Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating(77)
This must be what I look like when I try to pretend I like people that I actually detest—at least according to Hani.
“How are we doing this morning?” Ms. Gallagher asks, clapping her hands together. Like we’re old pals. Like the last time I was here my older sister wasn’t trying to clear my name, and Aisling wasn’t sitting in this exact chair crying her white woman tears to get out of trouble.
“I’m doing all right.”
“Wonderful. And are you all ready for your Head Girl presentation?” she asks.
“Yeah … Nik helped me prepare.” I hold up the thumb drive with my PowerPoint on it.
“Great … great.” Ms. Gallagher’s smile doesn’t make it seem great at all. “The thing is … I’ve spoken to Aisling Mahoney’s parents. She’s going to be punished, of course.”
“Of course,” I mumble, though I already know that whatever’s going to come out of Ms. Gallagher’s lips next isn’t going to make me happy.
“But … I think it’ll be in everyone’s best interest if we keep things discreet. Nobody has to know what happened with you and Aisling. There’s no point dredging it all up. I’m sure you understand.”
“It happened last week.” The words are out of my lips before I can stop them. But I also don’t regret them. “Everybody at school thinks I cheated. That I … get the results I do because I’m a cheater, which isn’t true. And you want me to keep pretending it is?”
“We’ll tell everyone it’s not true. Anyway, nobody thinks that—”
“Yes, they do!” My voice rises by an octave. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Losing my temper last time didn’t help. “Principal Gallagher.” I try to use the calm, collected voice I’ve heard Hani use when speaking to her white friends. “People already believed the worst of me. And Aisling did cheat. What’s the problem if everyone finds out the truth? Just because her parents asked you to keep it quiet?”
“Because we don’t believe in tarnishing people’s image in this school, Ishita. And it’s nobody’s business what happened in this office. I’m sorry, Ishita, but especially at this presentation today, we will have no discussion of Aisling. She isn’t even running for Head Girl or prefect, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Understood?”
I have so many things I want to say to Principal Gallagher. Instead, I grit my teeth and say, “Understood.”
chapter forty-five
hani
WHEN I GET TO SCHOOL ON MONDAY, I HAVE A SINGLE focus. Find Ishu. Talk to her. Fix everything.
I ignore my locker, which is right next to Aisling’s and Dee’s—and head right toward Ishu’s. I find her with her locker door open, staring inside with a faraway look in her eyes.
She must be more nervous about the Head Girl presentations than I expected.
“Ishu?” I tap her on the shoulder.
She turns around and her gaze immediately shifts into a glare. I try to ignore the pain in my chest at Ishu looking at me like this.
“What the fuck are you doing?” She steps away from me, like my tap on her shoulder was too much for her to bear.
“I just … wanted to wish you luck on the Head Girl presentations,” I offer. “And …” I pull out the box of red-velvet cupcakes Amma helped me make yesterday. “I made these cupcakes, see?” I open up the box so Ishu can see, with their multi-colored icing spelling out VOTE ISHITA #1 in bright pink writing. I figured the best way to win people over was with sugar—everybody’s weakness. “So that I can help you get people to—”
“I don’t want your help,” Ishu says. She slams her locker door shut, like it’s somehow personally wronged her. “I don’t need your help.”
“Ishu, I’m just—”
“Ishita,” she says. “And leave me alone.” She pushes past me and disappears into the crowd of girls from our year. I feel my stomach sink. I’ve been relegated to calling her Ishita, like someone who doesn’t know her, hasn’t spent time with her, hasn’t held her hand or thought about her until the late hours of night with butterflies in my stomach.
Like we’re nothing at all to each other.
When the bell rings at eight thirty, everyone but the fifth years shuffle off into their respective classes. I follow the rest of the girls in my year into the main hall, where everything has been set up for the Head Girl candidates to give their presentations.
There are rows of chairs filling up the space, and a stage set up at the very front. There’s even a little podium with a mic, and a projector toward the back facing the screen set up on stage. Somehow, this feels even more official than all of the election events I’ve been to with Abba.
The rows of chairs fill up fast, and I spot Aisling and Dee sitting toward the front. They’re both sitting slumped in their seats, looking like this is the last place on earth they want to be. And they’re whispering to each other. My stomach drops at the sight of them, and I look away quickly.
I decide to choose a seat at the very back of the hall—as far away from Aisling and Dee as humanly possible. But I’m definitely not going to spend this time feeling bad about what happened with them yesterday. Just because Ishu hates me now doesn’t mean I shouldn’t help her the best I can.