“Nothing?” Courtney asked, sidling up to Scott. “I guess she doesn’t know you as well as I do.” She grabbed a fistful of Scott’s shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. And not just any kiss. This one involved tongue, full body contact, and, I’m pretty sure, was worthy of an R rating. Everyone in the cafeteria was staring at them. Including Annie.
And that was it. I lost it.
One minute I was in my cafeteria chair, watching my best friend be humiliated, and the next I had Courtney’s golden ponytail gripped in my hand.
I hauled her off of Scott, a red haze clouding my vision.
“What the fuck?” Courtney yelled, stumbling backwards and banging against the table.
She whirled around and burst into cruel laughter when she saw who her attacker was.
“Isn’t this precious,” she said, standing up and brushing herself off. “Little Lezzie has come to protect her one true love.” Courtney looked from side to side dramatically, as though she was about to impart a secret. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, Lez, but I’m pretty sure your slutty little friend is into boys.”
By the time she finished spitting out her insults, Courtney was bearing down on me, her nose inches from mine. I should have been terrified.
But I wasn’t.
All of a sudden Courtney seemed small to me. Small and mean.
I drew myself up to my full height and looked her straight in the eyes. “You’re calling Annie a slut? That’s hilarious. What, did you wait like ten minutes before screwing her ex-boyfriend? Seems pretty slutty to me.”
“Oh please,” Courtney said. “Scott came to me. He wanted to date someone normal.” She looked over her shoulder at Scott for backup, but he’d retreated to the jocks’ table and was cowering among his teammates.
It made me laugh.
“It’s pretty convenient, isn’t it?” I asked loudly, looking around the cafeteria. All eyes were on me, and for once I was glad for it. “A bunch of rumors start up about Annie, making Scott break up with her, and then . . . poof. There you are, swooping in to snatch him up. It’s enough to make people wonder . . .”
Chatter broke out all around us, and I could see people tapping away on their phones. The rumor mill was in full swing, and for once, Courtney wasn’t wielding its power.
“You little bitch,” she said, shoving me backwards as phone cameras clicked all around us.
Something exploded inside me. I was so done with being pushed around. My hands gripped into tight fists as years of frustration came bursting out of me. I heard someone shouting at us to break it up, but it was too late to stop, and my fist smashed into Courtney’s nose just before rough hands pulled me away.
I looked back as the vice principal, Mr. Anderson, marched me from the cafeteria. Courtney was doubled over, with a teacher beside her, and Annie was still sitting in her chair, looking as shocked as I felt.
At least the deadness in her eyes was gone, I thought with a manic giggle.
“This is not funny,” Mr. Anderson told me, propelling me toward the office. “You’re looking at a suspension here.”
I tried, unsuccessfully, to wipe the smile off my face while I rolled the idea of a suspension around in my head.
Totally worth it.
Annie
I’m sketching the look that was on Jessie’s face at the moment her fist made contact with Courtney’s nose, when Jess walks into my room.
I’m so shocked to see her that I don’t say anything at first. I didn’t invite her, and it feels like a violation for her to just show up like this.
“What do you want?” I say in a voice that lets her know just how unwelcome she is.
She blinks in surprise. “I . . . I thought you’d be happy to see me.” She edges closer to my bed, and I close my sketchbook before she can see what I’m drawing. I’m not sure what it says about either one of us that the first time I’ve managed to capture her in a sketch was immediately after she clobbered Courtney.
“Why? Because you came to my rescue today? Am I supposed to fall all over myself thanking you now?”
“No,” she says quietly. “But I thought we could talk.”
“Trust me. You don’t want to talk to me.”
“You can’t be serious,” she says, glaring at me. “What more, exactly, do I need to do to prove my friendship?”
“I don’t want you to prove your friendship. I want you to go away.”
She shakes her head angrily and storms toward the door. “You’re unbelievable.”
I knew it, I think. I knew she’d leave.
Just before she steps over the threshold into the hallway, though, she whirls around and marches back into my room. “You know what? Fuck that!”
I startle, and a nervous laugh escapes me. Jess never swears. “Did you just say fuck that?”
“Yeah. Fuck that. And fuck you, Annie. Do you know what a big deal it was for me to stand up to Courtney? I did that for you.” A tear escapes her right eye and tracks down her face. “Do you have any idea how much I wish I’d had someone to stand up for me all those years ago? How much it would have meant for me to have anyone—anyone—stand beside me? I wanted to be that person for you, you ungrateful bitch.”
Her chest is heaving and her cheeks are flushed, and I’m so scared I’m afraid to breathe. I swallow hard and then ask, “Why?”
“Why?”
“Why me? Was it really for me? Or was it for you?”
Her face melts into a sad smile. “Is that what you think? That I just wanted to get revenge on Courtney?”
I shrug.
“Trust me when I tell you that the last thing I ever wanted to do was stand up in a crowded cafeteria and have it out with Courtney. I was peeing my pants the
