Secret Lucidity(80)
“Well, I hope you’re feeling better,” she says. “But unfortunately, you’ve far exceeded your absences for the year. I spoke to Mr. Sanders, and he waived a handful of them, but any more days missed will cause you to receive a No Credit in your classes.”
“How many more days are left?”
“What’s that, dear?” she questions as her glasses almost fall off the tip of her nose.
“Of school,” I clarify. “How many more days?”
After pushing her glasses up, she clicks open the calendar on her computer and starts tapping her pen against the monitor. She is physically counting each day remaining. Everything annoys me these days, but this does more than annoy, this scathes my nerves. All I really want to know is how long I have to endure the torture of coming to school.
“Forty-seven days.”
I make her a promise to attend class and then leave her office. Before heading to my car, I decide to grab all my belongings from the locker room while I’m up here. The final bell rang a while ago, and since I’m sure the pool is locked up, I grab the key I still have to let myself in, but it’s already unlocked when I push the doors open.
When I walk in, I see Linze sitting on the bleachers.
“What are you doing here?”
“Waiting on Kyle,” she responds, slighted in the same tone of unease as I am. “He left some stuff in the locker room.”
I open my mouth to say something, but there isn’t anything there except a feather-light tug on one of my last remaining heartstrings. It’s the longing to have someone—anyone—after I’ve lost everyone. I give her an awkward nod and then walk away.
While I’m grabbing all my belongings, I hear a ruckus of voices from the pool area, and curse the intrusion. David hasn’t been at school all week, so I’m sure people are already starting to question his whereabouts. I wonder if it’s even been addressed by administration that he won’t be returning.
Zipping up my bag, I’m hoping to walk out of here as unnoticed as possible, but I stop just shy of the locker room entrance when I overhear his name being mentioned.
“Have you heard the rumor about Coach Andrews?”
I peek around the tiled wall and catch a glimpse of Taylor, Ming, and a handful of other girls from the team before retreating back out of view.
“It’s not a rumor,” Taylor says.
“Eww, it’s so gross when you think about it. I mean, if it’s even true.”
“Oh, come on,” another girl chimes in. “It isn’t that gross. Coach is totally hot.”
“You guys, he’s old.”
“Don’t be such a prude, Ming. He’s only in his thirties.”
“That guy was a total perv though,” Taylor says. “This one time, while he was working out one of my leg cramps, he totally put the moves on me. I’m telling you, he’s a grade A Chester the Molester.”
They all break out in a fit of giggles as I fist my restless hands in fury at Taylor’s blatant lies.
“Seriously though,” she continues. “What I’m about to say next you have to swear not to repeat.”
They all agree in eager unison, and I tilt my head to listen closer when Taylor drops her voice. “It was Cam. Last week when we were in Norman, I saw them kissing.”
My heart spits venom through my veins, and I have no doubt it was her that ratted us out. Poison fills my bloodstream, spurring on the rage as it spreads and causing my limbs to shake violently.
“She’s so tragic. It must have been easy prey for him.”
Everything inside me snaps in an instant, and my vision bleeds red as I lose all control. I charge after her, barreling the palms of my hands into her shoulders and knocking her down.
“You bitch!”
“What the hell?” she screeches, and when I clobber her, the place erupts in loud chaos.
Shouting comes from all directions, but all I focus on is her.
“You’re such a liar! How could you do that to him?”
Her arms flail wildly at me, hitting me in the face in pathetic slaps that are no match for the pure hate pouring from me. “Get the fuck off me, you nasty slut!”
A storm of voices explodes around us, it rings in my ears, but I keep screaming and taking swings, striking her as hard as I can.
“Calm the fuck down, Cam!” Kyle shouts when he jerks me away, pinning my back to his chest.
“Let go!”
“You’re fucking crazy,” Taylor spits as Zane, another guy from the team, steps in front of her and holds her back.
I claw my nails into Kyle’s arms, never relenting on Taylor. “You were so desperate for his attention, and everyone knows it. You’re so full of shit!”
“At least I’m not a whore, ratchet face.”
Kyle’s grip on me tightens the minute her words come out, and I start thrashing with everything I have.
“You’re dead!” I scream, my throat burning with sour bile from the pit of my stomach. My vision blurs as I spew my hatred at the one who’s the cause of my soul being ripped out of me, for my love sitting in a jail cell, for destroying something that was so beautiful—so perfectly beautiful. “You’re a goddamn liar!”
“Oh, really,” she taunts while trying to wrench out of Zane’s hold. “So what were you doing coming out of his hotel room then? Huh? I bet you were a lousy lay anyway.”