Chapter 5

Chapter 5 : kissing my girlfriend In front of my boyfriend 

Charlotte's POV 

I honestly didn't know I could breathe that fast. I wanted to say something cool and casual, but words refused to come out of my mouth.

“You're Max's girlfriend right? I see your I*******m posts everytime. Hi, I'm Sophie”

Ahh, shit, I knew I should not have posted those soft launch pictures on I*******m, now she knows me as just, Max's girlfriend, that's such a bad label.

“Hiii Sophie” I said still holding on to max 

Max pulled me closer to him and whispered in my ear “Let's go get launch babe”

 I immediately followed him without thinking and we went straight to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria felt louder than usual like everybody was talking at the same time just to drown out my thoughts, and across the table was Sophie talking with everybody like she has always known them.

I couldn't stop staring at the way she moved her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ears or the way she covered her lips while giggling.

“I'm going to eat outside” Maya grabbed her plate hurriedly and left, she didn't even wait for my reply before she left.

“Everybody, gather round let's play truth and dare, we have a new one among us ”Nai stood on top of the table .

The Truth or Dare tradition started back in fourth grade, no one knows who started it but it's basically law, now. Every time a new student joins Bridgehall, we play it in the cafeteria.

It’s kind of our thing, a loud, chaotic, slightly unhinged way of saying welcome to Bridgehall.

Tables scraped loudly, chairs screeched back and suddenly the cafeteria wasn't a cafeteria anymore, a circle was formed and Sophie was in the middle of it all.

I scanned around to see if Maya had returned and then I spotted Max and Sophie talking .

What could they possibly be talking about? I tapped my feet continuously on the floor, while biting my finger nails debating if I should walk up to them.

“Charlotte and Sophie you'll start” Nai literally saved me by pulling Sophie away from Max, while Max just walked out of the cafeteria.

“Charlotte truth or dare” Nai smirked , probably expecting me to pick dare.

 “Truth.”

I narrowed my eyes, guilt tightening around my throat. I shouldn’t even be here. I should be hunting down Maya and dragging her back, apologizing for reasons I didn't know about.

“If you were into girls,” Nai said slowly, smiling like she already knew the damage she was about to cause, “who would you kiss?”

The whole cafeteria gasped, whispers bursting out all at once. Names flew around the circle, loud and reckless, and I swear I heard someone say Maya’s name.

Why would she ask that? Why here? Why in front of Sophie and everyone else?

My throat went dry and I swallowed hard.

“Ma… Maya,” I said, biting my lower lip, the name slipping out before I could stop it.

The second her name left my mouth, I wanted to take it back. The whispers died and someone laughed awkwardly.

“That makes sense, because you know she's lesbian already,” Nai added almost immediately.

 Sophie eyebrows raised and she wouldn't let her eyes leave mine. 

 Why was Sophie still looking at me like that?

“ How cute” Sophie smiled abruptly

My face burned instantly, Cute didn’t feel like a compliment. It felt like something else. Like she was putting me in a box and closing the lid.

I laughed, even though nothing was funny, and glanced around for Max. He still hadn’t come back,Of course.

Everyone was watching me now, waiting for a reaction I didn’t know how to give. I suddenly felt like a twelve year old again, too exposed , wishing I could rewind the last five minutes of my life.

I wondered if Maya was still outside, if she’d heard and if she’d care I said her name 

Nai clapped her hands once, loud enough to snap everyone back to reality. “Okayyyy! New girl’s turn.”

She spun the bottle with dramatic force. The bottle clattered against the tiles, loud and wobbling, like it wanted attention. Someone kicked it by accident and got yelled at. Someone else shushed the crowd, even though no one listened.

I held my breath without realizing it. My knee bounced uncontrollably. The bottle slowed down. Click, Click, Click.

Every eye followed it and then it landed on Sophie.

The cafeteria erupted again, people chanting her name like this was a concert and not a public emotional execution.

“Sophie! Sophie! Sophie!”

She laughed softly, pushing her hair back like none of this fazed her. Then she looked straight at Nai.

“Dare,” she said.

Of course she picked dare, who in their normal mind picks dare.

My stomach dropped.

Nai’s smile widened, the dangerous one, the one that means she already has ten ideas and all of them are unhinged.

“I dare you,” Nai said slowly, dragging it out, “to pick someone here you found attractive the moment you walked into this school”.

The noise dimmed, just slightly and the whole room leaned forward.

Sophie didn’t answer immediately.

She scanned the circle, unbothered, her eyes sliding over faces like she was flipping through a magazine. People straightened, smiled, whispered and someone actually waved.

I told myself not to care or at least pretend I don't but I failed at pretending. My chest felt tight, like I was bracing for impact. I didn’t know why her opinion mattered, only that it suddenly did.

I thought of Max again and how easy it was for him to walk away and how hard it was for me to breathe.

Sophie tilted her head slightly, like she’d already made up her mind.

Then her gaze landed on me and stayed.

My heart did that stupid painful flip again like I was going to have a heart attack and then die of high blood pressure.

“I don’t even have to think about that,” Sophie said.

She stood up.

The movement alone caused a reaction. Chairs shifting, people sucking in breaths, someone whispering “oh my God.”

She walked toward me.

Each step felt too loud, like the floor was announcing her arrival. I became painfully aware of everything, my hands, my posture, the fact that Max wasn’t beside me anymore, the empty space Maya should’ve been filling.

Sophie stopped right in front of me.

Up close and she smelled clean like soap and strawberry juice. Her eyes flicked over my face, slow and deliberate, like she was memorizing it.

 My heart raced and I prayed the

floor would open up and swallow me because why was she picking me.

“I pick” she said slowly “ Charlotte's boyfriend”.