Twenty-Four

On the Rooftop

Quinn's POV

The next time I woke up, I found myself staring at the ceiling fan lazily circling above me on the ceiling of my living room, causing my dark hair to gently brush off my face and a cool breeze to touch my cheeks. Then I heard another voice, once again much louder than it should have been. Cody's.

"Quinn, here. It's not mine, I promise."

Something cold pressed into my palm, but my brain was too fuzzy to comprehend it. "How'd you get in my house?" I asked, my words running together.

"You were holding your house keys and you dropped them when you fainted," he said, pressing the cold thing further into my hand. "Drink this."

I shakily did as he asked, feeling cool liquid run down my throat. Then he helped me sit up and propped me against the pillows on the couch. My vision was a little steadier now, so that I could see Cody's worried eyes boring into mine, but I was by no means on the road to recovery.

I couldn't remember how long Cody sat there with me. I couldn't even remember what we talked about, only that he made me drink from the water bottle until it was empty while he kept the fan running and placed wet towels over my forehead. My mouth kept running without my permission and when I finally dozed off into a peaceful sleep, I felt a large hand brush hair away from my forehead before adjusting the pillow underneath me so that I was more comfortable.

When I woke up, it was dusk outside and Cody was gone, but my mother had taken his position. She had her homework spread out on the living room coffee table, but she seemed to be paying more attention to me than her essay.

"How are you, sweetheart?" she asked, coming over to me the second my eyes fluttered tiredly open.

"I'm fine."

I sat up and looked around, trying not to look obvious as to who I was searching for, but Mom must have caught on because she said, "Cody left when I got here. It was sweet of him to stay with you. What happened?"

What had happened? I didn't remember anything, and that sort of scared me. The last thing I recalled was tying my tennis shoes and grabbing my sunglasses. What had I done after that? How had I ended up here?

"I don't know," I muttered, slouching down further on the couch. "I'm going back to sleep."

This time, when my breathing slowed and my eye shut, it wasn't because I had fainted but because my exhaustion had quickly given way to a dreamless sleep.

~*~*~

I felt a lot better when I opened my locker the next morning to sort my things for class the next day. True, I still couldn't believe Andrew had broken up with me, and I'd almost started crying three times from the moment I woke up to the time school started, but at least I wasn't feeling dizzy or lightheaded anymore.

The first thing I noticed once I'd pushed aside Andrew Summers' old love letter to me and shoved my math nextbook into my locker was a pink Post-It note, taped to the mirror. Glancing behind me to make sure no one was looking, I grabbed it and quickly scanned what it said.

Hey, Quinn! Bet you're sad about losing your guy :( That was so wrong of him to dump you like that! What you need to do is explain that you haven't changed and how much you still like him, which is why you need to go to the rooftop, stat.

I pulled my phone out of the back pocket of my jean shorts and saw I still had ten minutes until Chemistry started--I could probably make it.

It was a lot easier to run in my loyal Converse than in a pair of Vanessa's slippery, sky-high heels, and I made it up to the rooftop quickly and without incident. When I turned the corner, I saw that Andrew Summers was seated at the same table he had been sitting in when he'd handed me his love letter. His brows were furrowed as he highlighted something in a textbook, and he clearly hadn't yet noticed I was there.

I watched him for a few seconds, admiring how peacefully and efficiently he worked, before I quickly cleared my throat.

"Quinn." He didn't say it like he was angry or hurt or happy, just surprised.

"Andrew." I said it back in the exact same tone.

He shoved his textbook away without drawing his eyes away from me. "How did you know I was here?" he asked.

"Well." I shifted from foot to foot, my sneakers squeaking on the ground, and said evasively, "I didn't really know you were here, I just came up here because you've been here before and I wanted to talk to you."

Exhaling loudly, he said, "Quinn, I thought I made myself clear. Why are you stalking me?"

"I'm not stalking you!" I exclaimed. Hastily, I dug my hand into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out the crumpled pink Post-It note before shoving it at him. "I got this in my locker this morning."

It took him two seconds to read the Post-It note, and then he shoved it back at me roughly, his eyes wide. "That's creepy, Quinn. Who's giving you these?"

"I don't know!" I stuffed the note back into the pocket of my shorts and then leaned against the railing, trying not to cry. Being there with him and remembering that the last time we'd been here, things had been so perfect, practically broke my heart. Everything on the rooftop was the same: the smell of the flowers and the breeze rustling my hair, the way Andrew's books were spread out in front of him and the plants providing shade over our heads--except nothing was really the same. Things were very, very wrong.

Andrew stood and ran his hand through his hair over and over again, not quite meeting my eyes. After a few minutes of me standing awkwardly and waiting for him to explode at me, he said calmly, "This isn't working. I thought I made this clear to you yesterday. Don't you see how messed up this is?"

"It's not messed up," I insisted. "Sure, the secret notes are a little weird, but I literally have nothing to do with them! Someone's been dropping them in my locker all year and it's been freaking me out, but I don't know what to do about it! And I'm not changing, Andrew, seriously. Look at me! The same as always."

I did a little spin for him in my tattered jean shorts, Converse, and varsity t-shirt. I had felt my mood improve a lot that morning when I'd slid them on, and now I needed Andrew to see that I was still the same. Being friends with Vanessa and acting like them--that had been temporary, when I'd been afraid. I wasn't afraid anymore.

Well, I was afraid, just now in a different way. I was afraid Andrew would leave me and this amazing thing we'd had would be all gone, before it had ever even started.

When I looked up at Andrew again, I saw that he was shaking his head, his bright blue eyes locked on mine. "I'm sorry," he said. "This can't work. I think it's best if we don't really interact with each other anymore. This isn't healthy for you, Quinn."

I opened my mouth but couldn't make any words come out, no matter how hard I tried. Somehow, the only thing I could do was turn around and walk away.

Five minutes later, I was numbly pulling out my Chemistry notebook and flipping it open to the homework I hadn't completed the previous night. I still couldn't remember exactly what had happened the previous afternoon, only that I'd slept for a really long time and hadn't had time to do any homework. Hopefully Cody had done his and I could get away with presenting from his work.

"Hey, Quinn. You feeling better?"

I jumped and turned around and saw that Cody had leaned down so that he had whispered the words in my ear, his breath tickling my neck. When I faced him, he was so close our noses nearly touched.

"Cody!" I squealed, jumping backwards and nearly tipping over my desk. "You scared me, jeez. Personal space, please."

Obligingly, he stepped back, but he was still staring at me intently and I realized I'd forgotten to answer his question.

"I'm fine," I said, trying to go back to my Chemistry when my heart was still pounding wildly from the scare. "Why wouldn't I be?"

When I looked up, he was studying me with the funniest expression on his face, but he went and sat down in the seat that was actually his instead of putting up a fight and sitting in Abby's seat. Absentmindedly, I resumed braiding a piece of hair that had fallen in front of my face. Why was everyone acting so strange lately?

I managed to get through Chemistry even with my homework incompleted, because luckily Mrs. Smith didn't bother going over the homework. Cody trailed behind me as I walked to my locker to put up my notebook before Theatre class, and I turned on him once I slammed my locker door shut.

"Why are you acting so different?" I asked him, dumping my backpack on the floor in front of my locker and grabbing my water bottle from it because I never needed my bag for Theatre. "Did you and Julia break up or something?"

His puppy-like brown eyes followed me as I took a drink from my CamelBak water bottle and then snapped it shut. "No," he said, but he looked distant.

And then he stuffed on the baseball cap he was carrying backwards even though it was against dress code and loped down the hallway, bumping fists with a junior as he turned the corner. Chewing down on my lip, I watched him disappear and then snapped out of my daze so that I'd get to class on time. I wasn't going to worry about what was going on with him if he was going to be insistent upon acting so mysterious.

Theatre dragged on, as always. Even though I usually enjoyed getting up on stage and getting to act out skits with various kids in my grade, complete with over-dramatization and random props snagged from various closets, today Mr. Vann thought the hour would be better spent starting our first unit of the year, on Shakespeare. He gave us each the beginning of a Shakespearean play to memorize, which we would be performing at the end of the period.

I had received the prologue from Henry V, so I plopped down on the steps of the auditorium stage and read through the lines, trying to get them to absorb into my brain when kingdoms, wars, and muses were the least of my concerns right now.

"Oh for a muse of fire, that would ascend," I tried out loud, liking how the words sounded on my tongue even if I didn't really feel like learning them right now.

"No, no, Quinn." In an instant, Mr. Vann came over to me and positioned himself in front of me, clenching his fists. "Draw out certain syllables. Add depth to your speaking. 'Oh, for a muse of fire!'"

I cleared my throat. "Oh, for a muse of fire!"

"Louder!" he clapped. "Feel the words!"

I had to resist rolling my eyes, since I figured I sounded extremely stupid as I pronounced loudly, "Oh, for a muse of fire!"

Behind me, a few junior girls covered their mouths with their hands as they giggled with each other.

"Good," said Mr. Vann, clapping his hands together. "Keep practicing."

I spent the rest of the period mouthing the words to myself instead of saying them out loud, just trying to act busy until the bell finally rang and I was free to go to English class.

The second I walked into Mrs. Davis's classroom and sat down at my normal seat, ready to endure another hour of lecturing on various grammar skills that we should all have mastered in elementary school, Vanessa appeared before me.

"I heard what happened with Andrew," she said, except instead of sounding sympathetic like she should have, she was smirking a little, and her tone was one of pure delight.

I pulled out my laptop and opened it to my class notes from the previous day. "Yeah," I said suspiciously, seeing as now she looked more evil than she'd looked in a long time.

We watched each other for a few seconds, her waiting for me to say something else and me waiting for her to sympathize, but she just tossed her hair and hurried back to her seat, where she instantly began flirting with Shane--I'd thought they'd broken up long ago.

The answer to my unspoken question came moments later when Mrs. Davis asked us to partner up to compare notes from the previous day. I immediately moved over towards Vanessa, since we'd partnered with each other several times in the last few days, but she scooted towards Shane, telling me unapologetically, "Sorry, I don't work with Andrew Summers' rejects."

Shane laughed and she dipped her head onto his shoulder to hide her evil smile, but when she looked back up at me a few seconds later her eyes were glinting. I tried to blink back tears as I headed back to my seat and ended up partnering with Whitney, a quiet girl who sat a few seats down from me.

I couldn't believe that Vanessa had acted like my friend for so long when she'd really only been kind to me because of Andrew. It was sickening, actually. She'd only been using me because my popularity had skyrocketed once he'd asked me out. I wouldn't have even been surprised if she and Shane hadn't ever really broken up and he'd been in on the secret, too.

"Quinn?" asked Whitney quietly, her hazel eyes latched onto me.

I started, realizing I'd never responded to a question she'd asked me about the reading. "Sorry," I said, making sure my voice was just loud enough to that Vanessa could hear, "I didn't hear you. I was too busy trying to wonder how my stepsister could stoop so low to try and suck up to me."

Vanessa's head snapped up and she glowered at me, and I stared right back, refusing to back down. I was so over being used. Maybe Andrew was right. As much as it hurt me, maybe it was better for us not to be together anymore, because all that had happened since we'd started dating was I'd gotten used, I'd fought with my best friends, and my stepsister had tried to turn me into someone I wasn't.

By the end of the school day, I realized that the news about Andrew and me had spread throughout practically the entire school. This probably had something to do with the annoying talent Vanessa, Kenzie, and Sara had for spreading gossip like wildfire, but regardless of how it had happened, I couldn't ignore the fact that I had regained my status of practical invisibility to a majority of the student body. Andrew's friends stopped tipping their heads up at me in the hallways, girls in the line in the cafeteria stopped complimenting me on my outfits, and I moved from sitting at Vanessa's table at lunch to eating with Julia and several acquaintances once more.

Julia seemed just as upset as I was that Andrew and I had broken up, and this made me angry because I had a feeling she was mad for her own selfish reasons. After all, Cody had to know now that I was single, and it was obvious he still liked me. Plus, he'd been acting weird all day today and I knew I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to break up with Julia. Then what? My best friend would be mad at me on top of everything.

I stuffed a strawberry in my mouth, my lips puckering because of the overly tart taste. The girls at my table had all kindly avoided the delicate topic of my breakup, but they were all discussing Homecoming instead, and that worked almost just as well at making me sad because I knew Andrew Summers and I wouldn't be going together. He'd probably take one of the girls on the soccer team, because at least she would be athletic and would be able to run on a perfectly shaded trail without getting heat exhaustion. I wondered if I should quit his running group altogether--it wasn't like I was going to be participating in the 5k, anyway.

That meant the only thing that was now different from the way things had ended my freshman year was that I had my braces off, my hair curled, and a slightly improved wardrobe. This meant my plan of becoming a respected, influential, and well-known member of the student body who attracted Andrew Summers' attention had failed miserably. Maybe things weren't kismet, after all.