Chapter Sixteen

 

I gotta admit it, I felt damn good as I pulled into the school in an Audi just in time to see Rebecca step out of her Ford Escort.

As much as I liked them, I felt so much better in a car that Aron had called “cheap” at over $80,000. I gave her a wide smile and a wave.

She stared at me, speechless.

“You … your hair looks nice.”

“Oh.” I flipped it over my shoulder.

A smile spread across my lips as my fingers played with the newly blonde strands. “I thought it might be nice to change it up.” I shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal—but in my new shoes, I was standing four inches taller than her. I tried not to let it get to my head.

I tried to remain nice to her, though it took me a couple seconds to remember that she hadn’t called me a gold digger... to my face, at least.

“So, how was your night last night?”

“It was ... fine. I wondered what happened to you when you disappeared from school yesterday.”

“Oh, yea ... I needed to get away from it for a little while; that’s all. Aron took me out shopping.”

“For a new car, too?” I saw her eye it. I could tell she wanted to look at it more, but she forced herself to look back at me.

I gave her a soft smile. “Oh no, that’s just one of Aron’s cheaper cars that he’s letting me borrow.” A grin spread over my lips as I saw John coming towards us. He stared at me wide-eyed for a long time.

Rebecca noticed him a couple seconds after I did. She cleared her throat and straightened herself, and of course put on a flirty smile—the one she wore around John so often that he probably didn’t even realize it wasn’t her normal smile by this point.

“Hey, John.” Rebecca beamed.

“Becca’s ...” He gave her a nod, then turned his full attention back to me. “Mel, you look good.”

“Aron took me out shopping yesterday.” I gave him a soft smile, trying to make sure it wasn’t too snide.

“Oh, that’s so nice of him!” I could hear the jealousy in Rebecca’s voice.

I shrugged. “He’s been wanting to do it for a long time. Apparently, he got me a job interview without telling me about it, so he wanted to get me some clothes for it. And then, of course, that turned into new shoes, new bags, clothes, a new phone, and the hair.”

“Not the car?” John raised an eyebrow.

“He tried, but I had to say no somewhere.” I grinned, then turned on my heel as I pulled my new phone out of my pocket and glanced down at the time. I didn’t want to be late for class after all.

Rebecca was eager to keep up with me as we headed down the hallway.

“You look great.”

“Thanks.” I gave her a smile, and for a split second, I wasn’t sure if she was lying to me or trying to manipulate me. All I cared about was that my friend thought I was pretty,

“So, were you celebrating something?”

“Nope. We just decided to go out. I know everyone thinks I’m this big gold digger and everything, and Aron’s been bugging me to let him pay for a couple new outfits ... After yesterday, I just figured why not? I mean really, why spend my life fighting what people think about me when I can just do whatever I want? Aron wanted to treat me; I wanted to let him do something nice for me, and he had the money to do it.”

“Don’t you feel like you’re taking advantage of him?” John asked.

“No,” I lied. Because I didn’t want to admit that I did. “I mean, we’re not consenting adults here.

“Err, yea I guess that makes sense.” I could tell part of her didn’t agree, but she didn’t want to say it to me, and that was fine—I didn’t want to hear it.

I forced a smile over my face as we made our way towards class. As much as I hated admitting it, it was beginning to look like Becca and I might not be friends for much longer.

I took a deep breath, trying to pretend that it didn’t hurt and trying to pretend that I didn’t realize it was happening.

“So, what are you doing tonight?” I asked, trying to make some conversation.

“I have a date,” John said.

Rebecca stopped, turning to stare at him. Her face pale and her eyes wide, she just stood there, staring blankly at him.

“Wow.” I cleared my throat. “That’s great!” I tried to make up for the lack of words Rebecca was saying and take the focus off her so she could have a couple seconds to recover.

“Thanks, I figured it was about time I actually ask her out.” He grinned widely. “And she said yes. So we’re going to a movie tonight.”

“Oh, that’s great!” I gushed. “I hope you guys have a wonderful time.”

“Yea, awesome,” Becca piped up. I could hardly hear her voice, but I knew she’d spoken.

I glanced over at her, giving her a soft smile, but she didn’t dare meet my eyes as if this was somehow my fault.

It’s not like I’m the one he’s going on a date with, I thought, but I didn’t dare say it out loud.

The rest of the walk towards our classroom was spent in total silence. I had no clue what I was supposed to say to any of it.

As soon as we headed into the classroom, I found a seat at the back of the room, thankfully without any free seats beside it. I ignored everyone around me as I reached into my purse and pulled out my laptop for taking notes.

I looked up and scanned the room just in time to see Rebecca wipe her cheeks.

My stomach turned.

What should I do?

I needed to do something. I needed to make her feel better in some way, but I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I could take her out or something ... but was I really prepared to spend the day with her? I wasn’t sure.

By the end of the class, I still didn’t know what I was supposed to do about Rebecca, but I did have two new assignments—well, one with two parts to it, so I was counting that as two.

I slipped my laptop into my purse and headed out of the classroom as fast as I could, which wasn’t all that fast, but I didn’t see Rebecca.

I looked around for her, but there was no sight of her.

Making my way out to the car, I was still unsure of what I was supposed to do with Rebecca. I could just send her a quick text ... and then head home and see if I could get some studying done for my upcoming tests.

“Melina.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a pure statement. I turned towards the voice; one that I knew I’d heard but couldn’t place.

I spun to face the woman. I wasn’t sure how to react, and for a split second, I was left speechless.

Think!

“I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”

It might have been kind of rude, but then again it did seem like she was more than happy to be snide to me; I wasn’t going to be worried about being ultra-nice to her if she wasn’t going to at least be polite to me.

Her nose wrinkled as she looked me up and down.

“Jamie.”

I nodded. “Ah, Jamie.” I stared at her for several seconds, waiting to see if she was going to talk or if I had to continue the conversation. She still looked pissed. “So was there something you wanted? Or are you just at the school for a class?”

That made her nose wrinkle more, and I have to admit, that made me a little happy.

“No. I was here to talk to you.”

Again, she just stood there and stared at me. I raised an eyebrow waiting, but nothing came. She just stood there.

“Okaaay,” I said after what felt like a few minutes. “So what did you want to talk about?”

“Aron.” She waited again; I was beginning to get sick of it. But she did start talking again. “I’m not really sure what you’re deal with him is, but I just think it’s time you ... stopped taking advantage of him.”

I stared at her blankly. If it had been yesterday, I’d have been able to say that she was crazy and that I would never do something like that—but here I was in brand new clothes with brand new shoes and a brand new purse—driving Aron’s car.

So, that wasn’t an option for me.

A soft smile spread over my face. “Jamie, it’s really sweet that you want to look out for Aron. He’s lucky to have such a good friend.”

I made sure that I included the word friend. “I’m really glad he has someone like that in his life. But I didn’t make or even ask Aron to buy me anything or lend me his car. He offered, and I accepted.”

Jamie stared at me with narrow eyes.

I adjusted my backpack and cleared my throat. “But I’d best get home; I want to get there before Aron gets home and have dinner ready. But it was really nice to see you; we should hang out sometime.”

Without another word to Jamie, I stepped past her and headed for the parking lot where Aron’s car was waiting for me.

I have to admit, I felt kind of good about myself. Not because I’d been a bitch, but because I’d stood up to Jamie and stood up for myself.

More often than not these days, it felt like everyone was against me, and I wasn’t going to stand around and feel sorry for myself. I was going to deal with it head on. The only way I could.