Chapter 3: Betrayed

My hand slammed my locker door shut in a huff. The sound echoed through the hallway and I looked around to find the others staring at me. But, the thing was, it was not their usual stare. It’s weird, but I just knew the difference after getting stared at for years. This time they looked at me with disgust as they whispered under their breaths.

Turning my attention back to the bearer of bad news, I demanded, “What did you just say?”

“Ugh! Are you seriously going to act like you don’t know? Oli, you tried to force Joshua to make out with you under the bleachers!” he repeated, each of his words vibrating my soul in horror.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Lukey! I did not do that! It’s a lie! Just some gossip someone created!” I replied despite being a tad hurt that my own brother would trust a ball of gossip instead of his own sister.

Luke’s eyes narrowed and his jaw locked. “Are you seriously denying it? How can it be gossip if I saw you coming from the football field yesterday, Oli? Not only me, but a few others saw you leaving the bleachers all flustered before Joshua came out absolutely raging.”

“Yes, I was there and Joshua was too, but it’s not what you think,” I insisted, my breathing increasing in panic.

Luke scoffed and leaned back against the lockers. “Then what? You know how much the football scholarship means to me, Olivia. I can’t believe you would jeopardize it like this, that too with my captain.”

“Luke Kingsley Jamerson! Look into my eyes and listen to me, loud and clear!” I tugged at his collar and forced him to look at me.

After hesitating, he sighed and looked into my eyes before sighing. “Fine. You have one minute before I walk away and forget that I ever had a sister.”

“Mom and Dad tried calling you but you didn’t answer. So, they asked me to locate you and I headed to the field to find you. I heard someone making out under the bleachers and I thought it might be you. But, when I got there, I saw two of the unlikeliest people making out,” I explained, trying to hold back my quivering voice.

Luke’s eyebrow arched at me, suddenly piqued by my revelation. “Are you sure? Who did you see?”

“Breanna and Louis.” I bit my lower lip as I watched Luke’s eyes enlarge with shock.

He ran his hand through his hair and looked around uneasily. “F*ck! That’s insane!”

“My thoughts exactly. I managed to hide before they could see me, but then I saw Joshua coming, probably looking for either one of them. I don’t know what came over me and I tried to stop him from discovering them. I remember how hard it was for you when Lauren broke up with you last year and how it broke you. Obviously, I know that he is my bully and I still hate him with all my whole being. I guess I just wanted to be a good person and avoid that from happening to him,” I clarified as I leaned against the cold, metal lockers.

Luke exhaled and looked down at his shoes in what I assumed was guilt for not trusting me. “Then what happened? There must be a reason someone assumed you were with Joshua.”

“I have no idea. After watching Joshua process his emotions in all kinds of ways, I walked away when he decided to confront them. That’s all. The next minute you saw me right here. Someone must have just started a rumor when they saw us together.” Shrugging my shoulders, I started regretting what I did the day before.

“Hey, Luke! Come on! What are you doing with that desperate loser?” someone called out from a distance.

Luke raised his hand at them before turning to face me. “I’m sorry, Oli. I just got paranoid and feared for my scholarship. Listen, just ignore it and go about your day. There’s only a couple of days of school left.”

“Yo! Luke! Are you coming? Or is she harassing you as well?” his friend yelled out again, urging everyone to look at me pathetically.

What the f*ck? He’s my brother, idiot!

Luke shrugged his shoulders, flashed me an apologetic smile, and jogged back to his awful friends. Reminding myself that I had only two days before I didn’t have to see their faces again, I made my way to my homeroom. Before that, I ducked into the music room to collect my sheet music and closed the door behind me.

However, when I was about to open the door to exit the room, I heard some voices outside. Normally I would just cast my head down and push through them, but the mention of my name stopped me in my steps.

“Did you hear? Apparently Outcast Olive tried to force Joshua to make out with her under the bleachers yesterday!” a female voice said.

A familiar snicker reached my ears. “Obviously, she’s been desperately chasing after all these years. She couldn’t bear the thought of him being taken by yours truly, so she made her move. It’s despicable!”

How dare you, Breanna!

My breathing accelerated and anger flushed into my veins. After seeing what she was capable of the previous day, I couldn’t tolerate her nonsense anymore. My palms balled into fists at Breanna’s words and I opened the door in a huff. I wasn’t planning on confronting her, but just to alert her of my presence and that I heard her lies. True enough, her eyes enlarged at my presence before they darted to the other girl in front of her, probably in fear that I would just blurt out the truth.

A flash of fear appeared on the great Breanna’s face. “Dahlia, go ahead without me. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Are you sure? What if she does something to you too?” the girl mocked with a malicious smirk on her lips.

Breanna shot her a glare and narrowed her eyes at her. “Leave!”

“I should have known that you were the one who started the rumor! You’re the despicable one, not me! You’re a filthy cheater!” I blurted out.

Breanna turned around and cornered me against the wall where no one could see me. Using her bony, well-manicured fingers, she pinched my chin in her hand as she glared daggers at me.

“Listen here, Outcast Olive. You better keep your mouth shut, or I will do it. Actually, it doesn’t really matter because no one would believe your pathetic stories. As you can see, they believe mine. How do you like my little rumor about you? Poor desperate loser Outcast Olive tried to seduce the captain of the football team. So, don’t even bother talking unless you want me to further spoil your name and you know I can,” she whispered sharply.

My breath hitched at her proximity and her threat. Gone was the brave Olivia from a few seconds ago and in her place, the timid bullied Olive took over. Breanna let go of me and I rushed to my homeroom while I wiped my tears away. Even though they were tears of anger and frustration, they looked all the same to the others, further convincing them that I was a feeble mouse and crybaby. It was one of the major things I did not like about myself. 

Squeezing through the lane between the chairs, I made my way to my seat at the back of the class. However, before I could get to my refuge, a long leg stuck out in front of me, stopping me from moving forward. Even without lifting my gaze, I knew who it was. The location of the seat and the smell of the nose-wrinkling cologne helped me identify who the leg belonged to.

Ugh. Joshua.

Even though I wasn’t sure how to react after what happened yesterday and the rumors that echoed through the halls, I still lifted my reddened eyes to see him. Joshua just scoffed and retreated his leg, before rolling his eyes at me. It was surprising when I grasped the fact that he was the same person that crumbled in hurt before me the day before. I would have been lying if I said that the experience didn’t change my perception of him. It did because I finally realized that he was human too and not the devil reincarnated. In fact, I didn’t blame him for the rumor since I was aware that it was all Breanna, but I was a tad curious why the school didn’t know the truth of what happened. But, judging by the way he was acting, it was as if it never happened in the first place.

Typical. What else did I expect?

Once I planted myself in my seat, I watched his buddies enter the room and swarm around his seat. Louis strolled in a few seconds later with a black eye and headed to the other end of the classroom. Pulling out a book from my bag, I was about to bury myself in my novel when my ears were heated at the sound of my name.

“So, Josh, I heard that some loser tried to force you to make out with her yesterday? Is it true?” one of the boys asked Joshua rather loudly as he eyed me from the corner of his eyes.

My heart skipped a beat, both curious and worried about what he was going to say. However, judging by the way he acted yesterday and the gravity of the situation, I felt that he would clarify the issue once and for all. After all, he was my only witness.

But, I was not prepared for what he said next. “Hah! Obviously. She can’t resist the J-man!”

What the hell?

“Ha-ha! What a sl*t! Who knew that the quiet Olive could have such a feisty, h*rny side!” another boy cried out before hitting the table as he laughed out loud.

My breath hitched in my throat and my heart dropped. Throughout my lifetime, I had been bullied, embarrassed, made fun of, and pointed at. But, I have never been referred to as something so awful. Still, that was not what affected me the most. For once in my life, I tried to be nice to my bully and to be the bigger person despite what he had done. Yet, I was betrayed and disgraced in public. Forget about being human, Joshua Taylor was the Devil himself.

The boys started acting out suggestive scenes and humping the air, in reference to me. But, my eyes fixated on the back of Joshua’s head, still frozen with disbelief at what he had just implied in front of the class. A few seconds later, he turned around to look at me but his eyes carried no emotion—no guilt, no regret, no apology, and no heart.

F*ck you, Joshua Taylor! I will never forgive you for this.