Chapter 56: XXV. The Talk-2

I was rooming with Cece, but I wasn't entirely sure if that meant that we would be sharing a room for the entire night. Shea and Jamie were also rooming together. Cece was sworn to secrecy, but she told me that she could get Jamie out of that room if I wanted. I hadn't decided yet. It was Thursday. The entire school was abuzz with excitement for the game the following night. All students with written permission were excused from school the next day in order to make the three-and-a-half-hour drive to Charlotte. It took a ton of convincing to get my mom to let me go, but now that I was on birth control, thanks to sitting through a disturbing slideshow of gonorrhoea pictures curtesy of her colleague at the clinic, she was confident that I would be responsible. "I am so excited. I haven't been on a trip in forever," Cece excitedly gushed as we stood in line in the cafeteria. "We're going to watch football in Charlotte, Cece," I said, bringing her back to Earth. Cece cocked her eyebrow. "Alright, Little Miss Manhattan, we aren't all as well travelled as you." I laughed. "Try Little Miss Upstate New York." "Jamie wants to take me on a road trip this summer. See the Grand Canyon. I just hope everything is finally over that we might be able to get away for a few months," Cece said anxiously. It was the first time I had heard their situation mentioned in ages. "Is everything alright?" I asked. Cece pursed her lips. "You get the gag order thing now, right?" she asked me. Shea had asked her not to say anything to me. I nodded. I would ask him, no matter how scary the outcome. Cece shook off the sudden solemnity. "Do you own nice underwear?" she asked me randomly. I immediately blushed and prayed that nobody could hear. Shea was in the cafeteria and could no doubt hear our conversation with his super sonic hearing. "Jesus, Cece," I hissed. She rolled her eyes before taking out her phone and quickly firing off a text. My phone buzzed. I can easily get rid of Jamie from Shea's room. Do you own nice underwear? Do I look like I only wear grannie panties? I fired back, hoping it would come with as much sass as I intended. Not that I often inspected my underwear drawer, but I didn't think that I had horrendous taste. Cece snorted in humour. I have heaps, still with tags. Let me know if you want me to bring anything with me. I momentarily considered her offer before realising something. Do you really want your brother to be seeing your underwear? Cece froze, before dramatically gagging and laughing. "Okay, that's a firm no." Cece was very blasé about this sort of thing, and I actually appreciated it. She calmed me and helped me to not make such a big deal out of it. Of course, I knew it was a big deal, but if I always thought of it that way then I was going to go insane with anxiety. We paid for our food, and as we were walking over to Shea's table, I noticed Josh sitting by himself, scrolling on his phone. Josh and Zoey were not together. The whole drama with the fight a few weeks back had only made things worse. Zoey, I thought, felt embarrassed that she had put herself between Josh and Shea. She had shown an actual emotion and was now trying to cover it up. Josh was miserable, and was constantly bumming out his friends, which was why he was by himself a lot. I had tried to convince Shea to talk to Zoey, but I got a firm no in response. He wasn't going near Zoey and her emotions with a ten-foot pole. Walking past Shea with my tray, I kissed him on top of his head, before continuing on to Josh's table. I felt Shea's eyes on me, but they weren't in such a jealous rage as they had been before. He knew that Josh wasn't a threat thanks to Zoey. "I swear to God, if I play like shit again tomorrow like I have been for the past few weeks, I can kiss that scholarship goodbye. There are going to be college scouts at this game, Sara, and all I can think about is the spawn of Satan." Josh held his head in his hands. Josh had played really poorly the last few weeks. Or, at least, according to Shea he had played poorly. Football was all still running and falling to me. "My folks can't afford college tuition. If I don't get a full ride I might as well drop out now and become an exterminator." Josh's father owned his own small extermination business. Zoey had really messed with Josh's head, all because she couldn't put on her big girl panties and admit that her mate was a human. She was now going to actually mess up his life because she was such a coward. I knew Zoey would come around eventually. It would be against her nature to stay away forever. But in the meantime, she was screwing with my friend and I was over it. I leapt up from the table in a huff and abandoned my food. I marched over to Shea's table, my eyes set firmly on Zoey who was nibbling daintily on a kale salad. "I need to talk to you," I said, glowering at her. In a dramatic fashion, Zoey dropped her fork and stared up at me. "Can't. Busy," she said, smiling a fake smile. "You don't, and I'll tell Josh your dirty little secret," I threatened, earning the attention of everyone on the table. I chanced a glance at Shea, and he was watching me curiously. Her eyes flared with anger and resentment. "Bitch, don't push me," seethed Zoey. "Zoey," snapped Shea. Zoey reluctantly conceded and stood up from the table. I walked out of the cafeteria and looked around, before selecting an empty classroom in the same hallway and making my way inside. Zoey followed me silently and slammed the door behind us. I turned on her and tried to make my voice as fearsome as possible. As fearsome as a seventeen-year-old girl could be to a person who could transform themselves into a wolf. "You are screwing up Josh's entire life," I spat accusingly. Zoey winced as I hit the one nerve I knew she had. "You don't know what you're talking about," she retorted. "I know my friend," I shot back, "and I know that he is stressing about how the hell he is going to get into college when all he can think about is you."