confused.
"Shut up. I know you worked it all out with him. Don't play dumb," I roll my eyes and push through them.
Brendan, Danny, Karen, and Brendan's mom are all in the living room waiting for us to begin. I sit beside Danny, the only one that I haven't yet proven guilty. As soon as everyone's settled, Brendan's mom begins.
"Alright, welcome everyone. Thank you, again, for your participation in this project. Lili, your pictures you sent me were wonderful," she says with a nod. So I was right, she must have forced Brendan to keep me as photographer. "I really like the looks of how fun you guys are having, but I think it needs a little jazzing up."
"What did I tell you from the beginning?" Shelby says. "There's got to be some romance."
"Shelby, that's so stupid, nobody-" Danny starts.
"No, that could actually work," Brendan's mom nods her head, looking up in thought. "But who could pull it off?"
"Brendan and I could!" Shelby blurts out, and she stands from her chair.
"No, not my son. That would never be believable. Everyone would know from the get go that it was planned if it were him," she shakes her head.
"Lili and I could do it."
I flip my head around to see Drew shrugging. My mouth is open in objection, but Brendan's mom beats me to it.
"That could work."
"But-" I begin.
"No, it's not the likely couple. It's actually perfect. Thank you for that, Drew. Now, Lili an Drew, you're going to be spending some time alone together to get photos and conversations. Understood? I want it to be real. Believable," she says.
"Alright, that works," Drew says.
And I don't get a say in it, no matter how many times I try. I've got no choice. I'm fake-dating the guy who turned against me.