“Jade!! What’re you still doing in bed?!” Jade’s mother, Lenee Pierce, yelled in alarm. She stood in the doorway of Jade’s room, her light green eyes opened wide in a panic that her youngest daughter was about to be late to school for the umpteenth time. Lenee’s dark brown hair fell in tangles down her shoulders and her bangs stuck out in all different directions as if she had only just managed to make it out of bed herself.
“Damn,” Jade muttered. She yawned and stretched out in her queen-sized bed, still bleary. She must have slept through her alarms again. “Shit.”
Somehow it was already Monday morning. The weekend had flown by entirely too fast in a blur of homework, annoying texts from Taron, occasionally thinking about Ian, and laying out by Kiara’s pool. Overall nice, but uneventful.
“Morning, Mom. Your hair looks cute,” Jade said. She rolled herself out of bed and onto the floor.
Lenee laughed at Jade’s theatrics and smoothed her bangs down. “Thanks, honey.”
Jade got up and made a beeline for her mom, hugging her good morning. Lenee kissed her forehead and then leaned back out of the doorway to address Jade’s older sister. “Dani, you could have woken her up!”
Jade tensed up. Oh no, she thought. Don’t poke the bear.
“She’s not my responsibility, Mom, or my problem,” Dani yelled from her room. Jade’s stepdad, Vince, was already at work at this time or else Dani would have been slightly less rude, but not much.
“But she is your sister. You should help her,” Lenee said as Dani walked into the hallway leading up to Jade’s room. Jade winced. Not the best thing to say to Dani.
Dani leaned against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest while giving Jade an icy glare. She had long, strawberry blonde hair, an alabaster complexion, and honey-colored eyes. They looked nothing alike. There was even an ongoing joke around their school that Jade and Dani weren’t really sisters, which Jade liked to fantasize about when Dani was being particularly mean.
“You have five minutes or I’m leaving without you,” Dani said curtly to Jade before turning to address their mother. “See? I’m helping her. I gave her a warning.”
As abruptly as she had come, Dani spun around and headed back to her room. Lenee let out a sigh of frustration, gave a weary smile to Jade, then hurried back downstairs.
“Gotta love Mondays,” Jade said, sighing. She ran to her closet and pulled on a pair of pale blue distressed jeans and a blush-colored henley shirt. She brushed her teeth, pulled her hair into a messy bun, threw on hoop earrings and a little mascara, and shot down the stairs.
“Here you go,” Lenee said while handing Jade an apple and almond butter. “Hurry! Dani is already in the car.”
Jade kissed her mother goodbye and ran out the door, hopping into her sister’s black SUV.
“You look like shit,” Dani spat at Jade as she backed down the driveway.
Jade clamped her lips shut, knowing nothing she said—mean or nice—would do any good. Instead, she checked her phone and tried to make as little noise as possible while eating her apple, not daring to glance in Dani’s direction or make any minuscule move that might provoke Dani into berating her.
I might just make it to school without an incident, Jade thought hopefully after some time had passed.
As if Dani could read her mind, she opened her mouth to slur an insult. “I heard a bunch of people talking shit about you over the weekend. You’re really making a name for yourself as one of the sluttiest sophomores.”
“What? Who was?” Jade asked, wondering if Dani was bluffing to get a rise out of her.
“People. Some of my friends, some of yours.”
“But I haven’t done anything… I mean, Taron and I kissed but that was it!” Jade said, mostly to herself.
“Yeah right. Everyone is saying you had a threesome with him and his friend from Birchmond at the party.”
Jade’s stomach dropped. Why did people continuously make up these lies about her? “Who’s saying that?” she asked again, fighting to keep her voice calm.
“People. I believe it. And if you deny it, it’ll only make you look more guilty.”
Jade inhaled sharply. She wanted to kick and scream and punch out the windows. If she had actually done it, then fine, whatever, who cared who knew? It was her choice who she had sex with and she wouldn’t be ashamed about it. But she hadn’t, and that wasn’t something she would do, and the lies weren’t fair. She decided not to give Dani the satisfaction of a reaction and instead turned to look out the window at the world blurring by, out of her control.
They pulled up to the school and Jade snatched her things in an attempt to make a quick getaway. As she was about to close the door Dani snapped her fingers, effectively grabbing Jade’s attention. The girls locked eyes and Dani smirked, knowing she’d won. “Seriously… I would be embarrassed if I were you.”
Jade slammed the door shut and clenched her teeth. She took a deep breath, holding it at the top, and as she exhaled she did her best to expel Dani’s hurtful words from her mind. She hitched her black leather backpack up on her shoulder and made her way to the courtyard behind the school where everyone hung out. Jade found Kiara and Ariana easily enough, sitting with a group of sophomores at one of the large circular tables under the lush trees that dotted the lawn. There was no room next to her two best friends so Jade gave them a wave and sat by Aubrey, a former football player turned male cheerleader that had been on the Junior Varsity squad with them last year.
“Hey, J,” Aubrey said with a smile. He was wearing a tight-fitting white tee, showing off his strong frame. Jade had met Aubrey their freshman year when he was still on the football team. Most of the girls had a crush on him, but Jade remembered noticing something safe in his smile that told her they would only ever be friends. “You look gorg today.”
“Ha-ha, very funny. I overslept and had like five minutes to get ready.”
“Well, that’s the magic of being as stunning as you,” Aubrey said, running a hand through his freshly-colored caramel hair.
Jade shook her head and gave a half-hearted smile. She glanced around the table, wondering who had already heard the rumor about her, and who, if any of them, had been talking shit about her like Dani claimed. Jade sighed and tuned into the conversation to distract herself.
“Well, Ari’s a shoo-in of course,” Aubrey said, referring to the upcoming cheer tryouts that began after school today. “Didn’t you try out with a double-full last year?”
A flicker of nerves flashed through Jade’s chest, but she pushed them away easily enough. She knew that what she lacked in Ariana’s skill of tumbling she made up for in dance.
Ariana blushed and nodded her head. “I bet we’ll all make it again this year. They can’t split up the Fresh Six.”
The table laughed. Only three or four freshmen usually made the team, but last year she, Ariana, Kiara, Aubrey, Melodie, and Reigh had all made it, which was a serious feat. They’d given themselves the stupid nickname shortly after.
“Which only leaves three spots for incoming freshmen on Junior Varsity,” Reigh said, pushing her reddish-brown hair out of her sharp cheekbones and tucking it behind her ears.
“Jade in that low cut uniform though! I could barely focus on the ball last season!” the quarterback of the Junior Varsity football team and serious man whore, Weston Kelly, announced.
Weston was as attractive as he was talented, with a cocky personality to match. He excelled in football, baseball, and essentially everything else he tried, including picking up girls. Jade was embarrassed to admit she had had a crush on Weston when they first met but quickly lost interest after learning how many girls he’d already hooked up with. Weston’s closely shaven light brown hair and defined jawline made him appear aggressive and strong, which, in almost all cases, he was. He wasn’t used to girls turning him down, so Jade’s refusal to fall all over him only seemed to pique his interest in her more. Jade winked at Weston just to screw with him, and his eyes widened momentarily before he shot her a sly smile.
“Man, gross. The girls are like our sisters,” Haiden said, swiping a couple of dark tendrils out of his eyes. “The freshmen, on the other hand…”
The guys at the table continued to rate the various uniforms the cheerleaders wore in the past year. Jade rolled her eyes.
Aubrey leaned over and showed Jade a picture of himself in one of the girl’s uniforms taken last year at Kiara’s house. He was posing seductively, his blue eyes teasing the viewer. “I swear I’m about to send this to the guys—maybe that’ll shut down their OBNOXIOUS UNIFORM RATING,” Aubrey said, shouting the last few words.
“Please do,” Jade said.
“Guys,” Aubrey called out. “If you don’t shut up, I’m going to send you a picture of me in the same skirt and top, forever scarring your minds!”
“Promise?” Haiden said, chuckling.
“He looks insanely sexy in our uniform, I’d watch out,” Kiara called over the commotion.
Weston strolled around the table and snatched the phone fromAubrey’s hands in one fell swoop.
“Bro, I’m not even gay and I think you look good,” Weston said, seeming to know what Aubrey was attempting to do and not taking the bait.
Haiden lifted the phone from Weston, eager to get in on the joke. “Yeah, you look seriously jacked.”
“You two are impossible,” Aubrey said with a dramatic sigh, grabbing his phone back. With a small smile, he turned to Jade. “Well, I tried.”
Jade smiled despite the knot twisting in her stomach that had been growing since the car ride. The guys could be impossible, but she loved how much they had accepted Aubrey’s not-so-surprising-in-hindsight news after he came out last year. They were more upset about losing Aubrey as a running back than anything else. As Weston liked to tease, Aubrey batting for the other team only meant less competition and more girls for the rest of the guys, and most importantly, more girls for Weston. Some of the other students hadn’t been as welcoming though, and Aubrey had gotten jumped a few times after the news spread. That is, until Weston and Haiden made it publicly known that anyone that messed with Aubrey would be socially ostracized.
Jade looked up and laughed. The boys were now rolling around in the grass, with Aubrey holding Weston in a headlock while Haiden videoed the scuffle and put it on his Instagram story.
“Tag me in that!” Aubrey yelled just before Weston elbowed him in the shin.
“Hashtag idiots,” Haiden said under his breath, typing away on his phone.
“Now that’s a memoir title for the boys,” Ariana said to Jade and Kiara.
Jade wanted to talk to Ariana and Kiara about the rumor, but it would be nearly impossible without the rest of the table overhearing. She definitely didn’t want to do anything that might spread it further, and there was no point in hanging around to talk about who may or may not make the cheer team. Right now, that seemed trivial. Soon—by the middle of the week probably—everyone, including Ian, would likely hear the rumor that she had sex with Taron and his random friend at the same time. Jade cringed at the thought. She pulled her backpack on, getting ready to head off to her first class early.
At that moment, Melodie’s voice rose above the commotion. “I would be pissed if Arica or Lyric made the team… I mean, they can’t even dance.”
Leave it to Melodie to list out the girls she hoped wouldn’t make the team. Jade was sure her name was also on that list, but Melodie knew better than to say anything in front of the group, especially Ariana and Kiara. Jade’s defenses flared. Who did Melodie think she was to bash girls who weren’t there to defend themselves? Her fists clenched involuntarily.
“Melodie,” Jade said, her stone-cold voice cutting Melodie off mid-sentence. “You’re not in charge of who makes the team or not—thank God—so what’s the point of this? Other than you being a bitch to get attention, of course.”
Jade heard a hushed “Oooohhh” from Weston. Before Melodie had the chance to respond, Jade left the table, ignoring Ariana calling out after her. She wound her way inside through the throngs of students, working on slowing her breathing again while she walked, trying to push the entire morning out of her mind.
History was a subject that Jade usually enjoyed, finding the different time periods and ways of the past wild, often wondering what her friends would do in situations like the roaring 1920s and prohibition. Jade also had this class period with Alora, who never seemed to know or care about what rumor was going around.
“Hey, you!” Alora said when Jade sat down, her light brown face clear of makeup. Alora did a double-take and quickly changed her tone when she saw Jade’s expression. “Oh no, Dani again?”
Alora’s glossy black hair fell into her eyes as she leaned closer to Jade to talk.
“Yep,” Jade said, looking down at the floor. “And I think I just took it out on Melodie a bit.”
“Well, let’s be honest—Melodie probably did something to deserve that,” Alora said with a small laugh.
“Eh… I was pretty harsh,” Jade said, biting her bottom lip.
“Want to talk about it?”
“Nope.”
“All right, but I do want to say something,” Alora looked Jade in the eye. “I know what Dani tries to do to you—Melodie too. But don’t listen to her or anybody else that tries to hurt you. You know what they say is more about them than it is about you, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“Whatever they’re saying or how they’re reacting to you isn’t actually about you. It’s about themselves.”
“But it is about me,” Jade said, confused.
Alora shook her head. “Okay, for example, you wouldn’t be upset if I landed the lead role in the play this year, right?”
“No, are you kidding? I’d be beyond happy for you. Just like I was when you got it last year.”
“Right, but then there are others who’d be pissed if I got it.”
“Sure, but I’m also not in theatre. If they’re going up against you for the role I could see people getting jealous.”
“I’m not necessarily talking about people who’re going up against me. People not in theatre may get upset because, say, they wanted the lead to go to a guy because they think males make better actors or something silly like that. Or someone might get upset because they wanted the lead to be a different ethnicity than me, maybe their own ethnicity because they feel they haven’t been portrayed enough in our school plays. I can’t help that I’m not a guy, and I can’t help that I’m Hispanic and not something else. So, even though they don’t want me to be the lead, it’s not necessarily about me personally. It’s about them and their beliefs.”
“I’m still not totally following, A,” Jade said, squinting her eyes as if that would help her concentrate. She knew what Alora was trying to tell her was very important, maybe even life-changing, but she couldn’t quite grasp the concept. “Dani’s calling me a slut for a bullshit rumor going around about me having a threesome. How is that about her, or any of the other people who are saying I had sex with Taron and his friend this weekend?”
“Egh,” Alora said, grimacing. “I’m sorry, J. That’s so stupid. I know it hurts though. Okay, in your specific example, maybe some people will talk about you and call you a slut for this because their parents raised them to think of women in that way if they’re open with their sexuality. Maybe some girls will spread the rumor about you even more because they wish they could be more promiscuous, but they won’t let themselves and so they get jealous and want to hurt you. Maybe they get mad just because you’re beautiful, and they don’t see themselves in that way yet. Dani is a whole other story—she’s your sister and there’s going to be added competition there. I’m not saying any of it’s right, but it’s about understanding how others see the world, and maybe even how their parents see the world.”
Jade put her head in her hands to think. “Dude. How do you know all of this?”
“I don’t know, I listen to a lot of podcasts,” Alora said, laughing. She began to play with a gold ring on her finger, twisting it around as her eyebrows furrowed. “Also, last year when I got the lead in the play as a freshman it sucked, because so many people were angry and talking shit about me. I got depressed and I had to find reasoning for it. So even though it was a shitty time, I figured out a lot. It’s freeing if you understand that what people say about you isn’t actually about you.”
“Wait, I never knew that.” Jade reached out and grabbed her friend’s hand. “I had no idea you were depressed after you got the lead. I thought you were so happy.”
“Yeah, life is funny like that, right?” Alora said. “I didn’t want to tell anyone I got depressed after, because I didn’t want to seem ungrateful when I had something so many people wanted. But it was hard.”
“Wow. So that’s why you don’t care about rumors. I always thought you were just born that much of a badass.”
Alora laughed and shook her head, any trace of leftover sadness leaving her eyes.
“And thank you for telling me,” Jade added. For the first time since she woke up today, her body fully relaxed.
“I’m just telling you the truth you can’t see,” Alora responded. She brushed her hair out of her face and looked down at the assignment on their desks with determination. “Now let’s get this fucker over with.”
Jade laughed at Alora’s quick change from sage advisor to normal high school student, and relief washed over her. She was lighter now, even though she hadn’t completely shaken off the weight of the impending rumor mill. But there was logic in Alora’s reasoning—she could at least see that. And if Ian happened to hear about her “sexual encounter” with Taron and his friend, well then fuck it. It was probably better that he did.
Then, she could see his true colors.
That's some sage advice from Alora, something we should all remember.